A Day at the Sunday Market
Today, I found myself driving with friends to the Sunday Market called Centris, located in Quezon City. The air was filled with the aroma of various Filipino delicacies. My thoughts were focused on just one thing: that crunchy okoy, soaked in spicy vinegar sauce, I had on my first visit to this market many years back. Talk of love at first bite, I thought that was the best okoy I ever had thus far. For those who have no clue what okoy is, let me explain. Okoy or Ukoy is a deep-fried mixture of baby shrimp and sweet potato in a batter. There may be different versions of this recipe, but I like mine thin, which is why the okoys I get at this Sunday market are so crunchy —you can hear the crackling when you take a bite. Today I had two okoys from two different stalls, one crispier than the other. And thinner, but heaping with a generous share of baby shrimps
Okoys are not the only succulent Filipino food specialties in this market. I was thinking what to get next, but I’ll be happy with another okoy dripping with that tangy suka.
The stall managers/vendors we met were masters at influencing market-goers like us. This woman gave us her phone number so we could call her the next time we wanted to eat caldereta (beef stew), because hers she claims was the best in town. Talk of confidence overload! We got home with two Tupperware-sized servings for our lunch. At lunch, we all said, “LIAR!” We thought it best to eat our goodies at home, as it was burning hot in the market. And it was only 9 in the morning! The stalls were covered with low-hanging laminated awnings, making the heat doubly unbearable. One friend said it was nonsense to take a shower before coming here.
There was this mother-and-son team selling homemade dishes like kare-kare and tinumis (pork blood cooked with young tamarind leaves). I was busy looking for the next okoy when I noticed my friends were gone. Found them later at a table chatting with this mom-son team. Mom heard I live in Vienna and said she was fascinated with the city and would love to go back there sometime. The last time she was there was in 2015, with family. They have a good friend in the city, and he showed them around town. Nice guy, Godo, she said. Godo Gomez? I exclaimed. Yes, she said excitedly and gave me a high five when I told her Godo and I are friends (or we were? I am not sure now). Hi, Godo! Her tinumis was excellent; the kare-kare could be better.
As we left the market, we were laden with some stuff we hadn’t planned to buy, but bought it anyway. Yet, the joy of sharing the market experience with friends made us feel included and part of the fun. We were happy to go home, tucked away with amusing market anecdotes to recall and share with family and friends.