How My Lunches in Baguio Were Like
A friend was in Bonchon, when she noticed there were high school students having lunch in there. She said ang yayaman ng mga estudyante, naka-bibimbowl for lunch!
I replied, back in college, in our organization, we had this concept of "maximize your gutom". If you are not yet hungry during mealtime, then don't eat. Just eat when you already feel hungry, it could be in the late afternoon. And if that was so, then you might not even need to eat lunch. That way, you were able to save some money for a meal. Most of us were not from Baguio and were only relying on our allowances from our parents.
During my first weeks in Baguio, my cousin and I would usually go to Session Road to buy Dokito Prito. We didn't know yet where to buy food aside from the nearby mall. And Dokito is quite affordable. Their portion was quite big for P50. We consumed a lot of that and pancit canton. I stayed in the ladies' dormitory during my freshman year and we were not allowed to cook in there so mostly our food are either instant (just add hot water) or take out. It was in Breha that I learned how to cook pancit canton with just hot water.
After several weeks of staying in the dorm, our roommate took us to Manang Pat's, a carinderia located near the University of Baguio. (I believe it's now named "Bituin".) However, this food joint is not for the maselan or maarte, haha. Probably their most popular item is the pork steak. Their food is cheaper compared to other carinderias because they have bigger servings. One time, during lunch, my cousin and I tried going there all by ourselves and had the biggest surprise of my freshman life when while munching, somebody placed their hand over my head and called me by a different name. I was in Baguio for only a few weeks then, I didn't know anybody except from my cousin and the people I met in the dorm and in the university. I was surprised, but as my cousin said, she was more shocked because she was the one who saw the person/s face to face. It turns out they were mistaken, they through I was someone they know.
Sometimes, we'd go to Engineer's Hill. There is a carinderia in there that sells cheap food. There is also another canteen called Cantina located beside the Convention Center. I like to eat here because they serve really good food. Although theirs is more expensive compared to carinderia. If you were regular here, pretty sure you also grew fond of the lolo manning the cashier, the one that is chinky-eyed and English speaking.
I moved out of the dormitory after a year and stayed at a boarding house in Engineer's Hill. It's still a walking distance from the school. One of the reasons I moved out was because I wanted to have more freedom/choices when it comes to the food that I eat. In the boarding house, I could now cook my own meal. It was nice to be able to cook your own food. However, you'd soon realize that making your own meal doesn't really allow you to save money, and furthermore, it consumes time and energy. I'd still cook whenever I could though. Especially rice. Coming from a farming family, I was never used to eating portioned rice. One cup of rice was never enough for me. 😂
When in school during lunch, or during the semesters when I didn't have long breaks, I had my breakfast and lunches in the school canteen. In the morning I usually ate at the upper canteen, and for lunch, in the lower canteen because they have more diverse choices. Upper canteen is the one that has chicken in their menu every day while lower canteen is the one that likes to use fancy names for their dishes. Plus, our tambayan was in the lower canteen, so we have to patronize them because we occupy 2-3 of their tables by default, all day.
I didn't have a big allowance as a student, so I was always on the lookout for everything student-priced, including my meals. There was even that time I ran out of money and I was so hungry because all I was able to eat that day was fishballs. I don't remember why I didn't borrow money, heck, I had a lot of friends. Because of pride, probably. 😂 Yung mga ibang kinain ko noon, ni hindi ko na nga gustong balikan sa ngayon. Pero buhay pa naman ako, matibay ang sikmura.
I replied, back in college, in our organization, we had this concept of "maximize your gutom". If you are not yet hungry during mealtime, then don't eat. Just eat when you already feel hungry, it could be in the late afternoon. And if that was so, then you might not even need to eat lunch. That way, you were able to save some money for a meal. Most of us were not from Baguio and were only relying on our allowances from our parents.
During my first weeks in Baguio, my cousin and I would usually go to Session Road to buy Dokito Prito. We didn't know yet where to buy food aside from the nearby mall. And Dokito is quite affordable. Their portion was quite big for P50. We consumed a lot of that and pancit canton. I stayed in the ladies' dormitory during my freshman year and we were not allowed to cook in there so mostly our food are either instant (just add hot water) or take out. It was in Breha that I learned how to cook pancit canton with just hot water.
After several weeks of staying in the dorm, our roommate took us to Manang Pat's, a carinderia located near the University of Baguio. (I believe it's now named "Bituin".) However, this food joint is not for the maselan or maarte, haha. Probably their most popular item is the pork steak. Their food is cheaper compared to other carinderias because they have bigger servings. One time, during lunch, my cousin and I tried going there all by ourselves and had the biggest surprise of my freshman life when while munching, somebody placed their hand over my head and called me by a different name. I was in Baguio for only a few weeks then, I didn't know anybody except from my cousin and the people I met in the dorm and in the university. I was surprised, but as my cousin said, she was more shocked because she was the one who saw the person/s face to face. It turns out they were mistaken, they through I was someone they know.
Sometimes, we'd go to Engineer's Hill. There is a carinderia in there that sells cheap food. There is also another canteen called Cantina located beside the Convention Center. I like to eat here because they serve really good food. Although theirs is more expensive compared to carinderia. If you were regular here, pretty sure you also grew fond of the lolo manning the cashier, the one that is chinky-eyed and English speaking.
I moved out of the dormitory after a year and stayed at a boarding house in Engineer's Hill. It's still a walking distance from the school. One of the reasons I moved out was because I wanted to have more freedom/choices when it comes to the food that I eat. In the boarding house, I could now cook my own meal. It was nice to be able to cook your own food. However, you'd soon realize that making your own meal doesn't really allow you to save money, and furthermore, it consumes time and energy. I'd still cook whenever I could though. Especially rice. Coming from a farming family, I was never used to eating portioned rice. One cup of rice was never enough for me. 😂
When in school during lunch, or during the semesters when I didn't have long breaks, I had my breakfast and lunches in the school canteen. In the morning I usually ate at the upper canteen, and for lunch, in the lower canteen because they have more diverse choices. Upper canteen is the one that has chicken in their menu every day while lower canteen is the one that likes to use fancy names for their dishes. Plus, our tambayan was in the lower canteen, so we have to patronize them because we occupy 2-3 of their tables by default, all day.
I didn't have a big allowance as a student, so I was always on the lookout for everything student-priced, including my meals. There was even that time I ran out of money and I was so hungry because all I was able to eat that day was fishballs. I don't remember why I didn't borrow money, heck, I had a lot of friends. Because of pride, probably. 😂 Yung mga ibang kinain ko noon, ni hindi ko na nga gustong balikan sa ngayon. Pero buhay pa naman ako, matibay ang sikmura.
