Last time I posted my progress on this quilt, I was still undecided on a name. Then as good friends do, Barb said that it reminded her of ice cream or sherbet. Bazinga! I immediately had a name.
![IMG_1634[1]](http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nZY8jdoh3Jg/UPtFpEUCluI/AAAAAAAACFQ/3ry9C3DB3bA/s1600-h/IMG_1634%25255B1%25255D%25255B6%25255D.jpg "IMG_1634[1]")
Most of you probably don’t know that I lived in Singapore for a year when I was a teenager. My father was an accountant for an oil servicing company, and my mother was a language teacher. So, off we went.
Needless to say, I was somewhat reluctantly immersed into the rich mixture of cultures—Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, and Japanese, as well as a dash of the Australian and British cultures brought overseas by ex-pats who called Singapore home. The arts, I embraced. Much of the food was full of heavenly spices and new ingredients--curry puffs, won ton soup, the British steak and kidney pie—not to mention the fresh pineapple and coconuts. There were occasional dishes that I avoided, like stir fries with tiny baby octopi and dried fish that had been hanging in the open air markets for months. My friend tried a bit of an infamous Chinese hundred year old egg, but I declined.
Other dishes made me marvel at their beauty. Some I sampled with delight. Others looked beautiful like the pastel cakes in the bakery windows. However, when tasted, they had a surprising lack of sugar that we, as Westerners, expect in our desserts.
One dish was an curious mixture of textures and colors. Ice Kachang is a small mountain of shaved ice served on a dish with colorful syrups drizzled over the top. Sometimes small cubes of slightly sweetened Jell-O are also added. But unlike our Western snow cones, ice kachang is also sprinkled with cooked vegetables like corn kernels and beans. After all, kachang means bean in the Malaysian language.
I can honestly say that I never went as far as tasting one of those concoctions. But that didn’t keep me from associating them with my fond memories of a country half a world away. My ice kachang quilt will be a sweet reminder.
Ice Kachang - A Local Dessert
Ice Kachang is the perfect name for your quilt! I enjoyed reading about your culinary experiences in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
I am still fiddling around with the placement of the blocks. I should put this up on my design wall to see what I have got but need to take another set of blocks down and sew them together first. Have decided against the original fabric I chose for the final outside border. It was too busy. Another fabric in my stash turned out to be perfect, which is interesting, because when I bought the fabric I doubted that I would ever use it. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteI love the story behind the quilt. the quilt does have an icy, juicy feeling (can juicy be a feeling) but that is the word that comes to mind. Nice!
ReplyDeleteLooks great!
ReplyDelete