Poor People's Tea and a Happy House

Sigh! My teh si kosong does not taste like what the Kopi Soh makes leh... The milk is too overwhelming and the tea is not strong enough. Tomorrow, I will steep the tea for much longer. I guess, if the drinks stall at Chong Pang really closes in a full on lockdown, this will have to do. I wonder if I dare to ask the Kopi Soh the secret to her delicious teh si kosong.

Yes! Tomorrow morning, I will hold The Husband's hand tightly (for moral support) and ask the Kopi Soh just that!

The whole box of tea dust costs $4.50. Each teh si kosong from the drinks stall costs $1.10. I reckon that I can get about 40 cups of tea from this box of $4.50. Wow! Think of all the money I will save on teh si kosong during a lockdown! It is quite funny. Tea dust is the cheapest of cheap teas. Yet, when I opened the bag and M saw the tea dust, her eyes shone with joy and she said, "Oh, I love this tea!"

M comes from a village in Myanmar without running water nor electricity. Yet, she has very clear ideas about what constitutes wealthy living and poor living. Tea dust is poor people's tea. Black glutinous rice is poor people's rice and M cannot understand why I cook it so often, in lieu of white rice. I think she also wonders why I grow my own vegetables. Then, there is my fascination with roadside stones. In her first 2 years here, she very insensitively referred to our Milo as the poor people's dog. Then, she would point out to the poodles and the Malteses in the neighbourhood, and say, "Those are rich people's dogs." Since Pistachio joined the family, M keeps repeating that in the past, she used to stare longingly at the poodles and Malteses walking past, wishing she could have one. Now, she has a Maltipoo which she treats like a human baby, asking him softly, when she thinks no one is looking, "Are you happy?"

I was somewhat perplexed at why she did that until I caught myself asking M, when I brought her to the beach, "Are you happy?"

I guess, unknowingly, I have included M in our family's happiness index. In the dark days of Covid19, I feel grateful to have a happy household: happy husband, happy children, happy helper and happy me... even if said helper is quite insensitively vocal about Petunia's many Poor People's habits. 

I wonder what M will say about Kopi Luwak: poor people's coffee?

Furry human baby.

Furry human baby.