{"id":1665,"date":"2008-10-29T04:45:34","date_gmt":"2008-10-28T20:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2008-10-29T04:45:34","modified_gmt":"2008-10-28T20:45:34","slug":"to-peel-or-not-to-peel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2008\/10\/29\/to-peel-or-not-to-peel\/","title":{"rendered":"To Peel or Not to Peel"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m going to stay as far away as I can from the issues of gender roles in relationships. It’s been covered quite well here and at Ann’s blog. But I do intend to convey my sympathies toward those who desire their significant others to peel their prawns. I lack the required dexterity to peel prawns with utensils, and depending on the company I\u2019m too prissy and needlessly self-conscious to commence with the deed using my hands. When unsure, I usually just crunch! crunch! crunch!<\/em> like Ann mentioned (but that can invite weird looks from onlookers, too, depending on where you are).<\/p>\n

When I was last at Yang’s parent’s home<\/a> in Lentor for dinner, I had just arrived in Singapore that morning and hadn’t slept a wink in just shy of 40 hours. But once those large, juicy prawns were situated upon the table in front of me, I began to perk up. They were so enticing, but something occurred to me: How am I supposed to eat them? I didn\u2019t want to commit a potential faux pas<\/em>, so I waited until someone else dug in to see how they approached those tasty-tailed devils.<\/p>\n

This required much discipline. A steely resolve washed over me. I watched as family members served themselves that oh-so-delicious rendang, tended to their soup bowls, and poked at the three-layer pork.<\/p>\n

To my dismay, the prawns remained ignored. When Chek-Tchung, sitting to my right, reached across the table, my heart skipped a beat\u2014but no, he chose instead to secure a hardy portion of Hainanese chicken. A more severe act of unintended cruelty I have never known. :)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then finally Jasmine mercifully snatched up a prawn. I was all eyes.<\/p>\n

But to my astonished horror, she began dismantling the little bastard with her fork and spoon. This, my friends, just would not do. In my incapable hands we\u2019d have more prawns on Mrs. Foo\u2019s floor than on the table. I wouldn\u2019t have blamed anyone if they\u2019d sent me to Pedra Branca to dodge bird droppings for the duration of my stay.<\/p>\n

But, thankfully, Jasmine and others soon after chose to forego the utensils, merrily peeling away those translucent layers with their fingers and piling the remains into a tidy pile to be discarded later. Now this I could do and do well!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m of course playing up this little anxiety of mine, but it serves to remind me that in a casual situation having someone handy who can systematically peel those plump prawns is some kind of a blessing. And as for the dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Foo\u2019s, it remains the culinary highlight of my stay in Southeast Asia\u2014great company and great food!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m going to stay as far away as I can from the issues of gender roles in relationships. It’s been covered quite well here and at Ann’s blog. But I do intend to convey my sympathies toward those who desire<\/p>\n

Read More To Peel or Not to Peel<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ang-mo","category-at-home","wpcat-4-id","wpcat-6-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}