Cheap thrills.

A week before payday, I have less than a thousand bucks inside my wallet. Of course, I still have a passbook and some reserve money, supposedly set aside to pay for my future credit card bills. But the point is, whatever I have in my wallet should be the only money left to spend for the coming week... Otherwise, I won't be able to save enough for my planned trips.

I attended church at Victory Fort, specifically their 11am service as I was due to have a business meeting in the same area by 230pm. So, after attending church, I had to take lunch before the meeting. Torn between dining in a blog-worthy restaurant(Zhu at 32nd and 5th) and the fact that I have no money to splurge (actually, not even enough for regular spending for the week), I decided to challenge myself to go on a cheap thrill.

While many have written about their exquisite Serendra Fort experience, not much have written about their "jologs" Fort experience. So here it goes...

We were dismissed from church at exactly 1230pm so I decided to head straight to Market Market. Having met Mr. Jerry Lazuriaga, the owner of a Sta.Rosa-original Bugong Roast Chicken, weeks ago, on top of my food items to try is his MSG-free, healthy roasted Bugong chicken.

So while I was tempted to just pick a cheap fast-food inside Market Market, I went to their open-air food court and searched for Bugong Roast Chicken's stall. While dressed in a crisp polo top, fitted jeans and matching red flats and red bag, I was walking amidst a crowd which looked at me as if I'm an alien in their territory. Before finding Bugong's stall though, I got passed this Camiguin native products booth and was not able to resist buying a dozen of the famous pastel.

So before I got compelled to spend more, I blindly passed by the other native delicacies booths and surveyed the cooked-food stalls instead.

At the end corner stall near the seemingly new "comfort room lounge" of Market Market, I found Bugong Roast Chicken. I remembered Mr. Jerry mentioning about their newly added menu item in their list - Kimchi rice, so I ordered this in lieu of a plain rice, along with my other "budget meal" items namely a quarter piece of roast chicken and a side dish (I chose Mexican salsa). I added a bottle of water a viola, I had a full meal for 100 pesos!


I can eat a bit of kimchi but I would never crave for it. Even after being exposed to many Korean acquaintances in church, I was never converted into being a kimchi-lover. But Mr. Jerry being so proud of it, made me say I had to try this rice...
It had the tinge of sour taste (like Kimchi) and a dash of spicy taste which was tolerable but spicy enough to make me not feel vommity even if I eat a lot of the juicy chicken (tanggal "umay" as they say). Of course, I've tasted other "special rice" variants, my favorites being those of Zao Vietnamese Bistro. This "kimchi rice" cannot be at par. But boy, for its price, it's so good to qualify to be called "gourmet rice" already.

The chicken was tender, roasted well with no tinge of bloody parts and without any "dry part." Unlike other chicken recipes, the chicken meat tends to be juicy at the outer layers, but once you get closer the bone, it tends to be dry. Bugong Chicken's tenderness was just right (not soggy or overly flaky) and its being juicy was not "oily juicy." It was tasty but not salty. And yes, it tastes healthy. (Yes, you can taste healthy... proven when you've eaten in Cyma or Zao, Pho Hoa or Bawai's).

For dessert, I ate two pieces of the famous pastel which is this very soft bread with yema filling inside. I first tried this on a trip in Camiguin when I was in high school. This one selling in Market Market tastes like the one I had in Camiguin, originally. A dozen costs 160 pesos.

I would eat at Bugong Chicken again when on-a-budget. But of course, my taste would always crave for sophistication. Haha! Bugong Chicken branches I know of are in Valero St. and this one in Market Market.

Then again, even if I already spent time taking pictures before eating (which made the roving guard, really puzzled), I still had time to kill before the meeting. So I went to search for my Genki umbrella.

As per Anton of Our Awesome Planet, Mini Stop stores have them. I did not find one in their Market Market branch though. Thinking it was a "Japanese product", I headed to Japan Home Center instead to try my luck. To no avail.

I ended up frolicking in the nearby Clipper store instead which is full of cheap knick-knacks and cutesy collectibles and useful work and school items. I know for a fact that these items would cost way cheaper in Divisoria, but heck, less than a hundred pesos in an air-conditioned set-up is cheap enough for me.

I came across this "I'm not a plastic bag" tote which I've been meaning to buy since I first saw it last year on sale at "Philosophy" in Serendra. It was supposedly sold at a discounted price already, but even as it is made of sturdy material than this one I bought, I wasn't convinced then to buy a 400+ fancy bag. I saw another one in Boracay's D' Mall, made of the same material as this one I recently bought. It was sold at 150 pesos and I told myself I'll buy it the morning before I leave. I got pressed with time though since I unknowingly spent two hours on my supposed "last few moments" at the beach. Anyway, for 80 something pesos, I finally got this "fancy bag" where I was able to place by "box of pastel" instead of it being carried in a lousy plastic bag.

Just before I left the store, my attention was caught by nice magnetic bookmarks which are essential for a book hoarder like me. Since I love dogs (and even if I hadn't gotten over Pao Pao or Paolo yet, my beagle) I was enticed to buy the set of magnetic bookmarks with dog designs.

Thank God, they just opened, hence, their credit card facility was still not available. Otherwise, I would have bought their "cloth-made" stuff organizers, big soda can-like CD racks and their lots and lots of ball pens. It's a cool store, good enough to amuse me as long as a regular movie run-time. It's not too spacious though that if many people were there all at the same time, you'll scream for help.

After my window-shopping turned compulsive buying, I did my meeting at Numa. This time, I tried their Fruit Paradise Tea. It is still enticingly aromatic like the other teas I've tried but I still like the Blueberry Green Tea or the Gingko Biloba Tea better. Being a frequenter of the place, I was given the chance to try a new "special cup" to enjoy my tea. Amusing...

Price would not be the best determiner for amusement, I've learned today. As expensive things usually come in small packages, amusing things usually come in cheap tags.