Starry sky soup, fried stars and dried fish

Candice laid our harvest, three star crabs, one sea dragon as well as several small fishes, out on the table.

"First to prepare for the fried stars, we need to remove the parasites from within them. The methods to remove parasites are slightly different for star crabs and other non-fish sea creatures. First, we need to slowly boil the crabs. Since the parasites are smaller in size, they are more sensitive to temperature then the star crabs so as we increase the temperature they will start to escape from the bodies of the crabs and into the water. If we increase the temperature to near boiling after half an hour, the parasites will have all been boiled but the crabs would still be barely alive. So we change out the water and add seasoning then boil it this time for another half an hour."

This time, Candice allowed us to assist her cook as long as we listened to her instructions. Taking the crabs, I placed them in water while Ken pressed the controls for the time and temperature controller.

"For the starry dried fish we just need some small fish, the type of fish does not matter. We first remove the parasites using the method that I discussed for fried filets last time. Then, after the drying step, we boil the fish instead of frying it, then dry it again"

Taking the fish, we placed them inside the jars.

"The ingredients in the jar are actually a mixture of star water, sun dust and fairy wings in a 3 to 2 to 1 ratio. So for this small jar you just need 3 cups of star water, 2 cups of sun dust and around 6 fairy wings. Just pour them into the water, mix, and the mixture is finished."

As Candice was talking, Ken, who already knew what to do, had put all the ingredients in and completed the mixture.

"Then for the main dish, Starry sky soup, we need to de-parasite this sea dragon."

Gripping the sea dragon by its shell, Candice placed it into the middle of a big pot.

"Take care not to put your fingers in front of the sea dragon's face, if not it may bite your fingers off. For this dish, we need to treat it similar to the crabs. So we need to slowly boil it for half an hour. However, unlike crabs, the sea dragon is actually quite immune to high temperatures so boiling it normally will not cook it. And some of its parasites can also survive in high temperatures."

Candice took some star water together with fairy wings.

"These two ingredients are actually poisonous when mixed together without sun dust so after we boil the sea dragon, we need to soak it in a sun dust and water mixture. Then after emptying out all the water we can finally use the safe to consume meat to make some Starry sky soup."

This step Candice only let us watch. Pouring enough star water to submerge the sea dragon, she scooped around 3 fairy wings and dropped them in. The moment the fairy wings touched the water, the surrounding water turned a very deep blue. Adding some more water, Candice set the time and temperature controller for half an hour.

"While waiting for all three dishes, we can start preparing the base of the soup. And although I say the base of the soup, it's actually the fish soup that I served you two before. First, add some sun dust into boiling water. Then add unfried fish skin into the fish soup. I have some leftovers from lunch so we can just add that in. After that we simmer these two ingredients while constantly stirring. As we stir, we need to make sure that the heat is distributed evenly to prevent the parasites from popping."

Getting out another big pot, Candice placed it on another stove and poured a lot of water inside. Then dumping some dried fish skin and sun dust until the mixture turned a beautiful golden yellow in color, she handed the ladle to Ken and I.

"Usually I would use the automatic stirrer, but since I have two very free kitchen assistants today you two can do it."

Ken grumbled under his breath, but still took the ladle from her hand and started to stir the mixture. Candice then left us in the kitchen alone.

Ken sighed.

"Mother just likes to leave some useless chores to us to keep us busy. I bet she's just going outside to play her game on her personal terminal."

Leaving Ken's side for a while, I peeked out of the kitchen to see Candice sitting at the front desk, on her personal terminal, playing some games. Candice saw me peeking, waved, then went back to playing.

"She is, right! I knew it!"

Sighing once more while stirring, Ken gestured with his head towards one of the drawers.

"Inside the drawer are some cat snacks for Cotton. Just take some in your hands, wave them in front of her, then return to the kitchen. That glutton of a cat will definitely follow you."

Opening the drawer, I saw a bag with the label 'cat snacks'. It contained several pieces of dried fish skin. Exactly like the dried fish skin that was added to the pot Ken was stirring.

Taking one out of the bag, I lured Cotton the cat into the kitchen.

Once inside, Cotton took what was probably her usual spot right near the window, a far enough distance from the stove, and looked expectantly at the pot Ken was stirring. Occasionally Ken would scoop out some soup from the pot into a small bowl for Cotton to taste. We took turns stirring as well as entertaining Cotton enough for her to accompany us.

Finally the awaited alarm rang.

Entering the kitchen, Candice first went over the pot with the sea dragon. Pouring out the water, she refilled it with tap water and added sun dust, then set another timer. Then we moved on to the dried fish.

Taking the fish soaked in a jar mixture, she placed them to dry in the sun.

Lastly was the fried stars. The next steps were just changing the water to star water and sun dust, which was apparently not poisonous, and adding a few seasonings like salts and some herbs, then we had to boil it for another half an hour.

Candice left the kitchen again, and the two of us played around with cotton for another half an hour until the timer rang.

Finally, we were at the last stages of cooking! Candice removed the sea dragon from its pot, deshelled it by prying open the shell with a knife, then chopped up its meat except for its four limbs and its head. She then placed the meat into the pot with sun dust and fish skin and let it simmer for a while.

Then she put some water in that freshly vacated pot to boil. Once boiled, she only placed the dried fish inside for a couple of minutes before taking them out and putting them to dry again.

Finally, she platted the dried stars for us to eat. Turning on the deep fry, she also fried some fairy wings as snacks.

Biting into the shell of the dried stars, the crispy texture of the shell with the softness and juiciness of the meat was mouthwatering. Unlike the fish burger before, the shell of the fried stars were more like the crisp and fresh texture of potato chips, a small amount of force could easily snap it. It was also quite salty. In contrast, the meat of the dried stars was more chewy than the meat of the fish burger and was slightly tougher, but could still be considered soft and juicy.

"Say, why are these called dried stars instead of boiled stars or any other name? They aren't exactly dried."

Making a scrunched up face, Ken sighed.

"It's a really silly story. Actually, the maker of this dish was a cook who was looking to increase his sales with the fried stars. And since fried food had a big boom around the period he discovered it, and the shell was crispy, he called them fried stars instead in order to attract more customers."

Shaking his head, Ken sighed once more as he bit onto the 'fried' stars.

"Did it work?"

"Yeah, it worked alright. He got so much profit from this dish that several other dishes are also called fried even though they do not involve any frying. Honestly, it's too much sometimes!"

We laughed at the silliness of things while taking a bite of the fairy wings.

Fried fairy wings were crispy. They broke off with the slightest strength applied, and instead of salty they were more sweet and even slightly spicy.

Just as we were giving some fried fairy wings to Cotton, the timer rang.

It was time for the main dish!