Pei：

是什麼契機讓你搬進岸內糖廠的宿舍？
What made you move to the accommodation in Àn-nèi Sugar Refinery?

Mother：

當初搬進去是因為跟你爸爸結婚才住進去。
Mainly because of the marriage. I moved in after I married your father.

Pei：

那你覺得你的婚姻生活跟你當初想像的有落差嗎？
How is your marriage life? Does it differ from your expectations?

Mother：

前二十幾年滿好的，那時候你爸爸跟我們的生活很單純，他在糖廠裡做保蔗（保護甘蔗）的工作，純粹 就是上下班。後來他去受訓加上唸書，再來職務調動，我們新家的房子也整理好了，生活步調就不太一 樣了。陸續都有一些轉變啦！

Hmm... the previous twenty years of my marriage was quite good, our life was fairly simple at that period. Your father was special police in the sugar refinery, his work was guarding the sugar cane. It’s fairly just commuting from home to the refinery. Then, after we moved into our new house, your father went to university and his job had changed to be more challenging, these reasons made the pace of our lives far different than before. Anyway, there always has been changes throughout our time.

Pei：
我很好奇，那住在糖廠的時候需要買糖嗎？
One thing I am curious about. Did you need to buy sugar when you lived there?

Mother：
這我不太記得耶！我只記得那時候糖滿好取得的，有時候也會發給我們。
I can’t remember actually. I only remember sugar was easy to get and the sugar refinery would send us sugar sometimes.

Pei：
那你那時候有很常做菜嗎？通常會煮什麼？
Did you cook often at that time? What did you usually make?

Mother：
很多耶！不過我那時候還不太會做菜，都是一些家常的東西，沒什麼特別的。喔！有做滷豬腳，你爸很喜歡吃，還有綠豆番薯湯。
I remember I cooked a lot but I was not good at cooking at that time. Mainly some home cooking, nothing special. Ah! Your father likes stew pig knuckle so I made that a lot, and mung bean sweet potato soup.

Pei：
綠豆番薯湯是甜的嗎？這是你自己想出來的甜湯嗎？
Is the mung bean sweet potato soup sweet or savoury? Also, did you create the recipe by yourself?

Mother：
甜鹹都可以，我記得是小時候我阿嬤在盛夏的時候會做的，那時候也沒什麼好吃的，這個就甜甜的，綠 豆又消暑解渴。以前糖沒有那麼好取得，就是有錢人家才有，有時候就會炫耀說我要來吃個糖，類似一 種炫富的行為。糖廠做的糖就是做一做日本人拿回去，類似像其他的高經濟作物一樣，像是檜木、 芥末。是直到戰敗後，日本人回去，留下來的這些糖廠就需要自己賣糖，但糖還是屬於戰略物資，才會 說為什麼你爸爸要在糖廠顧糖。總之，你阿祖當時就是會做一些綠豆湯，然後加一些蕃薯，她有時候會 做一半甜的，留一半做鹹的，甜的就是加糖，鹹的就是什麼都不加，吃的時候會配一些醃菜。如果還有 剩下的話，你阿嬤就會把它做成冰品，她會再加一些粉進去勾芡再裝進小袋子裡，凍起來吃之後就有綠 豆冰可以吃，按呢。

It can be both! It was from my childhood memory. My grandmother usually made this soup in the summertime. We didn't have many desserts in that era, this soup is a bit sweet and mung bean is good for getting relief from the summer heat. Sugar was difficult to get in my childhood, only the rich people would say they can have sugar and that was kind of showing off behaviour. The sugar in the refinery would be imported back to Japan like other economic crops, such as hinoki and wasabi. Besides, sugar was still a strategic material after the Japanese left Taiwan so that was the reason why your father needed to guard the factory. Anyway, your great-grandma made mung bean soup and put sweet potato in it. She would divide the soup into half, some for sweet and some for savoury. The savoury one would come with some pickled vegetables while you eat it. Furthermore, if she finds leftover soup, she would mix it with tapioca powder and put it into small bags, we would then have ice bars for dessert!

Pei：
聽起來很不錯！
That sounds brilliant!

Mother：
那時候你阿祖都一次煮好多喔!她都用生煨去煮，因為那時候大概一家子有十一個人要吃。不像現在都是 小家庭，大部分都用電鍋。
Yes, your great-grandma always cooked the soup in a big pot called a Shēng-Wēi because that was for 11 people in the family. We use a steam cooker now.

Pei：
生煨是什麼？
What is a Shēng-Wēi?

Mother：
應該是一種鐵的鍋子，材質是什麼我不是很記得。放在灶上煮的時候底下很容易會有黑黑的東西跑出來， 都要時常去刮掉它，這樣才比較不會耗柴火。它就是很個很大的鍋具，旁邊會有多出來一圈可以拿的地方， 這樣等鍋子冷卻之後，你要拿的時候比較好施力。嗯! 大概就是這樣。
I think it’s a kind of metal pot but I can’t remember what kind of material it is exactly. It’s easy to have some black stuff underneath the pot when you cook food on the Zào (traditional wood-burning stove). We needed to scrape it off often that would enable us to save the wood. In brief, Shēng-Wēi is a giant cookware that has an extra handle surrounding the pot and that will make it easy to hold when the pot cools down.