One of the most historic shops at my grandparents' town is a ice desert shop, run solely by an old grandma. People call her "Auntie Yan".
She's been running this very store ever for over 50 years, always by herself, and only by herself. She would end the day as late as how long her last customer would stay, and then start making the fruity ingredients after she closes the store. Everything is hand made here by her, including the traditional "tri-color ice stick" and her default recommendation, the "plain ice". However, this "plain" ice is by means not plain. It's flavored with homemade pineapple syrup and condensed milk.
My mom ordered the famous "Four-fruit ice". The 4 fruits are the dried straws of papaya, plum, cherry and.... I forgot what the last one is!!!
Homemade strawberry syrup!
Seems like time travel back into the olden days...
Auntie Yan's ice desert shop has appeared a few times on the media, and she's most proud of her ice making machines, as old as her shop. She was more eager than I was and reminded me to take photos of her machines. These are very durable and well-made Japanese machines that keep her refridgator cool at all times, for more than 50 years.
Ice shaving machine
Ice-stick molds
The mysterious ice sticks!
The last time I was there, I went with my aunt(mom's younger sister), and while we were having "plain ice", my aunt was chatting with Auntie Yan about the times when she was in elementary school and being her son's classmate. Sitting there, I felt that I was the one in the wrong section of time. This is what we would call living memory, but memory that doesn't belong to me, yet has now included me as a part of it.
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