Red & Yellow Capsicum or Sweet Bell Peppers
Sun 30 Jan 2005
Gorgeous, delicious and versatile, red and yellow (as well as purple, orange and white) bell peppers are a star addition to locally available produce. 
A member of the capsicum family that includes most kinds of mild, sweet and hot peppers, sweet peppers became popular at the beginning of the 20th century and have since spread to farms all over the world. Capsicum annuum originated in Mexico and spawned all types of hot and sweet peppers, according to Alan Davidson’s book, The Oxford Companion to Food.
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Official address is at the by-pass in San Vicente, Silang, Cavite. That is the old highway up to Tagaytay (as opposed to the newer two-lane Sta. Rosa route to Tagaytay). About a 12-15 minute drive down from the Tagaytay rotunda, this restaurant is worth the detour.
Thomas Keller, chef and owner of the very highly regarded French Laundry restaurant in Napa opened more of a bistro type place beside the venerated original. The cookbook features bistro classics but done so superbly right every time. The book is stunning overall with brilliant photos, easy-to-follow recipes, and interesting essays on various aspects of bistro life. From the straightforward but critical recipe for doing french fries just right to the recipe for a succulent roast pork, this is destined to have front billing on my bookshelves for a while. Highly recommended.
Best known as the dried “Chinese Black Mushroom” sold in Chinese or Asian groceries, the fresh version is a welcome addition to the list of ingredients available locally. At the market this morning, I picked up these fine examples of what a fresh shiitake mushroom should be: fleshy, substantial and with a slight aroma somewhat garlicky in nature. The fresher the mushroom, the more “domed” the caps will appear and their edges will curl under.
In the past, local cherry tomatoes were generally sour and lacked flavor. Recently, however, some growers have been cultivating new hybrids with good results. These tomatoes were uniformly sized and they were ripe without being mushy. At the AANI FTI Saturday Market today I found three baskets full of these gorgeous tomatoes from a favored vendor near the center of the market.
I am sharing one of my favorite suppliers from my “black book” because of the number of times friends and family have asked me to identify my source of these spectacular plants and blooms. Grown in farms near Baguio, the hydrangeas are in “season” from January through about June of each year here in the Philippines.
My doctor recently ordered me to lower my cholesterol levels and one of the best ways to do that from a food perspective is to consume daily doses of oatmeal. Yuck is right. I tried eating oatmeal mush with just hot water and nearly upchucked. Then I realized oatmeal was a major part of granola and I actually liked granola. So here is my favorite granola recipe.
Any metro foodie from near or far should walk its aisles at least once. I believe great markets thrive when there is a meeting of two groups of people: vendors who offer quality, variety, good prices, consistency, volume, etc. and consumers who come regularly armed with serious aggregate buying power.