Hey!
1. I like to eat =3
2. I associate good food with good memories :)
To be honest, the early days of SJI were hellish. A school full of guys. Foreigners. I don't get them. Boring.
Time passed uber slowly, had nothing to look forward to. I missed Anastasia. Why I came to Singapore to study, I didn't know. So what kept me going, you may ask?
Well, obviously it is my great saviour, the bell who rang to indicate recess. The great Josephian dash to the canteen ensued, where energetic young men jostled their way through stairs and corridors to be the first person lining up.
Without fail, there is looooooooooooooong queue (much longer than the word itself) in between stall number 5 (western stall) and stall number 7 (packet rice). Also without fail, the queue will move very fast: The Malay stall, which has, on average, one-third of the stall's queue length, serves the populace within the same period of time.
This is the one and only, the best ever --- Chinese Mix Rice Stall!!!
I really have lots of fond memories buying food from the stall. Starting from the Auntie and Uncle's amicable smiles, their cheap but AWESOME food (omg I still remember the prices even until today, its 70 cents for meat, 40 cents for veg), and the free 'jia fan' (add rice). The scholars are notorious for spamming the free rice buffet... In my time, if you see a person carrying a purple/green plate piled up with a mountain of white rice and a lava of curry gravy, the bloody pig is likely to be a scholar. :p
The food is damn worth it and damn good, I had periods of time eating from the same stall everyday and not feeling bored at all. After eating from that stall, I never buy any Chinese Mix Rice in outside hawker centers, for SJI's CMR is second to none. I also augmented my poor Mandarin through speaking with them, naming shrimp-paste chicken 'har cheong kai' and honey pork 'wang kee pok' (don't ask me about the latter one, its the name the guy gave hahaha)
So why the sudden nostalgia?
Today, I went to Chinatown to eat lunch with my friend from TJC. He was my ex-classmate in SJI, and he informed me that the CMR auntie is selling food in the Chinatown's foodcourt. So we went there, queued up, and much to my astonishment, she REMEMBERED me. :') Not only that, she gave me and my friend a discount, so we happily carried our food back to our seats and started savouring the nostalgic taste of 'wang kee pok'. The best part: She came to our table and asked us 'Ni yao he shui ma?' We shook our heads, not knowing what to expect. A few minutes later came an uncle bringing two glasses of sugarcane juice! 'These are from the auntie!', the old man said. Oh my goodness.. She is so kind... :')
So after we finished eating we went up to the auntie and thanked her for her kindness. She still has the amicable smile and laughter adorned on her face.. Now, I know fellow Josephians will murder me for this, but what I miss from SJI the most is.. The Chinese Mix Rice Stall!
Long live, auntie, uncle.. Even though you'll never read this blog, today's post is dedicated to glorify you and your awesome stall.. I may have graduated from SJI, but in my heart (and my stomach), I never graduate from SJI's Chinese Mix Rice stall.. :') Thank you for all the nutrients you provided me, I would have been a lot slimmer (and much more miserable!) if not for your stall.. Most of all, thank you for giving me something to look forward to, a reason to come to school everyday.. hehehe..
Forever yours truly,
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