THE TASTE OF MEMORY. 5 1/15/2021

 

Technology is amazing. For today’s class we connected from two different continents

and an island. Spica is now in quarantine in her family home in Taipei, Taiwan, I’m in

Sydney, Australia and our students are in Bensonhurst, New York. We are thrilled we

can continue to meet each week even with the huge time differences.

 

Stella and Susanna were busy looking after their grandchildren so were not able to

join our class today, however Stella and grandson Theodore did make a surprise visit!

 

Massaging our faces was a great way to wake us up, especially me at 2am and Spica

at 11pm!! So many of our seniors had tips to add to our facial warm up. By the end weall felt like we’d visited the beautician.

 

Our wonderful students sent us their finished Utensils’ page and we shared these while

listening to their stories. Hui Fen chose a yellow background to feature her rolling pin,

which accompanied her from China to New York, teapot, cup, plate, bowl and spoon.

She wrote her stories inside bananas and apple shapes, which added a playful touch

to her page. She told us it’s important to “drink more tea!” 
 
Jing Wei chose red as the background for chopsticks and holders which have followed

her everywhere. She got them at her son’s wedding, which was held at Taipei 101.

Using them makes her very happy because of this precious memory. She added a lot

of fine detail and delicate shading to all the objects.
 
JuLisa included two mugs. She has had the purple “Best Mom Ever” mug for twenty

years and when it broke her granddaughter replaced it with a green “Crazy Plant Lady”

mug. By doing so she honored the Chinese belief that old things won’t leave unless a

new thing comes. For her second page JuLisa drew the scissors her mother gave her

after she worked in the garment district for forty years. They hold a deep meaning for

her. 
 
Lao Yu decorated her writing with a flowering branch. She drew a selection of spatulas

and strainers he uses daily. She makes soup for her son every day and uses these

utensils to carefully drain off the excess fat. For her second page, Lao Yu drew two

repurposed glass containers which originally contained food and are now used as

mugs for water.
 
Pun burnt her hand cooking and so the family suggested she buy oven mitts. She drew

a brightly colored mitt with a geometric pattern. She added the “cutting board of love”

which her sister, who has now passed gave her. She drew a red heart on it in her memory. 

 
Ru Ping drew a device to grind ginger, which her brother brought back from a trip to

Canada for her. It’s in the shape of a fish with delicately drawn scales. She also added

a large silver for and spoon, which her mother gave her and are used on special

occasions. She has been using the rice bowl for 35 years since she arrived in New York.
 
Sook Fong drew a pair of scissors which she bought in a store in Elizabeth Street to

which her aunt took her three days after she arrived in New York. They cost $15 back

then and she used then every day when she worked in the garment district. The spoon

was a souvenir she got in Spain and now uses for her coffee and the fruit knife she

has had since 1981. 

 
So Sim taught us all hope to make her delicious cakes which featured in her page. She

placed the writing in the center of the page and surrounded it with images of the

finished cakes and the cake steamer she uses. Her sister-in-law gave her the bowls

which she uses to make cakes for Chinese New Year.

 
Today’s lesson focused on Breakfast stories. So many of the seniors now enjoy a

Western style breakfast of oats and toast. Ru Ping grew up in Shanghai and enjoys

rice which she cooks overnight and eats with pickles. Hui Fen, who also grew up in

Shanghai, has now become an American and eats one-minute oats! Pun enjoys a

sandwich with extra crunchy peanut butter and avocado. She also eats Quaker oats

and drinks a cup of coffee. She believes in eating a lot in the morning. Jing Wei is from

Sichuan and although she enjoys spicy food, she also eats oats with nuts and pickles

for breakfast. Her husband however only eats a selection of nuts, which is very good

for his heart.
 
So Sim is experiencing stomach upsets at the moment so sticks to oatmeal and eggs.

JuLisa makes a delicious honeyed ham, celery, onion, avocado and steamed egg on a

bagel for her family for breakfast. Since the pandemic, Lao Yu has eaten a peanut

butter sandwich and oatmeal for breakfast. Sook Fong pours unsweetened almond

milk on her oatmeal and she also has eggs. 
 
Students roughly marked out space on their page for their writing and the different

objects they chose to represent their breakfast. Next, they penciled a frame for each

and with an object in front of them began sketching it. Still in pencil, details were added

. We listened to popular Chinese music while we worked. The finished sketches will be

completed for homework. We shared a Mad Lib as a prompt to help them begin writing

their stories about “a special breakfasts I remember” and “a different breakfast I had"

or “the breakfast I eat everyday”.

 
We are excited to see their finished Breakfast pages.