The rains

Watching television news reports and reading about the waters that engulfed so many municipalities make us count our blessing as we wish that the victims of the recent floods find solace in the goodness of their countrymen’s heroic efforts to help them.

There is supposed to be a “watch” on how the toll tax would impact the cost of prime commodities. Presumably food markets are also being monitored for unreasonable price hikes. Yet, how can we discount the argument that higher tolls, difficulty of transporting goods, lower harvest due to ravaging storms, actually affect the day-to-day pricing of food items?

We looked at some stores and came up with the following average costs in supermarkets, hypermarts and groceries. Give or take P2 to P3 when doing your shopping in wet markets.

Meat and chicken showed a slight increase in cost per kilo. Lean ground pork – P224.95 a kilo; pork chops – P194; liempo – P197.95; spareribs – P214.95; kasim – P169; pork liver – p168.75; top round – P308.85; beef shank – P283; ground round beef – P229; chicken (Magnolia) regular – P124; jumbo, which has happily appeared in the markets weighing more than two kilos each, at P140 a kilo. Perfect for tinola and nilaga.

Seafood. In the South, our suki Venus revealed only one of the following marked a P5 a kilo increase. Bangus – P155; tilapia – P120; crabs (alimasag) – P330; galunggong – P180; talakitok – P290; pampano – P270, large prawns – P659, regular – P490. In the cooler, frozen salmon loin for sushi goes for P743 a pack.

Vegetables, which one does not really buy by the kilo but by packs of 250 to 500 gms, are priced at: ubod – P144; tomatoes – P61 (this is a big jump from P49); eggplants (finger-size) – P125; patane with blackish skin – P120; sigarillas – P168; chicharo – P390, kinchay – P188; asparagus – P345; and calamansi – P31.

Oil, seasonings and sauces. Baguio oil – P126.25 a bottle of 1.89 liters; Nutri Oil, 1.869 liters – P252.30; patis from P15 a small bottle to P37.25; vinegar – from P8.90 ; catsup, 300 gms – P33.50.

Canned goods, varying in size from very small to regular. Corned beef – P64.50; luncheon meat – P29.50; sardines from P11. Rice – sinandomeng or intan from P46 to P52.50 a kilo.

South Supermarket has some gourmet items which a few housewives might want to stock up on for the coming holiday season. Local turkey costs more than the imported at P360 a kilo. It comes in packs of 5 kilos. Norbest and Butterball, the more popular brands, at P275 and P210 a kilo, respectively. The Ernest Soulard foie gras de canard (duck liver paté) is priced at P2,012.45 a kilo, but the packs of about 250 gms go for P575 per. Duck breast and turkey legs are also available.

We now look forward to the day, which must come soon, that local cheese makers/distributors would fill up store galleys with their respective cheeses. Unless one is really very discriminating, they do give the imported products strong competition in taste and surely in cost.

Likewise the Chinese ham legs, Majestic ham has gone up to more than P1,000 a kilo. We need to check with the makers of equally perfect Josefina ham about their selection and pricing this year.         

Cantinetta is a restaurant nestled among the bushy gardens of an area in Rockwell, where many other eateries are located. The food is Italian, good, but the service needs a lot of attention from the owners, if they want repeat customers. We had been seated for more than half an hour and until we waved at the staff, we did not get any service. Rather rude was the waiter who pointed his finger at each of us, while repeating our orders.   

 Coffee month ends on the 30th, and if you are one who takes much of this beverage, maybe you can catch up with the related activities, one of them being a session on how to start up a coffee business.  

The star at the recent Ilongo “Diwal-icious” Food Festival at the Mandarin hotel’s Paseo was, of course the diwal, the rare shell shaped like angels’ wings. Guest chef Pauline Banusing did a marvellous menu but the grilled ‘angel wings’ were the fastest to go. The lobsters were huge and enticingly red with aligue. From Capiz, where most seafood in the markets comes from, the scallops were grilled to perfection. Manilans, presumably, wished the festival lasted much longer.

Brown rice advocate Carlo Calma Lorenzana, established with his family the Mindanao Agri-Network Corporation (Mancor) which produces and distributes this healthy type of rice under the label Sun Made Brown Rice. It is now available in various supermarkets and outlets in Metro Manila.  

Enjoy a family meal today.

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