Centipedes... beware the Burnt SaucePan!

With Chinese New Year around the corner, a little treat is in store for our Friends from the IMH  (Institute of Mental Health) Village. 

Every fortnight for the past 2 years now, 3 friends and I prepare breakfast for them, which the devour with relish after mass. Meals at the homes were not at tasty they tell us. I don't blame the cooks - with hundreds to cook for plus of course, some menu fatigue. Last Sunday was going to be  little more special as most will not be going home to a reunion dinner like the rest of the Chinese population as they do not have homes to go back too.

Flipping through the cookbooks i decided on Chng Tng - a Chinese sweet dessert , choc full of Chinese herbs and things that are supposedly good for the body. So starts the shopping -  dried longan, dates, white fungus, dried persimmon, sugared winter melon, ginko, pong tai hai , rock sugar and of course sago. The recipe was simple. Soak the pong tai hai, white fungus, prepare the ginko and sago.  Boil the longan and dates and assemble. Now, lets focus on the sago for a bit..The recipe says 'boil till it turns translucent'. "Simple instructions" says you..."bugger!" says I.. The first batched boiled for an hour and was still rock hard. The second batch formed a layer of starch at the base of my saucepan and burnt it.


After much scrubbing, 3 burnt marks remain, I thought the pan has seen its last days. In a call with my now-Aussie friend Anne (she was Singaporean before) that evening, she said "toss it out" -yes Anne  - I hear you. So that night, as i cleaned the oven, i spotted a damp cloth near the sink. Squirted detergent on it and washed it like any other rag. As i spread the rag out to dry, a 2.5 inch long centipede jumped out! In that instance, i thanked God for protecting me from those stingers (which i heard could really really hurt!). As that guy started writhing  across the kitchen counter, my thoughts raced..how do i kill it? The burnt sauce pan suddenly caught my eye and in that instant i picked it up and knocked my enemy out, crashing it to a pulp (about 6 bangs should do it :P)


Now comes the learning: that just because something appears to be worn out, that doesn't mean that they should be trashed right away. Every thing old or new (young) still has a purpose. We just have allow them to rise to the occasion like my trusted burned saucepan. So never be too quick to judge performance based on age or wear, else we might end up suffering the centipede's sting.

....and yes, the Chng Tng was a HIT!