16 Oct, 2005
After a non-nostalgic mouthful of fibrous sugar cane, I set aside the remainder of the 6 foot stalk and had good intentions of using it as skewers for sate or pork barbecue. A few days later, it was obvious I was not going to have an edible use for the sugarcane, so I…
16 Oct, 2005
Sugar is simply fascinating. This incredible stalk of grass (yes, it is a grass) was at the market the other day so I bought it with the intention of just peeling, gnawing on the fiber and extracting all of the sugarcane juices. Then I thought I should really find out more about this…
14 Oct, 2005
Fruit cocktail with pasteurized Nestle cream is the basic concoction. I’m not sure if I want to laugh or cry. Continuing on the theme of sweet, easy peasy Filipino party food, I decided to examine this staple of many large Filipino gatherings. This must certainly be a throwback to the era…
13 Oct, 2005
Will someone please explain our national fascination with macaroni salad? Is this a holdover from 1950’s Filipino-American fusion cooking? Were our mothers so bowled over by Betty Crocker (the brand, not a real person, did you know that?) that we churned out a salad that was fundamentally unsuitable to a hot…
13 Oct, 2005
Cebuanos or regular visitors to Cebu know about Metro Gaisano Grocery Stores. The Metro at the Ayala Mall in Cebu is enormous and packed to the gills with goods. I love it and always make it a point to shop there for pasalubongs, unusual imported goods not found elsewhere, or just to…
12 Oct, 2005
Convenience, location and selection are the primary advantages of the year-old Market!Market! Mall (outdoor market area) in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. Just a few minutes drive from the Makati CBD and surrounding areas, the mall offers a bright, airy, clean, safe shopping environment for the vast majority of relatively upscale shoppers who live nearby…
11 Oct, 2005
The term paksiw is a bit schizophrenic… when used with fish or denizens of the sea, it means to cook with vinegar and some spices and vegetables and the resulting brothy concoction is superb with tons of rice. Everyone has their favorite type of fish, whether bilong-bilong, those flat silvery fish, bangus (milkfish)…
10 Oct, 2005
Last week I was so energetic. I exercised (seriously) nearly every day and I felt so smug about the number of calories I had burned off… maybe in excess of 4,000! So when the weekend rolled along I was feeling like the invincible Marketman! That disheveled being that swoops in on…