Oh, Carp.

Today Alex and I bought fresh carp from the supermarket and fried it for lunch.

Said like that, it sounds so easy.

The supermarket wasn't any more of a trial than usual, except that when we got to the checkout they said their card scanners weren't working, so Alex's card wouldn't work, so we had to do a mad scramble for cash - we barely had enough between us, because I never carry more than I think I'm going to need, and Alex uses his debit card. In case you're wondering how I figured all this out, Alex knows a lot more Chinese than I do.

Freshwater fish here is quite cheap, but sea fish are expensive, because we're so far inland. The freshwater fish are presented to you in tanks - you pick the fish you want, and the butcher scoops it up, knocks it senseless, scales and guts it for you.

Cooking the fish was another matter entirely. For some reason, I thought I knew how to fillet a fish. I don't know where I got this misguided notion from, because when I started, I realised I had no idea, and had never done this before. There was a lot of mess. Once we got around to eating it, we discovered there were also a lot of tiny bones, making the eating difficult.

However, eventually I had the beast in two halves, and then I pan fried it in butter with garlic. We had it on a bed of rice, with some sautéed onions and beans, and a green chilli omelette that Alex made. It was very tasty!