Christmas presents

In less than three weeks, it will be Christmas Day. Are you prepared? Food is the most practical present for the holidays because the whole family can enjoy it. Giving a collective token will relieve you from the burden of expense.

Here are some suggestions, but you must act fast or they might not be able to fill your orders. The Greenjoy Food Mart on Wilson Street in Greenhills (725-2517) has a Chinese-style roast chicken with a flavorful machang-type stuffing. A piece which weighs 1.3 kilos, is sold at P550. A lady called Amity (0917-468-8217) offers more Chinese delicacies from dimsum to stuffed shrimps and sauces.

A Christmas table will not be complete without a special festive ham. Josefina’s hams (740-2024/743-4238) come in different variants. The Chinese leg is sold at P550 a kilo. The Chinese-style at P380 a kilo, American at P270 and chicken ham for P270. Josefina’s is based at 87 Kanloan cor. Maria Clara, Quezon City.

For sweets, we know two ladies whose products are melt-in-the-mouth specialties. Marlene Sogono (850-7609) makes the best brownies in this part of Metro Manila. Her brand is Soft and Chewy, and they are indeed! Choose from plain brownies, P165 for a box of 20 pieces and P225 for 28, with walnuts at P280 for 28 pieces, and food for the gods, P240 for a box of 20. Evelyn Umali’s (842-9402) sans rival indeed has no rival, as well as the frozen brazo de mercedes, from P900 for the plain and P700 for the brazo and rum cake.

We revisited Unimart supermarket in Greenhills a few days ago and found the place crowded, with some of its merchandize in seeming disarray. That mid-morning, the meat section was still unprepared to accommodate customers. We wanted to buy pork kasim with skin on, but were told the butcher had not come out with it yet. That would have cost us P160 a kilo. Already in the coolers were Australian minute steak at P250 a kilo, ox tail for P437, beef sirloin at P405. The seafood did not look very attractive either – pampano was tagged at P290. Mangoes were at P120 a kilo. We also noted that Deli mustard and classic Dijon went for P107.50 each.

Should you need El Rey chorizo, you may not easily find it in its usual shelf. One supermarket supervisor explains they are kept away from the easy reach of some naughty customers who pocket them. Wow! Really, how resourceful can these petty thieves be? We also found out that some change the price tags, from the expensive to the least pricey. When will some of our countrymen abandon the idea of “naka-isa”?

We have recently devised a less expensive way of cooking lengua. We used to follow the tried and tested recipe of culinary doyen Nora Daza. We still refer to her original cookbook, tattered and dog-eared, which we’ve had for more than 20 years. For an ordinary Sunday meal, we thought of using beef kalitiran instead of dila. We bought a slab of meat, and did as we would with the ox tongue. Voila! It came out very well. Be sure to fully tenderize the beef to produce that near-tongue texture.

Many bazaars are open for the holidays, with most of them selling clothes and accessories, shoes, shirts and shorts. One of them is in Ayala Alabang Village, which is open every weekend. Walking through the market, we were inundated with shirts and blouses, small and big bags, etc. Fortunately, sandwiched between the garments were a few enterprising women who have come out with some good food items. One of them is the lady manning the Sugar-free Guilty Pleasures table from whom we got an apple pie at P100 a tub and cheese cake, same price and size. Catch her at Alabang and at the Legaspi Sunday Market, or Mandarin Suites Bazaar on Dec. 7.

Off in the eating area of the bazaar are Tita Memen’s bibingka and puto bumbong (P80 and P50) and Tita Jane’s barbecue from BF Dampa at P30 for the pork and P40 for chicken. She also had dinuguan and ginataang langka. Cocina Mediterranea offers more up-scale fare – lengua with rice at P175 for 250 gms, chicken aljillo, lasagna, also at P175 a serving.

Go and visit a bazaar, it is always fun to move around, haggle, shop and eat.

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