Monday, October 1, 2007

Bird's Nest 'Soup'

Mr. A & Mr. B, 2 veterans within the company I am currently working for. In these past couple of years, stories of their past usually cause a tickle within my body. And yesterday was no exception. It was during lunch that A suddenly brought up the issue of the re-opening of a "hotel' in Puchong, and we all knew which hotel he was referring to. He knows this particular pimp who use to update him on new 'products' and one in particular was mentioned during lunch. He said, "jin wo" girls are now available. I had imagine that these "products" had skin as smooth as silk and was damn energetic and healthy *wiping sliver off my chin*. He kept asking if we knew what he meant. Being innocent *whistling*, we said no. He had explained that these 'products' will swallow. Ok, but I still did not see how "jin wo" is related to that.B then changed to a related topic. He mentioned that in Malacca, there is this heritage building which has been renovated to attract birds to build their nest there. And he said, the birds that came are called Swallow.A SwallowIt was then that we know how it relates to the 'products'. But my curiosity soon discovered the following.The Chinese name for bird's nest soup, "yan wo(燕窝)", translates literally as "swiftlet's nest" (yan=swiftlets, wo=nest). When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture used for soup or sweet tong sui. It is mostly referred to as "jin wo" unless references are made to the salty or sweet soup in Chinese cuisine.A SwiftA & B, you are mistaken. They are swift, in name and in motion. They don't, I mean, they are not swallow.Note : Fictional or is it?