Market Manila

When Joey of 80breakfasts asked me a few weeks ago if I would be interested in reviewing a book for a local bookstore, I begged off, worried I was unfamiliar with Lebanese, Moroccan and Turkish food. But I had a gnawing feeling, a “deja vu” of sorts. Then a few days ago, I was starting to get alarmed by the number of food related books in several tall stacks beside the bed, perhaps as many as 80-100 books in all! If they are still beside the bed, it usually means they are relatively new (acquired within the past year), or I simply have not had sufficient time to peruse before relegating them to the bookshelves. I sometimes read cookbooks before I go to sleep, but this pile is a bit bigger than normal. At any rate, I pulled out a few of the books which I think may be of interest to some of you. Particularly if you are looking for a holiday goody for yourself or a foodie in the house or among your relatives. Many of these books are available in Manila (mostly at Fully Booked), and certainly on-line in the Western world. First up, AHA!, a cookbook entitled Arabesque featuring a taste of Morocco, Turkey & Lebanon. I bought this book last May when we were in New York and it was buried under other material until yesterday… Written by Claudia Roden, it has a stunningly beautiful cover, the gold design making it so “rich” in feel. The recipes look very manageable and the photos, while limited, are nice. I haven’t cooked from this one yet, but I know I will eventually. There is some background to each of the cuisines covered as well. Some recipes that caught my eyes: Rishta Bi Addas (Lentils with Pasta and Caramelized Onions), Tavuk Ce Domatesli Pilav (chicken with Tomato Pilaf), Tagine Bil Tmar Wal Loz (Tagine of Lamb with dates and Almonds). List Price $35.

Read more…

I just saw these fruit at the grocery under the label “Chessa.” They reminded me that I had purchased a few fruits two months ago and never got around to doing a post on them. It is practically the last fruit (where can I get those darn aratiles???) in Doreen Fernandez’s book on Philippine Fruits that I have featured on this blog… plus I have done others as well. At any rate, this is the first and the last time I will likely buy these fruit, Tiessa to most, Canistel in Englilsh (Pouteria campechiana), and which are part of the same family as their relative, the chico. They were godawful yucky! Like putting partially dried Elmer’s glue in your mouth. Yuck. And a bit pungent in a “oh my gosh, I could wretch on this” way. Sorry, there must be several tiessa lovers out there, but I can’t see the attraction. A native to the West Indies, according to Doreen Fernandez, these fruits were only introduced to the Philippines less than a century ago. According to a different source, Purdue University (excellent source for produce), it hails from parts of Mexico. Here is a link to a LOT more information on the fruit.

Read more…

I know that quite a few of Marketmanila’s Manila-based readers are in the food business. Over the years, I have gotten tips on where to buy things, offers to test out home made baked goods and lots of questions and answers re: food products in general. I know some readers own small stores, small bakeshops, sell home-made foodstuff, gift items, meats, seafood, etc. So despite the fact that I do not typically accept any advertising, this post is your chance to briefly describe what you are selling and how Marketmanila readers or potential customers can contact you. Please don’t be shy, after all, this is about as ideal a target market as you can find… several thousand foodies or food enthusiasts, mostly aged 20-50 years old, 75% female and 25% male, relatively affluent, articulate, discriminating folks may just want to give your products a try. And with the holidays fast approaching, many are in need of interesting ideas, new sources and tasty options.

Read more…

The acronym is the same as the previous post for the Southern dish Kadyos, Baboy at Langka, but the Northern KBL stands for Kamatis, Bagoong at Lasona. This relish or condiment or side dish of sliced tomatoes, fish sauce and sliced onions appears often at an Ilocano meal, and it is eaten along with bagnet or other fried dishes, in the same way that other regions rely on vinegar or patis as a sawsawan or dip. In these photos I have a homemade KBL served with utterly delicious homemade bagnet as well. Personally, I like the pairing a lot, despite a personal preference for a more acidic or vinegary sawsawan or dipping sauce in general. But others who are unused to the fishy aftertaste of the fish sauce tend to steer away from this concoction.

Read more…

Now I get it. Marcos named his political party KBL (Kilusang Bagong Lipunan) because it was also the acronym for famous dishes both up North (Kamatis, Bagoong at Lasona) and down South (Kadyos, Baboy at Langka), and food is a more powerful vote getter than pure politicking. With the other half of the fresh kadyos (pigeon peas)I got from the markets last weekend, I decided to attempt our first KBL, Southern style. The first dish with chicken, turned a ghastly purple and while bizarre to look at, it tasted rather good. And btw, it got featured on the Guardian Unlimited’s food blog (the second time Marketmanila has been picked as a “fave”). I turned to this Ilonggo cookbook called “Namit Gid” that was compiled by the St. Sholastica’s Academy-Bacolod High School Class of 1980. They had a nice basic sounding KBL recipe and I had all of the ingredients in-house so off to the stove we go…

Read more…

Buy them. Whatever I write after this sentence, these pastillas still deserve to commune with your tongue and taste buds, at least once. Still at Rockwell at their Baker’s Dozen promotion, and with a Polly’s Chocolate Cake already in hand, I needed more sugar like a hole in the head. But a table carrying Iya’s Jumbo Pastillas beckoned, and within seconds, I had acquired a box of Ube pastillas and another box of pastillas de leche for a whopping PHP500 or slightly more than PHP10 per piece! Pastillas de leche posts on this blog are historically amongst the most visited entries, and I think that these simple yet memorable sweets bring Pinoys “home,” regardless of where they are in the world today. I have very fond memories of pastillas de leche as my mother and her family were sugar addicts so we had this whenever we could get our hands on them. I could eat a dozen in one sitting. I have personally tried to make both kinds of pastillas to mediocre results, hence I find purchasing them to be a super attractive option.

Read more…

Many folks used to tell us that these really moist and delicious chocolate cakes could be purchased at the gas station (Shell?) at Magallanes. A slightly unorthodox retail location, but never mind, the cakes were good and the prices very reasonable. So over the years, we enjoyed several chocolate cakes from “the gas station” but frankly, I never went there myself nor even knew what it was called. Turns out, those cakes are baked by what is branded as Ms. Polly’s Specialty Cakes. They are currently participating in the Baker’s Dozen promotion at Rockwell Mall, weekends this October 2007. We purchased this 8×8 inch classic chocolate cake last Sunday for PHP335 (a tad higher than gas station prices) and it easily served 12 for just PHP28 per slice, less than half the cost of fancier chocolate cupcakes.

Read more…

I am not one to turn to wine and liquor when I am having a bad day, make that a bad week, no, practically a month of horrific technology nightmares. But I can completely understand those who do seek solace in a bottle of fine or not so fine wine. However, I do inevitably turn to wine or champagne to celebrate a major milestone, achievement or positive life event. Hence this is a totally appropriate post. This represents my first complete post using my MacBook Pro. And I even managed to salvage photos from my previous laptop. I haven’t found a Mac tutor yet so I have spent infuriating hours trying to figure out the simplest of tasks, such as re-sizing photos and prepping them for my posts, which are not on a Mac friendly platform, apparently. At any rate, I think this deserves a bottle of champagne, or maybe just a luscious glass of Pinot Noir at a small gem of a wine store on Pasong Tamo…

Read more…