Market Manila

Here is a healthy lunch that doesn’t seem like you are suffering on a diet…except you can’t have much rice with it. First, I made a lot of balsamic onions by sautéing lots of sliced onions in some good olive oil. Season the onions with salt and pepper and flavor with liberal amounts of balsamic vinegar that is then reduced. Take this off the heat and use in several ways… I like to use it as a relish for sandwiches, on grilled fish or poultry, etc. Next, grill a nice medium thick slice of tanguigue (Spanish mackerel) seasoned simply with just salt and pepper on a hot charcoal barbecue. Also grill some asparagus and perhaps one zucchini that you have sliced thin and perhaps brushed with some olive oil…

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Okay, I am going to try and keep on blogging while I am on a tough diet. I don’t intend to post all low-calorie, low-fat meal alternatives…that is just too boring. I don’t see this as a permanent lifestyle change, more like temporary torture. While I fully understand the need to just eat less and exercise more, the reality is I do have to go into some self-deprivation mode to achieve the desired results. But I have about a 60 day period within which to get back in shape. And there is a reason for the 60 day deadline, details coming up very soon…

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What should you do when you find lots of broas (ladyfingers) from Bohol in stock, a half-consumed bottle of blackfruit conserve (blackberries, blueberries, black figs and black cherries), 3 month old frozen whole blackberries in the freezer, a newly purchased tub of mascarpone, sliced almonds, Poire Williams (Pear Brandy) that has been sitting in the liquor cabinet since the last time I made a pear clafoutis, and some heavy cream chilling in the refrigerator?? Invent a dessert, that’s what! And, what better time to do this than on the eve of starting a diet? Actually, I saw an episode of Nigella on TV and she did something similar to this trifle so I can’t claim it is totally original. But it did use up what I had in the house and it did turn out utterly delicious…

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How many times in one’s life should you find it necessary to scream that word at the top of your lung capacity. Marketman and family just survived a burglary attempt last night at about 9 p.m. We live in a fairly secure village and have never had problems in the past, but last night a burglar jumped over our fence, cased out part of the house, and with us IN THE HOUSE, he smashed a glass window in a bathroom and was attempting to yank the window off its hinges and make his way into the house. Thankfully, and I won’t go into too many details, I was able to startle him before he was completely in the bathroom and scare him away. How discombobulating is that??? Our block was surrounded by guards within minutes but the would be thief got away on barefoot, leaving his small and pathetic footprints in the mud near the bathroom window. I always wondered how I would react when faced with such a split second decision moment. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have yelled at him, run to secure my family, call the village security then chase after the guy outdoors. Instead, I should have calmly told my wife and kid to retreat to a safe internal room with a phone and call for help while I returned to the bathroom with my trusty and weighty humongous flashlight that I could have whacked the man’s head with as he crawled his way indoors. But I didn’t know how many friends he might have with him outdoors. I didn’t know if he was a petty thief or a band of kidnappers. Yikes. So T.V. CSI material. And frankly, not until later and in a calmer mood did I think, Yipes! A disgruntled Market Manila reader who was annoyed that I was toying with the idea of taking a month-long break! Heehee. Yes, my sense of humor has returned. But we do all feel totally violated. We didn’t get much sleep last night and I lost a few hundredths of a pound from the anxiety. That’s two times we have almost been victims of crimes this year….the attempted pickpocket in Barcelona and the attempted burglary in Manila. The best comment of the episode shortly after it happened? My wife was trying to de-brief our 10 year old and she said, “I didn’t think Dad was serious screaming at the top of his lungs because I couldn’t understand the word he was yelling…” Hmmm, have to have a word with her Filipino teacher; and frankly, my Filipino is so baluktot that I am surprised I didn’t scream a more convenient English word instead… I can think of several ways I would like to cook the crook if they ever find him. Let’s just say they wouldn’t be legally allowed options.

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There were several requests for the recipe for the Bam-e (gosh, will someone please tell me where this name is derived from…) that was served at an office birthday party a week or so ago. I have to say it was the most ingredient rich bam-e I have ever seen, and a nice dark color as well. One of my brothers got married on a small island off of Bohol many years ago and he had a terrific reception on the beach for perhaps 50 of his invited guests and several hundred islanders that showed up at the reception. To feed everyone, there was an entire barge of beer, several lechons, and the most massive amount of bam-e that I have ever seen cooked at the same time. Can you imagine bam-e for a few hundred folks? It probably would have made the Guinness Book of World Records…not to mention it was cooked on the main island and brought out by boat to the reception! At any rate, bam-e is a definitely a Cebuano or Visayan party staple, perhaps the same way Manila residents might serve sweet spaghetti… Here is the recipe that our Office Manager has kindly agreed to share with Marketmanila’s readers (if you want to get total flavor replication, you need to cook it on a large kawa on top of a wood burning fire…):

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News Flash!!! This is the absolute bargain book find of the month! I was trolling through the tons of books at National Bookstore which is having its pre-emptive sale before the big Annual Book Fair at the World Trade Center, and found this interesting looking guide. Published by the Touring Club of Italy, it turns out to have an incredibly detailed description of Italy’s 20 regions and lists over 2,000 restaurants, hundreds of food based itineraries and a run-down of regional specialties and local products made in each area. Jackpot!!! Why? It was only PHP220 or about USD4.00!!! (List price was USD 24.95!)I realize it was published in 2002 but who cares? The olive trees in some parts of Italy are a couple of hundred years old… There were a few more copies at the National Bookstore in Glorietta, so rush there as soon as it opens if you want one (other NBSI branches may have them as well). Some of their cookbooks were also on 40% reduction, a great deal though their selection was a little bleak…

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I am thinking of taking a month off from blogging. If not for this blog, Marketman would be on a serious South Forbes Diet for the next month or so. I feel like I have porked out a lot. I am fairly tall so it doesn’t really show, but I know when I am carrying around several chickens worth of excess baggage. Think of it this way… if you are approximately 15 pounds heavier than your medically prescribed “ideal weight” for your age, body type and height, then visually that would be like stripping down to your knickers and attaching about 6 to 7 Magnolia whole dressed chickens to your body with strapping tape. Can you just SEE it?!? I thought about chaining myself to a basement wall so that I would eat only what was brought to me (bread and water) but it seemed a little extreme. If I continue gaining weight at say just 4 pounds per annum (my average since turning 30) until the age of 80, I would weigh a whopping 340 pounds, assuming I didn’t keel over before then from heart failure.

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There are days when I grouse about the bad quality and poor variety of locally available produce, and there are days that I am just thrilled to see how far we have come in the past 10 years. During the past few weeks, I have noticed an incredible explosion in the variety and quality of mushrooms on offer in the markets. It used to be difficult just to find a dry and good-looking white mushroom; now there are shiitakes, wood ears, portabellos, oysters, straw and other mushroom varieties I don’t even know the names of! I suspect many are grown in highly controlled and enclosed environments as we don’t really have the climate, forests or spores that are necessary to find them naturally in the woods… The controlled growth conditions take away from flavor, but let’s just be happy for now that the variety is improving…

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