Salcedo Market and Market Market

Dara took me to the Salcedo Market Saturday morning.
We did a lot of tasting and looking. She was taking a lot of pictures that might end up in T&C. I was looking at people and thinking I recognized them....and knowing I wasn't being recognized. Even my own first-degree cousin who had been at my house a couple weeks prior, a regular Salcedo Saturday merchant selling paper-thin lavash bread alongside her Woodrose co-alumnus who sold rice milk, did not recognize me. I walked up to her in my bandanna & aviators - yeah, I know, feeling incognito - and hit her on the arm. She had stared at me, a Who The Hell Is This Creep? look on her face.
Some people looked vaguely familiar and even had familiar-sounding voices but were caricatures of the reasons for which I found them familiar. Caricatures in the sense that they seemed to have plumped up and aged at staggering pace. Then again, there's a whole lot of aging and fattening that can be accomplished in the 10 years I've been away.
I think the heat got to me at some point. We were standing at the coffee table talking about the dude selling Spanish food. I thought I had done drugs with him almost a couple decades ago and actually looked younger than he should, despite being at least 80lbs. heavier. I remember being impressed by the rich, thick milk froth on our lattes when were handed them; I remember picking up up the non-dairy creamer container and recognizing it for what it was; I remember the vendor saying, "that's Coffee-Mate, not Splenda".
Who in his right mind is gonna put Coffee-Mate in a beautifully latted latte? The vendor must have thought I was on one, because I mixed some in after he told me what it was. I didn't even realize what I'd done until I crunched on a nodule of undissolved creamer. Okay.
Only thing I bought to eat was Php100 worth of langka, which was unspectacular. I really wanted some Durián; nothing ripe available. I didn't wanna spend on stuff we d0 better at home: in one booth there was Callos alongside Bacalao in chafing dishes, each indistinguishable from the other, tomato-paste-&-animal-flesh-mash floating in reddish-orange oil. The Callos didn't taste too bad, still, ours is better. I was looking for Kilawin, but when we did find the one booth that had it, the fish cubes had that opaque, grainy appearance I associate with boiled fish. It looked like Paksiw na Isda. I had been looking for translucent, delicate, Pinoy ceviche.

Didn't see too many McPinoys (that's Middle Class Pinoys) at the Salcedo Market; that was later at Market! Market!
Whatever it was I had been expecting, it didn't prepare me for the airport-looking monstrosity. Or for the low-end version of Glorietta it seemed to be. People walking around in Mindanao scarves and tattoo-type patterns on their deconstructed clothes. Bangketa wannabe-Kanye West-shutter-shades. Bleached, feathered Korean-style haircuts and imitation Gucci white loafers or Lacoste sneakers on guys. Glutathione publicity all over the place, and women rocking the dark neck, white foundation, rouged cheek look. Stares from people as if Dara and I were celebrities.
They did not have the Tofu & Century Egg special at Mann Hann as advertised. The Sautéed Pork & Eggplant I had was slightly too oily though it tasted good. The whole thing was cheap - I think Php365 for a soda, a large bowl of Beef Ramen, and the eggplant dish.

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