'The Kindness of strangers.'
Once again (due to our current lockdown) my landlady (whom I have never seen) left two small plastic bags hanging from the exterior handle of my outside door. This kindness is most unexpected, unwarranted even, and I am most grateful to have found an oasis of calm amidst a world in turmoil.
One bag contained eggs which in England might be considered 'Bantam' eggs. If you will recall, a bantam is any small variety of fowl, usually of chicken or duck. Hence Bantam eggs are considerably smaller than regular eggs.
The other bag hosted two small (150g) tins of 'Three Lady Cooks Sardines in Tomato Sauce', product of Thailand. Ah, Sardines, but not as you know them, Jim.
I performed a double take. Sardines, in a red can and in Tomato sauce? Surely not. They are pilchards. Upon using a teaspoon to open the can, as instructed, low and behold there were the pilchards, as I had expected.
Now, a fact (unbeknownst to myself at the time) is that sardines and pilchards are one and the very same fish (having the Latin name Sardina Pilchardus). Another interesting fact about the sardine/pilchard is that it belongs to the oily fish family of 'Clupeidae' which includes herring and anchovies. However they tend to be slightly different in size, taste and how they are treated for consumption.
For me anchovies (in various salty sizes) are to be found in oil, in flat tins with a ring pull device or, expensively, in posh glass jars from Spain's Brave Coast. Sardines tend to mirror tins of anchovies, but are bigger and less salty. Pilchards come in cans with tomato sauce and are larger than sardines. Herring are the largest and can be pickled as rollmops, or smoked as kippers or bloaters.
Ah, indeed, the things that one can learn under lockdown in Cambodia.
Once again (due to our current lockdown) my landlady (whom I have never seen) left two small plastic bags hanging from the exterior handle of my outside door. This kindness is most unexpected, unwarranted even, and I am most grateful to have found an oasis of calm amidst a world in turmoil.
One bag contained eggs which in England might be considered 'Bantam' eggs. If you will recall, a bantam is any small variety of fowl, usually of chicken or duck. Hence Bantam eggs are considerably smaller than regular eggs.
The other bag hosted two small (150g) tins of 'Three Lady Cooks Sardines in Tomato Sauce', product of Thailand. Ah, Sardines, but not as you know them, Jim.
I performed a double take. Sardines, in a red can and in Tomato sauce? Surely not. They are pilchards. Upon using a teaspoon to open the can, as instructed, low and behold there were the pilchards, as I had expected.
Now, a fact (unbeknownst to myself at the time) is that sardines and pilchards are one and the very same fish (having the Latin name Sardina Pilchardus). Another interesting fact about the sardine/pilchard is that it belongs to the oily fish family of 'Clupeidae' which includes herring and anchovies. However they tend to be slightly different in size, taste and how they are treated for consumption.
For me anchovies (in various salty sizes) are to be found in oil, in flat tins with a ring pull device or, expensively, in posh glass jars from Spain's Brave Coast. Sardines tend to mirror tins of anchovies, but are bigger and less salty. Pilchards come in cans with tomato sauce and are larger than sardines. Herring are the largest and can be pickled as rollmops, or smoked as kippers or bloaters.
Ah, indeed, the things that one can learn under lockdown in Cambodia.
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