Launching a career
Being highly familiar with the culture of old Wanhua, Ke often pens articles for a Wanhua Community College publication. He has covered topics such as the mercantile history of the area, Japanese geisha culture and the diversity of ethnic groups that came over when the national government relocated to Taiwan. He's also often invited to offer guided tours for students. When the spirit moves him, customers also get the chance to hear him speak of days gone by. His mother, Granny Tsai, through her time spent as a stall vendor, is part of Wanhua's history.
After World War II, a young and beautiful Granny Tsai married into the Ke family. On top of taking care of her elders, raising her children, and managing household chores, she also helped her mother-in-law with a rice milk stand. Though it was no walk in the park, she did develop an arsenal of kitchen skills.
Raising six children and caring for an aging mother-in-law began to strain the family's finances. So in 1965, Granny Tsai bought a two-foot-square iron griddle. She used it to make taro rice cakes, later adding rice noodles and fried eel pastries. In 1976, after Ke Te-lung finished his military service, he suggested that his mother discontinue the breakfast business and get into offering more lucrative lunch, supper and late-night snack items instead.
However, three long years of hectic round-the-clock life became too physically demanding. While the family's financial outlook improved, it did so at the expense of their health. They had no choice but to depart from the prevailing high-volume/narrow-profit-margin route. They then put their younger brother in charge of running a seafood business with their mother. All of the other brothers in the family were earning their living outside the home. It came as a bolt from the blue when their younger brother--the protector and caretaker of their parents--passed away at age 37 from cirrhosis of the liver. Their younger brother is pictured with a stall-cart on a blown-up photo which hangs on the wall of the new shop. It serves as a silent reminder of him to the family.
After taking their overall health and strength into account, their parents changed the business strategy to incorporate simpler items which required minimal processing. The relatively relaxed pace of a sweet soup and dumpling shop fit the bill. So, in 1982 the billing on the shop sign was changed to read "Granny Tsai's." For more than 20 years since, Granny Tsai's sweet soup has received public praise many times over.
Even though Snake Alley's business development plan is still underway, business gradually picked up after their shop was renovated--thanks to the bright streetlights that attract tourists to the area. Granny Tsai has witnessed the continuous reincarnation of Snake Alley for 40 years. Now that her son is at the helm, he hopes that visitors will be able to recapture the brilliance of Snake Alley with each mouthful of that delicious sweet peanut soup.
"Granny Tsai's" red bean, peanut and salty dumpling soups warm the tummies of night market visitors.
Their sorely missed younger brother, who met with an untimely death, is pictured with Granny Tsai's vendor stall.
Snake Alley's Chinese-style archway--in its heyday splendor.