A quick note from the beach. We have been enjoying the balmy tropical breezes, clear blue skies, the company of friends and family and lots and lots of food. It has been an extremely relaxing few days. In many ways, I am happy I forgot my computer charge cable so I had only 45 minutes of juice on the laptop for 5 whole days, most of which was spent looking up previous recipes for things we were cooking over the holiday break. We will be back in Manila soon, but in the meantime, I just wanted to leave you with a rather odd, serene, unusual, bizarre?, nicely-angled shot of Marketman in total zen mode, half submerged in a wickedly cold pool, re-positioning a couple of large floating candles, and being incredibly positive about the year ahead. Marketman, Family & Crew wish you all the best for a fantastic New Year’s Eve and for all of 2010!!! :)
51 Responses
Mind over (very cold) water, indeed :) Have a great 2010 as well. Cheers!
whoa! totally cool! another “men’s health” magazine cover? i guess this means we’re in for more surprises next year!
have an amazing, wonderful year ahead, MM and family, and everyone here!
Hey MM! You’re looking fit! Happy new year to you and your family. =)
Wow! Parang si Jacob lang! Heehee! Happy new year, Mr. MM and family!
May all the Best of the coming New Year be with you and your family , Market Man!
Submerged in cold water and fixing candles on it is kind of a strong poetic metaphor for me :-)!
I thought it was the Cabana Boy…Happy New Year!
Wow muscles!!!
Wishing you and the family more blessings, peace, happiness and good health in the coming year :) and more blog posts too :))
At first glance I thought it was James Bond ;) MM, how’s that for a fun start of 2010!
Hottie :). Happy new year to everyone!
welcome the new year with a blast marketman!!!!!! from our family, a blessed new year to you, MM, the teen and the crew
A great year ahead to you, your family and your crew! Great picture too – looking very lean.
A great year ahead to you, your family and your crew! Great picture too – looking very lean.
Very nice picture….. Wishing you, the family and crew good health, peace and more blessings in the New Year….
Wow!!! Wishing you and your family and all your readers a very “Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Thanks for all the wonderful posts you have shared with us! Looking forward to 2010!
As we’re about to leave 2009, let us have a thankful heart not only for all the blessings and good things happening in our lives, for all the troubles God is seeing us through but also for all the strength He always sends us to pass life’s trial.
May 2010 be a better year for all of us. May it be full of hope, love and laughter. May we also be a blessing to other people as we are blessed by Him.
To MM and the family, to the crew and to each wonderful blogger here…cheers to a more fruitful 2010!
Happy new year!
2009…another year older and deeper in debt!
Cheers!!
‘half submerged in a cold pool’ — MM preparing for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics?
A happy and prosperous new year to everyone!!!
you’re hiding those muscles, MM…expose them while you got them…hehehe…enjoy the needed break, MM and family! let’s all have great celebrations ushering in the new year!!
A peaceful & prosperous 2010 to you & all yours, too!
HAPPY NEW YEAR YOU ALL!!!
Nice pair of jugs! (lol) Happy New Year to all and may we all continue following MM’s blog.
All the best for the New Year to MM , family and crew and all the netizens who visit marketmanila.com!
MM, you will be happy to know that being a regular in this blog is not for naught. I am roasting my first cuchinillo ever !in my sister’s La Germana oven for New Year dinner tonight. Too bad I can’t use the rotisserie because the pig is a tad longer than the rod. I did all the prep yesterday and I’ll do my best from reading all your lechon postings. I even bought several accuneedles to prick the skin. A combination of the recipes for the sarsa lechon with Marc’s directions yielded a nice sauce. Too late for fresh liver, so had to do with the Reno canned liver.
An opportunity came up, when, due to last minute planning ,nobody would roast for us. I then took the challenge and I am excited!
My sister says do not post if it is a flop, but I said regardless, it is good to share an experience we can all learn from. I’ll let you know.
Oh BTW, I like your zen mode photo.
Happy PROSPEROUS New Year to Everybody
connie c–wish we can see photos…enjoy the piggy!!
thanks for the wonderful New Year posts and all the post for the whole year of 2009. I’ll be spending my New Years eve at the hotel near my office as i work 12.5hours a day during the New Year’s week.
2009 is a challenging year but still full of blessings from our Lord God.
A Blessed and Prosperous New Year to MM and family and the crew!
Wow!so lean……who would say you are a foodie???? A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!
Happy Blessed Healthy Prosperous New Year to all the MM family all around the planet!
May we all have a GREAT yeah ahead. . . . ooh MM i love the crab on top of the page hehehe. . . i guess i haven’t been visiting much. . . .
Happy New Year!
As the year ends let bygones be bygones but if the roaches and mosquitoes still harm you, let Baygon!
Happy New Year to you, the family, the crew and all the Marketmanila readers near and far! Best wishes for 2010!
hahahahaha….let Baygon, be Baygon!!!…….Lee, thanks to the internet, you will not be missed as much!
Happy New Year to you MM, family and crew and all readers. May 2010 be a great year to us all.
Natie, my piggy must have been the most photographed cochinillo! Too bad I can’t share it with you.
It was an overall good experience tho I was thinking of Mama piggy all the time I was stitching the abdomen……seriously!
Results: 8 out of 10, not bad for a first timer. Meat was moist, melt in your mouth tender ( which I don’t completely take credit for, it is a 5 kilogram piggy after all). Skin was crisp at first but having started the roasting and finishing two hours early before guests arrived, most of the the skin had lost its crunch by the time we all started tearing it apart. Seasoning had seeped in enough not to need the sauce. My grainy sarsa lechon ala Marc was noted ….it did not come from the bottle.
Lessons learned:
Hold your excitement or you forget some ingredients. I forgot to squeeze the lemon into the cavity tho I don’t think the flavor was sacrificed at all.
Know your oven. Did not have an oven thermometer. The skin started browning earlier than expected and I was not sure of the oven’s temperature, so had to fiddle around the temperature settings.
Roasting pins though not essential would have sped up the closing of the abdomen. Took me more than half an hour stitching. I used the largest needle I could get but wished I had forceps to pull the needle out of the skin. Perhaps my grip was not that strong.
Lastly but most importantly, It pays to have read all of MM’s lechon postings to get me inspired to launch the production.
Will I do it again? Yes, but remind me not to think of Mama piggy who might have gone crazy losing part of her litter.
Again, Happy New Year and many happy cooking/baking/ roasting days ahead y’all.
happy new year, marketman!
Abundant blessings for you to spread. Happy New Year to you MM, the Mrs, the Teen, and the Crew!
Happy New Year to you and fam MM!
Happy new year MM!
happy new year!!!
happy new year! more power to your great blog! =)
was finally able to buy zubuchon from the cebu airport yesterday! :D frozen lechon + lechon sisig!! yumyum I can’t wait. Happy new Year!
Have a great 2010 Marketman! To you, your family and staff.
Nice angle! Not bizarre at all :) Happy New Year and looking forward to more of your inspiring posts this year. Discovering your blog is truly a blessing. Cheers!
Have a Fantastic New Year 2010, MM and family and friends !!!!!!!!!
Looking forward to more Foodie delights !!!
Coming to Manila this weekend.
have a great 2010, mm!
I’ve been reading and enjoying your blog for years now and have always imagined you as a overweight mestizo.(Don’t ask me why!) I am pleasantly shocked at how fit you look.
Hilda et al… it’s a good angle. :) I am middle-aged with a significant amount of white hair and far less black than I used to have as a kid, I am some 15 pounds overweight, definitely not mestizo, losing skin elasticity, and from now on will have all of my pictures taken from “above”… hahaha. :)