Turka Turka

If you watched the video in my last post, this blog is gonna show some of the market stuff I was talking about. 

So! I went over to Zolder today to check out the Turkish Market. I've heard about it a few times since I've lived here, but never really ventured to it since I figured "Why?". In my town, they have a market every Monday, but as of late, it's been really lacking. Less and less vendors are showing up and it's kind of annoying when you really don't have much of a selection when it comes to product. After coming back disappointed on Monday, I decided that I'd give Zolder a shot. 

Thanks to the internet, here's some spiffy information on the place:

Heusden-Zolder is a municipality located in the Belgian  province of Limburg near Hasselt. On 1 January 2006 Heusden-Zolder had a total population of 30,769. The total area is 53.23 km² which gives a population density of 578 inhabitants per km². Heusden-Zolder was the result of the merger on 1 January 1977 of the two former municipalities of Heusden and Zolder, and currently consists of the former Heusden parishes of Heusden centre, Berkenbos and Eversel, and the former Zolder parishes of Zolder centre, Boekt, Viversel, Bolderberg and Lindeman. Heusden-Zolder is home to almost 2,000 immigrants from all over the world. This is due to the (now closed) coal mine of Zolder. During the 1960s Belgian coal mines faced an enormous shortage of employees. To address this problem, foreigner labourers were encouraged to immigrate and work near the mines. After their closure (the mine in Zolder was the last one in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg to close in 1992) most of the immigrants chose to stay, which makes Heusden-Zolder a very multicultural place

The Turkish Market is actually held over by the old abandoned coal mine that was mentioned in that lil bit of information you just read. It kinda adds a weird "ambiance" to the area when you're shopping. I mean, it's a cool looking building and all, but it's obviously been vandalized over the years and kinda looks slightly creepy. Apparently it opened it's doors in 1923 and officially closed them in 1992. 

Here's an overhead picture of it that I found on Google:

Annnnnd here's the pictures I took :) They're not all that fancy since I was pretty much snapping pics real fast cause I wanted to go shop! 

I wish I took better pictures, but I was a lil on the excited side, lol. See all the vans? That's just one of the many many rows of vendors that were there!

There were TONS and TONS of vendors selling all kinds of stuff! The majority of 'em were selling clothes, shoes and purses in addition to cleaning supplies. We finally got to the area where all the produce was and I swear ...I could've heard angels singing! I was stoked with all the different things they had! There was a lot I've never seen at the Peer Market (produce wise), so I was definitely thrilled that I could get more of a variety when it comes the goodies like that. Not to mention, they had vendors selling Turkish seasonings, olive salads that smelled amazing when you walked past them, and traditional Turkish bread and baklava. OH my gosh... everything looked amazing!! It was definitely a personal victory that I didn't buy any of the "naughty" stuff..I would've sad there all day and gorged till I popped.

Here's the stuff I ended up with :) 

* 1lb of Garlic
* 3lbs of Mushrooms

* 5lbs of Brussels Sprouts

* 5lbs of Tomatoes

* 2.5lbs of Green Chilies

Total spent: €9.50 = $13.25

( When I buy at the Peer Market, veggies end up costing me about €10 for 3 Broccoli and 2 Eggplants )

I think I made out REALLY well! You're probably thinking "WTF! Why so many Brussels Sprouts?!" or the same deal with the tomatoes...or chili's. Well, I'm planning on making a lot of salsa with the tomatoes and chili's (don't laugh) and freeze some in containers. We go through a bunch of that stuff to use as "seasoning" for our breakfasts, and to spice up our potatoes. Plus, I'll be grilling chicken this weekend and I'm planning on grilling some of the extra chili's and some of the garlic to make a "rustic" type of salsa. The garlic keeps for SO long (thanks to my German garlic jar), I'm not worried about 'em. Besides, I got the bag of garlic for just €1. I'll be cooking and freezes the Brussels Sprouts so we can use 'em as we need to.  :)

Overall, I'm DEFINITELY going to make it a habit to hit that market up for my goodies! It happens on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month...so, with the weeks it's not set up and running, I'll hit up my local market for the minimum things I need to replenish.