eight treasures box
The lovely people over at the Singapore Food Festival 2010 gave me a complementary Eight Treasures Box at the opening of the Food Street at Clarke Quay today. (I'm absolutely delighted since I have a sweet tooth!) It's an item that originated from the Qing Dynasty and was used as jewellery boxes or snack containers. Each snack in the box is symbolic of a blessing and is popular when we celebrate Chinese New Year here in Singapore.
The eight snacks
Candied winter melon - for a sweet year ahead
Candied lotus root - for numerous offsprings
Candied coconut strips - for good health and purity
Candy spring roll - for harmony and peace
Dragon beard candy - for longevity
Malt candy - for wealth and prosperity
Peanut candy - for a long line of descendents
Ting ting candy - for family unity and loyalty
Of course, I am more concerned about the sweets more than what they symbolise, but it's quite interesting to know what each of them means.
All nicely wrapped so the box will not be stained and can be reused for other purposes. Oh look, fallen malt candy.
My favourite: dragon beard candy. At the press conference of the Festival, there was a lady making this on the spot and I was enamoured. She was so skillful and each piece was presented in a lovely flower folded out of tissue! It's really quite a pity to eat it.
Candied lotus root. It really taste the same as the Candied winter melon, coconut strips and ting ting candy cause I sincerely believe it's the same sugar powder. And I didn't bother taking photos of the rest because they just all look like white powder.
Too hard, but a favourite of many Singaporeans. It's really quite hard and difficult to eat. But if you love peanuts and sugar, you'll like this.
They were also kind enough to give me one of the limited edition Kopitiam cards that can be used to purchase food items at the Clarke Quay food street as well as any of the Kopitiam outlets. Not so much a fan of either, but I think the card is very well designed. (And so shiny I can see my own reflection!)