Old times

I was sitting in a city circle tram. I now can't remember if it was something that I really saw or it was on my mind. The vision was a kid holding a tubed ice-cream. He was sucking on it with facial expressions so precious. Precious because I was seeing myself in him.

Grandma used to make those ice-cream in tubes for us. Later on Mom made them too. Normally it would be made of milo and evaporated condensed milk. The ice-cream was considered quite a luxury as it would only be made when a new can of condensed milk was opened. My parents and grandparent are/was people that don't/didn't waste even a single drop of water. So every last bit of the condensed milk sticking to the wall of the can was diluted with hot water and mixed with milo powder.

And when the mixture cooled, it'd be poured into plastic tubes and later frozen. I remember it was so exciting to chew on the ice, like a treat you would get only when you had done good. I remember how hurriedly I was to tear off old calendar pages to wrap around the ice tube using my little hands.

Sometimes it's not just milo ice but with red beans as well. Hmmmm, the taste seems to have come back on my tongue. Sometimes when we run out of plastic tubes, we would just use cup that we got from MAS. Yes Malaysia Airlines. I remember I used to roll my eyes when Dad/Mom took all the cups from the airline when we flew. I didn't realise the act would bring me such a memorable part of my childhood. The best part when using a cup is that all the good stuff like the thick milo powder of the red beans would all be at the bottom of the cup. There's always treasure at the end of the dig.



Only if I could preserve all the memories with my family in a plastic tube and store it away in the fridge, only to be chewed on whenever I would feel nostalgic and homey. Definitely need to recreate one of the unforgettables with Mom and B&S when I next get home.