Author: Annonymous
Have you eaten?
It is a very simple form of greeting that we may hear in our everyday lives. Yet. A simple question like this uncovers beyond that – often a way to show care and concern for our loved ones.
Part of my growing up years was going to my ah ma’s house after school. Although she wasn’t well off, she would cook our favorite food, ensuring we are well fed (sometimes overly too well-fed). I would sneak into the kitchen while she was preparing dinner almost every day, snacking on food that just out of the pot, trying to play with the woks and pan (nearly mess up the kitchen/dish). Perhaps this was where I picked up how to cook some simple dishes (without really cooking when I was young). I just somehow figured it out when I grew up after based on the memory of how my grandma did it, or by tweaking some recipes.
When it comes to before CNY, she would make the Ngoh Hiang by hand, chopping up the water chestnut, mixing up the minced meat, ingredients, condiments, etc. Then we roll and make the Ngoh Hiang. She would often tease me saying that my Ngoh Hiang looks deformed. Almost every year during the first day of CNY, she would also make ang chor teh (longan red dates tea) that everyone looks forward to having each year.
I picked up some Hokkien from my ah ma, either when I was tagging her along for marketing during my school holidays, or while she was talking to my other yi pohs on the phone. She always say that the way I speak Hokkien sounds like I am cutting Chee cheong fun (bits and chunks). If not for what I have learnt from her then, I would not have been able to converse in Hokkien with my patients at work now.
I guess that pretty sums up my favorite memory with my ah ma.
