Market Day!

Because you can't take the market monster out of the Pinay, Popsie and I stepped out this morning to the nearest little market a couple of blocks from the condo.

It's the last day of Songkran so most establishments are closed but some stalls in the talaat were open.

If I were vegetarian, I'd love it here - the food choices are awesome and very affordable. Heck, I'm not vegetarian but I love it here!
 

Lovely vine-ripened tomatoes

 

Mushrooms for the fungophile

 

Mung bean sprouts, katuray flowers, and young corn

 

Sawtooth coriander, coriander/cilantro, parsley, and a bunch of other things I can't identify

 

Spices and dried herbs

 

khanom tweh (sp?) - made from rice flour, it is steamed in those tiny cups. It is a symphony of sweet and salty.

 

Unripe mangoes (40THB/kg), longan (80THB/kg), and giant makopa (wax or Java apple)

 

Mangosteen - 40THB/kg. I ate a whole kilo by myself this afternoon!

 

Rambutan (80THB/kg) so fresh I swear the green spikes were moving (hehehe)

 

Our veggie stash

 I also made a "healthy" omelette for breakfast.

 

Garlic, onion, organic eggs, diced tomato, thinly-sliced asparagus stems

 

Hello, breakfast

Don't be fooled, though... Popsie, Momsie, and I - we had some Bacon Spam with this omelette. =)

B is for Baon (part deux)

I had written about baon in my short-lived blog. In truth, I had PLENTY more baon posts to come... had I not forgotten my password. ANYhoo, here's what may have made it to the posts but in a more condensed form. After all, I'm sure nobody would want to hear (read?) me wax poetic about the wonders of Spam and warm Japanese short-grained rice, yes?

The photo up top is salted eggs, slices tomatoes, and steamed okra (lady fingers). In a separate container I had the steamed Japanese short-grain rice (which is LOVE on a bowl, methinks).

Below are two versions of the same breakfast/snack fare: Japanese short-grain rice molded into shapes and cut-out Spam.

Jeni and I love Spam, sodium and nitrates be damned! The left version is mine, as I love nori (seasoned dried seaweed sheets) and miso (fermented soy bean paste) soup. On the right is Jeni's "naked" breakfast - she is not a fan of seaweed in any form. Her loss, my gain, yes?

I sometimes get VERY lazy and opt for instant baon, like below.

There is a shop called Amber and it sells primarily Pansit Malabon (a type of noodle dish), pork barbeque, and pichi-pichi (sort of like mochi but sweeter, and is cassava flour-based). That's on the left. On the right are some Japanese rice wafer snacks, half of a gigantic siopao, and some home-made chicken nuggets with Bulldog tonkatsu sauce.

I do full meals too! Just like my pork adobo (a cooking method based on the Spanish adobado) with garlic-butter mushrooms (out of a can, sadly) on the left. On the right is some beef steak with onion rings.

Baon need not be an elaborate affair. It's sometimes just a way to extend the pleasure of one delish dish from home to work (or wherever you're taking your baon). Most of the time, though, it's to make sure I like what I will be having for lunch on my office desk. We do have a cafeteria but the food gets repeated and recycled ad nausem so... that would be an epic culinary fail, yes?

More baon to come! Happy eating!

Coming Home to...

My BLOG!

HERE!

For a time, I had considered posting on another blog BUT BUT BUT... I forgot my password! Also, I miss having all blogs under one account (I used to have an account with FIVE blogs on it - life in general, love, food and travel, photography, and poetry - but I digress) so it's back to the original blog.

ANYhoo, I came back to post about a craving I have been having: freshly-baked bread. Plain warm bread fresh out of the oven in all its steaming, rich-smelling glory. a dollop of butter, a sprinkle of sea salt... and a cup of strawberry-cranberry tea! Argh...

Jeni bought an electric oven when we moved into our old apartment. Now in a much bigger place with a kitchen big enough to chop a lechon in, I will DEFINITELY be using this oven soon. My baking skills are a tad above zero, as I can do stove-top but NEVER in-oven dishes... but in life, one needs challenges to become better evolved, yes?

SO evolve I shall... as soon as my day (and into the night) job graces me with time to do so.

*sigh*

The Porcine Party

This was a very long time coming but it was finally realized: Jeni and I were able to roll off the bed and make it to the wet market in time. In time for what? In time to get liempo for grilling!

Jeni has been craving inihaw na liempo (she loves pork) for the uber-longest time and I was always too busy (or too tamad) to hit the market for the said meat cut. I usually wake up too late and end up seeing only pork chops (too dry for charcoal broiling) or kasim (would make good adobo though).

So one weekend (a long time ago...), Jeni and I found ourselves awake at 5:30pm... giving us the chance to snag the coveted piece of meat.

So after firing up the grill, we grilled the...eggplants. Actually, the eggplants came later.

Mainit na mainit na talong...

This was the star of the show:

Ang baboy naman nito!

I made ensaladang inihaw na talong with minced onion, diced tomatoes, a splash of kalamansi and Tita F's (Jeni's mom) home-cooked bagoong with HUGE pieces of pork meat and fat. Jeni's family enjoyed it and wiped it off as soon as it hit the dining table. I didn't get any pictures of the finished products... hahaha!