Eating Terubok

 When we were growing up in Sibu, we had lots of fish to eat as my father was a good fisherman and quite a good Chinese expeert on throwing the jala.

He had come from a poor background when he was young and my grandfather had expected him and his brothers to fish in the river (both the Rajang and the Seduan (or Sg Merah).

My father used to tell us how happy the family was to have fish soup on the table.

On days they did not have fish, they would have soy bean soup, which he would abhor later on in life.

Grandma Chong had chickens and ducks in the backyard but they were for festivals and gifts for the older generation when grandpa went to visit them.

We enjoyed eating terubok, boney but sweet.

Father taught us to pick on the flesh. When we were older we learned to separate the flesh from the bones in our mouth and then spit out the bones!! We were really expert fish eaters.

This kind of memory is fading ...as time goes by the eating of terubok is no longer fun when we go into our 70's and 80's.

I still like the taste of grilled terubok.