The Road to 40 Day 313/365: Market Day

It’s a rest day from running for me, so I decided to walk to the market to buy some fish.

My doctor told me that it would still be best to buy fresh fish instead of frozen ones, so I thought I’d go to Ghim Moh Market to buy them.

When we lived in Dover, this was my go-to market. It’s kinda like a trap, though, because I end up spending more than I should because of all the options I have there. I frequent the beef butcher there for my bones and several cuts of meat, but I wasn’t going there on this day.

I rarely went to the market with my parents when I was younger, so one of my weakest characteristics is identifying fish. I know salmon and tuna when it’s cut, but I probably won’t recognize them if I’m looking at the whole fish.

When Ate Jen was with us, I would task her to choose the fish for us while I got the meat. Since I have been doing the groceries, I usually buy them in groceries so that they are labeled.

The last time I went to Ghim Moh, though, one of the staff selling fish was a Filipina. She helped me pick out the fish I would need, and I thought I’d go back to her this time around.

Unlike the last time I went, there were a lot of people this time around. I had to wait my turn so that she could accommodate me. I asked for fish I could pan fry, and she gave me a small tuna. I asked for it to be cleaned and washed. I also asked for a fish for steaming, and she suggested a seabass. She asked me if I wanted a fillet or a whole one, and of course, I thought a fish with no bones would be better.

I got a filleted seabass that was opened. It’s not exactly how I imagined a Chinese-style steamed fish would look like, so I decided to go around to look for another seller, since she was busy.

As I was looking around, I heard another Filipina ask her colleague if a certain type of fish was good for frying. The colleague said it was galunggong.

I didn’t grow up eating fish, but galunggong was one of the easiest fish I could eat when I was younger. It didn’t have small bones that I need to watch out for, and it’s basically salted, fried, and dipped in soy sauce with calamansi and that’s it.

I had to come back to get myself a plate of it. Since I was there, I asked the lady if she could kindly suggest a fish for me to steam Chinese-style. She suggested a seabass as well, but this time, it was a whole, cleaned one.

I spent about 50sgd for 4 types of fish and some vegetables for my salads, which I think is pretty good considering my history with that market.

I think I still need to work on my range of fish dishes, but for now, tuna, salmon, seabass, and cod are the ones I could confidently work with.