Gear up for the holidays

Whether you are cooking your Christmas food and sweets, ordering your holiday fare from professionals or eating out with your brood in some fancy place, it is not too early to gear up and prepare for the holidays. If cooking will be done at home, draw up a list now, to be followed by sourcing for ingredients. You can buy some of the food items well in advance, at least those that keep, anyway.

We recently re-visited Terry Selection on Pasong Tamo Ext. and got some of our supplies. We could not resist getting a bottle (the big one) of Cuevas Marron Glace, those precious chestnuts produced in Spain, coated in sugar and flavored with vanilla that are so delicious. They make good gifts as well–from P880 to P1,300. Then we went through other items and filled our basket with Liver Pate (Pate de Higado) for P295, exquisitely made without preservatives from the cattle in Iberico de Salamanca, from which the prized ham also is derived; Maestranza olives in cans (we chose those stuffed with anchovies at P80, good as pica-pica or to add flavor to a dish). Should your menu include Paella or Caldereta, you’ll need whole tomatoes–Picueza brand at P50 a can of 240 gms, drained weight–and whole red pimientos (same brand) P65 for a small tin of 125 gms.

Santi’s, either in Alabang or Makati (Yakal Street), is always a temptation for any gourmet food fancier. From meats to fresh herbs, one is assured of quality. This is where we found the pastry puffs made in Australia which makes our life easier when we do our pastel of either chicken or ox tongue. For our pesto sauce, we get pine nuts from this store. We never seem to have enough of olives, thus we always buy at least a bottle (350 gms) each of Green Valley’s Black Pitted Olives and Spanish Green (also pitted) Olives (P115 and P125 each). They have a selection of pasta and their greens are always…green! You need to catch the delivery of arugula, otherwise you’ll be too late. On our last visit, we splurged a little and purchased four pieces of veal steak. You would not want to know how much they cost!

If you want to relieve yourself of the tedious chores of slicing, mixing, crushing garlic, mincing onions etc., you may want to know that Petra’s Naturally (they specialize in organic meals) is now ready to cater, from small functions to big ones like weddings. Cater Club was also just launched and considering their track record (they managed Takayama, Bangus and Ima) you can’t go wrong choosing from their selection.

We’ve often been asked for restaurant rcommendations. To us the primary criteria will be (always) the food (taste) and service. Of the many we have been to recently, here are some of the stand-outs and a few disappointments. Bizu at Greenbelt 2 has an attractive selection of sweets, cookies and bread, among which diners can choose (to take home) while waiting for their meal. The mango topped one is too sweet. We are particularly fond of their open faced sandwiches, the best being the lamb and salmon. Service is very good with follow up. Una Mas Mingoy has a very welcoming staff and of course super Spanish dishes, and quick service as well. Restaurant 12 needs to train their staff some more about what goes into their offerings. When someone looked for arugula, the waiter did not seem to know what it was. Service is very slow; if we were not with pleasant company, we would have walked out. Slow as well is the service at Sentro and food has deteriorated a bit.

Store Super at Greenbelt still serves a very sumptuous hamburger sandwich. Service is efficient, but they need to update the magazines they offer to customers. Figaro, anywhere they are, has staff who are knowledgeable and gracious and their coffee is the best to cap any of their food platters. Cibo is a favorite for salads (wish we could approximate their dressing) and pasta dishes, with very pleasant staff. CPK at EDSA Shangri-la has never disappointed us, food and staff-wise. Italianni’s is always noisy inside, but service is friendly and food is okay. Happy eating!