Let’s Not Contest The Price

There is no point arguing about the price of prime commodities, like that of the much-talked about galunggong. We all know that cost varies in different places. It might be that this lowly fish is sold at P60 in some markets and at P80 in others, while it goes for P100 where we live. The thing to ponder is whether a single income household can survive with a daily income of P300, covering food, clothing, medicine and education. Very difficult.

Take note of the typhoon after shocks, in terms of continuously escalating prices of vegetables. A sister was horrified when she had to pay P45 for two carrots. My wallet went in shock when I had to reckon with P128 a kilo eggplants. And broccoli at P417! Onions continue to cost P30 a kilo and tomatoes are at an all-time high of P40 . On the average cabbage is sold at P60, chicharo at P180, Baguio beans at P70 and leeks and celery at P114.50. With those kinds of prices, who can live on P300 a day?

Prawns will now only be a dream, because in our last survey, tiger prawns go from P550 to P600 a kilo. Our new BF suki Edgar introduced us to a new kind of fish, the mamati bikaw which looks like seabass. It is perfect for making sinigang. From Yolly we found the big kandule (P160 a kilo) and immediately we made the dinalawan dish which went over very well with our recent lunch guests. We did not make it to the tuna sale at South Supermarket but we visited Santis where imported ox tongue was priced at P304 a kilo. Like everywhere else, the store is without the fresh vegetables that normally comes from Baguio, surely due to the rains.

If you are hankering for paella but do not want to spend much, try the ready-to—cook package that Price Smart sells. A product of Spain under the Vigo label, this Valenciana specialty comes with saffron-flavored rice and a can of seasoned bits of seafood including squid, mussels, cockles (small European clams), peas, carrots, French beans and pimiento. The manufacturer calls this Yellow Rice and Seafood Dinner and indeed it is a complete meal for six, but since we are rice eaters, four can get their fill from one box.

We made the long trip to Shaw Boulevard one day and looked into the Pure Gold store. We noticed that the inexpensive, ready-to-cook, add-water- noodles are being grabbed up by the shoppers. Our youngsters’ favorite is Nissin’s Yakisoba line which comes in either beef or chicken flavor. It is priced at less than P13 per and satiates hunger pangs rather substantially.

Carrots at Pure Gold was at P99 a kilo!!! They sell cooking bananas (saba) at P20 a kilo and sinta papaya at P27. We noted the bottled tangerines (Nice Foods) at P15.50 which is good breakfast fare if one is on a fruit diet. Mrs. Garcia’s meat is a few pesos cheaper than its neighbor Monterey. Ground sirloin is at P145 a kilo while the steak goes for P202. CDO is a brand that grew on most of us. Initially they offered processed meat and in the years that they have been in the business, the company developed new products, the latest being canned spaghetti sauce with hotdog rings, tagged at P35.75 each.

A good friend chose to have lunch one day at Minggoy’s in Greenbelt 2 and yes, they’ve got the coffee (!!!), a super blend which was the perfect ending to a meal of well-seasoned salpicao and the traditional Paella Valenciana. This beef dish is one thing we could never succeed in cooking. We have yet to discover the secret of making it really succulent without it swimming in oil.

A very thoughtful nephew who is based in Tokyo gave us two books on Japanese cooking–" A Dictionary of Japanese Food", a 1997 nominee for the Glenfiddich Food Book of the Year Award and "Japanese Cuisine for Everyone". The former is a very informative guide to Japanese ingredients, dishes and even culture. We found out that the bonito fish we wrote about sometime ago is of Japanese origin. There are a lot of terms and techniques we need to learn and soon, we might be able to do a good sukiyaki. Meantime, let’s not bother about the galunggong and settle for the equally delicious tilapia which sells for as low as P50 a kilo at Commonwealth market.

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