Liwayway the oil

In years past Liwayway was gawgaw or starch which our mothers used for thickening sauces and our lavanderas applied to cotton clothes so they stayed stiff and did not crumple easily. Liwayway was likewise a magazine (we forget if it was a weekly or a monthly) which had original novelas. We are not aware if the magazine is still publishing, but we know that the gawgaw is still being sold. Now comes Liwayway Cooking Oil, produced by the same company, now called Liwayway Marketing Corporation.

The oil comes in two sizes, small packs of 100 ml and 230 ml, retailing from a little more than P7 each. We suggest getting about five packs at a time and transferring the contents into a bottle for easy usage. It is good to know that it contains coconut and soya oils, both of which are health-friendly. It is cholesterol-free, fortified with Vitamin A and does not contain trans fatty acids. We tried using the same batch three times frying fish. Happily the oil did not overwhelm the flavor of the fish and it did not go rancid after use. To our mind, this could be a good substitute for corn and canola oils.

While it has not yet "invaded" the big supermarkets, Liwayway Oil is available in smaller stores in Metro Manila and neighboring towns.Pac-A-Cham Marketing Corporation (tel. no. 837-7339) distributes it. The kids might be happy to know that this same company exclusively distributes the Tsoko Natty Peanut Milk Chocolate Coins.

Our friends at a supermarket in Alabang passed on to us a special Recipe Edition of Cook culinary lifestyle magazine. This one exclusively featured the "Cockney" Chef Mervyn, so called because while he hails from Italy he found his calling and made a niche in the food industry in London, England. Twenty years ago, he came and settled here, raising a family. We remember his restaurant called Piccolo Mondo at BF Parañaque. When it closed we missed it because we enjoyed dining there for his pasta dishes. Happily we found him again in Alabang, near the hamburger chain that faces Zapote Road. The restaurant is now called Picolla Italia. What is interesting about Chef Mervyn is that he has innovated on some of our traditional dishes, like the Veddy British Beef Calderetta which he does with red wine, and his adobo also cooked with red wine and the addition of tarragon, parsley and potatoes.

Unimart is where we always find good buys...such as the collection of imported and local cookies and chockies. We got Jacobsens (Australia) non-cholesterol chocolate orange sticks. Look up their frozen collection as well. They have this line of tuna burgers and tocino at P56.50 for a pack of 200 gms and the bangus daing from Superb Catch Inc. at P115 for three pieces. If you fancy dumplings, try the Meat and Chives. All you need to do is steam them.

We were curious about the numerous stories we read in the papers about the new 168 Mall in Divisoria, so we called a sister and a few friends and encouraged them to make the trip. The traffic was bad where we were coming from (Greenhills) and we reached Divi shortly before 12 noon. Everyone was already hungry and were not in the mood to shop. There are no eating places at the 168. We were directed to Sta Elena Mall 1 where on the third floor is the Food Court which turned out to a brightly-lit, pleasant, clean well serviced area. The group had a grand time, savoring the lunch fare we chose from a string of stalls, particularly Chopsticks where we bought lomi, delicious and ample for 4, at P80 and the kiampong from Tai Kai Kilat Eatery for P20. This is a unique fried rice with mushrooms and peanuts. There are lots more–lumpia, ampalaya–at prices one can easily affford. It is worth the trip.

Traffic is a mess everywhere, but when school authorities and parents of students conspire to allow triple parking on a whole block of streets, pandemonuim results. Such is the situation along the roads surrounding Xavier and Immaculate Concepcion (ICA) schools in Greenhills during dismissal hours. We could hardly make our way to where we were going that day. Irritated, we asked a security guard managing the flow of cars on a single lane on a two-way street, if indeed the roads have been bought by those concerned so they could appropriate them for their use. He could not answer our query but volunteered that indeed they close the area during dismissal time. Isn’t this anarchy, in another form?

Have a stress-less Sunday.

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