“Ano’ng ulam?”

’s the food?” That is the question perennially asked when our daughters were very young, as they came home from school. They have grown and are mothers now with children. They still ask the same question but today they are joined in this query by their own young ones. An apo smells the food on the table, then takes her place – if she likes it. Then family bonding starts with delicious food and pleasant conversation.

This is a scene played out in dining areas where the house chef, the nanay (mother), does the cooking. Mealtime is always family time, always a cherished moment to enjoy the flavors of food we all grew up with.

Times have changed. Because of today’s harried and hurried lifestyle, home cooking is on the decline. Also, sharing family meals together hardly exists anymore. This is sad. Taking cognizance of the fast disappearing tradition of home cooking, Knorr has launched its “Langhap Sarap, Lutong Nanay” campaign. The company would not allow us to forget our traditional tinola or adobo, considered as our national dish, cooked by our nanays.

Realizing how busy mothers are today, especially those who combine professional work with mothering, Knorr offers food solutions in the form of mixes which take away the tedious chore of preparing a dish from scratch. They come in individual packs which are good for one cooking. They capture the natural flavor of each dish. We are happy to note that the collection includes mixes for kare-kare, adobo, afritada, among others. Knorr also offers broth cubes, practical enhancers like chicken, beef and shrimp. They are all a big help in nanay’s kitchen.

Now, for those wanting to go to Divisoria, here is an account of the day we spent there.

We started early, at 6:30 a.m. For the almost three-hour drive from our base to Divisoria, the ride was pleasant with congenial company in a van and interesting conversation kept us from getting bothered by the traffic jam along EDSA.

We had one mission in going to Divi that Monday morning – to make some children happy this Christmastime – kids who belong to our village staff and the alagas (wards) of Fr. Nanding who officiates at our regular mass on Sundays.

Because we started early, we found a parking space quickly. Off we went up the elevator to the food court because some of the ladies with us had not had breakfast before setting off. There were many food stalls, but we settled for Pancake House. The coffee was hot enough and the pancakes satisfied some grumbling stomachs.

Then off we went shopping! We needed backpacks and T-shirts. The former was easy, no sizes to reckon with. But when buying in bulk, one must check all of them as zippers may not be working and the insides could be torn. The Ts were a bit more difficult. In Divi, they do wholesale, and most stores require buyers to purchase by the dozens, the same size, the same style, the same color. Problem indeed. But two shoppers can share the dozen. Fair enough. So we got by okay.

We particularly wanted to buy bottles for our dips. We got them at P5 per. Great, we felt good about this. Fruits abound, we filled our basket with very sweet grapes at P170 a kilo, green mangoes for P40 each, ripe mangoes for P80. kilo. Christmas wrapping papers sell at P30 for 10 pieces, and 100 gifts tags at P12. We looked around for a few of our personal gift items.

Here is a tip – don’t stay in Divi past 4 p.m. or suffer horrendous traffic.

How are you doing with your Christmas preparations? Good, we hope.

E-mail me at [email protected].