Starting the Stove

We didn't have a kitchen nor gas in the first a few years.

Sink was outdoor. Cooking was out door. Coal stove was what my Mom used to cook. We had a half open space as kitchen and that occupied the lane.

Around 3-4pm, every family in the Lilong neighborhood would start the stove at the same time. The whole block became very smoky.

The whole cooking process was definitely not easy. People needed to be very skilled and experienced in it so the heat would be just enough for all the cookings. They knew clearly how much coal each dish would take.

My parents needed to go to work. So they never tried to start the stove more than once a day.

I'll draw many more pictures about stove and cooking.