Market Manila

Sometimes, we are beholden to childhood food biases. Growing up, one of my favorite chocolates was Hershey’s chocolate kisses. Followed by Kitkat’s, Hershey bars, Mars bars, etc. In other words, I was definitely of the milk chocolate ilk, the plebeian of cocoa tastes. Even a bitterish tablea hot chocolate was something I found unappealing. As I grew older, I started to acknowledge the existence of darker chocolates, but it took me a while to appreciate them. It was Mrs. MM who really introduced, no goaded me more like it, into darker chocolates in the same manner that my taste for smelly cheese and different types of mustard also came from her influence. She did her graduate degree in Paris so I suspect the chocolate, mustard and cheese thing reached its peak there. Lately, I have indeed turned the corner and can very much appreciate a good dark chocolate…

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An early morning tricycle ride landed us at the steps of The Vigan Public Market at about 6:30a.m. Believe it or not, we were a BIT early, though the second floor where the produce and seafood were was slowly waking up… after another 30 minutes, more and more vendors were open, and the selection was simply wonderful and incredibly FRESH. As with all provincial markets, what you see is what you generally eat in the restaurants or homes of the region… the linkage is a very real one and so I enjoy hitting the markets in almost all of the towns and cities that I visit in an effort to understand the raw materials are the key starting point for any fantastic dish…

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When readers found out we were headed to Ilocos on a sightseeing trip a few months ago, many sent fantastic recommendations of things to eat, where to stay and what to see. One reader, through private emails, very kindly invited Marketman & family to visit their ancestral home in Vigan, a historical and heritage home, that while open to the public, is typically only visited by prior appointment or arrangement. Of course, we were thrilled and jumped at the chance. In the course of confirming our planned visit, it turned out that the reader’s husband was an old schoolmate of ours from HS days…how’s that for a small world kinda story?

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I have a nice big potted siling labuyo on our front terrace. I gave up trying to nurture in-ground siling labuyo in the city as they always tended to die during the rainy season… now, with the potted version, I can move it out of the rain if necessary. I searched high and low for a “real” or more native siling labuyo seedling and was rather successful at getting it to grow into its current 5 foot high bushy specimen. It is, oddly timed, also fruiting like crazy, despite the rainy weather… in fact, it is acting rather weird. But on a walk about the house and garden this afternoon to try and get rid of the viruses attacking my body, I gave the siling labuyo bush a close inspection…and I noticed at least three dozen white or albino chillies all over the plant, with only two fruits having the slightest tinge of red in them… I harvested most of the fruit and took photos of some of them…

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I have been quite ill lately and haven’t checked my Marketmanila emails for two days… so I only saw this response from the Reader’s Advocate of The Philippine Daily Inquirer a few minutes ago, and I quote:

“Thank you for your feedback, Marketman. I’m sorry that since I don’t come to the Inquirer every day, I was unable to reply immediately. I wish to assure you that I have looked into your complaint and have checked the “mangosteen” website as well, and that I shall take up this matter with the Lifestyle editor. Please be assured that the Inquirer takes feedback such as yours seriously.

Sincerely,
Lorna Kalaw-Tirol
Readers’ Advocate”

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Sorry, I have been rather quiet today… I feel like I am having a relapse of my cough/flu/bug after making 100+ bottles of jam. Yup, that reads 100+ bottles of jam, add that to a previous hundred bottles made a few days ago. We are well on our way to completing our Christmas list. We are ready to kiss this year’s mangosteen season goodbye, it was a very good vintage, and we hope we helped the economy of Jolo and Davao by consuming some 200 kilos of fruit in total!

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Just a quick post as a result of an interesting conversation we had at the dinner table this evening. In the past 30 years or so, several countries and cities have changed their names, often pulling back from well known names coined during colonial times back to more traditional or language based names. But as a result, several phrases seem to have turned silly, or seem less appealing. I mean, how many people look at each other at a Chinese restaurant and say “okay, we will have the Beijing Duck three ways.” Or “I’ll have Sri Lankan tea, thanks.” Or “nakabili ka ba ng sibuyas Mumbai (were you able to purchase Mumbai onions?). Or “is that a beautiful Myanmarese ruby, or what?!” Or “did you SEE those preppy golfers a flight ahead of us wearing those outrageous Chennai plaid shorts?” And finally, “aren’t those Zimbabwean Ridgeback puppies cute?” Heehee. :) Can you think of any others? See, geography discussions during dessert and tea need not be droll and boring… The Kid had practically NO IDEA what we were talking about ,and perhaps so do some of you (Beijing=Peking, Sri Lanka=Ceylon, Mumbai=Bombay, Myanmar=Burma, Chennai=Madras and Zimbabwe=Rhodesia).

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We were thrilled with our dinner at Grandpa’s Inn. Just down the road from Villa Angela, a quick tricycle ride meant door to door service for just PHP10 or so. We entered the lobby of the “hotel” and saw that there was a huge empty restaurant towards the back… Not a good sign. However, we were ushered into an airconditioned streetside bar/restaurant and had a look at the menu. We ordered a range of dishes, this being our second Ilocos meal and there was a lot to try in just a few days time… The verdict? VERY GOOD. The meal had superb high notes and good low notes… this was one of our best meals on the entire trip… in an unlikely location, I would have to say.

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