Home cooking? Who's cooking?

Singapore is known for its good food. Singaporeans love to eat. But how many of us can still cook?

We can go to cooking school to learn western gourmet cooking, but few of us have bothered to learn from our mothers and grandmothers the dishes we have eaten all our lives. A few younger ladies have compiled their mother's/grandmother's recipes into cookbooks for sale. The older ladies are well-known personalities in their own right, also known for their cooking skills.

But what about the food eaten in our own home? Does it need to be "gourmet" in order to stir up fond memories of our childhood? My northern Vietnamese friends studying here, miss home cooking too. So, they go to the supermarket, buy some green, leafy vegetables and boil them in water. That's home cooking for them. You and I may find it bland, but to them, it reminds them of home.

Perhaps a good question to ask now is not "can you cook?" but rather "do you cook?" I can cook, but I find myself pressed for time to prepare anything other than the simplest of dishes. I'm happy to eat anything simple, just because I lack the time, or I am plain lazy. After all, the traditional dishes eaten in my childhood take weeks of preparation. Housewives are a prized commodity today. If they are stay-at-home moms, they are more likely to be taxi-driver for the children, rather than churning out sumptuous, wholesome meals for the family.

As our society turns more and more towards hiring foreign domestic help for cooking and cleaning, home cooking could end up being a completely different set of dishes. We may no longer yearn for "mum's cooking" but rather "Auntie's cooking" or however you address your domestic help. When her contract is over, there ends the yummy dishes she used to prepare; enter a new maid with different tastes.

The world is increasingly global. People movement is the norm now. Do we still hold fiercely to our traditions, or allow the winds of change to sweep over our culture and norms, home cooking included? Certainly some food for thought (pun fully intended).

Learn a language, learn to cook, don't neglect your own language and cooking!

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Singaporeans' Heart Language - Uniquely Singaporean

My Singaporean Chinese friend has lived in China for 10 years. She was educated in English, spoke Cantonese at home, and studied Mandarin in school as a second language. We converse with each other in English, with some Mandarin and Cantonese thrown in, when we can't find a good-enough word in English to describe what we want to say.

After 10 years in a foreign land, her heart language has changed. She said she's more comfortable talking to God in Chinese, which is closer to her heart language, than in English, which was her heart language before!

Strangely enough, the first time we met, we spoke to each other in Mandarin. We were complete strangers thrown together to share a room at a conference because the organiser had mixed up my room assignment. I assumed she was from Mainland China. She didn't know what to make of me. When I said I was from Singapore, she replied, "Oh, I'm from Singapore too!" Then, we immediately switched to speaking English!

Why would we suddenly switch to speaking English when we were perfectly fine conversing in Mandarin? I don't think either of us has an answer. Having grown up in Singapore, I guess we are just used to using English or "Singlish" daily. Maybe our real heart language is not English, but "Singlish"!

For me, I talk to God in whatever language that first comes to my mind. Sometimes, I start in English and end up in Mandarin, or Indonesian. Some days I wonder if I can ever talk solely in 1 language for an extended period of time. I have too many languages in my head. I use whatever word comes to mind, especially when I know the listener understands that language too. Perhaps it makes my life more colourful, but it could drive other people crazy. I have too many friends who communicate in sentences made up of words from different languages. We don't even realise what we're doing. It's just natural for us. Thankfully, we all understand each other perfectly well.

So, what is my heart language? I don't know anymore. I'm happy to communicate in any language that you and I understand. Most importantly, my God understands what I'm trying to say.

Enrich your life today! Learn a new language!

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What's your "heart language"?

Language is a funny thing. We use it to communicate, whether orally or in written form. We learn language from the day we are born, by hearing the sounds made by those around us - parents, siblings, grandparents, caregivers, etc. As we grow older, we learn to use the language properly, or even learn a new language in school. Even the hearing impaired have their own language, called Sign Language.

As much as we use language to communicate head to head, what speaks to the inner depths of our beings is the "heart language", the language we spoke at home, not the language we use with the outside world for business.

Speak to the heart is an excellent explanation of how excited one can get over a language. This is where the key to touching a life lies. "Heart language" is not "language of the heart". By the latter, we mean "love" and "affection". The former is a complete language that makes us alive when we hear it spoken, even by perfect strangers.

What's my heart language? I don't know anymore. It used to be English, my first language. But now that I can speak 4 other languages, any one of those makes my heart come alive too! English is just the language I'm most fluent in, I guess.

Whether you speak only 1 language or multiple languages, you will always find satisfaction in learning a new language. Let's go multi-lingual today!

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