Sunday Morning at Sidcor

Yuri's been wanting to go to the Sidcor Sunday market (now at Eton Centris) for over a month now. You're probably wondering why this is even an issue. Thing is, it's particularly hard for us... erm... err for me that is, to wake up earlier than 10:00 AM on Sundays. LOL. It's my designated sleep-in day since we usually have catering events on Saturday evenings.

Yep that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.  Now that I'm married and free from my parents' constant lectures on the merits of waking up early, I figured I had a right to my Sunday mornings.  I can and WILL waste it as I please.  *ahem*  Right Yuri? Teehee.

This morning though, we managed to get ourselves ready by 9:00 AM.  Indeed, that was no small feat, what with the chilly-curl-under-the-covers weather. But a promise was a promise. So I put on my most believable cheerful smile and trudged off to the car where Yuri was impatiently waiting for me.

It was an easy 20-minute drive from our house to Eton Centris.  Gotta love Metro Manila on Sundays.  By the time we got there, I was genuinely looking forward to our little outing and my usual morning sullenness was long gone.

The place was brimming with people despite the overcast skies and wet weather.

There's a separate section for fresh produce, meat, and seafoods, another for clothes and accessories, one for cooked food featuring mostly Filipino delicacies, and one for plants and all things green.  On this particular trip, Yuri and I were just there for herbs.  It was high time that our other herbs at home had some company.

I immediately homed in on Mang Narcisso's stall.  I didn't think we had to look any further.  He had a pretty neat selection of herbs, and it was awesome that he had all the ones we were looking for.  We ended up buying six seedlings and it took us roughly ten minutes to finalize our choices. The seedlings were only Php 25.00 pesos each.  Amazing.  You can't get a better price than that.

What I loved about Mang Narcisso is that he gave us a lot of practical tips on how to prolong the lives of our herbs.  Plus he was really nice and easy to talk to.  In fact, I had so much fun comparing notes with him with regards to our herb preferences for certain dishes, that I forgot about my slightly muddy feet and that I was awkwardly squished under an umbrella that barely covered Yuri and I.  He even let me take his picture! :) 

Yuri took his new babies straight to the garden as soon as we got home.  They have now been replanted into their own individual pots.  Mang Narcisso told us that we should make sure that we till the soil of each plant at least once a week.  He says that it's vital that the soil is always loose so that water seeps into the roots of the herbs really easily.  We were supposed to buy 7 herbs, but he vetoed our chocolate mint option.  He told us that his chocolate mint was looking wilted and that he'd bring us a nice and lively one next weekend.  He had my loyalty right then and there!

Now I'd like to introduce y'all to our new herbs!

Curly Leaf Parsley

Spring Onion

Italian / Flat Leaf Parsley

Arugula

Dill

Vietnamese Cilantro / Hot Mint

I can't wait to use them in my dishes!  The possibilities are endless. :-)



Address: Eton Centris Parking Lot, EDSA cor. Quezon Avenue, QC
Hours:  6:00 AM - 2:00 PM; Sundays

Mercato Part 1: Mochiko

So last Saturday we stopped by Mercato Centrale for a quick midnight snack.  We were in the area anyway, coming back from a reception at Blue Leaf  which was the 3rd wedding we'd attended in a week.  We had been planning for months now to have a look at the Mercato scene but every time we planned to go, work stuff would always get in the way.  So, believe it or not, and I'm completely embarrassed to say this, but this trip to Mercato was actually our first.  They say better late than never right?

So anyways, I've been hearing good stuff about the ice cream mochi here and I've been dying to eat green tea mochi for a while now.  Mochi is simply a Japanese rice cake made out of glutinous rice.  Traditionally, it's filled with a sweet center like red bean paste and such.  The ice cream mochi is sort of a modern take on this Japanese delicacy and it's genius!

The last time I ate ice cream mochi was September of last year in Macau when Yuri and I were on our honeymoon.  There was this 24-hour convenience store near our hotel that sold vanilla ice cream mochis in packs of two.  They also had the regular mochis lining their shelves but I wasn't interested in that.  We went back there everyday to get my ice cream mochi fix... aaaand I might've hoarded quite a few on our last day there. Teehee.   

I was first introduced to ice cream mochi during my early teens.  Dryer's came out with Green Tea Mochi sold in packs of six and my family and I were instant fans.  Since then we'd go through at least a pack a week.  I don't have a sweet tooth but I do love rice and green tea!  I guess this was and still is the perfect dessert for me.  After a couple of years Dryer's stopped selling mochis.  I guess it never really caught on, but yeah it's been hard to find a regular supply of green tea mochi ice cream since then. 

Soooo I'm pretty sure it's obvious by now how weirdly obsessed I am with green tea mochi ice cream.  Lucky for me, I finally found a yummy ice cream mochi source.   Darnnit I can't believe I waited this long to go to Mercato.

Mochiko sells all things mochi!  Mochiko's shop is all the way up at the Cliffhouse in Tagaytay so it's great that they've become a whole lot more accessible to us at the Fort. 

The green tea ice cream is wrapped in a thin dough made out of pounded glutinous rice.  Our friend tells us that their cappuccino-flavored mochi's delicious too.  They've also got unique ice cream mochi flavors like Azuki and Black Sesame.

Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream Php 70.00

It's best to let the mochi thaw out a little before biting into it to get the maximum effect.  The gooey mochi together with the ice cream is just heavenly.

I really didn't go around that much since my feet were complaining from being in heels all day.  Plus we were getting funny looks from people.  You see, this trip was unplanned so we were all still in our wedding regalia. Harhar.  No matter.  Bottom line is that I got my green tea mochi.  It capped off my night perfectly!

Rinah with her empanada and me with my mochi!

Address: Mercato Centrale, 8th Avenue cor. 34th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Hours: 7am - 2pm Saturdays and Sundays