After a fortnight of hiatus

Last Saturday was a satisfying fine day for me. After such an ostentatious week in the office and consequent lapses from my regular swim routine, I finally got the chance to swim again. Aside from that, my best friend and I rendezvoused again.... I missed these in the past fortnight....

My best friend and I met at around 1 PM at SM Megamall to have lunch together. We took our afternoon repasts from Pho Hoa. I ordered a small serving of Seafood Pho (Pho is Vietnamese noodle soup) and she had Grilled Chicken and Fried Spring Rolls. My bowl wasn't very delectable with it's bland mild taste. I was expecting a more brined soup since it's flavored seafood. Then again, it was still satisfying as there was a generous addition of fish fillet, shelled shrimps, and cuttle bone balls (a.k.a. Squid balls). Also, the bowl was relatively large despite the menu's averment of a small serving.

While we were serving our individual appetite, we started the conversation to catch up for the past days. Well, I did not much to talk about but I still managed to crack up some thoughts. Most of my talking revolved around Shane. I just gave my best friend an update on my current status/feelings regarding him. We talked about it as we finished our dishes. (I don't want to expound on the details. The mere point was that "I am moving on"... moving on gracefully.)

After paying the bill, we went for a short stroll to help the food inside our systems dribble down. We went to this garment stall to do my best friend's quick errand then went straight to Starbucks.

We ordered a Split Venti Azuki Blended-Coffee Frappuccino, the newest seasonal frap from SB. I never knew what's Azuki until I sipped the cold drink from my cup. Azuki's just simply red bean, which pretty much assimilated the taste and texture of the common red mung bean. (The drink reminded me of the red bean cold porridge my paternal grandmother used to cook divinely.) We also tried the new Azuki Scone (If you'd use your wild imagination on the Azuki toppings of the scone, you'd suspect them to be roach eggs. Eeeewww!).


I appreciated more the scone than the frap. The scone was what I expected it to be - two crumbly layers of biscuit sandwiching a spread of sweet Azuki paste. The Azuki frap, on the other hand, tasted bitter and "burnt" after a few sips, most probably because of the coffee. Maybe if it were a blended-cream, the taste would have been more pleasurable. Nevertheless, it wasn't really displeasing.

If you plan to get an Azuki frap, be warned that the Azuki beans are gritty on the tongue and palate. If you don't like such sensation, be wary not to enjoy the drink.

Talking about each other's recent experiences, from her encounter to her former-crush-turned-annoyance to her , to my nonsensical butt-ins (Haha!), segueing to unprecedented topics we did not intend to talk about, we finally capped our tete-a-tete at around 4:30 PM. From there, we bid goodbyes and parted ways. She went to the direction of Shangri-La Plaza Mall and I went straight to Cubao to get a bus going to my hometown - my usual weekend retreat from the bustling metro - to see my family once more.
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