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This remembrance was submitted by Caroline Yan, the granddaught of Ngui Cheng (Wong) Yan.

When I was a child my grandmother, Ngui Cheng (Wong) Yan, used to live with my family and I always fondly look back on the moments we shared together. I vividly remember Saturday mornings with her, the 8 a.m. sun shining brightly, with hats on our heads and a bucket in our gloved hands, we set to work. We would start from one corner of the backyard and scour the ground looking for any weeds poking out of the grass. Together we would pull the pesky intruders from the lush greenery and place them in the bucket, and continue on as I would chatter about mundane things. 

When we had filled out pails, we would walk back into the house and feast on her homemade jook. The rice porridge with hearty beef or ham always filled me with warmth and despite being a picky eater as a child, the simplicity of the meal brought comfort to me as we would eat our fill after a successful morning of work. With a splash of soy sauce in my bowl, while hers was more filled with green onions and ginger, I happily ate a meal that my grandmother had made so many times before. 

My grandmother was born in Gom Benn. She had four siblings: Raymond (Wong) Gin, Sui Ching (Wong) Lau, Oi Chun (Wong) Lam and Wing Kit Wong. My grandmother was the third oldest. She passed away when I was still a child and my memories with her are limited and faded. But this memory of waking up before everyone in the house to pick weeds with her, being rewarded with fresh jook, and then afterward doing morning stretches together, lives so vividly in my head that I hold onto it tightly as a reminder of loving times. 

It has been years since her passing and when I see a pot of jook that my father has made with ham leftover from a celebration the previous night, I get a bit nostalgic. And I’m reminded of my grandmother. Though it is a simple meal – rice, stock, leftover meat and soy sauce –  I am immediately comforted by that delicious taste, and the warmth of the wonderful, lasting moments I experienced with my grandmother.