<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Jan 31, 2009
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Cookbook raised $2.68m <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Homemade recipes help Boon Lay projects </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
President Nathan signed 50 copies of the book which were sold for $10,000 each.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
View more photos
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->THERE is 'steamed melati' from Puan Noor Aishah, widow of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak.
Then there is 'Bangladeshi mutton curry', from Mr Azaharul Abdul Maleque, a Bangladeshi shipyard worker who lives in Boon Lay.
These are among the 77 recipes contributed by 47 home cooks from different strata of society - but mainly residents of Boon Lay - who have come together for a cookbook with a cause.
And to date, the book 'Boon Lay...Blending with Food', officially launched last night, has raised $2.68 million - well over the $1.5 million target.
This was announced by Madam Ho Geok Choo, MP for the Boon Lay ward in West Coast GRC, at a dinner last night to thank the donors.
A total of $500,000 was raised from 50 copies of the book that were signed by President S R Nathan and sold for $10,000 each. The remainder came from donations.
=> Bought using the Peasants' funds by Lumpar Lickers?
The funds will go towards programmes for the ward's residents.
Among them is a new centre with facilities such as a library and a kitchen for latchkey children, many of whom do not get proper meals or academic guidance at home, said Madam Ho.
Also launched is a scholarship scheme which is a tie-up with Raffles Junior College and Raffles Institution. The two schools have since merged and are now a single institution known as RI.
The scholarship is for student leaders from a youth club which organises community activities in the ward. Eight scholarships, each worth $2,000, will be given out, with at least six reserved for current RI students.
A third beneficiary is a wellness centre for the elderly.
Madam Ho said President Nathan, who wrote the foreword in the cookbook, had agreed to personalise more copies for key donors and supporters.
She admitted to being filled initially with 'trepidation' about the fund-raising project, 'as the economic clouds around the globe were growing darker'.
'However, the optimists among us had faith that it is in times like these that the poor need to be looked after all the more and those who give will feel the joy of giving doubly.
'We also had faith - completely vindicated - in the generosity of Singaporeans,' she said.
While thanking her supporters, the MP also broke down for a minute when remembering her late father, Mr Ho See Beng, 'for his loyalty to friends'.
Puan Noor, 76, told The Straits Times that her recipe, which involves blending fish fillet to a paste, and then steaming it with ingredients such as cumin powder and egg whites, was one she invented at the Istana.
As the wife of independent Singapore's first president, who held the office between 1965 and 1970, she served the dish as a starter at many a dinner with diplomatic VIPs.
'People liked it because it was something different,' she recalled with a laugh.
Flip a few pages and one finds the contribution of Mr Azaharul who came to Singapore to make a better living and had just gone home to get married.
On the next page is the recipe for 'homemade dumplings', contributed by Ms Ao Rong Ying, who lives in Jurong West but teaches in a kindergarten in Boon Lay. She had learnt it from her father-in-law, a retired factory supervisor.
Said the 33-year-old: 'We always make it at home, about once every two or three weeks, whenever we feel like it. I learnt it from my father-in-law, and I intend to pass it down to my children and make it a family heirloom!'
The book costs $25 for the soft-cover version, $50 for the hard-cover version, and can be bought at Boon Lay Community Centre. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Cookbook raised $2.68m <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Homemade recipes help Boon Lay projects </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
President Nathan signed 50 copies of the book which were sold for $10,000 each.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->THERE is 'steamed melati' from Puan Noor Aishah, widow of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak.
Then there is 'Bangladeshi mutton curry', from Mr Azaharul Abdul Maleque, a Bangladeshi shipyard worker who lives in Boon Lay.
These are among the 77 recipes contributed by 47 home cooks from different strata of society - but mainly residents of Boon Lay - who have come together for a cookbook with a cause.
And to date, the book 'Boon Lay...Blending with Food', officially launched last night, has raised $2.68 million - well over the $1.5 million target.
This was announced by Madam Ho Geok Choo, MP for the Boon Lay ward in West Coast GRC, at a dinner last night to thank the donors.
A total of $500,000 was raised from 50 copies of the book that were signed by President S R Nathan and sold for $10,000 each. The remainder came from donations.
=> Bought using the Peasants' funds by Lumpar Lickers?
The funds will go towards programmes for the ward's residents.
Among them is a new centre with facilities such as a library and a kitchen for latchkey children, many of whom do not get proper meals or academic guidance at home, said Madam Ho.
Also launched is a scholarship scheme which is a tie-up with Raffles Junior College and Raffles Institution. The two schools have since merged and are now a single institution known as RI.
The scholarship is for student leaders from a youth club which organises community activities in the ward. Eight scholarships, each worth $2,000, will be given out, with at least six reserved for current RI students.
A third beneficiary is a wellness centre for the elderly.
Madam Ho said President Nathan, who wrote the foreword in the cookbook, had agreed to personalise more copies for key donors and supporters.
She admitted to being filled initially with 'trepidation' about the fund-raising project, 'as the economic clouds around the globe were growing darker'.
'However, the optimists among us had faith that it is in times like these that the poor need to be looked after all the more and those who give will feel the joy of giving doubly.
'We also had faith - completely vindicated - in the generosity of Singaporeans,' she said.
While thanking her supporters, the MP also broke down for a minute when remembering her late father, Mr Ho See Beng, 'for his loyalty to friends'.
Puan Noor, 76, told The Straits Times that her recipe, which involves blending fish fillet to a paste, and then steaming it with ingredients such as cumin powder and egg whites, was one she invented at the Istana.
As the wife of independent Singapore's first president, who held the office between 1965 and 1970, she served the dish as a starter at many a dinner with diplomatic VIPs.
'People liked it because it was something different,' she recalled with a laugh.
Flip a few pages and one finds the contribution of Mr Azaharul who came to Singapore to make a better living and had just gone home to get married.
On the next page is the recipe for 'homemade dumplings', contributed by Ms Ao Rong Ying, who lives in Jurong West but teaches in a kindergarten in Boon Lay. She had learnt it from her father-in-law, a retired factory supervisor.
Said the 33-year-old: 'We always make it at home, about once every two or three weeks, whenever we feel like it. I learnt it from my father-in-law, and I intend to pass it down to my children and make it a family heirloom!'
The book costs $25 for the soft-cover version, $50 for the hard-cover version, and can be bought at Boon Lay Community Centre. [email protected]
