I never had the chance to meet my real grandmothers.
My dad’s mum passed away from throat cancer when he was merely 20 years old, and the only picture I have of her is an old black-and-white newspaper cutting from the Straits Times’ orbituary section. My mum’s mother died when I was three, and I can barely remember how she looked – except for a faded memory of a her in a lilac top and with curly grey hair.
But even despite never getting to meet my real grandmas, I’ve never lacked the grandma experience.
My paternal grandfather, Ye Ye (“grandfather” in Mandarin), re-married, and his second wife became my Nai Nai (“grandmother” in Mandarin) – the grandmother I would know and love.
Nai Nai was the one who took care of me when my mother went back to work, and I spent many of my childhood days entertaining myself in the confines of my grandparents’ house, playing with my Aunties Esther and Jasmine. Nai Nai would take me by the hand as we crossed the busy street to get to the shops on the other side of the road, and she would indulge me with sweets and savory snacks after I got back from my kindergarten classes. She would also talk to me about my Kindergarten friends, with the Chinese melodies from the radio drifting around the house, as she busied herself preparing lunch or dinner.
Get delicious GLUTEN-FREE recipes each week!
When I grew older and no longer spent as much time at my grandparents’ house, I would visit once in a while, and have sleepovers with my siblings at my grandparents’ house to spend time with them. During those sleepovers, my siblings and I would wake up to the smell of fried carrot cake, or bee hoon with orange sugar, all of which Nai Nai and Ye Ye had bought from the market nearby.
Food is Nai Nai’s way of showing her love, as it is for many grandparents.
For many years during each Chinese New Year, Nai Nai would be the one in charge our reunion dinner for Chinese New Year’s Eve, in which she would make handmade meat rolls, and prepare delicious soup stock for the base of our steamboat dinner. Days before our reunion dinner, Nai Nai would start preparations, buying ingredients, cooking dishes and cutting meats. Reunion dinners were always associated with my grandparents’ house and Nai Nai’s steamboat.
Her kitchen is tight and small, but it is always cosy and filled with aromas of the latest dish she was cooking.
Be it stir-fried prawns, curry chicken, or plain pink and white dumpling in sweet soup, Nai Nai’s kitchen has been the scene in which so many memories of us crammed at the small round table have been based.
Nai Nai also makes her specialty almond cake once a year.
It’s a cake whose preparation involves hard work and many hours of effort – an almond cake which consists of four layers of cookies made from crushed almonds, with almond cream spread between each layer. On the top cookie layer, a topping stained with green dye is spread over, with whole roasted almonds used as decoration. Nai Nai is the only person I know who makes this cake – in fact it’s been a few years since she’s made this cake – and it has always been an item of covet among my family members.
My mum recently sent me Nai Nai’s recipe for this amazing almond cake – but it looks intimidating and I think I’ll wait to make it with my mum when I’m back in Singapore. It’s still beyond my expertise.
More than the cake though, it is Nai Nai’s love for us that I have always felt comforted by.
Being so far away from Singapore, I miss hanging out and having meals with her, or just chilling the day away, chatting in her kitchen, talking about everything and nothing in particular.
With my grandmother, Nai Nai, when I visited Singapore in 2011
I think everyone has a similar experience with their grandmas, and because of this, I am always enchanted when I hear stories about other people’s grandmas, who all seem every bit as lovely as mine.
So it should come as no surprise, that when I heard about Michelle’s childhood and the lemon squares her grandmother used to bake, I immediately fell in love with her story.
I’ll be honest.
I was initially more interested in her childhood story and her relationship with her grandmother than the lemon squares.
The history behind the lemon squares was really what drew me to them – the tale which made them legendary.
And because the lemon squares looked so lovely and easy to make, I bookmarked the recipe, just in case.
Not too long after, I whipped out the recipe and made these lemon squares…and fell in love with them!
Lemon Squares – perfect for tea, dessert, or breakfast!
And so it is… just like they said it would be….
Would you like some with me?
LEMON SQUARES (Makes 36 small squares)
Adapted from Bite by Michelle’s Lemon Squares recipe
Ingredients:
1) 1 1/4 cup of graham crackers crumbs (or digestive biscuits crumbs)
2) 1/4 cup (60g) of butter, melted
3) 1 can (around 500g) of condensed milk
4) 2 eggs
5) 2 lemons, juiced
Steps:
1) Process crackers or biscuits until you get fine crumbs
2) Combine cracker/biscuit crumbs with melted butter and mix well to achieve homogenous mixture
3) Distribute crumb mixture on a bottom of a greased baking pan, using the back of a spoon to flatten mixture evenly
4) Mix lemon juice and condensed milk together
5) Add in eggs, one at a time, and beat till mixture is frothy and thick
6) Pour batter over crumb mixture
7) Sift some additional cracker/biscuit crumbs over the batter
8) Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg cel for 15 minutes (or until batter is no longer liquid)
9) Cool for 20 minutes then chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving
Digestive biscuits:
Processed biscuit crumbs:
Combine cracker/biscuit crumbs with melted butter and mix well to achieve homogenous mixture:
Distribute crumb mixture on a bottom of a greased baking pan:
Use the back of a spoon to flatten mixture evenly:
Mix lemon juice and condensed milk together:
Add in eggs, one at a time, and beat till mixture is frothy and thick:
Pour batter over crumb mixture:
Sift some additional cracker/biscuit crumbs over the batter:
Fresh out of the oven!
Lemon squares, anyone?
Hands up if you want it!
hi there really love all your recipes alot , tryed and more to come my hubby love the lemon squares they were really good am here cooking up a storm would be great if you have alot of healthy recipes because i have a heart prom/what you would call heart decs you have a lot off healthy ones too and they are all good keep up the good work.
Thanks for your kind words Pauline. I will definitely try to include more healthy recipes! 🙂 Have a good weekend and thanks for stopping by!
Yum, these sound delicious! I really love lemon flavored desserts. 😉
Agreed 🙂 lemon just makes every dessert feel so springy and citrus!
Hej Felicia,
That was a lovely story!
I started to read your blog a couple of month ago. But this is my first comment.
I have also a really close relationship to my Granny (Oma :)). So it was nice to read how your relationship is.
I can feel how you feel about the distance! When I was in Ireland as an Au-pair for 9 month, I missed her terribly! So I called her every week.
When I was a little girl, I spent every weekend with my grandparents. It was a lovely time. And when my granddad died, 13 years ago, I lived 6 month at my grandmas house. No one asked me to stay, but I felt, that she would need someone, so I stayed.
Now, since I’m older, I visit her every two weeks. And we always have so much fun together. She is a really funny person. She is the best person I know! (except my mummy of course! :D)
My granny is a great baker. So she baked nearly every week something very yummy! So, when I stayed at her house, we always baked something together.
My favourite cake is a jam roll (http://www.oetker.de/oetker/file/rhoe-5u6bn4.de.0/biskuitrolle_550.jpg Biskuitrolle). It is such a lovely cake, not to heavy and with the selfmade jam of my granny very delicious!
Hope you will show us your amazing almond cake, when you bake it with your mum in Singapore. Looking forward to it!
I hope you could understand all I wrote, my english is a little bit rusty, shame on me! 😛
I’m sending you all the best from Germany!
xoxo,
Julia 🙂
Hi Julia!
Wie gehts? und dankeshoen!!
Btw, I was in Germany (mannheim) for a couple of months doing my exchange in 2007 – thats where I met my bf! But unfortunately I’ve forgotten all my German!
First up, thank you so much for reading! It’s always fun to hear comments from those who read my blog – and especially exciting to hear that you’ve been reading for a couple of months already! so thanks for both reading & commenting!
Thank you also for sharing your story about your grandma – it’s so sweet to hear that you both have so much fun together, baking especially!
You know what…I’ve been looking for a jam roll recipe… but I think I might just buy the pre-baked roll from the supermarket and put on jam and icing sugar! you just inspired me to make it sometime in the future!
best from Buenos Aires!
Hej, thanks!
Mir geht es gut, Ich hoffe Dir auch! 😉
Did you like Germany? Mannheim is not that far away from my city. It is called Rüdesheim am Rhein. A little town between Koblenz and Wiesbaden. Mannheim has some nice corners. I hope you never visit Ludwigshafen, unfortunately it’s not that nice..
It’s always nice to read your blog and I’m always looking forward to the email, which says that you post something new! 🙂
This is the recipe I use, if you like to try it!
Ingredients:
5 eggs
1 egg yolk
75g sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar
90g flour
1/2 tablespoon of baking powder
375g of strawberry jam
Some icing sugar
1. Grease the baking tin and put a baking paper on it.
2. Mix the eggs and the yolk together
3. Add the vanilla sugar and the plain sugar.
4. Mix the flour and the baking powder and add it to the egg and sugar mixture!
– You have to mix every step very accurate! –
5. Spread the dough over the baking tin and put it in the pre-heated oven at 180 deg cel for 12-15 minutes.
6. Prepare a tea-towel with Sugar on it and put the baked dough on it. Remove the baking paper and now spread the jam all over the baked dough.
Roll the dough + jam with the help of the towel and let it stay like this about 15 minutes.
Now you can serve it, or put it into the fridge. It is up to you!
And don’t forget to sprinkle some icing sugar over it.
You can also put something else on and in it, like a vanilla cream or a buttercream.
If you have any question about the recipe, feel free to ask me anything!
Greetings from Germany! 🙂
Hello!
Yes i liked Mannheim and Heidelberg alot! Didnt make it to your town though! I miss germany! It’s been 5 years since I’ve returned from exchange!
Thank u for the recipe… if i have time to make it these days I might just try to make it!
What is vanilla sugar? can I replace it with normal sugar and add vanilla essence ?
Hej! 🙂
Oh yes, Heidelberg is beautiful!
Maybe you will come back for a visit some day, who knows?! 🙂
You can do that with the vanilla essence.
But if you don’t have vanilla sugar, you can make it!
You only need a jar, some sugar and a vanilla bean.
Scrape the marrow out of the bean and cut it in smaller pieces (3cm) and put it in a jar and add some sugar and the marrow of the bean. Now you can shake it a little bit and leave it like this.
After a few days, the sugar has the flavour of vanilla.
Actually the vanilla bean last very long! If the sugar is all gone, you only have to refill the jar with new sugar.
And if you have a dessert, where you need the marrow of the vanilla bean, don’t throw the bean away, you can also use it for the sugar. You actually don’t need the marrow, if you want to make vanilla sugar.
So when you have a recipe for a dessert which needs the marrow, you would kill two birds with one stone.
Hope you understood what I wanted to explain!
🙂
It’s so wonderful to hear you have such a loving relationship with your grandmother. Grandmothers are one of the main ways food culture was passed down through generations, and I know my mother’s red marinara sauce came from my nana, which came from her mother (my mom’s nana) and so on. I’m so happy you will be seeing all of your family again soon and you can spend some quality time with her (and learn how to make that almond cake!).
Wow, Jess,
This red marinara sauce sure is a heirloom recipe…passed down from one Italian generation to the next! If i had been interested in cooking a few years back (when I was still living in Singapore), I would definitely have bugged my granny and my mum as well as my aunts for all their recipes!
This time when I head back to Singapore, I’m definitely gg to be learning a couple of recipes or two from my family! And, my mum has already agreed to make THE ALMOND CAKE with me! Perhaps I can convince my granny to be present when we bake it! 🙂
Your story is very touching. I don’t really have a close relationship with my grandma, especially after my grandpa passed away. She become very quiet. Wish I could help to make her happier while I can.
Your lemon bar looks great…like a version of a cheesecake. I could have that for breakfast.
Irene dear,
I guess you can still try to be close to your grandma, through baking her stuff, giving a call to ask how she is, spending time with her, perhaps she is just quiet because she misses your grandpa a lot?
I should try to call my granny more often than i currently do… and although i find it really difficult to speak in Mandarin, she loves it whenever she hears my voice on the other end of the phone.
Regarding the lemon squares looking like cheesecake – you’re right! Everyone thinks its a miniature cheesecake when they look at it, but no cream cheese involved at all! 🙂
They must be incredible!
And I loved your story and Nai Nai!
Hi Anna!
These lemon squares are really easy to make – if you like lemon and sweet desserts, this recipe will be a favorite! My bf’s mum fell in love with these – she said they were the best dessert I’ve made since I started cooking! 🙂
The problem,personally,remains my allergy to lactose…
I can’t find a substitute to condensed milk,actually.
So I’ll make them for family and friends,turning very envious and jealous…!
Try this recipe for a substitute for condensed milk! I found it on google!
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,183,151170-244199,00.html
Voy enseguida….
Te has vuelto mi medico personal!
Muchas gracias!