Chose a Few 'Liang' of Bird's Nest

It's that time of the year again when I pick out bird's nest for the faeriefolks' parents who would use these, and whom have shown me much kindness through the years. Some girlfriends take them too, so they'll benefit from their parents' stove. Hahahah. Otherwise, the 'instant' bottles are good — those $90+ bottles with no sugar, and hold solid blocks of bird's nest. 

I kinda know how to choose bird's nests. It's one of those trivial 'skills' that I possess. Hahahaha. I can sorta tell a fake from a real, but even so, I can't be 100% sure about it unless I send it to the lab to break it down. Regardless of prices and the hype we label on them, at the end of the day, all I could think of is 'they're really just the birds' saliva, isn't it?' 

I like eating bird's nest more or less plain, or with a touch of honey or rock sugar. I know how to clean and boil them at home as a tonic or for dessert. It can still be done right without a fire stove or a double-boiler. I understand my electric hobs and how hot the pots get. I randomly do a double-boil with what I have. I'll just have to watch it. Often, I succumb to the convenience of the instant bottles. Good-enough quality too, and fuss-free.  

Still, I'm no expert since I don't work in a medical shop or in the bird's nest industry. I honestly don't even know if the much-raved about properties are true in spite of me quaffing loads of it. Prepped the right way, they're a tasty snack though. At the very least, I've spent a few days trekking out to the caves and man-made farmhouse walls holding the swiftlets' edible bird's nests, and watched the retrieval of nests, sat in at the mass cleaning up and packing for export, and was duly educated in what makes a good tael (兩) of bird's nests and its varying grades. 

One 'liang' is 50 grams. That would yield about five nice-sized pieces. Two 'liang' would be 100 grams. Three liang would be 150 grams and so on. Spent an hour in the medical hall choosing the pieces of bird's nest that I wanted for the various faeriefolk, and watched the staff gently place them into boxes, and secured all of them. Of course they gave me a nice discount off the stated prices. I've been shopping with them for years. Small boxes of bird's nests make lovely gifts to people who appreciate them.