I wanted an orange belt today. Not just your traffic-light orange; I wanted an exact shade of metallic burnt orange. So on my lunch break I set off for St. Francis Square to find one.
I came back with two mini-shorts, two blouses and a mermaid ref magnet, but I did not find any orange belts. Then, with 10 minutes to spare on my lunch hour, I went to the cafeteria to find food.
For some reason I've had this craving for salad these past two weeks. The salad counter in the cafeteria is nice: you have a selection of ingredients, you toss it all in a bowl, you add some dressing (olive oil, vinaigrette, thousand island, and a couple more I cannot pronounce), then the food attendant weighs it in a scale and prints the price of the salad. I have learned that a P60-peso bowl is enough to keep me full until 5pm.
My usual salad is this: some lettuce leaves, crisp and fresh; two spoonfuls of cheese cubes; some cucumber cubes; 3 or 4 pieces of whole olives (I've taken a liking to these little devils); shredded carrots; some pineapple chunks (fresh, not canned); steamed broccoli; some macaroni; lots of crushed bacon; and just a little thousand island dressing. There are weirder things in the counter: spinach and red beets and onions. Perhaps in a year I'll try them.
I also like Vietnamese food in the cafeteria. On Thursdays I eat cha gio, which is fried spring rolls, fresh noodles, crushed peanuts, and fresh beansprouts in a special sweet-sour broth. Sometimes I get pad thai noodles, when it's Thai food day. And everyday there's Japanese food: California maki is always nice; I pair it with a coffee bun that tastes just like Roti Mum's, only cheaper.
There's also the Meal-of-the-Day, which is usually Filipino fare. They serve ginataang tilapia, chicken afritada, boiled okra with bagoong, dinuguan... and it comes with rice, soup, a side serving of vegs, and dessert.
Then desserts galore! Leche flan, fresh fruits, buco pandan, and cake slices. I love blueberry cheesecake.
There's also a lot of drinks to choose from, but in my 2 years here I have taken softdrinks only a couple of times. They have fresh fruit shakes, see.
After lunch? Coffee. We have Figaro, Starbucks, and San Francisco Coffee concessionaires. Or brewed coffee for 10 pesos, and there's fresh milk if you like.
I have eaten P350-peso lunches at Italianni's and P170-peso-per-slice pizza at Sbarro, and I love good food. I ate at Megamall the whole time I was pregnant; I made the rounds of Italian restaurants there. But really, I don't have to leave the office at all to eat well. Often my lunch here does not exceed a hundred pesos (well, if I get blueberry cheesecake that's a different story).
Salad for lunch. My daughter would look at me like I'm eating soil. And I actually like it.
I came back with two mini-shorts, two blouses and a mermaid ref magnet, but I did not find any orange belts. Then, with 10 minutes to spare on my lunch hour, I went to the cafeteria to find food.
For some reason I've had this craving for salad these past two weeks. The salad counter in the cafeteria is nice: you have a selection of ingredients, you toss it all in a bowl, you add some dressing (olive oil, vinaigrette, thousand island, and a couple more I cannot pronounce), then the food attendant weighs it in a scale and prints the price of the salad. I have learned that a P60-peso bowl is enough to keep me full until 5pm.
My usual salad is this: some lettuce leaves, crisp and fresh; two spoonfuls of cheese cubes; some cucumber cubes; 3 or 4 pieces of whole olives (I've taken a liking to these little devils); shredded carrots; some pineapple chunks (fresh, not canned); steamed broccoli; some macaroni; lots of crushed bacon; and just a little thousand island dressing. There are weirder things in the counter: spinach and red beets and onions. Perhaps in a year I'll try them.
I also like Vietnamese food in the cafeteria. On Thursdays I eat cha gio, which is fried spring rolls, fresh noodles, crushed peanuts, and fresh beansprouts in a special sweet-sour broth. Sometimes I get pad thai noodles, when it's Thai food day. And everyday there's Japanese food: California maki is always nice; I pair it with a coffee bun that tastes just like Roti Mum's, only cheaper.
There's also the Meal-of-the-Day, which is usually Filipino fare. They serve ginataang tilapia, chicken afritada, boiled okra with bagoong, dinuguan... and it comes with rice, soup, a side serving of vegs, and dessert.
Then desserts galore! Leche flan, fresh fruits, buco pandan, and cake slices. I love blueberry cheesecake.
There's also a lot of drinks to choose from, but in my 2 years here I have taken softdrinks only a couple of times. They have fresh fruit shakes, see.
After lunch? Coffee. We have Figaro, Starbucks, and San Francisco Coffee concessionaires. Or brewed coffee for 10 pesos, and there's fresh milk if you like.
I have eaten P350-peso lunches at Italianni's and P170-peso-per-slice pizza at Sbarro, and I love good food. I ate at Megamall the whole time I was pregnant; I made the rounds of Italian restaurants there. But really, I don't have to leave the office at all to eat well. Often my lunch here does not exceed a hundred pesos (well, if I get blueberry cheesecake that's a different story).
Salad for lunch. My daughter would look at me like I'm eating soil. And I actually like it.
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