13 Egg Drop Soup

Hana was very satisfied with Kuro's versatility.

What she didn't know was why Kuro became so attached to her although they just met.

Kuro just felt her smell was especially familiar; however, it could not pinpoint what was so special about this being. It just brazenly forced itself on her like how she forced herself on its adversary of affection.

Grrrr..Kuro felt angry thinking about the obnoxious Glacier Mirage Fox.

Yep, it knew what that thing was. As a native of this rainforest, it could not understand why that arrogant fox could appear here of all place. This side was supposed to be his domain. No other ancient beast should have encroached into his place. Although it was considered young in its own clan, it was already 300 plus years old. The only difference was, it has just woken from a 100-year slumber after cultivating its latest bloodline ability.

It knew there was a cave at this location but never checked what was inside since it was pretty sure no other animals or beasts dared to enter its ground.

That bastard should've been in the north where it belonged! Kuro fumed.

Oblivious to the internal struggle of her snake pet to kill off its rival, Hana cleaned up the surrounding of the cave with a bunch of dried leaves bonded together with a tree fiber. She hummed lightheartedly and placed the single bird egg she got from Kuro inside the egg carton, replacing two eggs she took out together.

Kuro's heart was bleeding when it looked at the eggs in Hana's hands.

So big! I can't lose next time! Quantity over quality!

Kuro vowed that it will get so much bird's egg for Hana until she couldn't eat anymore next time!

Again, this jolly aunty did not realize she had hurt her pet's self-esteem just by simply showing her AA grade with omega-3 eggs (1). We should not blame her as to her knowledge, snakes are not that intelligent with complex emotions.

She stoked a small fire and built up on it until it became stable. This time, from rubbing the dried stick to make smoke appear on the tinder to a full legit fire only took her an hour, a far cry from them fire making experts, but hey, so much better than her initial three grueling hours. It turned out, practice did make it perfect.

She used a stone to pound two sticks into an 'X' position on the left and on the right to support the bamboo canister she made before. She then hacked from the top part to make an opening; just like an elongated half cylinder bowl.

Hana carefully poured in some water from her water bottle inside, not wanting it to spill on the fire, lest the fire stoked with great difficulty was extinguished by her action. She then added crushed chopped garlic into the water, two pinch of salt, a small pinch of chicken stock cube and some sausages. She used her own medical card for slicing the sausages to tiny circular pieces.

She left the credit card alone; who knows when she will find civilization? At that time, the credit card might be handy.

She placed bamboo opening side up and let the water came to a boil.

Hana prepared another set of the same mixture on another opened bamboo canister.

When the one on the fireplace started to boil, she picked it up carefully with soft leaves on her hands to avoid being burned and placed it carefully on the cave floor between two stones so that it won't roll over.

She immediately cracked an egg inside and stirred slowly while the soup kept on bubbling before adding in some chopped wild onion leaves inside.

"If only I have some corn starch. The soup will become thick and more delicious" she sighed.

She left the readied soup and proceed to make another one.

Kuro and Shiro were curiously watching Hana's antics. They did not understand what Hana's action signifies. Kuro slithered slowly towards the readied soup and tried to go inside the bamboo bowl.

"Stop it! You'll become boiled snake. It's too hot" She used a stick to fling the little snake away. Kuro's feelings were hurt. It slithered to a dark corner while Shiro showed a schadenfreude grin.

When both soups were ready, Hana drank hers while blowing on the surface of the soup, a mouthful over a mouthful slowly. The refreshing chicken stock infused soup was balanced with the green onion's tanginess. The silky strands of the eggs and chunks of sausages made the soup even better.

If only I can get some carrots, celery and cauliflower!

She felt her insides warmed up.

Not eating warm things for a night and a day had made Hana felt uncomfortable before. But now she felt so much better.

Truly, an egg drop soup for the soul!

Kuro and Shiro watched Hana's blissful expression and started to swallow their saliva.

"Come over guys! Another one for you. Share okay."

Both of them pounced at the egg drop soup and licked the bamboo bowl clean.

They have fallen in love with the delicious water this being made!

Our mommy has magical hands!

Hana chuckled softly when she watched the two kids ravenously drinking the soup from trying to outdo each other. So naughty. The soup was just a basic soup any Chinese aunty ought to make. The method of making the soup can lead to many variations of cooking such as the Sa Hor Fun (2), the Kueyteow Kungfu (3) and even the Mee Ladna (4).

If one can find mock shark's fin, it can easily turn to shark's fin soup. However, the most crucial ingredient is missing; the soup thickener. It could be corn flour or even flour mixed with a little water. It's alright, the taste was good enough. Only the texture was compromised .

As a child of a Chinese descend father and a Malay descend mother, Hana had no prejudice to any kind of cooking. Her palate was wide and without reservation.

She loved heavily spiced Indian food and yet she also loved the light scented and refreshing Chinese cooking. Her love for Malay food was unprecedented especially the traditional ones which were beginning to disappear. She had also tried Japanese cooking, Korean cooking, Western cooking and even Middle Eastern cooking.

All have their own appeal.

This can only happen when she had time and money (come from Arash of course lol) to try them out one after another in the kitchen as a housewife. She planned to eat well although she was stuck here. That was the only way for her heart to be at ease.

Shiro really liked Hana's cooking. At the beginning, it planned to disappear as soon as it can move. Now, however, it convinced itself to stay a little while longer so that it could sampled new surprises.

Kuro however can't have enough of the soup. It wondered if it got more eggs, will its new mommy make some more soup? Kuro thought as its saliva coming out from its cute mouth.

Author's note:

(1) AA grade with omega-3 eggs = Eggs were enhanced with additional added value like 'lutein', 'omega' etc to differentiate them from the normal eggs. It's not just about the sizes anymore (AA, A, B, C). Its because a lot of Malaysian cooking used eggs in nearly every one-meal-dish.

(2) Sa Hor Fun = Large flat noodles in thick soup like the one in this chapter

(3) Kueyteow Kungfu = medium flat noodles which is fried first in eggs and corn/rice flour before soaked in similar soup

(4) Mee Ladna = noodles in similar soup with added dark and light soy sauce