A Daunting Task

On our way to Marikina market, we could not help thinking that former Mayor and now head of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Bayani Fernando has indeed a very massive and daunting task. Along Andrews Road, leading to Nichols, fronting what would be the new Terminal 3, diggings are going on to prepare a wider access road to the airport. And what have the residents done? They have converted the holes into garbage dumps!

Entering Marikina, moving on the Kalayaan extension highway through to Serrano Road, we started looking for whatever litter we could pin on Fernando. Nothing! This only meant one thing: that officials, even with strong political will to do their jobs, still need the cooperation of the residents, and Fernando has apparently encouraged (inspired?) the people of Marikina to be responsible citizens. Will he succeed in the entire Metro Manila area? It is a tall order and he will succeed faster if the mayors of the municipalities and all of us will join unselfishly in cleaning up our city.

The Marikina public market is neat even if there are some wet places, where the fresh catch are. The vendors are happy, evidenced by the charm and graciousness with which they conduct their business. The lady selling tinapang galunggong (P10 each) even voluntarily gave us two pieces of tinapang salinas as tawad. We found the nearly extinct biya in a size that was perfect for crispy frying at P70 for two. The kandule was fresh and made perfect daing at P60 a kilo. The gentleman who sold us the lovely lapu-lapu took off P10 from the original price of P140 a kilo. We got bangus (although not very ma-tiyan) at P90 a kilo while a sister was delighted to find taguntong shrimps (the little ones which are cooked with thick coconut milk and a couple of jalapeño chillis) at P40 for half a kilo. The marlin looked radiantly pink at P180 a kilo. We got so carried away that we also bought four pieces of maya-maya fillet at P80 and dapa at P120 a kilo. These prices are truly much lower than in our own BF market. However, fresh (still jumping) junior size shrimps were expensive at P330 a kilo.

Pork goes for P100 in this market while sirloin is priced at P170 a kilo. We also encountered what they call tigas chicken–semi-native (mestizo?), a cross breed, which is good for dishes that call for long period of simmering like nilaga and tinola. They are big, probably more than l.5 kilos each.

The gracious folk of Marikina market includes this gentleman whose Batangas accent betrays his origin, who has a fruit stall at the entrance. We put in our basket a kilo of Lucena mangoes at P50 a kilo (he has the second class ones from P35 to P50 a kilo), chicos (pineras) at P50 a kilo and bananas at P25.

To experience a clean market and also lower prices, we might go to Marikina more often.

Recently we discovered the fish called bonito. It must belong to the monkfish family as it has a round body and silvery skin (no scales). Our BF suki Vilma convinced us to try this and we are pleased with it. Bonito is flavorful, is not malansa and is best grilled. We seasoned it with salt and pepper then bathed it with a combination of olive oil, sweet soy sauce, crushed ginger and ground pepper shortly before serving. Super!

Look up the new product line of Swift Foods, Inc.–Swift Lean, which is a line of skinless, boneless chicken, ideal for people who are watching their fat intake. It has less fat (95% to 98% fat-free), is low in sodium and cholesterol and comes either as fillets or cutlets, in packages of 300 and 500 grams. Try and look for a Healthy Food cookbook and surely you’ll get a lot of recipes you can cook with this chicken.

We had a glorious day in Kawayan Cove, Nasugbu where our perfect hostess pampered us with the freshest of seafood (including two-feet long tanguingue) barbecued and grilled to perfection with a special sauce, a beautifully decorated eggplant salad, super laing, among others. The cove is a slice of paradise, a piece of heaven.

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