Music and Mache

We did not realize we were in the company of aspiring singers until we reached the house of our host in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, where we were excited about once again partaking of our favorite kakanin, mache, a unique specialty found only in Biñan and Sta. Rosa. That was during the recently held "Baraka (a term that means market) 2002" commemorating the town fiesta, highlighted by a Food Fair on the church (Sta. Rosa de Lima) grounds. Not until mid-afternoon would the vendors be there, so we had time for a lunch of Laguna specialties, including the kilawin with rabanos and pork blood, sinaing ng dulong, pesang dalag with tajure and fish bagoong on the side, and the traditional menudo of cubed pork and liver. It was then that our friends went through their repertoire of songs by old favorites like Nat King Cole, Karen Carpenter, Joni James and the Beatles, to current craze Jolina. Indeed, every Filipino (except us) can carry a tune, and we actually enjoyed the musical interlude.

But we had to have that mache, so off we hurried to the fair and yes! We found Aling Eber’s stall where we practically bought her full supply of the delicacy. It is a lovely concoction of ground peanuts with anise seed wrapped in cotton-soft flour. It sells for P2.50 each. On ordinary days, it can be found in the market. Laguna’s lumpiang sariwa is best from these two neighboring towns and at the fair, Aling Hermie sold it for P20 a serving. She topped each with thinly sliced lettuce. Muron to the Sta. Rosa folk is suman and Tio Panding had a trio of offerings–chocolate muron at P5 each, ube at the same price and the special pintos (made of corn, eggyolk and milk) at P10 per. Of course there was the ‘dirty’ ice cream (the lady who sells it would rather refer to it as ‘home-made’), something we Laguenenses grew up with. Creamy delicious cheese!

The Tesda weekend market has grown. While food stuff are the main objective of those who go there, there are lots of other things to entice the buyer, such as the composting drum which costs P7,000, lots of ladies accessories from fake pashminas to hand bags such as those made of coconut husk (bunot).

The mangoes from Meny were very sweet at P50 a kilo, but the water melon was a disappointment. She also sells the so-called "Formosa" pineapple at P35 each. Across Ofie carries fresh vegetables like broccoli (P150 a kilo), asparagus and baby carrots at P25 a kilo. But we missed their fresh herbs. We found Riza’s stall which sells a selection of crispies, ideal as appetizers – crablets at P60 for 100 gms, deep-fried small shrimps and fried lumpia. Outside of the Tesda market, she can be found at Sidcor in Quezon City and at the Makati municipal hall every Thursday and Friday.

In the fish section we discovered talimusak, two inch-long fish at P180 a kilo which we made into tempura. From Yvan’s frozen seafood store we got Chilean seabass at P280 a kilo, Norwegian capelin (something new to us, but we were told it is good when deep fried) for P80 a pack and halibut at P430.

The cooked food line at Tesda is rather extensive now. Aling Tuding with her banana leaf-wrapped embutido is still there, selling at three for P100. Kandule in coconut milk is tagged at the same price and the Bicol specialty, kinunot, costs P40 for about 150 gms. Sweets and kakanin are what the chatty Tom offers, among which are leche flan at P55 each, ube jam at P60 and banana loaf which he guarantees to be good at P40 per. Do not miss the Bulacan delicacies at our friend Purita’s store – pastillas, chicharon and kesong puti.

Chinatown was our last stop for this past week’s round. Lunch was at Quick Snack on Carvajal Street and we had very filling chami noodles with sate beef and oysters, Chinese lumpia, machang and tofu with sauce. Price range in this very popular place is from P50 to P110 a serving.

Our friend brought us to the Hong Bio store which carried a wide range of teas. One friend bought the Tea Kho Qua from gobyah leaves. To us, this is plain ampalaya tea, supposed to be good for our system. A bag of 10 sachets is priced at P50. Our best buy that day was sautéing shrimps (medium size) at P140 a kilo, half the price in other markets.

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Lydia D. Castillo’s e-mail address: [email protected]