The Madness Equation

Freaky late night movie + outdoor market the morning after = madness from lack of sleep

The movie was District 9. The execution was quite original. Even the outer appearance of the aliens, prawns as they were referred to in the movie, was a new take on the alien concept, but I found the giant, rusty, metallic, cockroach-like creatures really freaky.

Dinner at Zuni in Greenbelt 5 was snooze-inducing. Despite having a full-page vegetarian menu, which to me meant the dishes would be promising because this restaurant gives importance to vegetarian patrons, my Trio Risotto failed to evoke an ooh-la-la moment. My order, which consisted of red and brown rice with boiled mushrooms, carrots and celery, was more appropriate under the description of tasteless rice pilaf than risotto. I've been a vegetarian for four months now. Surely, vegetarian dishes need not be this boring!

Compared to the risotto, I liked this Php 120 vegetarian combo my mom found in the Legazpi market this morning a whole lot more. For vegetarian dishes, it is very easy to tell which dishes are laden with salt and MSG and which ones are fresh and naturally tasty.

Pasta salad, roasted potatoes with dill, lentil with yogurt sauce (not in picture) and couscous. Yum!

My dad and I were hungry and impatient so while my mom went ahead to look for other vegetarian choices, Dad and I settled for this vegetarian longganisa, skinless, which was just in front of us when we were looking for something to eat. The stall also sells barbeque, java rice, and plain rice, all vegetarian. The tasty longganisa would have went very well with a mountain of plain rice.

While many of the same stalls set up in both the Salcedo market on Saturdays and the Legazpi market on Sundays, the latter offers more ready-to-eat dishes than the former. I personally prefer the Salcedo market which has a simpler layout than the maze-like Legazpi market.

This morning I tried a Strawberry Yogu, a creamy, almost unsweetened yogurt popsicle that had strawberry chunks in it at Picole, a stall that sells healthy ice pops. It was pretty good.

Starbucks was the only coffee shop near the Legazpi market. To avoid a repeat of my previous Starbucks catastrophe involving an overly sweetened drink, I decided to try the new DARK ROAST blend. I got an Iced grande sugar-free vanilla dark roast coffee jelly latte. It turned out to be a really good choice, in fact, a must-try. Hoorah! Just a note, the new coffee jelly is more like pudding; it is softer and less chewy than the old coffee jelly.

While we were in Starbucks, we saw two Korean children watching videos contentedly on each of their own laptops. Times are surely a-changing. When I was their age I only toted a Sweet Valley paperback with me to pass the time.

Me while waiting for F and J last night. I got these shoes last year. I noticed that oxfords are still in the fall/winter lines this year (http://www.style.com/vogue/voguedaily/2009/06/the-verdict-is-in-the-new-flats/esquivelfeet/) so I celebrated the coming of the -ber months by taking my shoes out for a spin. My old colleague called them witch's shoes, which they kind of are because of the slightly pointy toe. My next target is a pair of flat patent leopard print Repetto oxfords. Or maybe a pair of plain ones will do.