foodesign: cooking at home with family

steamed shomai with crabmeat

colorful combination of fresh vegetables
in this Chinese vegetable dish called "chop suey"

I'm lucky to have my sisters in law to share my love of cooking with. These are just some of the everyday dishes we cooked at home during my stay. I never got tired going to the big public market for fresh vegetables and ingredients while I was there. It was exciting to walk around our favorite market again and to find so many interesting items.

I wish I brought my camera to the market and took pictures of the market stalls but taking pictures seemed unusual and I didn't really want the attention. The Marikina public market is divided in two main sections, wet and dry goods. The dry goods section is where you will find textile, garments, shoes, housewares, school supplies, native handicrafts etc. There are also sewing supplies and accessories at the second floor of the dry goods section as well as sewers and seamstresses who can do alterations and other sewing jobs. The wet market section is where you go for fresh fish, meat, fruits and vegetables. I like to browse in both sections. There are stalls devoted to selling specialty items like colorful gelatin and tapioca for drinks, coconuts and other related products, local cooking saba bananas, cleaning supplies, coals for grilling as well as all grilling supplies from barbecue sticks to grills, rice cakes, snacks, baked goods and many more. I can easily spend a day looking around the market.

adobo version with whole baby potatoes

the Russian salad I made for New Year
the addition of fresh beets colored it pink

there was an abundance of fresh daikon radish at the market
we like to slice them thinly adding them to pork and pork liver
sauteed in garlic, tomatoes and onions
for a quick stir fry that was perfect with steamed rice