A week after our first visit at the
Sidcor Weekend Market, Ria and I decided to visit it again to buy Christmas gifts, and we tagged my mom along, because she might like the place. Well, she did like the place, but of course the travel was something she didn't like. We got to buy the things in our list, but since this is my food blog, I will concentrate on the foods we bought for this post.
Roasted Cashew Nuts. We were walking along this aisle, when mom's attention was caught by a kiosk selling cashew nuts. There were different packaging (the biggest was 1 kilo), and even if my mom has problems with rheumatism and that she complains about nuts making her joints ache, she really wasn't able to resist this. I actually tried to prevent her from buying this because it was a bit expensive (if I remember correctly this was about 300 pesos), but she really wanted it, so she bought it. The nuts were unsalted, which made it more delicious and flexible. Aside from us eating it, I also used it in cooking a dish.
Thai Crispy Pork. On a different aisle, mom saw a stall selling Thai products, when the vendor asked her to try a sample of their best seller. We thought mom was just going to sample it so Ria and I walked ahead. When we looked backed, mom wasn't following us and was still at the stall. I knew then mom bought something. Hmmmm.... my mom is every salesman's dream come true. :) About the product: well, it was good, but it was too bitter for me. It had a hint of sweetness, but I guess it was toasted well that's why it became a bitter.
Aparagus. It didn't look fresh because we actually have steamed this before I took a picture. :) First time in the market, Ria and I saw different stalls selling asparagus, and mom loves this vegetable so we roamed around to find the best bunch of asparagus. One lesson we learned: ask around first before buying. We saw three stalls selling asparagus, and in the end we bought this 500-gram bundle for 100 pesos. The other stall was selling it for 75 pesos - cheaper, yes, but the bundle was 250 grams. Anyway, I am not a big fan of this vegetable, but I admit it taste good steamed (and buttered).
Dried Biya Fish. Whenever I visit weekend markets, I always try to buy this boneless dried fish (it was anchovy, I think), but while checking one stall, mom saw a different kind of boneless dried fish, and thinking it had more meat than the one I wanted, she decided to get this instead. 1/4 kilo was actually a lot already, and the family loved it because it wasn't really salty. If only we had champorado that time... :)
Purple Cabbage. The supermarket sells the purple cabbage at a much expensive price, so when I asked one cabbage to be weighed and I was told it cost 45 pesos, I went ahead and bought it. I wasn't able to take a picture of the actual cabbage, but I did take a picture of the coleslaw I made, which was a great pair to the many fried / roasted meat dishes we cooked that week.
We bought quite a lot more items, but most were cooked foods/dishes that we ate there as well. I did buy some different kind of regional longganisa, which I will feature next week, because I think it deserved a post of its own. :)
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my