Bodhi Day

Today, I took it upon meself to explore Cubao, shiny new soon-to-be malls and posh restos-n-shoppes beside the uneven asphalt-concrete stairways and sidewalks and grid-iron gutters and the dank, familiar smell of old. I had to pick up a copy of Kate Turabian's A Manual For Writers from the National Book Store mini-mall, a few bath essentials, and a longed-for brunch at Bodhi in the SM Foodcourt.(Good Vegan health food is so hard to find nowadays, though I confess I still love my meat.)

Soon as I had paid for my book and binder-type notebook(as I am wont to crave paper and pen the way kids crave candy in a grocery line), I went a-walking all over the place, enjoying the scenery, checking out new places and new facade faces. There's a baking needs store somewhere across the Gateway Mall that sells Wilton Cake pans and accessories on hooks, walnuts and almonds and pecans (I think) in large pillow packs, and brick-bars of Philly Cream Cheese and Butter and Pastry Mix in a glass-windowed chiller. I was looking for sparkly birthday candles, or trick relighting candles to bring home, but then again, students ought to know when to keep the locks tight on their money-purses. ^_^"

I also wandered into the new ShopWise Mart; it oddly reminded me of the Big R Grocery/Department Store a five-minute jeep ride away from our subdivision, only this one had a bigger assortment of booths and botiques and boulangerie (er, foodstops) to choose from.

The Bodhi I know is still located in the foodcourt of SM Cubao. I took advantage of the 2-viand-with-rice-and-regular-drink-for-P55 offer and picked the most enticing dishes I could decide on right there and then: asado and chicken curry. (There were so many to choose from, and they're all good for you!) I mashed the tiny hill of steaming rice on my sectioned plate to cool it off, and smothered the piping-hot grains with curry sauce and peas and carrots with utmost glee. My teeth sunk into the delectable chunks of tofu-based meat and relished each chew and swallow. This is the only kind of meal that truly convinces me to eat my food slowly. If this were a walk, chewing food slowly would be smelling the flowers and soaking the sun and sighing after the scenery along the way.

I admit it was a poor choice of mine to take a regular-sized Sprite softdrink,(I could have taken a more appropriate choice of Coconut juice for a few more bucks, but as I must save money) I washed my meal down with it anyway. Much to my ire, I found I was merely a few steps away from the foodcourt's water dispenser, but deed has been done anyway.

I gave my habit of bringing something home my mother a few turns, and decided she'd appreciate good food from Bodhi for lunch better she would if I brought her junk food or candy. So, with an order of vegan BBQ (four sticks with red nutty sauce) and "chicken" adobo with baguio beans, I took the trip home with a satisfied grin, humming the "Super-size Me" theme all the way to the Jeep terminal.

Odd how watching that docu can make you rethink what and how you feed yourself.