Happy New Year!

In four days, it will be the New Year! The usual comment is “how time has flown by so quickly.” Indeed it has. We remember some family superstitions/traditions which marked our New Year’s days in past years. Shortly before going to the evening mass on New Year’s Eve, we would turn on all the lights in the house. We would open all doors (at that time this was safe) and windows, then put an empty bilao (native basket) by each door. All these were meant to welcome the coming year into our home. We can’t say these all went to naught – we had a lot to be thankful for.

Anyway, during this holiday season, we discovered new foodstuff which are sold in various malls, bazaars and tiangges. The sad thing is, the makers/sellers are mostly home-based and small, so they don’t have regular outlets nor have any business cards or flyers to give to the shoppers for future reference. One pointed to the label attached to the bottom of her product for their phone number. Some others are selling through the Internet. We wonder how they can be organized and have a better system to gain more market share for their products.

In the activity area of Commerce center in Filinvest City in Alabang, we chanced upon some lovely items made of nylon but which looked more like jusi, complete with embroidery. We got some to use instead of gift boxes/baskets for our homemade spreads. They are very dainty, truly lovely. They range in price from P30 to P50 each, depending on the size.

We have heard of Kagkag rice from the Visayas. But Kagkag longganisa? Two personable young ladies are behind the table selling this. It is a Bacolod sausage called Kagkag. This is because in Kagkag the meat mixture, which is normally in individual casings, is loose, or hubad (naked) as the Tagalogs would call it. Their company is called Crazee, presumably they expect the buyers to go crazy over their products.

We made the trip to the Cash and Carry Mall for one specific item – El Rey chorizo. These are sold at Trading Post, a store managed by husband and wife team Ana and Jose. They now come in plastic bags, no longer in cans, at P1,600. We brought a friend along with us who has also been looking for this, as she was planning to serve her family cocido. She ended up buying a few other things in the store.

We finally found an outlet of Pancit ng Taga Malabon at the Mall of Asia. This is one of our take home favorites. It is on the ground floor of the South Arcade Wing. The pancit is cooked as it is ordered. You need to wait for 20 minutes. We got the medium size bilao good for eight persons at P450.

On the promenade in the MOA we discovered new goodies – caramel candy, camote (sweet potato) bread, pineapple bites, polvoron cupcakes that are topped with Christmas decor, more cakes and cookies. Regrettably most of them don’t have business cards or flyers to give to customers who can be regular customers. They normally are home-based with no regular outlets.

How is your New Year’s Day going to be? May it be full optimism for the year 2015! Happy New Year to all!

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