Hungry Anyone?

I have figured out one possible reason that there are very few overweight Filipinos…they apparently do not eat breakfast, at least in restaurants. I had seen a Krispy Kreme donut shop in the mall yesterday, so I decided to get a donut instead of eat in the hotel. The mall is really big, with multiple wings, several of which we walked around the first night because we didn’t know where we were. At any rate, there are many restaurants in the mall, as well as along the outside shops. Krispy Kreme happens to be in the mall, which doesn’t open until 10 AM, so I was out of luck for a donut. Imagine that, a Krispy Kreme not open 24/7….sacrilege! Plan B was to try a local bread shop, figuring they’d have some hot bread or rolls. No luck, it was closed as well. I literally walked around almost the whole mall and found two shops that served breakfast food. Even Starbucks did not have much in the way of breakfast food. Apparently Filipinos are not big fans of breads, which I now recall from Ricky’s initial visit. Oh well, I did get some good coffee at Bo’s Coffee, including a caramel latte for Steph. Back to the hotel I went for a breakfast of smoked salmon, egg omelet, fresh fruit, bacon, and Passion Fruit. I still have heartburn, but it was good.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Filipino food is as diverse as their people. At the hotel buffet we have everything from traditional American fare (omelets, bacon, French toast, pancakes, donuts) to smoked fish, baked fish on the “half shell”, poncit noodles, grilled pork and chicken, stewed beef, fried rice, and a whole host of other local foods, which I’d never expect for breakfast. In the mall they have multiple food courts that have American favorites (Mickey D’s, BK, KFC, etc), Chinese, Vietnamese, and of course Filipino. One local favorite appears to be the baked or broiled (I can’t tell) fish on the half-shell. The fish appears to be a large shad, rather oily, with the skin and scales, but sans the head. I also saw one shop with fresh salmon heads….just the heads mind you. Not sure what you do with that, but they did come with a salad. Yum! Not sure what we’ll have for dinner but it should be interesting.

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