The road to Manaoag

It is a drive that could take from five to six hours, starting from Quezon City. After the Balintawak interchange, traffic flow could be very slow, specially in the San Simon area where road repair (or widening) has been going on for weeks. Motorists’ usual stop would be the Shell station, where the Select store used to be the only food and beverage outlet and comfort stop. As we went through it that Saturday morning, we noticed that the food choice has expanded. You can now sit comfortably in Hen Lin restaurant, enjoy your Pizza Hut favorite, go Filipino with Lutong Bahay or sip your Starbucks coffee. To us, however, the best buy is still the yummy Malolos ensaymada from Select.

As one enters Pangasinan, street peddlers offer tupig (their version of suman, made of malagkit or glutinous rice and young coconut), bagoong and garlic. Outside the church after Mass, devotees need not go to town, for right on Limsamangan Street where the Shrine of the Lady of Manaoag is located are stalls selling typical Pangasinan delicacies, even baskets and mats. Tupig costs P25 each, fish bagoong is tagged at P20 a bottle, mangoes (among the sweetest in the country) sell for P25 a kilo, as do sinuguelas. Baskets and other décor items are made of split bamboo and rope and are priced, depending on size and design, between P80 and P120 each.

Needless to say, on the way back via Tarlac, we dropped by the Cloyless bibingka store along the highway and got a few of their delicious casava original. You can get either half a box for P65 or the whole for P130. This is so popular the gentleman behind the counter told us he sells at least a hundred of them daily. For those who want to start a small business in one’s home, here’s a tip: quality, price and location can make or break a product.

A search for new tiangges on a Saturday morning led us to Le Pavillon at the corner of EDSA Extension and Roxas Boulevard, where the Walkway Outreach Foundation, Inc. was holding their two-day Bazaar for Street Children and we were happy we decided to look in.

We discovered some interesting people and food stuff which we want to share with our readers. There is this gracious Danish lady who owns and manages Samson & Mom, Inc. Among her products are recycled tetrapaks fashioned into lovely bags (in two sizes, from P50 per). These were her export over-runs and she volunteered the information that these bags are big in Europe and the exports make for good livelihood for a group of marginalized people. She also owns the Pernille (that’s her name) Country Kitchen based in Tambo, Parañaque where she does traditional Danish deli items such as mango chutney at P100 a bottle, liver paté at P250, rye bread at P160, pickled sweet beets and pickled relish.

At another end of the Pavillon, we found Lola P’s deli, whose daughter Norma has continued the enterprise started by her mother. She sells the famous Chokolate Eh of Café Adriatico at P150 a box of 8, halayang ube at P130 and sinful but delectable Mango Float for P250. From Jammie’s we noted their Mini Me’s which are bite-size ensaymadas packed 15 to a box for P100 to P130 depending on whether you want cheddar, quezo de bola or ube. From the Specialty Food Shoppe came a promise of cashew longaniza, mixing cashew apple with pork. Sounds intriguing.

A reader, Lulu Geslani, complained about her bag being stolen at Burger King in Las Piñas, near the municipal hall and Perpetual University where she teaches. It happened so quickly but apparently management led by manager Eric Garcia was too slow and even nonchalant about such things happening there rather often. In the first place he was not at his post when the incident took place and when contacted, he told the lady they had no control over such thievery occurring in their premises. Probably he has no business working there either.

Did the ERB approve the increase of P8-plus for consumers of more than 300 kilowatts to subsidize the refund they are supposed to give to those who use from 0 to 100 kws? Very unfair! Ginigisa tayo sa sarili nating mantika!

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