Hi folks! Hope you’re all doing very well. To my Australian readers – it’s been a pretty cold winter hasn’t it? But don’t worry because this is the last month of it and I’m pretty certain that she’s travelling up north soon to celebrate Christmas there.

Winter hasn’t been all doom and gloom though. Despite being cold, depressing, fluey, lethargic and not condusive to productivity, winter has provided us with some happy moments of passing sunshine, snuggling up, fashionable layering and facial hair, blowing fake smoke in the air like a cowboy, and good old comfort food. Winter hasn’t been so bad really. I mean, it could’ve been a lot worse.

 

For our dear padaek – as expected, winter (or perhaps any time of the year), is a good time for it to hibernate and as the following photos illustrate, little has changed with this month’s update. As you can see, padaek is still fast asleep and there’s been no sign of change over the last 3 months. Anyhow, who am I to judge, because what can a jar of padaek do in this kind of weather anyway? There’s only one more month until Spring – the season and symbol for life, growth and vitality. Hopefully, our padaek with also wake up to the call and show some signs of activity and progress. Anything is possible.

Note: #08 indicates August. Also, if you’re looking for padaek to use in your cooking, be sure to give the commercial alternative a try. Just look for ‘preserved fish sauce’ or ‘fermented fish sauce’ at your favourite Asian grocery store or shop online. I’ve been using this particular product – ‘Ground Preserved Fish Sauce‘ by Super/Wok Brand (Product of Thailand) and it tastes amazing! Even though it doesn’t say padaek on the packaging – as far as my tastebuds are concerned, it certainly tastes a lot like how I remember padaek to be; pungent, savoury/umami and simply delicious! I’ve been using it regularly to make dipping sauces, soups and tum som and now I need to restock. Give it a try folks – I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Happy eating!((1))

[[1]]The image of the singing robin was obtained from ReusableArt.com and is ‘copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown’.[[1]]