Salted Fish Reminds Me of my Doggie...

Today I wanted to cook something I've never cook before. Herbal steam chicken. I know bah kut teh is also a type of herbal soup but let's not take that into account. I couldn't understand a word of English translated from Chinese those names of herbs, so I have put off the plan to cook any herbal dishes. But today, I set my alarm clock, jumped out of bed and dragged the hubby with me to the market. Not that hubby could read Chinese but I just wanted him to go with me to the market. I brought the recipe book and opened the said page and pointed the recipe to the herb picker at the Chinese herbal shop. I told them I didn't want any extra, not even 1 gram extra. I want exactly the same amount as written, not like I would know what to do with the extra amount. The herb picker was really helpful. I got what I wanted and I made a crowd waiting behind me. The aunties aunties in the market must have thought I was one crazy person with a book in the market. I didn't bother with that staring crowd. Important was I got what I wanted. Mama said sister did the same thing in the foreign country she's residing now. She brought the whole book, too. Ahhh... great minds think alike.

This was something not meant to be. It was suppose to be prawn patties but there's not even a prawn shell or prawn tail to be found in Tesco. The Tesco guy said finish already. Now got prawn rationing? Every year when the Chinese New Year is nearing, the prawn supply will dwindle and then suddenly, out of nowhere, the prawns will appear with the price more than double the normal rate. Such horrible traders. Talk about being Chinese... we're no different than those terrible traders in China who only want to earn more, earn more and kill almost everyone in the process of making more money. I changed the minced prawns into minced meat. Thank God for extra minced meat in the freezer drawer. And it's added with salted fish and roasted chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts seemed to be a better mix compared to fresh water chestnuts. I never like chestnuts, dunno why.... And a little bit of fried salted fish made a better enhancer. I think I just fall in love with salted fish. I thought my whole salted fish could last me for the whole year but I have used half of it. I'm left with just another half of the salted fish only. Huhuhuhuh....

Now, the whole house smell like salted fish. And it actually smell like my favourite doggie which died a long time ago. I used to have this white with black spots spitz plus pomeranian smart doggie. And whenever he went out for a walk and if it was raining, he would come back with this salted fish smell all over his body. Makes me miss having a spitz plus pom doggie. My last doggie, a mix of dachshund and chihuahua was the smartest dog I've met. He's smarter than some humans. A very considerate dog and full of understanding, confirm better than humans. Eh, this is my kitchen diary blog, not dog diary.

Oh, then we had the shark fin's platter. Eh, imitation only la.... if I eat real one I think a few of my friends will not like that. But I know where to get the supply of shark's fins which will cost you a four figure amount at best. I added some seafood tofu because I love those. The carrot made the soup sweet, only when you peel off the carrot skin. I didn't know about that until recently, okay. I was very lazy to peel carrot skin so I don't like carrots lor... coz it's bitter and tasted like soil. Now, I love carrots coz they are actually sweet. I peel carrot skin before I feed my rabbits also... hehehhe....