They had to grow their own vegetables and made do with very little. Clothes were made once a year, perhaps only one dress each for daughters and a shirt and a pair of shorts for the boys for the New Year. And oldeclothes had to be repaired over and over again.
It was not uncommon to see a Foochow mother wearing patched clothes in those days. Some even wore them to church, without feeling embarrassed.
there is a Chinese saying, that a patch makes a three year old blouse new again. Another patching three years later made the blouse almost most new. And 9 years later more patching would renew the use of the blouse all over again. Nothing is too old to wear.
Some mothers who were very creative made clothes a little bigger, and dresses were given additional materials to make them longer for the growing girls!
Our growing family then after the sudden demise of my father had lovely tasty food created by my innovative mother.
One of our favourite dishes was made from dou cheong or dou jeong, fermented brown soy beans. Mum would cook a lot of sauce with just a bit of pork bones and some slices of pork, a dish which saw us from lunch to dinner. More of the sauce would be for the next day, just to make our rice so delightfully tasty.
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| My claypot pork with toucheong boiling on the stove. |
In retrospect, we were brought up on quite a bit of salt. Salty food saw us through our days. We ate the bitter, the sweet and the salty...and even the spicy from chillies. Song, dien, koo and lark...we had it all and for all that we love our mother so much for teaching us the right values in life - never to be beholden, always remain grateful, be kind, be kind, be kind...have conscience.
We must pay back people more than what we receive.
And sometimes, a bowl of rice with just the sauce is a great meal by itself. We can't ask for more.
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