Fishballs
2086 Words
Monday, 26th September 1442
"Dear, our senior members of the board had requested a meeting to be held after lunch today. There would be a presentation made by them and we should be inviting Marcel, Maricel, Michelle and Gwen along too."
"We would be getting the notes ready for the members later on once we have taken our early lunch today along with the printouts that we had prepared since last night."
"By the way, I heard from the kitchen helpers earlier this morning that there would be a new product that had been introduced in the grocery store and we could make some vegetable soup to go with the new product later on."
Heather sat beside me as she locked arms with me while the twins were finishing up their morning breakfast while sitting at their individual highchairs.
We don't normally discuss work during meals but sometimes rules were made to be bent, after all.
"What's the new product dear? Was it being imported in or being made by our town folks?" I was interested since I knew a new set of food was made available at the grocery store for everyone to enjoy.
"There something called fish balls and fish cakes. I was told it was made from a fish called a Toli shad and it had plenty of soft 'Y' shaped bones inside their bodies."
"It would not be advisable to let the kids eat then unattended but these fishes had been descaled, stripped of their heads and spine and the meat had been processed through a meat grinder twice...!"
"Flour and other additives were added and the balls were being shaped and dropped into hot boiling water."
"After a few seconds, the balls were cooled and sold. The cakes were being made similarly but were made into patties where it was lightly fried to retain the shape before being sold."
"That's what I heard and it was being prepared from the Greasy Spoon. We could make soups or deep fry them and I heard not only fish could be made into these as even squid and crabs too could be processed the same way...!"
I was piqued but the mention of crab really put me off as I waved my hands and shook my head when I heard about those meatless crabs that were the main cause of me tripping before...!
"No crabs dear, buy an ample amount of the balls and cakes and we could prepare some vegetable soup from it. It sure sounds delicious and we could buy some to deep fry them. It would be a great snack to be eaten during meetings."
Heather listened and explained that the deep-fried ones were already been introduced in the Greasy Spoon and it was a welcome for the kids.
"The meat of the fish had been through the meat blender twice and Strongbow had a knack to removing all the 'Y' shaped bones once it was cut on a certain way to remove the spine and noes altogether."
"He is going to hold a demonstration soon. So I would better hurry and observe how he was able to remove all the 'Y' shaped bones from the fish...! Mind the children, dear. I would be right back...!"
She hugged and kissed me and the twins as the children waved at their Mummy who was flitting away across the Royal Street towards the grocery store.
She returned some 30 minutes later with a large basket she borrowed from the store as she went to the outdoor kitchen area and instructs the kitchen helpers to prepare the early lunch.
Since it was soup based, all it needs is some shallots and garlic with several spring onions and the base soup would be ready as the rest of the vegetables would be chopped while the fish balls and fish cakes would be dropped into the cauldron when the soup is boiling.
Heather came back to the conference hall as she cleared the tables up and places the printout on the top of the mantlepiece where we had placed the crowns.
The children were picked from their highchairs and they settled down in their trikes as they seemed to be rather growing out of it and would be needing the balance two-wheeler soon.
The rabbits at the front were fed by the children as we minded them. While waiting for the lunch to be prepared, we told the children some of the stores that we had done in the realm and they listened intently as if they understood what we are narrating to them.
"The senior members would bring in the samples for some of the products as well as the blender machine that Old Jack and the engineers had worked on."
"They had tested on the peanut butter as well as 5 types of fruit jams and according to Jennings, the taste and texture of those food items are very good."
" They even had completed the samples for the toothbrush for both the adult and child version and had included 6 flavours for the toothpaste for all range."
I was glad that things were up to speed and was surprised that the senior members of the board had managed to get some of the products to be made into samples for us to test and approve.
It was a far cry where in many seasons back that a single product would take a week to be tried and tested...!
"Dear, do you think this new product that was prepared by Strongbow is available in the towns around us? If not, then we could think of a way to market these products as a frozen item so the other towns could get to enjoy them as well."
We carried the children over to the outdoor kitchen area and watched the kitchen helpers prepared the vegetables as Heather had bought quite an assortment of it to be made into vegetable soup.
I held a piece of fishball in my hand and find it to be extremely springy and it was sold by the pound. Besides, after mixing with flour and other additives, the ratio was about 50% fish. The fishcake, on the other hand, was half of my palm size and it had a rather thick skin but yet a springy feeling.
Heather had bought 10 pounds of the fish balls and fish cakes, while some were being made into a soup as the rest would be deep-fried in some animal fat.
It would definitely be a great snack for the senior members of the board to munch during the meeting.
"I'm not sure dear but we can ask Strongbow to attend the meeting since he started making these fishballs and fishcakes. All the Toli shad came from Marcel and since he would be attending the meeting as well, the supply of this fish would be increased to meet the production needs. What do you think, dear? "
Heather asked me and I find it as a good idea as I got one of the kitchen helpers to inform Strongbow to attend the meeting as well.
The only person that would be absent from the meeting would be Bob Charlton and his son as they would periodically inform their progress of the buildings to both Ben and Frank as they took note of how many houses had been completed based on the number of manpower deployed.
Since the 140 men they had been deployed there were all bricklayers and builders, the rest of the previously deployed men who were militia invalids had been conscripted into military forces instead.
With the addition of their household members to other sectors of employment, there had been an increase in productivity. We were glad that they had made the right choice to move into our town for employment and towards better living.
"Darling, tomorrow would be the day where you would be presenting the awards to the two party leaders and their members, am I right? I am sure the 70 odd members of other Adventurers would be greatly motivated."
Heather hinted at me as she brought out 2 Macleod Stars medals and 6 Bronze Good Service Medals too.
She laid them in the table before her and told me that she would be handing them to Michelle and Gwen as they would be putting up a reception table in the Macleod Coliseum soon.
Since this would be quite a big and memorable event, Heather had suggested to hold it there so the masses would also get to witness the whole ceremony.
I smiled widely at Heather for the planning of these small details in advance without me asking her to do it. She's really a wonderful Queen to the community as she was able to mingle among the locals with ease and the community felt comfortable with her around as well.
As I watched the kitchen helpers prepare the assorted vegetables for our soup, the fish balls that were meant to be deep-fried was dropped into a wok filled with some animal fat, enough to cover the fish balls as it rolled inside the fat-filled wok.
It sizzled and popped and the twins who saw it shielded their faces but their eyes could be seen peering from the gaps of their little palms. When the fishballs stopped popping inside the hot, sizzling fat, they opened up their eyes as they smelled the familiar aroma of fish being deep-fried.
"Yummy Mummy, Daddy...!" the children called out after they smelled the wonderful scent of the deep-fried fish balls. The moment the fishballs were dipped into the hot oil, it swelled up to almost twice its size and this made the twins opened up their eyes as big as those fishballs...!
A few moments later, the fishballs were removed from the wok and set aside where it shrank and shrivelled. I took a piece and blew on it to cool it off before I bite on it and put into the twin's mouths.
It was already cool but the twins acted as if the food was still hot as they covered up their mouths and blew on the food it. When they started to chew on it, they seemed to rather enjoy it very much...!
The juices that flowed from the deep-fried fish balls exploded inside my mouth earlier as I bite to pass it to the twins and I could taste the fishy ocean flavour and the sweetness of it as it flowed onto my taste buds.
"My God... These fishballs are great...! Strongbow actually sells them to his customers from today onwards? He really has a knack towards these seafood eh?"
"It is a good thing he used to be a Shadow unit member and had retired and settled down with his wonderful family."
"I guess being a Shadow unit member has its own perks, as in Strongbow's case, he could even distil ale and cider and cook up a storm for his customers at the Greasy Spoon...!"
Heather was bobbing her head and was mumbling something when I discovered they she had popped a whole piece of fishball inside her mouth and was munching quietly to not let me and the children know...!
No wonder she was all quiet the moment the fishballs were being deep-fried. She was actually waiting to consume it without waiting for the others. Hahaha...!
Our lunch had been prepared and was carried back by the domain helpers back to the dining table in our domain. It consisted of mixed vegetable soup with some of the fish balls and sliced fishcake.
There was also the deep-fried fish balls and fishcakes too and the kitchen helpers had made a simple dipping of preserved tomato sauce that had been fermented for quite some time.
It would be great to dip the fried stuff as it gave off a slightly tangy taste to food and best used for seafood like this.
We thanked the kitchen helpers for their dedicated work as they continued to prepare the lunch for the workers and soldiers afterwards.
Our twins had a piece of boiled and deep-fried fish balls in their tiny bowls on their high chairs as we fed them early lunch as we would be handling the meeting very soon.
The children swing their legs on their highchairs to show that they were enjoying the meals that had been set before them. As usual, the twins were fed first before they pointed at our mouths as we ate along with them.
- Writer
