Chinese pork soup with hairy gourd, cowpea, honey date, and peanuts

Chinese pork soup with hairy gourd, cowpea, honey date, and peanuts


 T&T supermarket have a whole selection of prepared uncooked soups using pork with different ingredients, ready for the crock pot. Some ingredients  a little weird or not known to western palate!  The soups may need some favoring or seasoning added to it.. I'm doing this hardy soup right now! First day of spring and it is snowing!

Yesterday I was asked by a teen aged cashier in T&T if I knew how to use the chopsticks I was buying, when asked why, she said "Well look at you".  Not knowing how to take this comment, I asked her if she knew how to use chopsticks!! This made her and her helper giggle!

Then in another Chinese supermarket, where I go regularly for a whole bag of Fresh Basil that is always beautiful and  under two bucks, I was asked if I actually used the basil.. While in line, this young Chinese woman in designer clothes, picked up the bag of basil and with out looking at me asked me the question.  By this time I was getting most annoyed!!

 The packaging for making soup showed the pork as one solid piece, but it is not, baby back rib are wrapped inside a layer of pork, which should make great stock, all for 8 bucks, packaged in Vancouver though!  Not too sure about the hairy gourd, as to cooking time or taste.  The suggested cooking time on the packaging  is 2hours, but there is also packaged dried beans which will take much longer.