The Ballad of Meatball Soups, Ayam Penyet, and Four Singaporeans

Hey guys, this is an old post transferred and translated from my old blog, the one that was still hosted by Friendster Blogs. This event happened around three years ago, exactly on my vacation to Singapore on June 2007. Not too long ago, eh? Even some memorable moments are still stuck in my mind to this very second.

So, what I'm going to tell you here is one particular event that maybe, you will find it quite amusing or for me - specifically - hillarious. So it happened on one of my days in Singapore, exactly on dinner.

That early evening, me and my dad, left my aunt's apartment (where we stayed) for dinner. We decided to drop by for a bite to eat in a nearby outdoor foodcourt, that was located right next to the apartment. Anyway, you ask: where was my mom? Well, she had another plan apparently, shopping with my aunt who's her sister. Alright, back to the story. Once we arrived at the foodcourt, the place was incredibly crowded, hot, and sweaty people all around (you can't imagine how messy the situation was at that moment), despite the fact that it was raining. No wonder it was crowded, it was dinner time after all

We hardly found any available seats, but eventually, we found one. After my dad and I took our orders, which were Yong Tau Fu, we munched our meals quickly, before...those people came and the situation suddenly changed... (feel the aura?)

Those people turned out to be four Singaporeans, all of Chinese descents: 3 ladies in their forties, and a man who's about the same age. I assumed they must be siblings.

Lady 1: "May we share our seats with you?"

Dad: "Yes"

Later, the four adults took their orders and while waiting, they had a little chitchat with me and my dad. Not long after that, their orders arrived, which turned out they ordered meat ball soups. While eating on our meals, the adults asked about our origins and I said that we were Indonesians. And this was when the hillarity came...

Man: "Ah, Indonesia! The food is very good eh? Very famous here in Singapore."

Dad: (nodded)

Lady 1: "Yes! Various food, very delicious."

Lady 2: "I know one of them. You know, Ayam...Penyet?"

Dad: "Oh right."

Lady 3: "I wonder why it is called Ayam Penyet. Sounds rather unique."

Lady 2: "Penyet means...'squeezed' right? So the food itself means 'Squeezed Chicken', doesn't it?"

Man: "Aha, I know I know." (while munching on his meatball) "Possibly the chicken is crossing the street and at that moment, a truck speeds up and runs over the chicken. Therefore it is squeezed, crushed, penyet. So that's how it finally becomes Squeezed Chicken or Ayam Penyet."

All ladies and the man: (silence, then...) "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" (endless laughter, that their meatballs they were eating were almost spit out)

Dad: "....." (still munching and showed a fake half-laughing-half-smiling, an attempt to support the silly joke)

Me: "....." (WTF)

Dad: *coughcough* (got choked)

Lady 2: "Aw, sir, sorry to make you laugh until you got choked." (un-apologetically)

Man: "Oh yes, seems like our joke is far too funny. See, you're laughing until you get yourself choked."

Me: "....." (still WTF)

Well, the thing is:

1. My dad WASN'T laughing AT ALL
2. The joke WASN'T funny AT ALL, instead, it was silly

Our day wasn't just ended with the joke, no, it wasn't done yet. There was something else that came up after that. Still, the four ladies and the man were still drown in their not-so-funny-squeezed-chicken-joke.

Lady 1: (taking a spoonful of the soup, apparently she hadn't eaten her meal. Suddenly she gasped, opening her mouth, revealing the meatball she was munching)

Lady 2: "What's wrong?"

Lady 1: "The soup...is...still hot..."

Lady 3: *laughing* "Don't worry, I'll handle it." (taking her glass of ice tea and spilt an ice cube INTO the bowl of hot meatball soup) "Try it, bet it's no longer hot."

Me and Dad: "......" (stopping munching our Yong Tau Fu, stared at that 'occurence' and took a second or two to realize what they did exactly. We could just stare at it in disgust)

Man and Lady 2: (laughing at the silliness of his sisters' doings and complimented how genius the idea was)

Lady 1: (Taking a spoonful ate the-now-ice-cube-from-ice-tea-glass-contaminated hot meatball soup) "Yeah, it's good already."

So, after witnessing the tragedy of 'the meatball soup contamination' (a bit hyperbole, yes), I immediately lost my appetite and so did my dad. We just couldn't stand the sight of a fresh, newly cooked, hot food being contaminated with something like, ice cube from an already-drunk ice tea. The idea of putting an ice cube to reduce the hotness of the soup might be quite a good idea, though I'm still against it. Somehow I still think it's never good to put something extremely cold as ice cube to the hot bowl of soup. This case I witnessed was even worse: the ice cube was taken from an already-sipped ice tea glass.

Can't imagine the taste of the then-yummy meatball soup with a little taste of ice tea.

Just yucky.

Anyway, my dad and I finished our meals up before the thought of the contaminated food reduced our appetites even more. If I hadn't finished the Yong Tau Fu up quickly, I would've thrown up. And if that happened, it would only make things worse.

So, that wrapped our evening up, meeting four unique yet silly Singaporeans with some wry jokes and unusual habits they displayed in the presence of strangers (me and dad). They...well, had no shame, I presumed, but I believe not all Singaporeans were like that. Really. They were just one in a million. They were...unique. I know Singaporeans are well-behaved people and surely have an etiquette in eating.

No ma'am, Ayam Penyet doesn't look like it's crushed or squeezed
It instead looks like a normal fried chicken. That's all :D