"Chiak ho liao"

Dad’s friend came to our house just now, as we were about to start dinner and went to the kitchen/dining room to say hi to mum and asked Mum what she’d cooked for dinner. He asked whether tonight we are going to “chiak ho liao” — eat gourmet food — for dinner. I think he meant to compliment Mum, but Mum seemed to feel more offended that delighted. She did manage to cover up her annoyance though.

Dad soon left with his friend, Uncle Choon to go to someone’s funeral and Mum and I continued with dinner. Halfway through dinner, Mum told me that it’s very bad manner to barge into someone’s kitchen and look at what they are eating. She told me she wouldn’t do it and personally can’t accept it. No wonder Mum seemed offended, it all made sense…

However, as always I have my own theory. In a way, yes it is not good to interrupt others during mealtimes, but I guess Mum might be just a little too defensive. Who wouldn’t be, when all she cooked was some curried cabbage and lots of fried fish. And here was Uncle Choon talking about “chiak ho liao”. Mum has never really been a good cook and she never really did bother about it, she even fried fishes in bulk so that our cats will have their share as soon as we are done with ours.

So, Mum might feel uncomfortable when others get a look at her cooking prowess, which in this case was Uncle Choon and got a little annoyed about his “chiak ho liao” comment. Imagine, if Mum is like Bree from Desperate Housewives, I don’t think she would mind anyone walking in during dinner. Maybe, she’ll even invite them for dinner because she’s the epitome of “chiak ho liao” when it comes to family dinners.



What do you think?