breakfast sold at our doorstep

come to think of it, in some ways we were quite spoilt during those kampong days. i remember this wiry old lady from the next kampong, lorong sinaran, who would come around in the morning with a cane basket slung over her shoulders. she moved from door to door to sell breakfast items like chye tow kueh (carrot cake), longkow (monsoon drain) kuay, you tiao and 'rockets'.

although those items that i have mentioned were all fried stuff, she also had non-fried food to offer, like ang koo kueh, pak tong kou and the colourful nine-layered kueh.

in those days, each item could not have cost more than ten cents. we did not have the means to eat such stuff every day. our usual morning breakfast consisted of french loaf (cheam tow roti) which we dipped in black coffee (kopi oh). whenever there were some festive celebrations, then we would get to eat home-made ang koo kueh and huat kueh.

somedays we had slices of no-brand white bread on which we spread planta margarine or kaya. no butter for us because it was considered a luxury item.