http://www.marketmanila.com A food blog that talks about food, produce, recipes, ingredients, restaurants and markets here in the Philippines and around the globe. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:41:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/san-francisco-treats-part-i http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/san-francisco-treats-part-i#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:33:01 +0000 Marketman http://www.marketmanila.com/?p=9186 Family, friends and business colleagues have always been amazed by the contents of our luggage when we return from local or foreign trips. I once ran into a professional acquaintance of mine at the Singapore airport (she transiting from Kazakhstan or somewhere equally unusual) and me on the the way home from Melbourne. She grinned on seeing me at the departure gate, and immediately said "your reputation precedes you, open up your hand carry for inspection..." and she was amazed by food items within. So while others may have the latest electronics or gadgets, fancy watches or jewelry, perfume, clothing, etc., we are almost certainly likely as a family or individually to be carrying food or ingredients... Such was the case when Mrs. MM recently arrived from a trip to the U.S. and her last stop was to visit with friends and family for just three days in San Francisco. I love San Francisco, but the last time we visited as a family was nearly 9 years ago, and I was anxious to hear how Mrs. MM found the city this time around...]]> http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/san-francisco-treats-part-i/feed 29 http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/banilad-town-center-btc-sunday-market http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/banilad-town-center-btc-sunday-market#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:56:45 +0000 Marketman http://www.marketmanila.com/?p=9026 I was at the Banilad Town Center for the Sunday market. The week before, the crew had sold out of 3 lechons, so this time around, after a full-page article in the Sun Star on Saturday, we figured that bringing 5 whole lechons or roughly 90+ kilos worth would be sufficient to meet any increased demand as a result of the article in the paper. OMG, were we so wrong or what? My sincerest apologies to the many dozens of folks who went to the BTC Sunday market and were unable to buy any lechon. The five lechons we brought were sold out in less than two hours, as fast as we could chop them, and the volume of individual purchases and the number of people was simply unimagined or unexpected. We could have probably sold another 5-7 lechons if we had them, but as I have reiterated before, this is a very small operation. And I am so sorry we could not serve everyone who came to buy lechon. I promise we will try to make up for it next weekend, even though the BTC mall is officially closed on November 1, 2009, they have agreed to let ZUBUCHON sell its lechon next Sunday, 1 November. I strongly recommend that you phone ahead to reserve how many kilos you wish to buy. If you have made a reservation, you will be assured your order will be filled. Without a reservation, it is still on a first-come, first serve basis. Kindly call 032-236-5264 for reservations. Thanks.]]> http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/banilad-town-center-btc-sunday-market/feed 54 http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/produce-market-mantalongon-barili http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/produce-market-mantalongon-barili#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:00:41 +0000 Marketman http://www.marketmanila.com/?p=8768 "Bago". Huh?! That's the answer to my question posed in Cebuano asking what these young, vibrant green leaves were. I thought she meant they were young leaves. But apparently they were called bago, as in the type of tree. Apparently used as a slight souring agent for soups, like nilangang baka or boiled beef, these leaves are also sometimes added to vegetable dishes, or blanched and eaten with dried fish. I have NEVER seen them or come across them before. Nor did I have any idea what they were called in English or Filipino. Until I googled them and amazingly found this site that lists bago as one of the things Aetas of Morong, Bataan consume! They are considered rather nutritious, and have the tongue twister of a scientific name Gnetum gnemon Linn. Gnetaceae, I kid you not. For me, the bago leaves were one of the more unusual things on offer at the roadside produce market in Mantalongon, Barili, walking distance from the livestock auction market. I almost always stop at provincial markets if they look promising, and this one was wonderful in its simplicity. Perhaps only 20-30 vendors were there the morning we passed by, and their goods were fairly limited, but exquisitely fresh. In fact, most of the sellers grew the produce themselves or were related to the farmers.]]> http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/produce-market-mantalongon-barili/feed 46 http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/livestock-auction-market http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/livestock-auction-market#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:37:19 +0000 Marketman http://www.marketmanila.com/?p=8604 To market, to market to buy a fat pig (or two, or three)... I don't think I have ever been to a livestock market, and with our recent need to identify more and more sources of more traditionally raised pigs for the ZUBUCHON experiment, we decided to plan a half-day trip to the Mantalongon Livestock Auction Market in Barili, Cebu. Not to be confused with the other Mantalongon market, which is predominantly a vegetable trading center roughly 2.5 hours south of Cebu, this livestock market was about 1.25 hours away, and relatively near the town chicharon town of Carcar. This post is about the trade and sale of live animals predominantly for the purpose of feeding people. If that bothers you, then simply DO NOT read the rest of this post. I will delete any comments that I deem inappropriate. Just so that's crystal clear before you click on "read post."]]> http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/livestock-auction-market/feed 63 http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/tantalizing-tomatoes http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/tantalizing-tomatoes#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:25:14 +0000 Marketman http://www.marketmanila.com/?p=8518 The selection of heirloom or other unusual varieties of tomatoes at the Union Square Market in mid-September was just utterly amazing. This pre-occupation with growing such a wide variety or selection of tomatoes is something that seems to have taken hold only in the last 10 years or so. I read with interest several years ago about a gentleman farmer in France who devoted his "castle garden" to heirloom tomatoes, there have been articles in every major food magazine about such passionate farmers and backyard gardeners in California and elsewhere that have such wonderful produce. I have also come across these in restaurants and I have always wanted to grow them myself. But several attempts and dozens of seed packets later, I have failed miserably. Now I am advised that tomatoes need a cool evening early in their life and a distinct switch in temperature from night to day to get the best ones going... we just don't seem to have the right conditions in Manila/Cebu for these tomatoes.]]> http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/tantalizing-tomatoes/feed 35