My most nostalgic memory growing up

This post is partly for



and partly cos I'm missing home.

I guess I can’t quite pick my most nostalgic memory growing up in Singapore at the moment. It’s not really easy when I’ve just eaten pandan coconut gelato on Lygon Street in Melbourne. And it tastes just like my mom’s pandan kueh which she hasn’t made in the longest time, then she had to suddenly decide to make them this recent Chinese New Year straight after I had to leave for Australia to study. It’s been a few months but I already miss Singapore. I didn’t realise I’d miss home so much till I came here.

I’m gonna miss the first NDP on floats, the building of the biggest ferris wheel ever, AND the F1 race. What horrid timing I have. And after that pandan coconut gelato, to try and decide my MOST nostalgic memory is gonna be impossible. It’s just a big blur lovely collage.

My parents used to drop my elder brother and I off at my grandma’s place over the weekend so they could spend time with each other without us toddlers being a nuisance. Furthest back I could remember was when I was about 2 or 3 years old. My cousin who’s the same age as me used to stay with my grandma too so he was my playmate as well.

The little patch of garden with the overgrown weeds and the rusty metal gate that was never locked used to be our little patch of heaven. I remember there was this plastic container that used to catch the water from the leaky faucet in the corner. There was always just that bit of water in it and we used to pretend it was soup. We’d plonk scoops of wet soil into it and top it up with weeds, twigs, leaves and anything disgusting looking we could find in the garden to use as ingredients. I remember bringing the container into the living room, trying hard not to make a trail of mess, just to show our grandma our lovely concoction. And then we’d just get yelled at to get that mess outside.

We used to go to the backyard and hang out with our grandma’s help, Imelda. She used to always had a pack of some keropok whenever she was having a break there and she’d always offer us some. My favourite was super ring. I remember my parents never allowed us to snack so we’d always have to sneak around when Imelda offered hers to us. I remember trying to see how many rings I could fit on my little finger before popping em one by one into my mouth. I remember my orange stained fingers and how Imelda had to always clean off the orange from my mouth before we ran back into house.

I remember the playground and the neighbourhood before it got renovated and became all modernised. Years later, I remember waiting for the school bus under our HDB block. I remember counting out my coins from my pocket money to see how many “5 for 10c” sweets I could get from the Mama shop. And if I happened to have spare change, I’d get sweets AND seaweed. Oh gosh, those lovely packets of super salty seaweed… I remember how the friendly uncle would sometimes give me free sweets when he saw me counting my money and hesitating cos I didn’t have enough.

Ohh I remember 10 cents Hero cake all hard and crumbly and covered with chocolate, packets of animal biscuit, vanilla ice cream covered with lime popsicle... I had a really great childhood… a really great one with really great snacks which I really miss right now. But at least thinking about my childhood always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I’ll be going to Chinatown soon to try and find me some nostalgic Asian snacks tomorrow. Wish me luck.