Friday, September 01, 2006

Grains

[Updated] You can get all these 5 grains nicely packed, ready for kor tai lai at a shop selling traditional wedding stuff in Central Market. So there is such thing after all. Pffft!


Weird.

A good friend is getting married and I will have the honour to be her bridesmaid come October *beam* but that would be another post altogether [yes, I'll post about it, don't you worry] and that wasn't what I wanted to write about today.

It's about the grains. As an act of [err, you've got to help me out here] delivering betrothal gifts / a gift exchange / hantaran in Malay / kor tai lai in Cantonese, the groom's parents have asked for 5 types of grains from the bride's side (among other things like wedding biscuits, a pair of chicken in exchange for more wedding biscuits, liquor - heaven knows what else there is in the Chinese tradition!)

And what are the grains, you ask? They are:
1) Red beans
2) Green beans
3) Soya beans
4) Choy sum seeds or biji sawi in Malay
5) Unprocessed rice or mai kuk in Cantonese

All in the amount of 1 cupak or approximately a handful. Apparently, grains signify prosperity in the coming generation or something equivalent to togetherness of the couple. The groom's mum intends to keep them in her rice barrel from the day of delivery till the day of marriage.

Friend: Eh, Primrose, can help me find mai kuk ah?

Primrose: Err... maybe I can look into my rice barrel for those still in its yellow husk???

Friend: You must be crazy to do that. That's a lot to look for!!

Primrose: Then, how? I can gather my friends to look into their rice barrels...?

Friend: %$#@!

Primrose: Heh, text me tonight to remind me to ask my mum. Maybe we can find it in the market

Friend: I have searched high and low for it. All the rest of the beans are easy but unprocessed rice??

Primrose: We'll see. We have 2 weeks!

Gee! Where to find mai kuk? You know, the paddy with the yellow husks still. I have NO IDEA. Two weeks is not far away. HELP!



8 flowers for this post
Golly, it was only a week ago that I was hand milling unprocessed rice on a farm in Phuket, amongst the rubber trees and next to the catfish pond. (Linda the monkey was harvesting the coconuts from the trees nearby.)

I've got a photo of the rice milling, if that'll do instead.

BTW - Beans are legumes, not grains.
Friend For Life | 01.09.06 - 8:34 pm | #

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you know what would be funny? if one marries a bean/rice/legume processor fella. then all prob solved =P

ok bad joke. hope u find what u need tgo find
mrs jeff buckley | Homepage | 02.09.06 - 12:56 am | #

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I despise fussy MIL!!!
titoki | Homepage | 02.09.06 - 11:33 am | #

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go to your local grocery store, and ask the boss about it. They should have better knowledge than a bunch of blog readers and internet lurkers...
michaelooi | Homepage | 03.09.06 - 1:03 pm | #

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prose:

If you're patient enuf, I'll go plant paddy. Gardening and farming is encouraged by Pak Lah's agrarian Budget.
ylchong | Homepage | 04.09.06 - 12:18 am | #

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FFL: Hehe! Nope, a photo won't do. Well, somehow in cantonese, all of these bird-food meant grains.

Reta: LOL! Good one there. Still can't find it - yet.

titoki: Kan? I pun. But before and after marriage like 2 different person one. And before and after you got baby also different person one, kan?

michaelooi: I went to local market, local grain seller, local supermarkets & petshops also cannot find. One more place to try: Organic stores. I doubt it though. Who in the world would wanna eat rice in husks?

Desi: Grow paddy? More like 2 years than 2 weeks!
Primrose | Homepage | 04.09.06 - 12:57 am | #

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I totally agree with you on this. I've seen too many two-faced ppl in this world liao. Scary, isn't it? And sorry to say this, most of them are women.
titoki | Homepage | 04.09.06 - 1:10 am | #

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may be you can try it out around sekinchang, whcih is near to Bkt Melawati (Kuala Selangor). I saw there are a number of paddy fields over there.
choo | 09.09.06 - 10:14 pm | #

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