Yesterday, my former SFC workmates and I had a dinner date at Guilbert’s in Plaridel, Bulacan. This came about because of a random thought one July evening as I was eating exorbitantly-costing (but it was somebody’s treat, so no reason for me to complain really) nachos with very little cheese sauce, some ground beef and tomatoes at a place called Homer’s as my companions and I whiled away the time before the 2:30 am live telecast of the semifinal matchup between Deutschland and España. In comparison to Homer’s, Guilbert’s taco salad has more nachos, lots of cheese (grated, covering the top of the nacho pile), with cabbage, beef and tomatoes completing the package and we (like four of us) could fill our stomachs with it and feel a bit full afterwards. And for half the price of Homer’s. So that random thought was tweeted and posted to facebook as a status message. And when one of my ex-workmates, Mayette, liked it, I commented that we should eat there next time. And so last night was the set date.
Last night was my fourth time there. For a Saturday night, it didn’t seem all that busy. I even thought we would be waiting a long time for our orders, but as it turns out, it was quite a slow night. We ordered the taco salad right away. It was served almost immediately and we promptly dug in. Somehow, it didn’t seem to be as much as how I imagined it before. And nobody commented that he/she was already quite full – probably because it was already around 8 and we were all positively hungry. I wanted to try the Sizzling Balut (recommended by many) this time, but nobody was keen to second that choice. So we had Tuna Bicol Express (which didn’t taste much like tuna, and it wasn’t so spicy or whitish as well), Laing (served inside a buko shell – quite milky, unremarkable taste) and Kangkong sa Lechon (which really was lechon sa kangkong – there were literally very few pork skin pieces on top of the kangkong cooked in some brown sauce). This Guilbert’s trip is perhaps the least remarkable of all if we’re talking about the food. My previous forays here all ended up with me thinking there are more surprises here when I come back another time. I guess the crowning glory would be the Tanduay Ice which Mayette insisted everybody have for at least one round, making Jay-r forego the buko juice he initially ordered, but which he eventually had after that one round. Tanduay Ice is really nice tasting but with a kick. First had a taste of it in Feb 8 also in Bulacan, on my second to the last day at work.
The five of us former Unit C housemates and Mark were supposed to be eating and celebrating today. But unfortunately, Pam, the sosyalera (a realization c/o Jay-r that was a point of, well, mirth), is unavailable because she’s working the night shift that week. It would’ve been a triple celebration because she just celebrated her birthday on the 20th, Jay-r was celebrating his today, the 25th, and Mark just got his separation pay which amounts to quite a lot, now that I think about it, although no figures were mentioned. Pam and Jay-r are both still working at SFC while Mayette was transferred to the sister company TOFC. Mark resigned beginning May so he had one month to go. Then Ces had to resign a week after and I followed the following week. So much for resigning early. He was the last one to exit even though he had planned to resign way before the thought even crossed my or Ces's minds.
All throughout dinner, we were just talking about SFC/TOFC stuff since we can’t help it (and which actually constituted the majority of our topics), competence, kinds of leadership styles, spas, Pam, Enchanted Kingdom, work plans, future directions interspersed with laughter, bathroom breaks (I’ve had four trips there due to two bottles of Tanduay Ice, following the first round with another bottle as its effect wore off), drunken banter and downright silly questions (Jay-r (while Ces was feeling his upper back): Ayan o, diba masakit?).
We stayed there till it was near closing and somebody was already exhibiting signs of drunkenness - all the way through the jeepney ride back to Malolos and at 7-Eleven where we had coffee (my first time to see and try this – they had French Vanilla, Banana Frost(?) and Cappuccino at half the price of what was available in the usual coffee shops) before heading home. Jay-r turned 22 (although it wasn’t supposed to be until 3AM), and eventually the drunkenness wore off, and we were lucky to find a van bound for Cubao at the unholy hour of 1 AM in a place like Malolos. So us three girls were south-bound and I eventually alighted at Road 20 at around 1:30 AM. There were quite a number of street lights on, so I decided to just walk back to the house, foregoing a tricycle ride. It was fine because it was already quite cool and I can handle clumps of people along the way anytime by just ignoring them.
(I just realize as I'm about to post this that I've got no good ending in mind. hehe. That's why the need for parentheses.)
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