Food Trip - Mercato & Sweetcraft

My sister and brother-in-law were going to the Mercato Centrale weekend market at Bonifacio Global City, and invited me to join them. It was my first time to visit Mercato, I heard it was similar to the Salcedo and Legaspi markets, only in tents. We were very excited.

Joy found some organic sweet corn that she wanted to try. At the same stall a guy was selling a gigantic sunflower head full of seeds. I had never seen one before up close. The heads were going for PhP500 each, and he'd sold 3 heads already. We were looking for fresh mint for tabbouleh, a Lebanese bulghur wheat salad, but there wasn't any available. A few tables further down I found some fair trade coffee beans, a "Red Cherry Blend" from Mt. Apo, and got some of that (the name refers to coffee beans picked at the height of ripeness). I've been trying different coffees from all over the country for some time now, so I couldn't resist. Next was a table selling bangus pate in different versions - Asian, Mediterranean and Pinoy. Joy got a pack of 3 to give as a birthday gift. Then we met Vicky of Comida Rica, who sold melba toast, salad dressings and dips. I got a spinach cheese dip to go with the crusty No Knead Bread we bake every other week. When we mentioned we baked our own bread, Vicky said she wanted to try it at home, and exchanged emails with Joy. From her we got a tip that we could get different kinds of flour wholesale at Sweetcraft in Mandaluyong. We decided we'd go there after shopping.

At the next tent Tristan decided to buy a pair of buy one-take one sausage sandwiches. He had the Schublig and special hotdog sandwiches, which he claimed were the best he's had in a long time. Joy met a Moroccan lady selling tagine clay cookware and various Moroccan dishes. She bought zalouk, a spicy eggplant salad flavored with paprika and other spices. Next to that table there was an importer of nuts - walnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios, even dried fruits. Joy bought a package of assorted nuts, and I found myself a pack of lavender tea. I use lavender tea for relaxation and to help me sleep when I'm under the weather. The last place I was able to find lavender tea was at Bizu in Greenhills, and since I ran out I haven't had a chance to buy some more, until now. As we walked along we came across a frozen yoghurt seller, who urged us to try their mango, black sesame and green tea flavors. We discovered their office was near our house, and thought we'd order from them the next time we have a children's party. Their frozen yoghurt still had that tangy tartness I love so much and which seems to be missing from some over-processed brands in the malls. On our way out of the tent I paused to buy some tinapa (smoked fish) and Vigan longganisa (Ilocano sausages) for next week's breakfasts. Then we discovered some absolutely delicious spinach and cheese empanadas! We bought enough for the entire family's merienda.

There were tables for cooked food, organic grains and vegetables, baked goods, organic body care and household cleaning products. We were a bit disappointed that our chef friend Elena wasn't around selling her artisanal breads, but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Having blowers fanning air all around us in the tents made the experience a pleasure. (In this heat I can't imagine going to Salcedo market, which is open air.) On Sundays and during the night markets there is a different set of vendors. One day we will return and have lunch at the "food court" area, where the stalls were groaning with delicious food, some of which were exotic or were international dishes. These weekend markets aren't really places for bargains, but rather places to find new and interesting (and mostly organic) products, for which a certain premium must be paid. Visiting Mercato is a treat, as opposed to going to the way less expensive fresh market weekly. Of course we're going back, there's always something new to try another time.

Once we got back to the car, we immediately called Sweetcraft for directions to their outlet along Boni Ave. in Mandaluyong. It is across the street from Rizal Technological University. The wholesale prices of their flours saved us money and parking fees. They carry everything from flours to baking chocolate to whipping cream to nuts to every baking/confectionery ingredient you can think of. We were lucky to have been referred by Vicky, who claimed that Sweetcraft ingredients were at a lower price than at Baker's Depot and similar baking supply shops. We're excited to be baking again middle of this week. Sweetcraft is at 373 Boni Ave., Mandaluyong City, tel nos. 532-1595, 532-6289, 571-8008, 571-7858, email sweetcraft@sweetcraft.net.

Three Purple Herbin Inks

I recently blogged about my three green J. Herbin inks, a comparison review that was posted on the Fountain Pen Network. This time I thought I'd compare my three purples - Poussiere de Lune, Larmes de Cassis and Violette Pensee. This is one occasion when the labels on the bottles closely match the actual color of the inks.

Poussiere de Lune is a dusty purple with grey undertones. It's a dignified, elegant color, a good alternative to black and blue-black. Karen Doherty of Exaclair, Inc. very kindly sent me a bottle for review (along with Lie de The). My US-based cousin Jasmin also gave me a bottle, which she purchased at a neighborhood stationery store on the strength of it being a bestseller.

Larmes de Cassis, on the other hand, struck me as a romantic, old-fashioned color. It's not strictly a purple, but I'd classify it as a related color on the pinkish side. In my Waterman 32's EF nib it comes out as a pale berry pink. In my Parker Lucky Curve's EF nib it writes a darker, richer color. I guess it depends on the paper. It looks great on cream-colored paper. It also appears darker on the more absorbent papers. Larmes de Cassis also shades very prettily depending on the nib used.

Violette Pensee is the classic blue-purple ink used by generations of French schoolchildren, and evokes the color of the pansy. It comes out of the nib purplish, but dries bluer. It's a beautiful, bright color that's appropriate for most writing situations. This was the very first bottle of J. Herbin ink I ever bought.

All this ink reviewing just adds to my irrational desire for more ink, if only it didn't deplete the wallet so much! When Cafe des Iles becomes available at Scribe Writing Essentials, I'll review it along with Lie de The, to show the difference between the two brown Herbin inks. The third brown, Cacao du Bresil, does not appeal to me as it's an odd brownish-grey.

J. Herbin inks are available in the Philippines at Scribe Writing Essentials (3/F, Eastwood Mall, Libis, Quezon City) and the Scribe stall inside Powerbooks in Greenbelt 3, Makati. They come in 30ml "demi-courtine" bottles, at PhP 495 each.

I am not affiliated with Scribe, am just a happy customer.

Three Green Herbin Inks

We had an FPN-Philippines pen meet yesterday, and I managed to convince my friend (and favorite fountain pen ink reviewer) Clem Dionglay to accompany me to visit Scribe Writing Essentials in Eastwood City so she could help me choose some ink. Based on Clem's writing samples on a Rhodia dot pad, I managed to quickly narrow down my choices to J. Herbin Vert Olive and Rouge Opera. These are not my first J. Herbin inks - I've written about Violette Pensee and Vert Empire before. I was also sent Poussiere de Lune and Lie de The by Karen Doherty, VP of Exaclair, Inc. (the distributor of J. Herbin, Clairefontaine and Rhodia in the US). She also sent Clem an Orange Indien that I won in an FPN-P raffle last year. (I owe her a few ink reviews, but I'm hoping this would suffice in the meantime.)

 

I realized when I got home that I have now accumulated eight Herbin inks: Violette Pensee, Vert Empire, Lie de The, Poussiere de Lune, Orange Indien, Larmes de Cassis, Vert Olive, and Rouge Opera. I plan to get more later. In fact, Clem and I have established that for fountain pen users, there should be no guilt about having a lot of ink. Appreciating color is a joy in life!

Out of the eight, three inks were green. Green is my favorite color, and I do appreciate the range of greens I got. I decided I'd do a side by side writing sample, to be posted on the Fountain Pen Network Ink Reviews forum. Here it is:

Click on the photo for better magnification - it might help you choose an ink for yourself.

Vert Empire is a dignified, elegant dark grey-green. Lierre Sauvage is a bright leaf green, a cheerful color that can pop out on the page. While Vert Empire and Lierre Sauvage do well in finer nibbed pens, Vert Olive requires a wide nibbed pen for you to see the nuance in color. Some people may have difficulty reading it on certain colors of paper. While I don't plan to use it for letter-writing, I am comfortable using it as a journalling ink (with my Pelikan M215 B nib). Something about the color refreshes me, I really bought it as a novelty. One day I might try mixing it with some Lie de The to achieve a slightly darker olive tone. I'll update this blog when that's successful.

I'll do another blog entry on the rest of my inks later, next would most likely be a comparison of purples and red-pinks (Violette Pensee, Larmes de Cassis and Rouge Opera).

J. Herbin inks are available in the Philippines at Scribe Writing Essentials (3/F, Eastwood Mall, Libis, Quezon City) and the Scribe stall inside Powerbooks in Greenbelt 3, Makati. They come in 30ml "demi-courtine" bottles, at PhP 495 each. Pricey, compared to the ubiquitous Parker and Waterman inks, but the range of colors is worth it.

I'm not affiliated with Scribe, am just a happy customer.