A BGC Morning

Had something of a busy weekend. The whole afternoon of Saturday was spent in a "home-style cooking" class, and I had to wake up at 7 am Sunday to head over to S&R for their super sale. At 8 am, it was so packed with people that I was too exhausted to take a picture of anything.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="720"] S&R Supersale was madness[/caption]

We almost didn't get a parking slot and were about to leave, when we saw some people already finished shopping. Lucky us. Inside, the lines to the counters were already quite long. Most of the shoppers brought their yayas to line up for them.

My mom was stuck on one isle shopping for Buy-1-Take-1 Pasabache glass pitchers. She was excited by the deal, so she called her mom and sisters up and bought some stuff for them too. Right beside her, I was drawn to the circleware in front of me. Wine glasses that went on sale sold for an average of P50 per glass. Not a bad deal, so I got 2 sets (4 glasses per box) of Baltimore glasses that would be great for entertaining guests.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="343"] Meltique Beef was at P300 off.[/caption]

All sorts of soap was on sale (Safeguard, Irish Spring, Zip Cleanser, etc.). There were cheaper chicken, cheese, milk, and pasta. But the catch was still the immensely long line. I stood there for an hour watching the salesgirl doing the scanning at a relaxed pace. I was starving by the time it was done.

After loading the groceries in the car, we moved to nearby Mercato Centrale for some lunch. By then it was already 1 pm and I was more than ready to eat something good.

For the record, I'm not much of a "healthy living" type of person. But I'm not abusive of my body either. So I don't care much for organic markets, and I prefer going to Mercato on a Saturday night when most of the products are ready-to-eat foods. (But let me tell you that, if I had the luxury of switching all my food to organic grown options, I certainly would.)

Dad had some Angus Beef Tapa, which I have tried before. We both agreed that it was really good, but had a lot of fatty parts. Almost like beef yakiniku. Mommy had some roast beef with fresh tomato sauce pasta. I got some Manang's Chicken (my low-price favorite) in mildly spicy sauce for P144, and another P15 for rice.

I went over to a booth that sold juices and shakes to get something to drink. As I was ordering, the people in the booth (3 of them) went crazy over someone who was standing beside me. They all whipped out their camera phones and said, "Aaah... Papicture naman oh! Pwede po?" It was Angelika Dela Cruz, who was also trying to order a fruit shake. She had to ask them nicely to process her order first and then take pictures later.

They were giving her extra special treatment. One guy even suggested, "Uy, ihatid niyo yan kung saan sila nakaupo! Kelangan may maghatid niyan." ("You have to deliver that to their table! Someone has to deliver that.") And then they basically forgot what I ordered. Starstruck much? LoL

Dad bought some Strawberry Basil ice cream from the Merry Moo booth. When I got there, they ran out of Earl Grey and Salted Caramel. What a bummer! Those were the two flavors I was so interested in trying out.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="390"] Gourmet Ice Cream. Exotic flavors.[/caption]

The Kuya there offered other flavors. I got to taste their Candied Bacon ice cream (overall, it reminds me of chorizo). I found the Honeycomb too sweet, though fragrant. And the Basil Strawberry was sold out because it was already closing time.

In the end, I bought some Black Sesame frozen yogurt from YOH-GEE for p70. I got to try a lot of different flavors because the owner's mom was really nice. My verdict is that it's a little on the tart side. You have to be a fan of original yogurt to appreciate it. Very far from the almost ice cream-like offerings of Red Mango or Yo Swirls. They don't try to make the tart flavor milder with vanilla.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="399"] YOH-GEE Premium Frozen Yogurt (Photo from their Deal Grocer page)[/caption]

Other than lunch, Mom got to buy some Batotay and dried fish from one of the stalls. The booth owner, who was lunching on the same kind of fish we bought even demonstrated for us how to eat without worrying about tinik (fish bones).

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A bit off topic...

The organic market side saw me buying lip balm from Human Nature for only P60. Ever since my cousin said something about mineral oils, I have become extra picky with the beauty products I use. I try to avoid anything with mineral oil/paraffinum liquidum/microcrystalline wax. This lip balm is all natural and it smells great.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="493"] Human Nature Lip Balm in Tutti Fruitti[/caption]

On that note, I have to say that I am a fan of the Human Nature brand. It's inexpensive and I like their stand on helping the local agricultural industry. At home, we use their sunflower oil deodorant. We also bought a bottle of their Citronella bug spray yesterday.

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Like I said, the weekend was exhausting but fun. I would love to go back to Mercato Centrale on a Saturday night for a proper budget pig-out.