The Mystery Market

  Five years ago the members of J.A.M. encountered a lovely market at St. Enoch's Square in the city centre.  It was wonderful.  Filled with lovely foods and treats.  It vanished overnight.  Countless hours searching the internet yielded no information on this market. 
  Then this Thursday past, it mysteriously appeared once more.  Once again it was a chance encounter.  The right place at the right time.  I was thrilled to see it again after five years.  This time around I am certain it appears for Oktoberfest.  Though once again the internet and Glasgow City websites have failed me.  I still have no idea what this market is for, or exact dates for it's reappearance.   It was enjoyed while it was here though.
  The first stall I noticed was the Italian sweets stall.  Row after row of the most delicious looking nougat.  I was ecstatic.  Nougat is my love.  I adore it, and have since I was a small child.  The thought of choosing between dozens of flavours pleased me greatly, and resulted in much squealing.  There was chocolate mint, ameretti, limoncello, strawberries and cream, candied fruit, almond, pistachio and the list goes on.

The many varieties of Italian nougat.

I ended up choosing the Harvest Field Berry flavour on my first trip to the market.  It was delightful.  A  combination of freeze dried berries and freeze dried berry powder and almonds.  The nougat itself was so airy.  It was almost dry, but still slightly chewy.  I was in heaven.  I am now on a mission to recreate this flavour.

The berry nougat.

  Only the nougat was purchased on the first tour of the market.  It was more of a scouting out what was there.  On the Saturday I was back.  The first thing I did was to make a beeline to the Dutch pancake stall.  I am in love with those fluffy little pancakes.  I could probably live quite happily on nothing else.  I ate almost nothing else when I was in Amsterdam if that gives you any idea of the love I hold for these little gems.  You could buy them in a size small or large.  I opted for the small, because the portions were quite large.  There were a variety of toppings to choose from, but I like to keep it simple.  Icing sugar and lemon juice.  They were perfect, and I was satisfied.  

If heaven was a pancake, this would be it.

 
  Once I was finished my pancakes it was off to the sausage stall.  So many varieties of salami to choose from.  It all sounded delicious.  There was a hazelnut salami that intrigued me greatly, but I did not choose it.  I chose the Garlic Salami.  Not exciting no, not really.  It was delicious though, and I ate almost the entire thing to myself.  It was perfection.  The outer skin was salty, which I love.  It was smoked just enough. The garlic flavour came through, but not too strongly.  How I wish it could be bought everyday!  I would be the size of a house, but it might be worth it!

The many sausages.

 

 

 

The garlic salami.

   Now that I was filled up on pancakes, and had my little garlic salami treat tucked away safely to eat later, it was time for more nougat!  I had a pretty good idea as to which flavour I was going to choose.  As I got to the stall I noticed the swarms of people milling about in front of it.  Oh yes there is much to look at.  The many Italian biscuits, and chocolates on offer is extraordinary.  Much to gawk over.  I was annoyed, because there was no room for me to make my quick purchase.  So I waked on by.  Took another stroll along the market in hopes that when I made it back to the Italian sweets, the throng of people would have left.
  I walked past stalls selling Grilled Wild Boar Burgers, Spanish Tapas, Bratwurst, Jerk Chicken, Noodles.  Everything you could imagine.  Stalls selling items for your garden.  Soaps, jams, mittens, jewelry, candy, and fudge. 

A stall that sold dried fruit, candied fruit and nuts.

   As I made it back to the land of nougat I noticed that the crowd had thinned.  I grabbed my wedge of Limoncello Nougat.  It was a lemony yellow colour and was filled with candied lemon peel and almonds.  The limoncello flavour was quite subtle, but was enough.  The texture was slightly different from the berry nougat.  It was stickier and not as airy.  A denser nougat.  It was still very good, but the berry wins out for sure.

Limoncello Nougat.

   Overall, I was very pleased with the mystery market.  I really that I find it again next year, and that I don't have to wait another five years before it's reappearance.

A piece of the market.

  

  What I am about to share has nothing to do with the market, but this lovely little item arrived in the mail this morning and it's loveliness must be shared.  The item is a package of Hakodate Wine Red Wine Caramels.   They are a kind of caramel from Hokkaido Japan.  I ordered them about a month ago from Japan, so I was quite pleased to see them this morning.  Oh the food items in Japan, they please me greatly.  So many amazing things that you just never see here.

The caramels in their box.

  I ordered a few other small items as well.  Such as the Shirokuma Ice Drops, and the Raspberry and Passion Fruit Kit Kat.  The Shirokuma ice drops are one of the many flavours of Sakuma
  Back to the caramels.  When I opened the package the smell of grapes hit me.  In a pleasant way though.  The smell made my mouth water just a little. The caramels were individually wrapped and in neat little rows.

Purple caramels in rows of two

   I was quite excited to try these.  They've intrigued me for awhile.  The smell just about sealed the deal for love.  I unwrapped the little morsel and popped the pinkish purple square into my mouth.  The texture was similar to taffy.  The taste, oh how creamy and smooth.  At first it just tasted like grape candy, and then the flavour began to change.  The wine flavour began to come through, and the after taste, well it was just wine. These may end up my new favourite caramel.  Though there is a seaweed variety still out there to try....

Creamy red wine caramel delight.

  M.