childhood memes - food
I've been tagged by Kirk to do a meme on my childhood memories of foods. When I first started this entry, I thought this is going to be really amusing because I grew up without junk food in the house. I'm not going to be the typical american adult writing about cookies and cakes that Mom bakes. I started to grapple with some of the most primal memories I had with food and surprisingly they're not necessarily all good memories. But I wrote them all down, good and bad since I think it's what makes food memories so interesting!
1. Cheong Fun -- my absolute favorite favorite food in the world. I will fight you for the last bite! When I left Hawaii for the mainland, I made a point of learning the name of this particular dim sum dish. This is the one dish I absolutely must have before I leave a dim sum restaurant. (And if your cheong fun sucks, your restaurant sucks!) Cheong fun is essentially really soft rice noodles with a filling inside it. My favorite is the shrimp cheong fun. Another reason why I think this dish is so addicting is because of the sauce that comes with the cheong fun. I still don't know what the sauce is -- but it's similar to soy sauce but on the sweet side. For some reason kids love this dish, I guess because it's so soft and easy to eat. I think there are adults who love it too!
2. Haw Flakes -- I don't actually know what haw is. Considering that we don't eat much junk food at home, I really don't know where I get these haw flakes from -- aka, my kitchen, friends, etc. But I do remember eating them stealthily, and in chinese school, where I get to be a kid without any parental reprisals. Considering that these are not candy, I am amazed at how much I love these things. The haw flakes are neither super sweet or rich. It was just flaky (you had to be careful not to break them up in too many little pieces), one piece fits perfectly on the tongue, and when you bite it, it's nice and chewy. I'm really curious as to whether this is a local thing or a Chinese thing. I'm guessing that like all local things in Hawaii, it's probably both.
3. Condensed Milk on Toast -- for this memory I have to thank my aunty, who is not as strict as my parents are. When I helped her out at her chinese fast-food restaurant, I learned just how tasty condensed milk can be on toast. I was so addicted to this stuff even my aunt warned me not to put so much of it on my toast. This is a very chinese/taiwanese/hong kong dish. I've seen this dish served at a taiwanese boba shop in New York Chinatown. But it's really easy and cheap to make it in your own kitchen. (Plus you can add as much condensed milk as you want!!) Instructions: Open a can of condensed milk, take a spoon and scoop the thick milk onto toast. Open your mouth, bite it and chew!! Condensed milk also goes really well with tea, or even hot water alone!!
4. Chocolate Dream Cake -- I don't usually like cake, so I don't know why the memory of this particular cake sticks out in my mind. It could be the fact that this is the same cake my mom buys for my birthday several years in a row. The chocolate dream cake has white frosting and flat brown confetti-like sprinkles all over. Inside, the cake is just dark brown and moist. I still see it in bakeries in Hawaii -- St. Germain's in Ala Moana, etc. I don't think it's so much the taste of the cake that draws me, but rather the memories of that cake. Birthday cakes were just one of the more happier memories I have of my childhood.
5. 50 cents Nacho and Slush -- I thought of this while riding the bus home from downtown today. When I was in first grade, Fridays was Nachos and Slush day. The JPOs (Junior Public Officers for those of you who didn't go to public school in Hawaii!) had a fundraiser and sold nachos and slush for fifty cents each. I remember watching my classmates wistfully and trying to ignore the fact that they were happily eating nachos and slush. Those were long afternoons waiting for school to end and the buses to arrive to take me away from all the happy people chomping on their food. Despite my woebegone memories of Nachos and Slush Day, I must have had tried a nacho from someone's dish because I remember the nachos being just melted velveeta cheese and chips. I also remember someone throwing up because they had too much slush to eat. (I don't think it was me even though I remember the horror of that sight and teachers getting upset.) I think a little bit of that envy still carries over today. Yeah, you know those people who eat take out food everyday -- I get envious of them since I always bring home lunch. Although my lunches are much healthier and definitely cheaper to make, a crispy, cheesy sandwich packed full of fresh veggies just looks better. I guess some things just never change.
Anyway back to the memes, so I need to write about five memories of foods from my childhood. I also need to do the following: "Remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump every one up one place; add your blog's name in the #5 spot; link to each of the other blogs for the desired cross-pollination effect. Then tag three people and you're over and done with it all."
Ok, that's done. Whew! Now I'll be tagging three people who based on what they've written in the past and/or how quirky they are, I think will have very interested food memories. No links for now until they actually tell me they are willing to do one!- Robin
- Tigercub
- Irieeyes
1. Cheong Fun -- my absolute favorite favorite food in the world. I will fight you for the last bite! When I left Hawaii for the mainland, I made a point of learning the name of this particular dim sum dish. This is the one dish I absolutely must have before I leave a dim sum restaurant. (And if your cheong fun sucks, your restaurant sucks!) Cheong fun is essentially really soft rice noodles with a filling inside it. My favorite is the shrimp cheong fun. Another reason why I think this dish is so addicting is because of the sauce that comes with the cheong fun. I still don't know what the sauce is -- but it's similar to soy sauce but on the sweet side. For some reason kids love this dish, I guess because it's so soft and easy to eat. I think there are adults who love it too!
2. Haw Flakes -- I don't actually know what haw is. Considering that we don't eat much junk food at home, I really don't know where I get these haw flakes from -- aka, my kitchen, friends, etc. But I do remember eating them stealthily, and in chinese school, where I get to be a kid without any parental reprisals. Considering that these are not candy, I am amazed at how much I love these things. The haw flakes are neither super sweet or rich. It was just flaky (you had to be careful not to break them up in too many little pieces), one piece fits perfectly on the tongue, and when you bite it, it's nice and chewy. I'm really curious as to whether this is a local thing or a Chinese thing. I'm guessing that like all local things in Hawaii, it's probably both.
3. Condensed Milk on Toast -- for this memory I have to thank my aunty, who is not as strict as my parents are. When I helped her out at her chinese fast-food restaurant, I learned just how tasty condensed milk can be on toast. I was so addicted to this stuff even my aunt warned me not to put so much of it on my toast. This is a very chinese/taiwanese/hong kong dish. I've seen this dish served at a taiwanese boba shop in New York Chinatown. But it's really easy and cheap to make it in your own kitchen. (Plus you can add as much condensed milk as you want!!) Instructions: Open a can of condensed milk, take a spoon and scoop the thick milk onto toast. Open your mouth, bite it and chew!! Condensed milk also goes really well with tea, or even hot water alone!!
4. Chocolate Dream Cake -- I don't usually like cake, so I don't know why the memory of this particular cake sticks out in my mind. It could be the fact that this is the same cake my mom buys for my birthday several years in a row. The chocolate dream cake has white frosting and flat brown confetti-like sprinkles all over. Inside, the cake is just dark brown and moist. I still see it in bakeries in Hawaii -- St. Germain's in Ala Moana, etc. I don't think it's so much the taste of the cake that draws me, but rather the memories of that cake. Birthday cakes were just one of the more happier memories I have of my childhood.
5. 50 cents Nacho and Slush -- I thought of this while riding the bus home from downtown today. When I was in first grade, Fridays was Nachos and Slush day. The JPOs (Junior Public Officers for those of you who didn't go to public school in Hawaii!) had a fundraiser and sold nachos and slush for fifty cents each. I remember watching my classmates wistfully and trying to ignore the fact that they were happily eating nachos and slush. Those were long afternoons waiting for school to end and the buses to arrive to take me away from all the happy people chomping on their food. Despite my woebegone memories of Nachos and Slush Day, I must have had tried a nacho from someone's dish because I remember the nachos being just melted velveeta cheese and chips. I also remember someone throwing up because they had too much slush to eat. (I don't think it was me even though I remember the horror of that sight and teachers getting upset.) I think a little bit of that envy still carries over today. Yeah, you know those people who eat take out food everyday -- I get envious of them since I always bring home lunch. Although my lunches are much healthier and definitely cheaper to make, a crispy, cheesy sandwich packed full of fresh veggies just looks better. I guess some things just never change.
posted by green beans at 9:26 PM
12 Comments:
I hear you on the shrimp cheung fun! I can inhale several orders of those in one sitting! When we both move back to Hawaii, we'll have to regularly schedule dim sum dates. My tummy is rumbling at the memory of cheung fun! It's one of those dishes you have to order b/c both the fun and the sauce is too complicated to make at home. And Haw Flakes--I think they're made with crab apples, which are cute tart little things. Near Su Zhou, crab apples are abundant, and they sell fruit roll ups, chewy moist candies in cellophane cylinders, and dry haw flakes out of crab apples . Soooooooooo yummy! :) VBL
Crab apples?? how funny!! man, i wonder if i can find haw flakes here in san diego... =)
Cheong fun...yummmy....
You know, as a kid I called cheong fun, "look fun", for some strange reason. So cheong fun is your "gold standard" as Dim Sum places, huh? The Missus knows I love the stuff - she really can't understand why. Great job on this! Thanks for participating.....
Oh, yes...just to date myself. When I was going to school, JPO's were - Junior Police Officers....
Let me fill you in on an ancient Chinese secret - the sauce in Cheong Fun is just sugar mixed with soy sauce. (I used to work at a Chinese restaurant.) It is important to mix in the right proportion. "Lee Kum Kee," the household brand that makes delicious oyster sauce, also sells a special Cheong Fun soy sauce. I bought one.
I like Cheong Fun too, but it is not my favorite dim sum. The one thing that I gauge all dim sum restaurants by is their Egg Tart. The steaming hot custard with the flaky crust must be fresh from the oven. And if the crust is caky instead of flaky, I know the restaurant is cutting corners.
Hey, I cannot agree more with the condensed milk on toast. I thought it's a Hong Kong thing. It is one of the food associations I make with Hong Kong. I just won't have it anywhere else.
Haw Flakes is definitely Chinese. But why local people like it so much really baffles me. Even Dev likes them and he doesn't like anything Chinese. I was never fond of Haw Flakes. I remember when I was little in Hong Kong, the Chinese herbalist would always give me a small pack of Haw Flakes after I drink my medicine - the nasty stinky bitter herbal tea. I hated the herbal tea. Bad memories . . .
-j
Oh Crap! I think it is junior police officers!! I got it wrong! haha!
thanks for the secret tip jane!! i think they sell something similar to cheong fun (but not as soft) in vietnamese markets. you know the soft rolls? they sell them in chinatown too... right next to that place where we can get cheap chinese noodles, across of the aloha butcher market?
anyway if i come across rice rolls again, i'll buy them and try the sweet sauce. hehe!!
btw, j i agree with you on the dan tat (egg custard) as the supreme test of how good a chinese dim sum restaurant is!! there's one san diego restaurant that satisfies me so far!! i'll take you there if you're interested. and you can see for yourself!!! i'ts my favorite dan tat so far!!
Haw flake definitely a chinese things. This bring back wonderful childhood memories for me. I grow up eating snacks like this. Haw actually is a fruit, very sour. Like a larger version of cranberry kind of sour. Available mostly in winter. Street vendors sell them on a skrew dipped in heavy syurp, hardened because of the cold weather. It is sweet and sour. I have childhood picture to prove it. I was very chubby back then. Haw flakes is the candy version of it I started to eat at least 30 years ago. The package hasn't change a bit. It is sweet, it is sour, fat free as well. You can either eat it a piece at a time or simply bite a whole stack of it. My grandpa used to take to the corner store and buy me one after school. Cost about 10 cents in chinese, which equal to about 1 cent or less here. It was just wonderful. Thank you so much. Now I just have to go to 99 ranch market and get some.
just went to 99 ranch market and bought some haw flakes, it was on sale, package of 10 for 20cents. 2 cents a piece, price sure doubled over 30 years. Forced kirk to eat it the right way in the parking lot. of course he did it all wrong. wasted bunch for me. Bring back wonderful memories. all the sudden felt like a little girl again. holding grandpa's hands, rosy cheek from the wind, wipe my running nose with back of the hand. nowday, they would think I have rosesa and sinus problem. Thanks again.
wow! thanks for the info on haw flakes, yi! i actually bought haw flakes two weekends ago! i was so psyched to find them at ranch 99 on sale!!
i love haw flakes-- there's nothing else like it!! i love eating it piece by piece!
thanks for reading and writing!
Hi Annie - My Wife read the Meme, and as you can see she was overcome with nostalgia! Thanks for a wonderful post!
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