Market Manila

These incredibly meaty, semi-dried fish arrived from Palawan last week. Folks who know me, know that I am thrilled to try, photograph, inspect and taste a food item that I have never come across before. This quest to seek out local food items means that when one of my trusty crew return home to the provinces on holidays, they sometimes bring back unusual items for me to try… In this case, some dried fish which was just as pungent and salty as other dried fishes I am familiar with, but it was boneless and unusually meaty and still a little moist. Called “soriso” or “zorizo” in Northern Palawan, I was unable to confirm the spelling or even the appropriate pronunciation of this goody. I suspect the name is a variation on chorizo since the bodies of these dried fish appear almost tubular, like a chorizo. But I made that up, who knows if I am correct… We are not even sure what kind of fish it is but it seems it could be from the family of triggerfish or leatherjackets that seem to have a lot of body mass.

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Sunday morning seems like a good time to do a post on these incredibly yummy, homemade wild blueberry muffins. A couple of days ago I was browsing through the aisles at S&R Fort Bonifacio, and I was thrilled to see that there were quite a few additions to their product line-up… Their ice cream selection alone was fantastic, with at least a dozen flavors of Ben & Jerry’s, lots of those boxed ice creams that kids love, plus those teeny tiny chocolate coated Dove ice creams that I delude myself into thinking are my reward at the end of the day if I have reduced my caloric intake. At 60 calories for a tiny burst of ice cream coated in chocolate, it is the mental patient’s rationalized view of a diet reward/incentive system. But the Doves are languishing in the freezer as the recent trip to Boracay and one final summer trip up North means my diet efforts are completely suspended until further notice. At any rate, I found some intriguing Fresh Frozen Wild (as opposed to cultivated) blueberries from Maine in smallish 15 oz. packages and for less than PHP200, if I remember correctly…

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Sometimes that food light bulb just clicks on and I have to run into the kitchen to experiment. About half of the time I get disastrous results; but sometimes, the results are pretty good… and once in a while, they border on the brilliant. This reverse-engineered Meyer Lemonade was inspired by the previous post on Meyer lemons where I wondered if I could enjoy a lemonade that was made a little softer and sweeter by the addition of Mandarin (ponkan) juice… If you are fond of fresh citrus juices such as dalandan or dayap or kalamansi, you just have to try this lemon/mandarin orange combination…it was an instant hit and I am amazed by how tinkering with a few common ingredients can really result in something so simple, so refreshing and so seemingly new…

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For many, many years, I have read or heard about these legendary Meyer lemons from California…first Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame waxed poetic about them in her early cookbooks, then the press really got into it and touted them as the most amazing and delicious lemons around. Everything seemed to point to California as the primary source of these fantastic lemons, and some folks were fortunate to have Meyer lemon trees thriving in their backyards… In the fanciest restaurants across the U.S., a quiet one-upmanship among chefs resulted in chi-chi Meyer Lemon pies, souffles, tarts, sauces, and cooked dishes as this lemon has gained an incredible following. I always assumed they were an American phenomenon. So on our last trip to New York, I was thrilled to find that my sister had a whole bunch of Meyer lemons which she used in a spectacular Meyer lemon meringue pie and I was able to take these photos and before writing this post, did a little research. Well, surprise, suprise, but WHERE do YOU THINK Meyer lemons originated from? Southern China!

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Weekend barbecues (even into the rainy season) are a great way to entertain a bunch of friends. The heat remains outdoors (not in your kitchen) and you can do several dishes on the grill. One of our favorite menus features simply grilled barbecued chicken and some grilled steamed corn a la Marketman. Start off with some guacamole (no cooking at all) and chips and beers and you are in serious business. When I was younger, my parents used to love grilled corn on the cob. For some reason, they absolutely adored the charred, dried out and denture damaging ears of corn… it was like eating corn from a field near a major bomb explosion. Yuck is all I can say. And double yuck. So here is my take on corn on the cob…but this version is sweeter, richer, saltier while still possessing that smokey flavor and it is incredibly easy to prepare…

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Having some friends over for drinks this weekend? Maybe a few shots of tequila with some Corona to chase it down, or perhaps some ice cold margaritas? Then you should consider making a batch of guacamole to serve along with those drinks. Avocados are in season and in the past two weeks I have purchased some spectacular avocados with a minimum of veins (the stringy things that run through the flesh of the fruit) at markets in Batangas and Manila. There are two basic guacamole recipes that I like to use and they are incredibly easy to do…no cooking required, no special equipment even… Just make sure that you get your avocadoes a few days before you are going to use them to ensure they are fully ripened. Buy some tomatoes, onions, jalapeno peppers (optional) or siling labuyo in a pinch, wansoy or cilantro, limes or dayap, and sour cream…

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Marketman on the beach in Boracay about an hour ago… I am not responding to email enquiries but there are more posts coming to keep you all amused. I am amazed I can log on to see what’s going on but I am online a lot less than usual!

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One of the fastest, easiest and most delicious salads you can make is this simple tomato, onion and blue cheese salad. When I was younger, there was no way you would get me to eat raw onions or blue cheese for that matter. Raw onions were just too oniony, particularly tropically grown onions and that had a pungent and lasting aftertaste. And blue cheese was rotting cow’s milk with live bacteria injected into it, for goodness sakes!!! But as I got older, and I ate more and more dishes in a Western setting, I realized that a lot of raw white onions in the West were actually rather pleasant tasting.

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