Morning Market Section 17, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

My girls and I have just returned from a holiday in my home country - Malaysia. The main purpose of this trip was to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday and family reunion. Family members from around the world returned for this special celebration except for 1 cousin. We had a fantastic time in Malaysia despite the haze that greeted us when we arrived. Luckily, after a few days the haze cleared but the weather was still extremely hot and humid. Most of our days were spent indoors in air-conditioned comfort.

We arrived early in the morning, after a quick shower and feeling refreshed, I went out with my aunt to her local market to buy food for breakfast and check out the fresh produce. I took Ash with me to show her what the markets are like in Malaysia. She is used to the farmers markets here in Australia which is a lot cleaner. It was a real eye-opener for her and she was horrified at certain sections with the fresh chicken and fish displayed and gutted right there for the customers.

Here are some of the pics I took that morning.  The stalls at this market vary from fresh meat, vegies, roast meats, herbal medicines, knick knacks, flowers, biscuits and food e.g. kueh (cakes), nasi lemak, yau char koay, apom as well as drinks like fresh sugar cane, fresh coconut juice and soya milk.

My senses are tantalised and challenged when visiting these open markets.

Eveleigh Markets, Sydney

It's the Queen's birthday long weekend in NSW. We woke up to a cold sunny winter's day; so decided to make the most of it. I have been wanting to visit the Eveleigh Farmers Market for a while, but never got there. Today, we decided would check it out and see what's the fuss about. The market is located in the heritage listed Eveleigh Railyards in Redfern with over 70 stalls that sell a variety of in-season and fresh produce from farmers and food producers. Besides the fresh produce, there are also stalls that sell sweet and savoury delights, olive oil, breads, wines, coffee, breakfast. The market runs from 8:30 to 1pm every Saturday. It is well organised with signs for each stall which makes it easier for visitors. There is plenty of space for everyone and also plenty of chairs and tables to sit and enjoy the beautiful food on sale.

Look at the size of these heirloom tomatoes

Variety packs of Heirloom tomatoes

Organic fruit and vegies

Love the variety of spuds. Ash was in heaven.

 One of Sydney's famous chefs, Kylie Kwong has a stall that sells delicious and tasty food for breakfast/brunch. Today, she had steamed pork dumplings in ginger and tamari sauce, steamed savoury pancakes with vegetables and egg as well as steamed pork buns (aka char siu bao). Kylie is a big promoter of using fresh, in-season produce for her creations.

Stallholders were really friendly and happy for you to take photos except for the Cupcake Princess.

Yummy brownies from Bird Cow Fish

Sweet Patisserie - the marshmallows were soft like pillows

Ding Gourmet Pastes - fellow Malaysian from Malacca

Eumundi Smokehouse - beautiful small goods. Has a bacon and egg stall too.

Bright and cheery flowers - cheap too!

We enjoyed our time at the markets, finishing off with pancakes, dumplings from Kylie's stall plus cupcakes from the Cupcake Princess (who had a no photo policy!). We will definitely return again. It will be interesting to visit when the season changes to see what the producers have.

Frenchs Forest Organic Market

For the first time in many weeks, we did not have anything planned for our Sunday. But, did we sleep in? Nah.....I woke my family at 7:30am to check out the weekly Organic Market at The Parkway Hotel in Frenchs Forest. This weekly market is only 10 mins drive north from our home. Have been wanting to visit this market for ages, but there is always something on Sunday which stops us. The sun was shining brightly which was lovely and warm after a week of grey skies and rain. The early bird definitely catches the worm. The hotel's carpark was almost full when we arrived (market opens at 8am and we got there at 8:30am).

There are a wide variety of stalls at this market selling meats, fruits and vegetables, breads, eggs, popcorn, plants, clothing, honey, cured meats, coffee beans, teas, skincare and makeup. There are also a good selection of international food - Turkish Gozleme, Gourmet Pies, Indian rotis and dosai, Chorizo rolls, Empanadas, Organic Bacon and egg rolls, tea and coffee carts, juice and smoothies - there was plenty to choose from.  Note to self: do not have breakkie before visiting the market.

This was the 1st stall we came across as we entered the markets. We could smell the freshly popped corn and it was irresistible.  We had to buy a small bag of Sweet and Salty popcorn. There were other flavours too - Chocolate and Cinnamon as well as Spicy.

We bought some mushrooms from the Mushroom people. Love the fresh variety - Wild Pine, King Brown, Shimeji, Swiss Brown, Woodear, Oyster, Enoki, Chestnut, Flat and Button. We bought the last Wild Pine (a lady came 10 seconds later and was disappointed), Swiss Brown, King Brown and Flat mushrooms to make Mushroom soup. 

If you love breads, you would absolutely love the selection sold at the markets. There were spelt, sourdough, wholegrain, gluten free, pumpkin, rye breads and many more. It was bread heaven. We had a chat to this guy who runs the German Bread stall, he was telling us his housemates love him because of the bread.

German Bread

I had to control myself from buying all the beautiful fresh fruit and vegies. Such beautiful colours. I managed to buy a small bunch of organic bananas at $8/kg which was super cheap when our local fruit and vegie market is selling them for $12.98/kg (due to the cyclone in Queensland).

We bought some organic beef rissoles and wagyu and mushroom sausages from the Free Range Butcher. Friendly folks who cooked some beef sausages for everyone to sample. The sausages were delicious, packed with flavour and no fat. You could taste the difference in the quality of meats used.

These two lovely Indian ladies were making Indian rotis or Masala Dosais. Love her sweet smile, so obliging for the camera.

Love the cymbidium orchid plants sold by this friendly guy.

We have already decided that we will return to the Organic Markets in a few weeks. We are happy to support these farmers who sell direct to their consumers. At least, I know the money goes straight to their pockets.

Our girls have already decided what they want to eat there. It'll be a tough decision for Chris and I - bacon and egg roll or Chorizo roll. Decisions, decisions, decisions...