Market Manila

What market should one see when in Amsterdam??? All fingers pointed to the Albert Cuypmarkt on Albert Cuypstraat in the Pijp area of Amsterdam. About 10 minutes by taxi from our hotel, I figured I couldn’t leave the city without a visit to the biggest market in town. Overall verdict? Lukewarm, at best. Okay, perhaps a blustery, wet Monday morning was not the best time to visit the market (it’s closed on Sundays), and perhaps not after Queen’s Day celebrations the previous Saturday which basically shut everything down. Nevertheless, the market failed to meet fairly high expectations. It was nice, but not something I would go out of my way to see again…

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There were hundreds of varieties of flowers at Keukenhof. There must have been at least five dozen varieties of tulips alone with colors ranging from pale yellows to vibrant reds, parrot tulips, frilly lace like tulips, double or treble petaled tulips and more! I’m not too great with all of the names so I’ll just post some of the better photos that I was able to take…enjoy!

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Our recent trip was filled with good luck and terrific tourist opportunities… In Amsterdam on Queen’s Day weekend, nearly everything was shut down for the festivities. However, on Sunday of the long weekend, while everyone else was nursing serious hangovers, we got up early and walked to the local tour bus depot. We decided to head to Keukenhof gardens which frankly, I had never heard of before. We just wanted to get out town, see some flowers and perhaps a couple of windmills. We drove past Schipol airport then on towards the town of Lisse, near the university town of Leiden. Finally, we reached the gates of the Keukenhof gardens which were the gardens of a small castle in the 1500’s that had since burned down. After the war, the gardens were re-opened with the purpose of acting as a showcase for bulb growers across the Netherlands.

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Some art and toilet humor… That is the topic of this first post after returning to Manila after a nearly 4 week vacation in Europe. Trust me, I shall return to food and produce in the days ahead, but first some mini-rants for your amusement (after all, what goes in must eventually come out, right?)… Can you guess whose buttocks these are? Notice the fine detailing, the odd smoothness yet crackled nature of the surface, the wonderful patina…need some help? He used a slingshot to kill this big bad guy. Yup, it’s David’s rear end. And it is a photo of a postcard of the original sculpture by Michelangelo now housed at the Galleria dell Accademia in Florence (no photos allowed in the museum), under a wonderful skylight that ensures no pigeons poop on it and damage the carrara marble. This is not the copy that stands in the Piazza de la Signora near the Ponte Vecchio or the other copy at the Piazzale Michelangelo across the river. The odd thing about this “masterpiece” which some consider the finest sculpture in the world (!?) is that it is intentionally out of proportion. The buttocks are probably to scale, but the hands are unusually large and the head unusually small…the reason? Michelangelo believed that someone looking at the statue from the street level would have a distorted perspective so he intentionally altered key appendages to achieve a more appealing visual impact… It is stunning but I wasn’t too keen on the oversized hands…perhaps only to scratch his IBS.

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Can you believe this is my 500th post on Marketmanila.com? It surprises even me. When I started this website eighteen months ago, who would have thought I would get to this point??? If I only spent 2-3 hours on each post on average, assuming market time, research, recipe testing, writing, editing, photographing, answering emails, etc., then I have already “invested” about 1,500 man hours on this website or roughly 2 whole months of my life assuming no sleep or rest in between. If each post is treated as a page in a novel, I would have a 500 page book by now!

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I love French fries, pommes frites, papas fritas, or “chips”. Hot out of the fat and salted to perfection, I love to sink my teeth through the crisp caramelized outer layer and into the softer core of each individual fry. Ketchup is a must as well. Ever since I can recall eating, I loved French fries. We used to make them at home by peeling and slicing potatoes and throwing them into a pan with hot fat. They were a far cry from commercial fries because the starch content of the local potatoes differed from the classic and unrivalled russet potato that is used by most large consumers of French fries…Ours were always soggy and more like fried bananas than French fries. Over the years, I have read dozens of articles, recipes and advice on making the best French fries and all seemed too involved for me, considering you can buy pretty good fries at McDonald’s or other fast food restaurants. Never mind that some of them spray their fries with a sucrose film so that they crisp easier and have that addictive sweet and salty taste. In the last ten years I don’t think I have ever personally cooked French fries at home…it was just easier to get them at fast food restaurants.

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I keep discovering time and time again, that sometimes, the simplest things to make are the purest and most delicious to eat. On my way to the barbecue a few weeks ago, I spied several saba bananas (my favorite type in the whole world) that were just about ripe so I looked at the grill, looked at the bananas and thought, hmmm… I wonder if… I picked up one of the bananas and put them on the hot grill and roasted it for several minutes until it started to gurgle and steam. I took it off the grill, waited for it to cool a little and opened it up. The aroma of steamed banana was amongst the most intense I have ever smelled. And the taste was pure unadulterated saba. It tasted better than boiled bananas which can feel and taste watery. It was better than steamed as it really cooked in its own peel without water playing a role. And the texture and flavor were excellent. I like sabas best when fried but this grilled saba was an unexpected and surprising discovery.

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Summer fruits are at their peak. Pineapples which are available year round seem to be even more plentiful about now. A day after I made the mango shake in an earlier post I decided to try making a fresh pineapple shake as well. If you have been a long-time reader of this blog you would know I am violently allergic to fresh pineapple so this was a stretch on my part. But several of our guests were fresh juice fans so I thought I would try it for their sakes. This was easy peasy. Cut a ripe pineapple in half and remove the skin (quick slices to remove outer skin takes seconds, don’t do the slow ridged eye removal version) and center stalk. Chop into small pieces. Throw these into a good blender with a tablespoon or two of sugared water (more if pineapples are sour), and fill the remaining space with ice cubes. Blitz until well blended and serve in ice cold glasses. The pineapple shake has a tendency to separate quickly so you might want to serve this with an iced tea spoon on the side. If you want to get a bit fancy, try blending some fresh mint leaves in with the shake. You can also use some sliced pineapple and mint leaves as a garnish. I didn’t taste the shake but our guests said it was really good…

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