Visiting the Baba House in Singapore
As I’ve stated, Singapore is a melting pot of different cultures and on day two, we learned about Peranakan. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, many Chinese traders settled in the Malay Peninsula and married women from the Malay Archipelago. Those combined customs were also influenced by values of the English and Dutch colonists, resulting in the very colorful Peranakan culture. An excellent way to learn about this way of life is by visiting the Baba House, an architectural icon that showcases Peranakan Chinese history, architecture, and heritage. Peter Lee, the honorary curator of the house, gave us a very detailed tour depicting what Peranakan life was like when the house was in its golden years. Following the tour, Edmond Wong gave me a lesson in making a traditional Nonya dumpling. Edmond’s grandmother, Kim Choo, founded her dumpling company in 1945, and the business is still in the family today. Please enjoy the Baba house and what we did afterwards.
1 On day two, our first stop of the day was the historical Baba House. This architectural icon showcases Peranakan Chinese history, architecture, and heritage.
2 Unlike traditional museums, guests are able to feel and enjoy the walls and furnishings. This is a beautiful and elaborately carved wall panel.
3 The house, which was built in 1895, is surprisingly cool in this hot and humid climate. The interior was intentionally made dark to help bring down the temperature. Ceiling fans keep one the interior quite comfortable.
4 Before our TV shoot, I sat for an interview with Ms. Huang Lijie from the Straits Times.
5 Hanging on the walls are elaborately framed portraits of generations of the Wee family, who owned the house.
6 A very beautiful Japanese vase
7 A little 'courtyard' also helps to keep the house cool.
8 A closeup of the intricately carved woodwork
9 The second floor is devoted to the 12-day ritual of the Peranakan wedding. This is the bed of a future bride.
10 The upstairs corridor with highly polished floors and furniture from China
11 This is a sumptuously carved, lacquered, and gilded canopied wedding bed from 19th-century Penang.
12 The house is full of gorgeous, ornate furniture from the Peranakan era. I loved this armoire in the main bedroom.
13 Beneath a colorful floor covering is a peep hole, which looks down into the main foyer. The bride-to-be would use this to catch a glimpse of potential suitors who came to call.
14 Sophie used that peep hole to spy on the TV crew below.
15 Good thing the crew was busy at work.
16 A beautiful Venetian glass vase
17 Part of the upstairs has been extended upon and turned into a private gallery.
18 In that gallery, traditional Pernanakan embroidery is on display.
19 Old and new traditional Peranakan embroidery. The new work on the right, fashioned after traditional Peranakan beading and embroidery, is designed by Raymond Wong.
20 A suitcase highly decorated with mirrors.
21 I loved this mirror - the spiral stair case is part of the Baba House extension.
22 Panels of stained glass
23 A shot of the roof with its traditional terra cotta tiling
24 Located on Neil Road, Baba house is one of several well-preserved, historical homes.
25 A back alley with historic homes juxtaposed with modern skyscrapers
26 More of the interior
27 More Chinese furniture
28 This beautiful oven is from the Peranakan times.
29 As are these wonderful kitchen implements
30 These are ornate lacquered stackable meal containers.
31 Beautiful dessert molds
32 A traditional grinding stone
33 A pastry mold - after the mold was filled with batter, a lid covered with hot coals was placed on top to bake the batter.
34 After a tour of the house, I learned how to make pandan leaf-wrapped dumplings with Edmond Wong, brother of Raymond Wong.
35 Here I am with Edmond, filling the dumplings with a secret rice and meat filling - a recipe of his grandmother's. He would not reveal the secret!
36 A wrapped dumpling before steaming for six hours
37 We were served a refreshing fruit infused tea.
38 The dumplings, after 6 hours of steaming. They were so delicious!
39 An unwrapped dumpling - the rice encases the meat.
40 We were also treated to delectable steamed cupcakes.
41 And a wonderful semolina cake flavored with a bit of Pandan leaf
42 Here I am with Peter Lee, Raymond Wong, and Edmond Wong sampling the delicious dumplings, along with several other traditional Peranakan sweets.
43 We also tried this wonderful lunch dish. The banana leaf is filled with rice seasoned with seafood and spices. When opened, you eat it with an assortment of toppings.
44 The rice with the toppings
45 Very delicious
46 Mangostein, a tapioca dessert, and pomelo sections.
47 After our wonderfully informative visit to the Baba House, we stopped at a small antique shop called Guan Antique.
48 The store was filled with an amazing eclectic mix of objects.
49 Next, we made a quick stop in Little India, the heart of Singapore's Indian community. Here's our camera man Frankie.
50 We stopped in a very nice clothing store. The owners are from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
51 These pretty dresses are called salwar kameez.
52 This woman was happy to show us some of her gorgeous saris.
53 I really like colorful shops, like this one.
54 An especially pretty sari with gold threads woven throughout
55 We also stopped into Kamala Jewellers.
56 They had very fine pieces.
57 I was so tempted.
58 The writing below is Tamil for Campbell Lane.
59 There were also many food vendors.
60 We found this sign humorous.
61 Fresh flower garlands are a circular symbol of love, peace, and purity for use in Hindu Temples in the neighborhood.
62 Milk, coconuts, wrinkly limes, lotus flowers, and marigold blooms
Enjoyed this blog. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: KLBrown | July 2nd, 2010 at 9:19 am
Hi Martha,
It has been very interesting to learn a little bit about the Peranakan culture not only from you but when I wondered where the name actually came from, I Googled it. Anak means child or the birth of a child and children born locally of mixed marriages were called Peranakan. Baba comes from an Indonesian term Babak meaning sir and used for people of status and stature in society but the word got “corrupted” along the way and became Baba. The Chinese couldn’t take their female folk out of their country due to the Imperial Decree and so when they settled in the Southeast Asian Islands they had to intermarry with the locals. The Peranakan culture also encompasses the Indian and Eurasian communities which are all separate mainly because of their religions. For anyone wanting to read more, here’s a link: http://peranakan.hostoi.com/Page1.htm
~
I also visited the site of Edmond Wong and noticed he has updated his page to list The Martha Stewart Show! I am anxious to see this episode too. Thanks Martha. Trish
Posted by: Trish | July 2nd, 2010 at 10:50 am
The steamed dumpling (called "bar chang") brings back lots of fond memories of my mum's dumplings during the "Tuan Wu" festival, which I missed very much. It was the best dumpling I've ever had. Even though my mum has passed away, there were times I could still smell the aroma of the meat filling just by thinking of these dumplings. I remember whenever my mum was frying the meat ingredients in the wok, the aroma was just simply out-of-this-world ... Wrapping the dumplings also takes lots of skills, otherwise the rice and filings will just fall apart after being steamed for six hours. I must get the recipe from my sister one day.
Posted by: Keith | July 2nd, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I have a new laptop, and speedy internet service. Yet, in the last year or so, it frequently takes several minutes for the pictures that accompany your daily blogs to load. They always seems to get stuck on loading the last picture. I'm wondering if anyone else is having these problems. Nevertheless, I love all the pictures!
Posted by: Lorna | July 2nd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I love being able to travel with you! Favorite this time were the market photos!
Posted by: Ade | July 2nd, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I happened to see this blog with word Baba house at Singapore. It happened to be your, the famous Martha Steward Today's blog. Got my curiosity of Baba word used,and I enjoyed your blog, and its wonderful singapore photos with captions. I went on to read Jun 29th blog, and spent an hour enjoying the ride. I wished that I had traveled with you, how wonderful will it be, imagined. Keep up the good blogs, and your sense of passing informative blogs.
I wonder if I could ever meet you in person to be with you for a chat even if it is for five minutes, to thank you in person.
US Professor of MET
Posted by: Narayanan | July 2nd, 2010 at 4:43 pm
The Baba house is stunning, bright and cheerful to look at. I never heard of it and I am glad I came across your article.
My mom would also make dumplings..it appears many cultures share similar foods.
Posted by: Michele | July 2nd, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Hi Martha, This is an extremely fascinating blog about Singapore. All of your photos are once again stunning and fun to look at. I love being able to see how different each place you have vitited is. The older and newer architecture and the museum houses and new shops are fascinating. The food vendors and the clothing stores were magnificent. The foods you ate sure looked delicious. Look forward to seeing the video on your TV show in September. Have a great weekend and hug all of your wonder animals for me. I love them all. Hope everyone else has a nice 4th of July weekend, also. Love, Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | July 2nd, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Dear Martha and all Americans
Happy Independence DAY. Have a good one.
May God Bless America.Cheers.
Babas are Straits born Chinese who speak my language - Malay. They wear our traditional costume - the Kebaya. Thie food is are similar to ours especially the cakes which are called Nyonya Kuehs.
Baba means father.
They are also found in Penang and Malacca. Martha did visit Malacca but I think due to time constraints, she missed visiting the Babas (men) and Nyonyas (the women)of Malacca.
They have a special street where their ancestral homes are open to visitors. You can see their rich cultural heritage.
@Trish
Great of you to have done research on the subject. I noticed you took the trouble to do so.
Much appreciated which leads to better understanding of us.
Posted by: Idzan, Kuala lumpur | July 4th, 2010 at 9:05 am
I've enjoyed noodles singapore style at one of our local supermarkets. Do you have any noodle recipes that are cooling on a hot summer day?
Posted by: Joan Mead-Matsui | July 5th, 2010 at 11:47 am
This blog as far as pictures of food go is by far the best! Some of the other recent blogs come very close but i just love this one. And the carved wood! That wedding bed!! and that peep hole!!! Of course the food looks fabulous. Are those pink lotus buds real? thanks
Posted by: http://twitter.com/Geotravel | July 5th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Again, wonderful pictures from Martha.
Besides Singapore, the Peranakan people are also resided in the Malaysian States of Melaka & Penang. They are famous for their traditional dress called the “Nyonya Kebaya” & their typical song/music is called “Dondang Sayang”, literally means The Song of Love. Here are the picture & video of the Nyonya Kebaya dress and the Dondang Sayang song.
http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/calendar/0105/nyonya%20kebaya.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mahmw66quj8&feature=related
Posted by: durio uno | July 6th, 2010 at 9:56 am