Little Saigon Market - Footscray

Recently I've been doing a bit more food shopping in Footscray, in particular at Little Saigon Market. This market is smaller than the regular Footscray Market that's across from the train station, but no less intimidating. When you enter Little Saigon, you are magically transported to Vietnam. Everywhere you look, there's fruits and vegetables and herbs that you have never seen before. Hawkers are screaming repetitive calls in Vietnamese and persistently offering samples of their mangoes and avocados and peaches for you to try. The aisles of the shops are beyond narrow, yet 3 people are trying to get by you as you smash up against the products you haven't seen since your last trip to Asia. People shove you around and step in front of you on line, and you need to fight to keep your place. There's 20 brands of tofu in every shop, in styles you've never even heard of. And the prices make it allllll worth it. I once bought an avocado there for 25c, and it was one of the best tasting avocados I had ever eaten!! On my last trip to Little Saigon, I bought several avocados at $4.99/kg. Now when I see signs advertising $2.99 for ONE avocado, or salad mix for $17.99 in Coles, (usually around $6.99 at Saigon) I just laugh smugly and pity the fools who pay those prices.
I'm also really excited about trying all these different things that are completely foreign to me, once I figure out what they are and how to use them! Can anyone identify these two to start with?

Mmm Vegan Cupcakes

Ok so I've already run into a bit of writer's block when thinking of what to post. So I figured I would start off with maybe some photos of cupcakes (who doesn't like them?) that I was selling at a market at the Edinburgh Castle in Brunswick a few weeks ago. They are all vegan, and all awesome!


From the back there is:
Iced Tea Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese frosting, garnished with mint and a straw, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with a Cinnamon Glaze,
Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Frosting and an Oreo on top,
and
Vanilla Cupcakes stuffed with Cherry Jam, topped with Coconut Almond Icing, Chocolate Shavings, and more Cherry Jam!

The sun was really strong all day (which made my amateur picture taking difficult!) so I could only keep out this many at a time while I hid the rest in an aluminium tray under the table in the shade! Its hard to say how many I sold because we traded a few with other vendors and ate some ourselves as well :) Overall it was a really fun day just hanging out, drinking, and looking at other people's wares.