The memories of summer, translated…
In the summer with the temperature rising to above thirty-five degrees Celsius, the summer sun made the moisture evaporated out of the roads, making it hard, for people, to stare straight into the lights, even the trees by the sidewalks were, panting hard because of the heat, at this time, if there’s a plate of snow white shaved ice, drizzled in brown sugar, it would surely, rid us of that antsy feeling from the high heat.
The town where my maternal grandmother’s house was located, there was, this traditional ice shop, in fifty years, it’d served, about the same items. My mother hated the heat, and, she’d needed ice every single summer to keep cool; the most impressive memory that we had, was when we were younger, we’d gone back to my grandmother’s for the summers, and after we did our homework, we’d gone to the ice shop for a four-item shaved ice.
My mother would complained on how there were so many ice shops in Taipei, but it’s, difficult, to find one with the traditional tastes. Contrary to the kinds of shaved ice that is hot now, the mango shaved ice, was the sweetened plums, drizzled on the ice pieces shaved by the knives, layered with the brownish-red pickled with sugar plums, the sweetened julienned pineapple, the green mangoes, with the salted star fruits; and, that crystal clear sugar was the last to get put on, coloring the ice, making the sweetened fruit pieces even more tasty. Scooping it to put into the mouth, there’s, that taste of sour, and sweet at the same time, and, that scent of cool, rushed, into our heads instantly, chased away the heat; it’s a wonder, that mom would complain on how the modern day ice treats were all, too sweet, that it’d, made her even thirstier, that only the four-item shaved ice, was her only favorite.
Or maybe, there’s, that retro thing going on now, the originally lackluster traditional ice shop, thanks to the internet, slowly, gotten its deserved attention. This summer, as the three generations of us, headed back home to visit again, we’d, set, once more, in that plastic chair, close to the plastic tables, underneath that about-to-quit old fan, and ordered, that never changed order of four-items shaved ice. The kids may not understand it, but, they were, more than willing, to try the traditional taste their grandmother talked of often, it’s just, that as the kids took a scoop of the shaved ice, there was, that look of frown on their faces, it’d, made the adults burst out in laughter. I suppose, this, can be, considered, as a first-time experience, of the children from the nineties, going back to experience life of those born in the fifties.
So, it’s still NOT the taste of the foods, it’s what’s associated with the tastes of the foods, and, the writer is correct, on how there are, many ice treats now, but, NONE that tasted like those plain plates of shaved ice…