What we all need on a wet, cool October evening... A big bowl of steaming hot sinigang with rather large black tiger prawns and homemade sampalok broth. Lots and lots of veggies. Dayap, patis and siling labuyo sawsawan. This is one of top 10 most favorite dishes, ever. 🤓 #marketman #marketmanila

Part II: Moving furniture to avoid leaks! Social media can be very one-sided, with only the best highlights featured, making it seem like everyone else is leading such a charmed life. There should be a rule that 1 out of every 10 posts are a sort of “reality check”, featuring some of the inevitable “evil” behind the scenes, as you MUST have the good with the bad, that’s what REAL life is about. So the real story behind moving furniture goes back 3 weeks, as a leaking roof led to several attempts of our landlord’s crew to fix the roof... instead of getting better we sprung two then three main leaks and our ceiling literally was pregnant with water. The last storm had us placing every bucket and cooler we own out, moving furniture and artwork out of harm’s way. Obviously it’s a bad time to do roof repairs, so the desperate solution was to insist on tarps, which they brought with nothing to hold them down with! Aaaccckk! So we have tires and bricks on our roof right now, and pray the next storm doesn’t result in a swimming pool in the living room! So go back to that previous post and channel tranquility; because the reality is me poking holes in the ceiling to release gallons of rainwater! And as if that weren’t bad enough, we think the workers damaged the Globe fiber cables inadvertently, so we lost our internet and cable tv! But Globe responded SWIFTLY and less than 24 hours later, all is well and fixed (Bravo Globe Repair Service!) and we just hope the tarp holds. Our neighbors who have second floors are probably 🙄 at the tires on our roof, but you just gotta do what you gotta do. Sixty year old house rentals can be dangerous for your fragile state of mind. My next posts could be written in an asylum. 😂🤣 #marketman #marketmanila

Part I: Re-arranging furniture. Yes, I know it must be a personal sign of “climbing walls”... or something else, see next post. We have a large dining table because we love having people over for dinner. And with the pandemic, two of us now sit at one end of the tables, good for up to 12. It’s a bit depressing sometimes; so yesterday, by chance, I thought to separate the two dining tables and the result was worth the minimal effort. We now have a temporary table for flowers and other doodads and a second table that can sit 4 with a view of the thriving plants outdoors. Actually, we have done dinners for (tight) 16 on two separated tables before... but that isn’t going to happen for at least another year or more. The last photo shows the “before” splitting the tables. #marketman #marketmanila

I saw this ginormous photograph of kalabasa at the Art Fair last February, a few weeks before lockdown. Folks were already uneasy then, avoiding the beso-beso, but with no idea how bad the pandemic would affect the world. As a market and produce fan, of course I liked the photo, but Edric, the photographer/artist, explained further that he had snapped the shot in the weeks after Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda had devastated the Eastern Visayas region, Leyte in particular. Food was extremely scarce then. For me, it was a realization that without refrigeration (as our ancestors had lived for millennia before the last century or so) food storage was such a critical issue for survival. Hence the root crops, hardy squashes, dried fish and meat and stored rice. We bought the photograph, and it was delivered before lockdown, but I couldn’t hang it for another 7-8 months due to a framing issue. It’s now over our buffet table just as our fall kalabasa are out and it seems really at home here. But it will always remind me to be thankful for every single morsel of food we grace our dining table with... #marketman #marketmanila @spitargue that’s the whole print...

Someone is trying to hijack or piggyback off of this account. If you search on Instagram for therealmarketman, a second fake account with an underscore at the end shows up with a private setting; that is an imposter and blatantly using my logo and profile details; please do me a favor and report the account. Please make sure it’s the one with the underscore... to report, go to their profile and click next to their username. Tap “Report” and follow on-screen instructions. Thank you.

Turkey pot pie. Leftover turkey was subbed in for the chicken. No recipe, just winged it. Make your crust more savory than sweet... #marketman #marketmanila

A project to do with the kids or the kids at heart. I will not take responsibility for potential damage to any dental work... These Brazilian Brigadeiros are a classic fudgy chocolate treat that are incredibly easy to make, though they require a bit of patience. Into a pan add two tablespoons of butter, two cans of good condensed milk and 6-7 tablespoons of cocoa powder and a big pinch of salt. Mix and blend well and cook down until thickened, roughly 20+ minutes depending on your heat source. Cool for an hour and form into relatively uniform sized balls with the palms of your hands. The best next step is to get creative with the things to roll the fudge balls in. Traditionally colorful sprinkles are used, but we went a bit wild and used pili nut brittle praline, dried figs, pinipig, hazelnuts, currants, pistachios, sprinkles, etc. These are fudgy and chewy, and you can overdo the cooking so learn from experience. But I suspect kids would love this. We enjoyed making them, but I’m not sure my teeth would appreciate gnawing on these too often. 😂 #marketman #marketmanila #brigadeiros

Real or fake? Let’s face it, as much as we claim to eschew brand names, those orange, light blue, brown, light green, maroon and black boxes in a specific shade can set expectations aflutter. Hermes, Tiffany, Vuitton, VC&A, Asprey, Bulgari all have their “colors”. And even the boxes are sometimes faked... So when I was looking for a box to photograph these Brazilian Brigadeiros in, this LV box seemed like the perfect size and shape. So the box is real, but the chocolates are homemade. 🤣😂 How to make them is up next... hold on to your caps and crowns...🤣 #marketman #marketmanila

The Atrium and restaurant at The Nomad London, opening December 1st, 2020, barring more pandemic disasters. If we could travel freely and safely, this is the first fabulous restaurant meal I would book. Not just because the setting is stunning, but because the kitchens are under Executive Chef Ian Coogan, previously with Vongerichten’s ABC Kitchen in New York. Ian has a spectacular take on fresh, seasonal ingredients that are so real and delicious but meticulous. Ian is a good friend of my niece and nephew who live in London, and the last time we were there visiting nearly a year ago, Ian was kind enough to cook us a great dinner at home... Congratulations @ian.coogan and best wishes for a successful opening! We will get there as soon as the circumstances allow!! 🤓 📸: thenomadhotel.com @thenomadhotel

Countries sometimes break. Sometimes I think I’m living in one. This morning I checked the DOH website and got this page. So I went to the National Water Resources Board to check Angat Dam Water levels and got the same page. I didn’t bother to try gov.ph to see who else is broken. 🙄 #marketman #marketmanila

Actually, an asparagus pot isn’t a single use implement, and should be used when blanching veggies (just pull out with basket), boiling eggs, or even small portions of pasta... 🤓 #marketman #marketmanila

Gorgeous asparagus, thanks to @margaritafores ... when you have spears this beautiful, you have to treat them with extra care. Peel off a thin outer layer from the lower part of spears, boiled/steamed right and serve with a Hollandaise (Dutch sauce) on a purpose specific asparagus plate, oops forgot to put out and clean the asparagus serving utensil... 🙄😂. Seriously, one of the great eating pleasures is asparagus. And even in good company, it’s polite to use your fingers to pick it up and eat the spears with your hands if they are firm and stay upright, and not thin and limp and bend over. This must have come from Margarita’s supplier who also brings in the Radicchio Treviso as I spotted stunning green, red and white fresh asparagus in the chiller section of S&R last week but was too chicken to check the price... If you want to splurge, these were worth what they were asking for them. 🤓 #marketman #marketmanila