HR advice from a retired Human Resource Practitioner

It would seem the Human Resource Management is Common Sense unfortunately common sense is never common.


Advice for HR Practitioners

* Never allow the HR function in your organization to be relegated to an administrative function. It is more than signing annual leave forms, churning out worthless weekly manpower reports which no one reads or making sure the cookie jar in the staff rest room is filled.

* Always treat the people you encounter the way you want to be treated.

* Always be "available" for employees. Do not answer the phone when you are "dealing" with someone; give the individual your 100% attention.

* You are the "balance" between Management and Employees. Maintain it.


* Always maintain your integrity. If no one trusts you, you cannot do your work effectively.


* Never make promises you cannot keep.


* Never be afraid to make difficult or unpopular decisions if you know it's for the benefit of the organization and / or employees.

* You will never satisfy 100% ; use the 80 / 20 rule.

* Never be afraid to say you don;t know and that you will find out. Don;t try to "wing it"; you will be "caught". Make sure you get back to the person with the info asap, if not your integrity will be shot.

* Don't build boundaries for yourself. For example when you have to recruit for a specific position, don't start out by excluding certain groups of people ( aka discrimination); female, handicapped; 50-somethings

* Hire the best person for the job. When I was working for Apple Computer, it was refreshing to see that the Company believed wholeheartedly in this. The best person for the job was not the person who was technically the best , neither was he/she the one with the most experience either. We had an English major heading the Engineering Department and an experienced supply management person doing HR. We tend to "hire with blinkers". Part of the problem is convincing the Hiring Manager that the person is suitable for the job. As an HR professional thats your job.

HR Advice for All :

* Learn to "play the game"; don;t fight the system; you will lose. If you don;t like the game , then leave for another organization ( game) .

* Get a mentor.

* Never leave a job without another one lined up.

* Severance or Retrenchment benefits don't last that long. It may seem like a large nest egg at first , but it's not, unless we're talking about "golden parachutes" that are in the millions of $ but other than the CEO who gets those ? .

* When you are faced with retrenchment always remember closed doors , open others. Look at possibilites that you never imagined............be creative; hobbies can be turned into successful businesses.

* Don't stay unemployed for too long; it will be difficult to go back into the job market. Potential employers have a "problem" with this; although I don;t know why.

* Don't burn bridges. Singapore is very small ; remember the six degrees of separation rule ( Google it if you don;t know what I'm talking about)

* Take on whatever projects your boss hands you; bosses like "gung ho" staff and guess who will be remembered when its time for promotions?

* Unfortunately the boss IS always right but in the "rare" instance where he/she is not , don;t state the obvious...........just let it slide.......pointing out your boss's mistake

is NOT a good career move.

Heaven is..............

Have you ever wondered about this "place" called Heaven? Is it really a place in the sky somewhere, surrounded by clouds with angels flying around ? Well, thats how its always portrayed in pictures and movies. I believe its a place very much like our earth with trees and rivers and flowers BUT with one big difference.............the souls "inhabiting" it. Forget the concept of angels and flying around with wings on your back............that's Hollywood. I believe we will not have physical bodies and one "concept" that will be totally different will be the concept of space and time. How often have you heard people say especially us Christians that when someone dies we will meet again in heaven. Many times we think in terms of what we understand that to mean here on earth. We expect that the people we meet in heaven will be exactly the same as when we had last remembered them to be before they died. Will we meet grandpa as he was when he died , all old and decrepid ? He died when I was 6 years old so how will he recognize me now that I'm a lot older? I think we will "meet" as souls. The meeting will be the meeting of memories. It will be 2 souls meeting and they can meet as children, young adults or old people; it doesn;t really matter then will it? Time and space will have little meaning because your soul can be anywhere at anytime. Think about the concept of "beam me up Scotty" on Star Trek. You can be anywhere , anytime with whoever you want to be with. You can be 10, 50 , 100 places at the same time.
So if there's a heaven is there a hell ? I want to think that there'll be more of a "holding" place where people may be given the chance to "redeem" themselves. Maybe that's where reincarnation comes in. Maybe we will get reborn if we aren;t good enough for heaven. Have you ever thought maybe our lives on earth are our own "hellish" experience. Our lives on earth are a chance to do good and maybe redeem ourselves. So, could earth actually be Hell? Well, maybe not Hell but Purgatory where we're supposed to "redeem" ourselves. Which then begs the question......so why do some die at child birth ( a mistake?) and some live to be 100 ? So will we be reborn as cockroaches? I dont know. It'll be kind of difficult to redeem yourself if you came back as a cockroach. Which brings us right back to the age-old question of the meaning of life. What are we doing here? There must be a reason why we're here. I guess that'll be another posting..................

Exciting Things to do in San Francisco

* Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 & Ghiradelli Square



* Shopping at Union Square - Macy's , Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus



* Shopping at the Outlet Mall at Gilroy



* The San Jose Flea Market at Berryessa Road



* The Golden Gate Bridge



* Lombard Street



* Ride the Tram



* Sausalito



* Muir Woods


* Stinson Beach



* Carmel



* 17 Mile Drive



* The Castro



* Twin Peaks



* Beach Blanket Babylon ( needs advanced booking)



* Alcatraz (day or night tours; needs advanced booking)



* Coit Tower



* The Painted Ladies ( Alamo Square)





* Goldern Gate Park ( Japanese Garden; Conservatory of Flowers; the AIDs memorial grove; Stow Lake; golden gate park windmills; the De Young Museum )





* Chinatown - Chinatown backalley tour ( www.chinatownalleywaytours.org)





* Japantown





* Clement Street ( the second Chinatown )

Friends

How many of you have friends whom you have known since you were little? I can count the number of such friends on one hand which is really sad. I often wonder what ever became of some of them. I only have 2 friends whom I've known since primary school with whom I am still in contact with , Vincent and Edmund and even these 2 I rarely meet. I guess we grow apart when we start leading our own lives and different interests pull us away from one another.
I remember I "lost" my best friend in primary 3 when one day my teacher walked into class and announced that all students who lived in postal district 12 ( in those days it was only 2 digits) had to leave the school and go to a school neaerer their homes. My first reaction was whew! I live in district 11 thank God and then in the next instant I realized that my best friend Ng Beng Hwee lived in district 12; Oh No!!! We promised to call and write and exchanged telephone numbers and addresses. I think we made 2 phonecalls and exchanged one letter. I never saw or heard from Beng Hwee again.
In primary 4 , I lost another classmate , Koji Aiba. Koji was an expat kid. He was always so clean and neat and tidy. He wore these really expensive looking school uniforms ; well they looked and felt different from the starched cotton uniforms the rest of us wore. I figured his parents probably bought his uniforms in Japan. He left the school too after a couple of years. I guess his father got transfered back to Japan. We exchanged addresses but never wrote.
And then there was KC; my best friend in Secondary 1. He was physically the biggest boy in class. It was always good to have the biggest boy in class as your best friend ; you were never bullied. KC came from a very rich family. He was dropped off at school in a big shiny black mercedes with a driver and he lived in a HUMONGOUS house in Queen Astrid Park. BUT you would never know he was a rich kid when you met him. He is the most humble person I have ever known and he never ever flashed his wealth. KC left Singapore in Secondary 2 when his parents sent him to boarding school in Geelong, Australia.I remember wishing then that my parents were rich enough to send me to Geelong too but I knew they couldn't. So I said goodbye to my best friend once again. I gave him a vinyl record ( remember those black disks with a hole in the center? the CDs of our time hahahha) of the Titbits ( a 3 girl group that had just won the RTS Talentime). KC was in "love" with one of them ; I think her name was Bernadette deSouza. KC and I exchanged several letters and then I never heard from him. Last I heard , KC married a top Japanese geisha and now lives and works in Hong Kong running his father's empire but is totally "inaccessible" because of his social position and standing.
My friends tend to be "clustered" according to periods in my life.....from Anglo Chinese School days, from University of Singapore days, from Webster University in Geneva, Switzerland days,from San Francisco days, from the different organizations I've worked for and from all the periods in between. Every one of my friends is special to me because they bring back different memories both good and bad; happy and sad. So, if you have any friends you've had for a long time; treasure them because they are like rare gems and very hard to come by and once lost they may be gone forever.

My Favourite Poems

Robert Frost (1874–1963)

The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.


I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.



Do Not Stand & Weep - Mary Frye 1932

Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush; I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there; I did not die.

Gone From My Sight by Henry Van Dyke
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speckof white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"
Gone where?
Gone from my sight. That is all.
She is just as large in mast,hull and spar as she was when she left my side.And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone," there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"
And that is Dying.


FRIENDSHIP by Maryanne Radmacher-Hershey

In those quiet hours
when dreams are born
and restless visions haze:
in that sleepy place
I step out and walk
through a timeless maze.
it's at this place
where I see your face:
your image lingers there
I walk the places we have walked
And remember sweetly
where we've talked
of princes, kingdoms,
pain, thoughts of growing old
and wisdom
bought at the price of our youth.
In those quiet hours
I think of you

My Favorite Restaurants in San Francisco

Sunflower Restaurant ( Vietnamese ) ( Cheap and Good)
506 Valencia Street ( at 16th Street)
Tel (415) 626 5023

Manivanh Thai Restaurant ( not your average Thai dishes, different, very good)
2732 24th Street ( at Potrero Street)
Tel (415) 824 6059 ( closed on Sundays)

New Aux Delices Vietnamese Restaurant ( excellent Vietnamese food at low prices; try the Vietnamese potstickers a bit like chee cheong fun with meat inside)
1002 Potrero Ave ( at 22nd Street)
Tel (415) 285 3196

Singapore Malaysian Restaurant
( if you're really craving for it.......chicken rice and Penang laksa - quite good )
836 Clement Street
Tel (415) 750 9518

Crustacean ( Euro - Asian ) ( a little pricey but worth it; Crabs and Garlic noodles to die for )
1475 Polk Street ( at California Street)
Tel (415) 776 CRAB

Ton Kiang ( Wonderful Dim Sum; must-try roast duck and crispy prawns)
5821 Geary Blvd( between 22nd & 23rd Ave)
Tel (415) 387 8273

Liverpool Lil's ( Great Pub food)
2942 Lyon Street
Tel (415) 921 6664

Sumi ( Asian Fusion; Small intimate restaurant with great food; try the calamari appetizer )
4243 18th Street ( at Diamond Street )
Tel (415) 626 7864

The Stinking Rose ( anything with garlic even ice cream!that was a little strange)
325 Columbus Ave ( at Broadway)
Tel (415) 781 7673

Burma Superstar ( Wonderful Burmese food , always packed )
309 Clement Street ( Between 4th & 5th Street)
Tel (415) 387 2147

Le Charm Bistro ( Excellent French at reasonable prices)
315 5th Street
Tel (415) 546 6128

St. Francis Soda Fountain ( Great shakes, burgers etc)
2807 24th Street
Tel (415) 826 4200

E&O Trading Company ( Asian Fusion - interesting twist to asian dishes; try the corn fritters appetizer)
314 Sutter Street
Tel (415) 693 0303

The Slanted Door ( Vietnamese Fusion; try the shaking beef its really good)
at the Ferry Building

Ceramic Painting for Kids

Ideal for Kids' parties.
Each child will paint 2 pieces which will be fired and returned to them
Minimum group size of 8
All art materials and ceramics provided
$25 per child ( includes the cost of firing)
Call 98304184 for details

Things that BUG me

* When you're in the queue at the supermarket check out and you're the next in line to be served with a long line behind you and they open a new register and the cashier doesn't say " Can I serve the next in line, please" but takes the first clown who rushes over to her !!! Aaarrgghhh!!!
* Annoying people who don't switch off their cellphones when they're in the movie theatre and it starts ringing usually during the quietest part of the movie or during the most significant part. This happens in church, at plays etc etc and no matter how many times they remind folks at the start of the performance...........they just don't care.
* More annoying people who answer calls in the movie theatre and start a whispering conversation.........DUH! we can still hear you!!!
* and the most annoying people who start text messaging in the movie theatre..........the light from the cellphone screen is ANNOYING STUPID!!!
* People who speak very loudly on the cellphone so the whole room can hear their conversation.
* Walking behind someone who's smoking ........yuk! cough! cough! choke! choke!
* People who block the door of the lift trying to get in and not allowing those inside to exit first; this also happens on the MRT.
* People who taste the fruit before they buy it ; ok I think it's alright if they take one grape or one longan just to see if its sweet but have you seen those people standing there making a meal of it!! Check out the Giant supermarkets especially when they have a new arrival of longans.........its totally disgusting.
* Annoying taxi drivers who stop to pick up a fare the minute they spot someone and I mean really just slam on the brakes with total disregard for the cars behind them. Never mind the double yellow lines at the side of the road or the bus lane etc etc I have a living to make!! you hit me from behind , its your fault.
* Bicycle riders with total disregard for other road users. How often have you seen bicycle riders actually stop at a traffic light? Chances are they will look right and left and ride on through if there is no traffic; never mind if the light is red.
* Bicycle riders who wear dark colours and ride at either dawn or dusk.............stupid!
* Joggers who wear dark colours whilst jogging and jog on the road instead of on the pavement!
* Dog owners who walk their dogs and don't scoop the poop! Disgusting!
* Dog owners who don;t obey the leash laws; oh! my dog is well trained and will never bite anyone.....yeah right..........famous last words my friend.
* Cat lovers who feed strays.........you love them so much , bring them home and feed them in your own back yard or apartment.
* People who smoke where they're not supposed to.
* People who park where they;re not supposed to.
* Drivers who don;t signal when they're turning left or right.
* Drivers who tailgate.
* Drivers who drive really slow in the right lane.
* Recruiters who think that people over 50 years old are not employable; Hey! 50 is the new 40. You're also getting all that invaluable work experience, what are you talking about?!
* Parents who let their kids pee in drains or worse than that into wash basins in public bathrooms. YUKS!
* Bad service at restaurants or at any retail outlet for that matter.

OK I better stop here or I'll sound like a whinning old fart!!

Law Enforcement

Do you know why "everything" seems so efficient in Singapore? That's because of all the laws, rules and regulations we have AND all these laws etc are ENFORCED. OK that was in the past because today it seems like the laws , rules and regulations are still around BUT nothing seems to be enforced these days. Look at the number of people "caught" eating on MRT trains or the number of traffic offenders who get away scott-free. If you don;t believe me, go to www.stomp.com.sg and check out the sections "Motoring Goondus "or "Ugly Communters". I have always wondered how someone could go about making a citizen's arrest. I'm not sure if submitting a picture or video of someone committing an offence is good enough for the police or the relevant authority to make an arrest or issue a summons. Maybe one of you lawyers out there can provide an answer to this. I have always wanted to just spend one hour driving around Singapore video taping traffic offences and submitting it to the traffic police. This would make for a great reality show but that's another "topic" which I shall share with you another time.

Like those litter bugs doing the corrective work order ie. sweeping the streets; I think folks caught eating on the MRT should be made to spend sometime "roaming" the trains "catching" people eating and issuing them with fines and they could also clean the trains and the stations as part of the punishment.They could wear bright red or orange t-shirts with the words "Reformed MRT Eater " hahahha!

The bottom line is that we can have all the laws, rules and regulations in the world but if they are not enforced then they are completely useless and not worth the paper they are written on. It goes for traffic signs too. How many times have you seen cars caught in the yellow box at traffic junctions. What yellow lines? Are there yellow lines painted on the road? Gee I never saw any!! How many times have you seen someone make an illegal U-turn right next to a "No U-Turn" sign. My condo has a "NO STOPPING OR WAITING HERE" sign in RED at a blind corner. I cannot tell you how many drivers I have screamed at " READ THE SIGN STUPID!!" as they nonchalantly wait right next to the sign.

The excuse that enforcement is difficult because there is just not enough manpower is getting old. Deputize retirees or employ private agencies like Cisco to do the work. The relevant authorities could do "blitzes" or "raids" once in a while, like my suggestion of just driving around ( preferably in unmarked cars) , armed with a camera or video camera or just issue tickets as they go along. Its sad that the only way folks are going to learn is when their pockets are hit. Maybe thats how we in Singapore have been "programmed" to learn........but thats another topic.

Recipes

Teck's Patah Chilli ( Sweet & Spicy Fish Soup)
From my Dad's cookbook........
Ingredients :
1 largefish cut into half( whole fish any kind but best to use red fish or ikan kurau)
1 cup tamarind juice
3 or 4 pieces of ripe pineapple cut into bite-sized pieces
one stalk lemon grass
Sugar and salt to taste
Items to be blended :
2 candlenuts ( buah keras)
2 red chillis
half an onion
1 small piece of shrimp paste ( Belachan)
Method :
Boil 2 pints of water. When water starts to boil, add all the blended ingredients and lemon grass and continue boiling for 3 minutes. Add the tamarind juice, pineapple and fish. Add sugar and salt to taste. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 3 minutes or till fish is cooked. The gravy should be light and watery and taste slightly on the sweet side.


Rendang
Ingredients
1 tsp shrimp paste ( belachan)
1 kg rump steak ( beef/chicken/mutton )
1 stalk lemon grass

---- mixed together ----
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soya sauce

------------------------
3 stalk lemon grass - sliced thinly
120gms grated coconut - fried and pounded
4 slices galangal
5 candlenuts
Ground 2 tbsp curry power - blended with 2 tbsps water

---- ground together ----
30 dried chillies
120 gms shallots
4 red chillies
1 clove garlic
2 cm pieces of ginger

-------------------------
1/2 cup thick coconut milk - extracted from 1/2 grated coconut
8 tbsps oil

Marinate shrimp paste ( belachan) , Lemongrass and Steak and set aside.
Heat oil and fry ground ingredients and curry powder until fragrant Add in half of the coconut milk and fry until the oil separates Add in the soya sauce mixture and marinated steak. Add in also the fried grated coconut and lemon grass. Stir fry for 10 minutes. Pour in the rest of the coconut milk and simmer until the meat is tender, for about 1 hour. Increase heat to reduce gravy until it is thick and oily.


Sherry Triffle
Ingredients :
1 pound cake ( Sara Lee or any other )
2 large cans of mixed fruit in syrup
1 pint of milk
4 heaped table spoons Custard powder ( Bird's)
Sugar
Sherry
1 small carton of whipping cream

Method:
Cut the pound cake into 1" thick slices and line the base of a pan apprx. 7" x 10"Soak the cake with sherry ( use as much or as little as you like but don;t make the cake too soggy) . Drain the syrup from the canned fruit and spread the fruit on top of the sherry-soaked cake. You can add any tyoe of fruit you like to it like strawberries or blueberries. Set aside.Make the custard by mixing 4 heaped tablespoons of custard powder with 1 pint of milk. Make sure the powder is all dissolved in the cold milk before turning on the heat or you will end up with lumpy custard. Add sugar to the mixture ( as sweet as you a want it to be). On low heat and constantly stirring the custard , bring to a boil. The mixture will thicken as the custard starts to boil. Take it off the heat when it starts to boil and pour the custard on the fruit and cake . Leave it to cool.Whip the cream adding 2 tablespoons of sugar to it. Spoon it or pipe it over the cooled down custard. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.



Tiramisu
Ingredients :
1lb. mascarpone cheese
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons rum (or brandy)
20 lady's fingers (a light, oblong italian cookie with powdered sugar on one side)
cocoa powder
double shot of espresso
1/2 cup of coffee
shavings of unsweetened dark chocolate to top (1 oz.)
Method :
Chill whipping cream and bowl. Mix coffee and espresso and chill.Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks.Put the cheese, sugar, and brandy into a medium bowl and mix until smooth. Add more sugar or alcohol as desired. Fold in whipping cream to create cheese mixture.Soak lady fingers in espresso for a couple seconds, rotating to coat all sides. Place lady fingers side by side on bottom of a 7x7 pan.Put half the cheese mixture on lady fingers in pan. Smooth with a spatula or spoon. Sift cocoa powder liberally on surface of layer.Apply second layer of lady fingers and remaining cheese. Sift cocoa powder and half of chocolate shavings.Cover in plastic wrap and chill.
To serve, use the remaining chocolate shavings by sprinkling a bit onto eight plates. Cut tiramisu into eight rectangles and serve on plates (or simply spoon them out).Basic Tiramisu (serves 8)

Sambal Tumis
( Versatile chilli paste which can be used for a variety of purposes like eaten with Nasi Lemak , stir fried with squid or vegetables and also as a base for Mee Siam)
Blend the following :
12-15 Red Chillis
one 2"cube of blachan ( shrimp paste)
4 -6 small onions

Heat some oil in a wok; add blended ingredients; fry till fragrant ( 2-3 minutes) add about 1 cup of Assam water ( Tamarind juice) + Sugar and salt to taste. Keep stirring until the most of the moisture in the mixture eveaporates leaving a thick chilli paste. Cool down and bottle. Keep refrigerated.


Tempura Batter
2 cups plain flour
1 cup corn flour
Iced water or cold soda water
Salt to taste
The texture of the batter should not be too smooth or runny.


Cioppino
( Fish & Seafood Stew)

Prawns, fish , crabs, clams, mussles, squid ( get enough for as many people you are feeding)
Broth:
1 large onion diced
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 can tomatoes diced
2-4 cups of fish ( or chiicken) stock
dash of sherry or white wine
2 bay leaves

Place all ingredients in a large pot and cook for 20 minutes. Add shellfish to broth 3 minutes before serving. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top.

Cooking the Peranakan Way

Growing up in a Peranakan household, I've always been fascinated with cooking and the activities that went on in the kitchen. As children my brother and I spent our school vacations with our maternal grandmother in Malacca. She lived in a typical Malaccan house made of brick and wood and surrounded by a Malay kampong. It was also located by the sea. The kitchen was a shed built next to the main house. I guess in today's context it would be called a wet kitchen. All the cooking was done on a brick stove kindled by a wood fire. I can still see the blackened pot of water on the stove and remember fondly all the wonderful dishes that were turned out from that rustic kitchen. There was duck in chilli sauce that was hot and sweet at the same time ; soy sauce chicken with the soy sauce that was dark and thick and delicious; dishes that made meal times an experience you remembered the rest of your life.
My mum brought those recipes to Singapore after she married my dad over 50 years ago and today at age 87 she still cooks them with the same passion her mother used to. I have time and again tried to get her to write those recipes down but if you know what Peranakan cooks are like you will understand how difficult it is to get the exact recipe on paper. A pinch of this and a dash of that; how much is a pinch or how many grams is that? Well, its a near impossible task and the only advice my mother gave me was that cooking skills come with practice. It is something you develop yourself. Every Peranakan cook has his or her version of a particular dish. It is like "personalizing" every dish. I have yet to hear one Perankan cook praise another's cooking. Each nyonya thinks her version is the best. Every buah keluak or babi pongteh dish is different. The basic taste is there but each person adds something that makes it his or her own. Peranakan cooking is very communal and best cooked in large portions. It involves many ingredients, most of which are not easy to find especially when you don;t know what you're looking for.
My father was an avid cook too and when he got the chance ( when my mum was not in the kitchen) he would whip up dishes of his own. The greatest lesson I learned from my mum is that a good cook is able to improvise and to make do with ingredients at hand to whip up dishes that are in everyway as tasty as the original. Using canned and bottled spices and mixes helps cut down a lot of the preparation time. Ok so it's "cheating" but it sure helps when you;re like me , someone who just wants a meal that's easy to prepare and looks and tastes great. Today you can get ready to use Peranakan mixes in almost every supermarket which makes it a breeze to cook your favourite Peranakan dishes. Don't be afraid to try cooking whatever tickles your taste buds; who knows, maybe you'll come up with your own special version of a timeless Peranakan dish.
Happy Cooking !

Such a Heroine.........She can hold her head up

Corina Zheng has lost five siblings to the same disease that has nowParalysed her, but that is no reason for her to wallow in self-pity HE WAS in the intensive care unit of Eastshore Hospital when I called his home last year.Mr Cheng Chit Lam was an ice-cream seller. He was a familiar face inNewton and Bukit Timah where he plied his trade for nearly 45 years. Several generations of Singaporeans - past and present residents ofThese areas - have bought Cornettos, Eskimo Pies and popsicles from the friendly old man with the very kind face.I heard he had a disabled daughter and wanted to meet him to see if he would make an interesting story. We never met. Mr Cheng died after an 86-day stay in the hospital, from complications stemming from excessive fluids in his brain. I found out later that he and his wife Madam Sze Hiang Kim, 71, hadEight children but lost five of them. Of the surviving three, one - 50-year-old Teow Hoon - is adopted and a deaf mute. She is a cleaner at a health food company.Poh Huat is 45 and works as a driver.And then there is Corina, 42, who suffers from Werdnig Hoffman, a Disease where the spinal nerve cells and brain nerve cells degenerate, leading to atrophy of skeletal muscles and flaccid paralysis. Corina's five other siblings succumbed to the disease. Three of them -including her twin brother - died when they were just two years old. One died at six. Corina's eldest sister Poh Ngoh lived the longest; she died in 1980 when she was 22. 'When my father was in hospital, he gave instructions not to drag or delay his death with prolonged medical treatment. He was worried about me and my mother, he didn't want us to waste money,' Corina says. She describes the late ice-cream seller as someone who always put his family first.'Someone once told him that mutton was good for the muscles. So when I was about seven or eight, he'd spend a lot of hard earned money going to Tekka market, buying mutton and special herbs. 'My mother would boil them and I'd drink them. Well, it helped. I could walk by using the wall as support for about a year. Then, I fell very ill with a lung infection at eight. They thought I'd die,' she says. Today, Corina has lost all use of her limbs. She can't even turn her head. Her hands and legs are deformed and lifeless but her voice has a Vivacious quality - it is loud and chirpy. She spends her days and nights lying on a thin piece of bedding in the middle of her humble but spotlessly clean three-room HDB flat in Geylang Bahru. She only leaves her home when she has to go to the hospital, in an ambulance. Her mother patiently and selflessly tends to her every need – feeding her, bathing her, propping her up when her daughter wants to read her Bible or the newspapers. Madam Wee has been doing this for nearly three decades ever since her daughter left the Singapore Red Cross Home at 13 after living there for three years. Although Corina never had any formal education, she speaks English, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew. 'My sister taught me how to read and write when she was alive. I also upgraded myself by reading the newspapers and the Bible. 'She said literacy can help a handicapped person get knowledge, widen the mind, make you think better and communicate with people who can't speak our language. She said education is the only thing we can take to our grave.'INDEED, despite her condition, she is the wise counsel of the house. She translates all letters for the family and takes care of all official correspondence. When her father was alive, she handled his accounts. She even taught her illiterate mother how to type 10 years ago. 'I told her to look at each key on the keyboard and tell me what it reminds her of. She said the letter S' reminded her of a snake, C' a half moon and ?' an inverted fish hook,' she recalls. Very painstakingly, they established a system. Today, Madam Wee - anextremely quiet and dignified woman - types all her daughter's cards and letters. The 71-year-old smiles a sad, weary smile and says in Cantonese: 'I have to look after her. If I didn't look after her, who would? 'We can't blame others for the way things have turned out. We can only blame ourselves. Maybe our lives are not good.' There is a lot of sorrow behind her stoicism. 'My well has dried up, I have no more tears to shed,' she says even as a watery film clouds her eyes.'I didn't want to have any more children after the first few but the doctor kept telling us to try. Maybe the next one would be normal', he said. 'They were all born healthy and bouncy but after eight or nine months, their spine would go soft,' she says. She looks away when Corina relates a story.'Once my mother bought a roast duck from the market and gave a small piece to our neighbour's son who was hungry. When the neighbour saw this, she grabbed the piece of meat and threw it away.'She told her son not to eat it. She said that if he did, he would end up like us. Some neighbours also said our parents did bad things in their previous lives,' she recalls without any bitterness. Corina herself is a lot more philosophical.'It's God's will. People with this condition don't live long. But I'm still here,' she says with an ironic laugh. She's no alarmist either. Her father's life savings were wiped out by his huge hospital bill. Corina herself has no assistance from the authorities. 'All my father's children died in a government hospital so he was very adamant that I be treated in a private hospital when I got ill. Because of that, I don't qualify for any official subsidies or schemes.' They get by with a small payout from an Eldershield insurance policy and her father's savings. Her married brother - who has decided not to have children for fear they would have Werdnig Hoffman - and her deaf mute sister help out when they can.'My deaf sister doesn't earn much and she also has her own medical bills to take care of.' Corina will 'cross that bridge' when the savings run out. 'Who knows if I will live that long? If I have to go to a home, I will.' Right now, she leads a peaceful existence with her mother and deaf-mute sister. She wakes up every morning at the crack of dawn and goes to bed at 11.30pm. In the day, 'I read, do some financial planning, figure out how much we need for the next month's expenses and ways to scrimp and save'. 'Or I get my mother to type letters to my friends.' At night, she watches the news and crime dramas. 'I like CSI and Law And Order. I don't like Chinese TV serials. They are all the same, they offer nothing new.' She has a hobby: collecting wedding photos.She has enough pictures - from friends and relatives - to fill 1 ½ albums. 'Wedding pictures are beautiful. Everyone looks beautiful.' Blessed with a sly wit and a wicked sense of humour, Corina has nohang-ups about death and mortality. 'My mother and I have talked about it. Death is like paying a very long bill. It's not easy to pay but once it's cleared, all your debts are gone,' she quips. Letting out a loud cackle, she adds: 'You know, since I do everything around here, I probably have to arrange my own funeral as well.' Here are the details if you or your friends would like to help corinaand her mom. please make a crossed cheque out to Cheng Poh Eng (Corina's Chinese name)and send it to: Ms Iris KohHead, AdminStraits Times News DeskSingapore Press Holdings1000 Toa Payoh NorthNews CentreSingapore 318994
Article written by Wong Kim Hoh

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Death of the Peranakan Culture

Death of the Peranakan Culture How many times have you been to a Peranakan play in Singapore and lamented the fact that the average age in the theatre was about 75 ? The culture is dying and if nothing is done right now to check the decline ; all that will be left at the end of the decade will be Peranakan stuff in the Asian Civilization Museum. The Peranakan Association is hardly operational let alone "breathing". It seems like all it does these days is to organize one maybe two gatherings for the "old folks" to joget the night away. Other than that nothing else is done to keep the culture alive; even the website is "dead". It’s hardly updated and no one bothers with the rants and raves posted on it. Our children are not into the culture at all. They don’t even speak the language anymore and the cuisine is something that will soon become only available in specialty restaurants and you know how that tastes compared to the genuine home-cooked meals. The Government does nothing to preserve this culture which they ( The Tourist Promiton Board) shamelessly tout as being uniquely Singapore. Maybe they want it to “die”; didn’t someone say that dead things were more appreciated. Nothing is done in the schools to promote the culture. School-going kids today are required to learn their mother toungue but the assumption is that all Chinese speak Mandarin. Wrong!! Peranakan or Straits - born Chinese speak a patois but it would not be wrong to say that the Peranakan language is probably closer to the Malay language than to Chinese. So being “forced” to learn Chinese in school, Chinese peranakan children no longer understand the language of their forefathers. Why children from Perankan backgrounds were not offered the choice of learning Malay instead of Chinese is something beyond my comprehension. Language is the key to sustaining a culture; without it the Culture is doomed.
Labels: culture, language, Peranakan, Peranakan Association