OK, here's a friendly advice to you. Do not keep your essence of vanilla right next to your fish sauce, especially if they look roughly similar to each other.
I like to make a cup of hot chocolate on mornings when I'm at home. I have my own recipe for it: dutch-processed cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, freshly-grated nutmeg, sugar (but not too sweet), a pinch of salt (yes, salt), and a splash of vanilla essence.
Last week, I went into the kitchen to make myself one of these hot chocolate drink. It was a crazy week, I was busy writing this grant proposal that was due in a couple of days, and my head was completely occupied with this thing. But I've made this hot chocolate for a gazillion times and it has become almost automatic. So I went through the routine, while my head was somewhere else thinking of stuff for the proposal.
It was right at the moment that I was pouring the splash of vanilla into my concoction that something didn't feel right - the smell! Once the liquid hit the hot cocoa mix in the pot, I snapped back into the moment and immediately paid attention to what I was doing, because I was smelling something odd that didn't make any sense for a hot chocolate drink. That's when I looked at the bottle I was holding, and yes, it was a bottle of FISH SAUCE! I added a splash of fish sauce to my hot chocolate drink!
So I turned off the burner, and walked back to the pantry. Putting the bottle of fish sauce back to where it came from, I began to see what might have happened. While they don't look identical, the bottle of fish sauce and vanilla essence were right next to each other. Unfortunately, they were both liquid of almost the same color. Since I use both of them often enough, it is not unusual for me to reach for either of them. So obviously, this one time, I sorta tuned out to what I was doing, and reached for the wrong bottle! They were both in the same part of the pantry, and they were next to each other. Oy vey!
I did throw out the concoction that I made, but I still managed to get a small taste of it, out of curiosity. It wasn't good! I made another one, this time making sure I used the correct ingredients (haven't had the occasion of mistaking the cocoa powder for the paprika yet). And yes, I've moved the two bottles away from each other, because I can see myself reaching for the vanilla when I'm making tom yum soup one day!
Zz.
No longer an active member.
Poor wasted cocoa... 
