The Finest Fish Dish

lthough I was slightly reticent at first, the catfish dish was one of the most remarkable and delicious things that I have ever eaten. I didn’t even have to use Wiz’s bag of special powder and ended up going back for seconds…and thirds! I could barely move for the rest of the evening and just lay there looking up at the stars and enjoying the marinated aftertaste of my deep-bellied belching. To top it all off I even managed to procure the recipe and have detailed it below:

Minoran Catfish

4 catfish fillets
2 fruits of passion, the seeds and pulpy flesh
1 ulundin chilli, finely chopped
6 aria cactus flowers, crushed (the red ones, not the yellow)
2 small spoons of desert salt
1 small spoon of aria chilli seed
1 clove of grass garlic, crushed
The rind of one large lake apple

Rub the seasoning into the catfish and then oil lightly. Broil over a medium heat, until the fish flakes easily and serve with fried lake weed.

I hope that this will be the first of many recipes I discover during my travels throughout Praetoria, and I look forward to discovering the next culinary delight soon. It induced the best night’s sleep I’ve had since landing in this new frontier, and I didn’t wake until late the following morning.

After such a fabulous night it was quite unexpected to awaken to such screams of sheer terror. It so happened that I wasn’t the only one who had enjoyed the fish, and early that morning a pair of rock gnomes had waded into the lake with their fishing tackle and rods, to bag themselves a catfish for breakfast. It would seem that we had been eating baby catfish and in actual fact the adults were twenty times their size, and as well as being irritable creatures, were vicious predators. The gnomes quickly realised the error of their ways when one of them was swallowed whole whilst the other tried to wade out of the waters, squawking like a deranged chicken. Fortunately, some of the caravan guards managed to drag him onto dry land before the hungry catfish resurfaced for seconds. It put somewhat of a dampener on the day and prompted Merric to decide upon an early departure, the following morning instead of three days from now. I can’t say I’m overly bothered by the change to our schedule, but the unfortunate event did stifle my appetite slightly.

Tomorrow, we continue south to the Aria River where we should find a barge waiting to take us through the Aria Barrens. It will be nice to rest my feet a bit so I’m looking forward to the boat ride.