The world of Tzu Chi January 2020 (Vol.118)

54 2020 • 01 ecipe Recipes by Chang Sew Loon Text by Gan Chian Nee Translated by Choo Suet Fun Photographs by Sam Pin Fook Festive Delicacies Served with Love F or experienced cook Chang Sew Loon, sitting down for a reunion dinner with his family on Chinese New Year’s Eve used to be a luxury, as he had to meet increased demand for festive feasts, which tends to peak during this time of year. “I rarely returned home to visit my parents throughout the 20-plus years of my culinary career,” admitted Sew Loon, who had previously held the perception that providing his parents with a comfortable life qualifies him as a filial son. He left home at the age of 19 to train as a chef’s apprentice in a restaurant. He steadily scaled the ranks and eventually gained the recognition of his supervisor at 28 years old, earning himself the opportunity to helm the kitchens of four restaurants as an executive sous chef in Shanghai, China, with more than 80 cooks under his purview. Since then, he had stayed abroad for five years without even a trip home to his parents. He kept in touch with his parents only through the occasional long-distance phone call. He was barely 35 when he returned to Malaysia and opened a restaurant with a friend – a venture fuelled by sheer ambition. Sew Loon worked hard and splurged equally hard, spending his time either indulging his desires with his hard-earned money or cooking up a storm in his restaurant. He envisioned that owning a dining establishment would afford him an affluent lifestyle. Instead, he was confronted with year after year of losses and was soon saddled with a burgeoning mountain of debt. Furthermore, his heightened mistrust of others left him in a state of constant wariness. He gradually became overwhelmed by the pressures of life and retreated from the outside world by cooping himself up in his dormitory. His anxious parents waited patiently outside his room, brought him meals and persuaded him to return home, but he stubbornly turned a deaf ear to their pleas. A turning point in life One day, SewLoonwas strolling aimlessly through the city and stumbled upon the KL Jing Si Books & Café outlet in Bukit Bintang. Upon setting foot in the inviting space, he was calmed by the serene atmosphere. As he browsed