The Treasures of Mayon

It is nearly Christmastime and if you are an early shopper, go and look at the many treasures of Mayon and Kanlaon Streets in Quezon City. You will find practically every home décor item you need for yourself and to give as presents. But what amazed us is how the market management has, through the years, maintained their wet section clean and dry. We give them a 9, on a scale of 10, for this sustained effort at attaining a sanitary place for shoppers.

In the early afternoon, most of the meat has been sold, but from the few still there, we got the following– boneless beef brisket at P140 a kilo, whole kenchi (meaning with bone) at P170 and buntot (for kare-kare) at P180. The fruits are fresh and prices are a bit less than what we pay in our area. Mangoes go for P70 a kilo, big atis at P90, lanzones at P70, honey dew at P80 and watermelon at P35 a kilo. Tomatoes are still on the high side at P40 a kilo.

Moving to Zong restaurant for lunch, we found out that this restaurant has ‘extended’ the August Moon festival which is normally celebrated by the Chinese between the last part of August and early Sept. In this place it goes on until November and therefore diners can buy the specially baked moon cakes, which are either of red or white lotus paste or black beans. The combination moon cake box of six costs P238 while the double egg yolk white lotus cakes cost P380 for a box of four.

The makers of Mama Sita sauces and food mixes recently concluded a unique cooking contest. This was the Search for a Cooking Family which was basically for owners of carinderias, because they believe that these small family tindahans, offering mostly to-go food, are the backbone of Philippine cuisine. The competition brought to the fore the united efforts of each and every member of the family in producing tasty meals for the ordinary Filipino. During the six months that it was held, members of the board of judges went on a tour of carinderias in Metro Manila, from Navotas to Quezon City. They found the ideal cooking family who operate Mercy’s Carinderia in Navotas which dates back to the mid-70s when the children of owners Ben and Mercy Larin were harnessed at a young age to help in each and every chore. The young Larins are now all professionals …. products of their parents’ entrepreneurial instincts which today are still serving them well. Kudos to Mama Sita for the encouraging project.

In their desire to improve the quality of street food, the Mama Sita people envision a bigger competition in the future that will bridge the gap between farm and table as well as encourage proper waste management. They believe that upgrading Philippine cuisine will mean bigger income for small farmers and waste segregation will save the country money spent on hauling garbage.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation will launch the "Shellane Lutong Bahay Originals" cooking competition on Saturday, 28th September in Pampanga. This will bring into focus the good food that lutong bahay has produced for years and years. This will therefore challenge the participants to produce the best, using natural ingredients highlighted by their own creativity.

Back to Christmas. It is better to plan early. If you can, buy the ingredients or other food stuff you will need during the holidays. Oils, seasonings, herbs and spices, even jamon de bola and queso de bola can be stored for the holidays. Prices are likely to increase as December nears, so make that list and buy an item each time you do your groceries. Likewise if you are an enterprising homemaker, you might want to earn some extra money and join the many women who work at home…producing pasta sauces, baking pastries and cakes, packaging food baskets which you can easily sell to friends, family and neighbors. Soon, if not now, Divisoria, will have all the Christmas décor items you need to spruce up your packages. This is actually the best place for good bargains on ribbons, baskets, etc. Visit it now.

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