It happened!

We saw it coming. In fact they jumped the gun on our power suppliers. LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) distributors have upped their prices. More than a month ago we paid P780 for an 11-kilo cylinder. Four days ago we were charged P900 for the same size. What’s next? We dread the thought of waking up one morning and finding more prime commodities have increased their prices. The word is save, wherever and however we can.

Food-wise, Biñan (Laguna) is a town famous for its puto, cochinta and a variety of kakanins. Now a sibling has come up with a sweet and creamy version of peanut butter which he adds to the roster of Biñan delicacies and which he calls peanut spread, with a secret ingredient that makes it more creamy. Produced under the label Private Kitchen, this is mostly sold on-line, through [email protected] or cell phone numbers 0919-538-0174 or 0923-136-0489.

The Mercury Drug’s 2014 calendar focuses on Filipino food, dishes that have been culled from various regions of the country. Some of the dishes are quite familiar, but there are those which we have not encountered, which we want to try someday. Each month of the year has a corresponding food. Pinakbet from Ilocos for January, bulalo from Batangas for February, for March kamaru or mole crickets from Pampanga, which might make some diners a bit wary about these insects cooked like adobo, but which a lot of exotic food fanciers are exited about.

Pinangat from Bicol, which is different from the Laguna recipe. This one is cooked in rich, chili-infused coconut milk providing a base for pork, shrimps and daing (dried fish). Unfamiliar but very much welcome in our kitchen are sinina from Maguindanao, a dish done during Thanksgiving festivities, made of goat meat or beef cooked with coconut milk and palapa (grated coconut spiked with chili); sinuglaw, from Northern Mindanao, so called because the term is a combination of sinugba and kinilaw, with vinegar and citric acid, much like adobo sa gata; the Ilonggos’ Spanish influence is carried out in the lengua con setas y olivas, an heirloom recipe. 

The calendar did not miss some all-time favorites like lechon which it credits to Cebu, curachas from Zamboanga, pancit cabagan from Isabela, which comes with a thick soy-based sauce and topped with lechon kawali and quail eggs. The term cabagan may not mean what is ordinarily its implication.

Sarah Louise Santos, a student of De La Salle University on Taft Avenue, has issued a call for interested concessionaires to paticipate in the forthcoming Gemini Night Market Experience to be held at the Mercato Market on March 28 to 30 from noon to midnight.

Sarah can be reached through nos. 0927-636355/546-4943 or sarah[email protected]; or contact Kaye Baguilod, 0917-5614985 or Patricia Barretto, 0922-8755912.

Have a happy Sunday!

E-mail me at [email protected].