Kampong Bahru - More

A week or two before the celebrations the womenfolk start to get ready. Apart from the daily routine of preparing food, washing, cleaning and sweeping the compound (with brooms made out of coconut leaf sticks-more of this later about various things that could be made using materials out of the coconut tree.). After the breaking of the Fast the family would usually sit around the eating area (at the varendah) to discuss the forthcomng festivities. Topics would be the usual - what to make and what new items to be bought. Usually the items to be bought are the change of net curtains at the windows (old ones are still left hanging for a year until their brought down), new dresses (baju kurong,etc) and new equipment to get. The ordinary folk would shop at Batu Road, Chow Kit Road,or Petaling Street. Some of the well to do families would shop at Robinsons and Whiteways (two prominent British stores frequented by the expats) and get baking equipment such as weighing scales, cake tins, portable ovens (thermostatically controlled) and genuine British made baking ingrediants such as tinned butter, essence of vanilla, currants, raisins and cherries.

These two stores are the places to be seen. It shows affluence. Net curtains are bought by the yard usually from Globe Silk Stores, cut to size and sown using the newly bought portable hand-cranked sewing machine. I remembered hand cranking the machine helping my mother or auntie sewing the curtains. I felt great to be able to do that. Sometime, in my enthusiasm, I would crank the handle a bit fast so much so the thread would go out of sync or the needle would break. In later years the Singer Sewing Mchine Company started their outlets and their electric sewing machines became popular.

In my household, I remembered that we didnt have an electric oven to bake. My mother came up with the novel idea of making an 'oven'. The oven was fashioned from a big rectangular kerosene can which was cut into two separate parts. Three quarters of the can was the bottom part -main oven - placed over a brick stand and the quarter part was inverted and formed the top of the oven. Fire for baking was derived from the use of charcoal or dried coconut husks which were cost free. The drawback was that the burning husks produces a lot of smoke and there were a lot of tears by those that were baking the cakes. The main delicacies - cakes and home made items such as ketupat with peanut sauce, beef and chicken rendang.

Ketupat is uniquely Malayan (Malaysian now) and is pressed rice. Pre washed rice is stuffed into containers made out of woven coconut leaves, immersed into a big pot and boiled until done. I was able to fashion the smal containers then but I dont think I am able to do it now. Lemang, another delicacy is made from glutinous rice which are filled into specially fashioned hollow green bamboo sections, placed upright very near a wooden fire until the rice was cooked.