30 Dec, 2008
We had about a kilo or more of superb, albeit slightly more than medium cooked, fillet mignon or the best part of the tenderloin left over from a Christmas dinner. Sliced thinly it made excellent sandwich fillings, but there was still some 1/2 kilo or more of meat left… so I decided to…
29 Dec, 2008
We served a delicious country ham from Tennessee for Christmas Eve, along with a Roast Turkey. The ham was incredibly salty, even after a two day soak in water, and we like it that way. To balance the saltiness, it is nice to serve a dried fruit compote on the side… It’s…
28 Dec, 2008
Here’s a bit of silly tropical fruit trivia that I suspect many of you didn’t know, or at least I didn’t until I read about it while doing research on mangosteens a year or two ago… If you look at the bottom end of a mangosteen fruit (not the stem end) and count…
27 Dec, 2008
These cookies appear in Vienna in December; powdered sugar celebrates the first snow of winter. Crescent shape is a reminder of the Arab threat in the 1500’s that was discovered by the bakers who were working through the night and sounded the alarm…
26 Dec, 2008
Mrs. Marketman reminded me that in the Asterix series of comics, Obelix would sometimes be seen walking around muttering “rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.” Heehee. And on the web somewhere, in a discussion group, I read that actors on a stage often repeatedly mutter “rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb” when they want to re-create the din…
24 Dec, 2008
Gingerbread houses are a holiday tradition in Marketman’s home. If you want to know why, please read my first Christmas Eve message on this blog written in 2005. And check out the little town with shops scene we did that year. In 2006, we made a fairly elaborate winter village scene,…
23 Dec, 2008
The last time I featured an office Christmas party three years ago, it was for 40+ staff at a small hotel in Panglao, Bohol. We had a lot of fun at that party and the parties of the following two years were far more subdued. This year, despite such a gloomy economic…
23 Dec, 2008
This year’s marketmanila.com feeding program has raised roughly PHP520,000 (almost $11,000) so far!!! That will provide some 22,000+ meals for undernourished public school children through next November 2009! A huge thank you to the generous donors who came to the various pick up points and left generous donations and picked up the Christmas ornaments…