The weekend market along the corner of Ramos Extension and Escario Streets. It begins every Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.
Barely on my second day after our move from BXU, I started to miss home terribly...the familiar places, the traffic-free roads, the corner stores and outlets where I buy our needs, and all the other stuff I'm used to there. Well, my spirits got an uplift when I was told of this weekend market nearby (across the road from where we live actually) that's teeming with fresh produce - fruits, vegetables, live chicken, farm fresh eggs.
After learning about it, I couldn't contain my excitement and actually rushed to the location with my two girls in tow. It was indeed a sight to behold! Just looking at the cornucopia of goodies made my fingers itch to once again experiment in the kitchen.
The only downside to this neighborly trip is the price...I was taken aback at how expensive it is here. Well, if I got the stuff in the supermarket, surely it'll be more pricey so this was the best alternative. Gosh!!! I so miss the "bagsak-presyo" produce of Butuan!!! Imagine, here, the bananas are priced per piece and not per kilo. There goes my kids' favorite fruit...we'd probably consume dramatically less here than we did back home...
With my small eco bag filled with as much as my budget would allow, I set for home, quickly planning in my head the cooking trip I'll have this weekend...dum dee dum...
Early this morning, our piggery partners/caretakers prepared our 2nd hog for butchering and weighing. By noontime I was in my son's school with my daughter Cailie delivering the pork meat orders I was able to gather there.
The selling business isn't really new to me as I had experience in tuna and seafood trading during our short stint in General Santos City. However, I found that meat retailing is a bit different and more detailed since I'm serving the consumer end of the business cycle whereas in my tuna biz before I was into wholesaling. I had a minor boo boo when I switched orders and ended up not serving one order. I felt bad but it was a learning experience I had to go through, I guess.
Manang Rose, our partner, cooked some yummy Dinuguan (Pork Blood Stew) utilizing the unsold parts of the hog. This dish is a favorite of the family so we requested for some so that I didn't have to cook dinner anymore. We seldom get to eat this famous Filipino dish because we make sure that we know the source of the ingredients first and how well it was prepared. Since this was cooked using our own farm-raised hog and we know who's preparing it, it was one dish we could enjoy as a family. I haven't tried cooking this myself as I'm not familiar with how it is prepared so I'm just happy as a consumer in this case. Manang Rose truly outdid herself with this dinuguan. It was thick and the balance of sour and salty was just right with a hint of heat using "siling haba". I couldn't believe that my two older kids (with the exception of the baby) enjoyed every morsel of rice and viand. It is not everyday you see children enjoying this popular Pinoy dish. Suffice to say, it was a satisfying gastronomic experience for all of us.
Inspired by Facebook's Farmville, hubby and I embarked on a new business last August 2009 - we started raising hogs.
We started out with 4 piglets and last December, we sold 3 to the local meat market. We retained one to be our "inahin" or Mommy Piggy.
Just like any other business, it is a continuing learning process for us. In the first set of piglets we sold, we didn't really make much profit due to weight disparities. This is the reason why we changed our game plan for the second set of piglets. When hubby saw that it was more lucrative, we decided to do our own butchering and peddling of hog meat. Our 2nd set of 4 piglets were acquired in September and one of the four was sold only last week. It was our partner and caretaker who personally butchered the hog and his wife was the one who peddled the meat. It sold like hotcakes and we were left with only half of the liver. It was this same piece of meat that I made into Liver Steak last night.
Liver Steak
1 kg pork liver, sliced
3 tbsp canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium red onions, cut into rings
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp calamansi or lemon juice
a pinch of sugar
In a hot skillet, heat oil and fry liver slices until half cooked. Remove liver from pan and set aside. In the same skillet, fry the garlic and half of the onion rings. Add the soy sauce, calamansi/lemon juice and sugar. Add in the liver and simmer for about 5-7 minutes. Adjust seasoning according to your taste. Sprinkle with remaining onion rings on top and serve.
We still have two remaining hogs to sell this week and just like in the first set, we are retaining one to be our Mother Piggy. Hopefully, we'll make a good profit this time around.
With my trusty purple and yellow modern "bayong", hooked on my shoulder, I trooped to the neighborhood market, my 3-year old daughter in tow.
Understandably, when it's market day, there's more produce and more produce means more people. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the two days of the week that people would normally go to the market here. There are more choices in terms of fish/seafood, meat, vegetables and fruits.
Growing up in a middle-class family, I didn't really bother myself with "wet" market details and always thought that weekly marketing was such a boring task. It is only when I became a wife and a mother that I learned the ropes of going to the market. Hubby was the one who taught me how to go about buying our weekly supply from the market. Having gone through the weekly exercise of going to the market for the past several years, I've come to realize that it isn't a boring activity at all. In fact, my weekly marketing has become a therapy of sorts. I love to be surrounded by the buzz of people and merchants. I get a high when there are a lot of fresh produce to choose from.
In recent times, there has been a more important reason why I love going to the market. It reconnects me with my mother who is currently based abroad with my younger sister. Every time I go to the market, I feel as if Mommy is just around. You see, I grew up watching Mom do the weekly regime of going to the market to buy our supply of food. Despite being a busy pedia, Mom always took the time to do the marketing herself. I don't remember her ever relegating the task to our helper. Early on a Saturday morning, she'd wake up and ask us what we wanted for the week and after taking a mental note, she'd go off to either the neighborhood wet market or to upscale Farmers Market in Cubao. After a few hours, she'd arrive with a grin on her face which I never understood why she had until I myself went through the same exercise. Being in a market is like being a little girl inside a candy store. Go figure.
Mommy's task doesn't end there. She would be the one to painstakingly unpack her goodies, wash and prepare them to be stored in the pantry or the refrigerator/freezer. With utmost care, she would divide the fish/seafood, meat and poultry into portions that would be easy for her or the maid to cook within the week. It is only after preparing and cooking our Saturday lunch and leaving weekly cooking instructions to the maid that she'd finally relax and take a shower.
My siblings and I often resented Mommy's 24/7 profession while we were growing up. We envied our classmates' Moms whom we would usually see in school, attending to their needs...whether it be for PTA or what-have-you. It is only now that I've come to fully understand how difficult it was for Mommy to be juggling a full time job and taking care of the family. Looking back now, she has shown her love and care for us in her little ways...instead of resting her heels during the weekend, she took it upon herself to do the task of marketing to ensure that we'd have the best and freshest produce. It is these little things that I failed to see and acknowledge. I guess this is the reason why I really insist on doing the marketing myself, rain or shine. For one day in the week, I get reconnected with Mommy and I am reminded to be grateful for all she's done for me.
