Our latest discovery

We were too early for dinner. Post-holiday traffic from our base in the south to far-away Quezon City was not bad. So we decided to spend the spare hour browsing around a bustling community center, off the two schools in Diliman. This proved to be our latest discovery.

The late December evening was dark and circling around looking for a parking space took a bit of time. We walked up the steps to a department store then moved on farther into the huge complex which is the UP Commercial Center, a new business and entertainment place we had read about previously. There was still a big crowd of shoppers, while the dining places were serving early evening diners.

The supermarket is called Mercado (for market) but by almost 6 p.m., they were ready to close shop (it being a holiday). We noted the Monterey meat section with a promotional counter for their roast. The sales attendant behind the counter said all their stock was gone, so he was simply cleaning up.

The place has a lot of restaurants, most of which are spin-offs of the big chains either in Makati or Alabang. On the whole, this center must be a much welcome addition to the community living there. It affords them the “luxury” of not having to brave the daily traffic congestion that happens on their busy roads.

The past holidays also made us discover new food products, some of which are made by enterprising homemakers. There is Liz Franco who operates from her house in Sta. Rosa. She labels her baked products “Good Eats from My Kitchen.” She makes banana, lemon and vegan cupcakes – prices range from P350 to P950. Contact Liz at cell phone  0917-8129283.

There is Whisk, offering their salad dressing, sauces and dips. They say all products are home-made, among these are the bottled spiced mango jam and roasted garlic and rosemary jam.

And there is the pasalubong store called Rowena’s Tarts, which was started by an enterprising lady with a small store along the highway going to Tagaytay. The place has long since expanded in its location, plus a new branch can be found in the new development in Sta. Rosa called Solenad. This place is a huge multi-building complex connected by walkways. Among the structures are movie houses and the Ayala Malls, where Rowena’s is located. No need to go to Tagaytay, here is a wide range of Filipino and other Asian specialties. Among those we got recently for a balikbayan family were the toasted pastillas, ube flavored espasol and packed sweet tamarind.

A note to foodies – tonight at 10 p.m. on TV’s Food Network will air the second in a series of Food Wars, and this episode will feature the age-old Filipino dish kare-kare, executed by Serye, a spin-off restaurant in the Savanah complex in Parañaque. Those wanting to cook this in their homes will certainly get good tips from the group.

Be enterprising. Maybe you, too, can be a successful entrepreneur. Have a happy Sunday with family.

E-mail me at [email protected].