I had grand fitness related plans for Friday. I was supposed to wake up early to jog and then proceed to the badminton court for at least an hour of shuttlecock-smashing-calorie-burning activity with my cousin Ken. But Ken's dad ( whom I fondly call my fake father), was rushed to the hospital Thursday night and had to spend the night there. Needless to say, Ken can not join me with my fight-the-bulge plan so I just went with him to the hospital.
I was not able to take a decent breakfast and was already hungry. Ken munched on a piece of oily bread he purchased at ministop while we were on the bus and had with him a pack of roast beef flavored potato chips. We arrived at DLSUMC a little before 10am, Ken's mom was waiting for us. My fake father seem well, and really did not look like he needed any assistance. He was ready to drive himself home but has yet to obtain a clearance from his doctor. Before Ken's mom left, she told us to have our lunch at the hospital's cafeteria. We nodded but in my mind I was already placing my order for twice baked potato halves at the pizza place just across the hospital building. An hour later, 2 of my fake father's siblings arrived. Ken and I decided to check out the hospital's cafeteria. Ken's mom was right, there really was a lot going on in the cafeteria. Aside from the usual rice and ulam stalls, there was a hotdog stand, a fruit shake stand and also a nook that sells RTW's. I decided to eat an early lunch, fish fillet and tortang talong cooked on banana leaf while Ken who had rice for breakfast just ordered lugaw with egg. All these for just 125 pesos, I find that reasonable. While waiting in line to check out our food, I asked Ken to grab a bottle of lemon iced tea from the chiller, he said we should try the fruitshake.
I had this feeling that it was one of those fruitshake stands that uses fruit-flavored powder mixes. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that they use fresh fruits. Being starved, I ate while Ken was still waiting for his mango-strawberry shake. The fish fillet was nothing fancy, it was so crunchy I thought I was eating fish crackers,the tortang talong was too oily. And I think their food warmers are not working since everything I ate, including the rice was as cold as a healthy puppy's nose. When Ken returned to our table, it was my turn to get my shake. Avocado is my favorite, but it is out of season so I was not surprised to see "not available" across the photo of the avocado on the fruitshake stand's signage. I spent quite a while looking up at the pictures of possible shake combinations when something on the menu piqued my curiosity.
Cheese? Fruitshakes with cheese? Seriously? This I got to try. I ordered for a mango-peach-cheese shake. The lady preparing my shake grabbed a pack of presumably mango and peach slices and tossed it in the blender, then she took a thick slice of cheddar cheese and tossed it in too. She added a cup of crushed ice, evaporated milk and sugar syrup and turned the blender on. I paid 50 pesos for my shake ( 20oz with fresh fruits... Very reasonable...) and told Ken that my shake has cheese. He took a sip and liked it too.
I found my shake to be a bit sweet, the mango dominated the peach. But i love the way the cheese made my shake creamier. The cold cafeteria food may have disappointed me but this fruitshake managed to put a smile on my chubby face.
After 2 hours, we went back to the cafeteria for merienda. We both ordered a hotdog sandwich. 30 Pesos for a king size tender juicy hotdog... not bad . The best part was we get to put our chosen condiments. Lucky for me since I am not really fond of mustard. They have thinly sliced cabbage and carrots available too. This time Ken ordered a mango-cheese shake, i opted for bottled water. We went back to my fake father's room and watched The Grudge. I wanted to go back to the cafeteria before going home to get a fruitshake again. But I think my conscience whispered "glutton".
Going to the hospital is not something I find very enjoyable, it can get very depressing. But the cheap cheap cafeteria food ( talking about the hotdog sandwich here) and the yummy fruitshake made my day not as gloomy as I expected.
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