Every town, no matter how small, has a farmers market open on weekends … right?
Right! Now all I had to do was find it …
Cairns’ Rusty's Market is what one would expect in a small town market : local produce suppliers, artisans, a mixed bag of sellers of “stuff” (new and used), all thrown together with a wide variety of food vendors. Since I’m in a new part of the world, I figured this would be a good opportunity to get a taste of TRUE Cairns – surely this would be a way for me to get outside the tourist bubble and find out which cultural influences were really at play in this region of Australia.
Not surprisingly, there were a large number of thai and pan-asian food vendors selling authentic, ready-to-go snacks and meals. My attention fell quickly on a food stand run by a thai lady, offering sweet coconuts for drinking. Kind of silly, but I have ALWAYS wanted to do this! Although, I always figured my first taste of real coconut juice would be on some Hawaiian beach, sitting in a hammock, rocking back and forth in the wind … (something right out of a travel agent’s store window). For now, Rusty’s Market would do. My thai server quickly produced a gargantuan-sized electric drill from behind her counter, and effortlessly bored a hole into the side of my selected coconut.
*slurp* Hmm, not exactly what I expected … more like coconut water than coconut milk. Guess I should have read the package more closely.
Nonetheless, it was sweet and refreshing, and I finished it off as I ate sticky rice snacks filled with banana. (Note: this goes along with my theory that anything steamed in banana leaves tastes amazing … I’m sure I’ll be proved wrong soon enough, but for now the theory has stuck).
Once I was done with the juice, she cut my coconut in half (her knife dwarfed only by the size of her drill) and scooped out the coconut inside.
A little on the slimey side, and not particularly sweet (I guess Mother Nature never did promise sweetened coconut right out of the package – that was our doing), but I was glad I tried it.
Couldn’t help but share this: While walking by one of the clothing stands, I saw two brand new, baby-sized, Vancouver Grizzlies tank tops. The irony being, of course, that Vancouver lost its NBA team to New Orleans many years ago … apparently somebody forgot to tell the asian vendors at Rusty’s Market.
After snacking down at a few other food stands, I went for a quick walk down the wharf off The Esplanade, taking in some of the amazing rainforest scenery.
Here’s how to make sticky rice with banana filling, not something you would serve as a main dish, but a nifty appetizer at a dinner party or a great alternative to boring, white rice-on-the-side.
*** Recipe: soon to come …
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