THE one huge advantage for me when I go to Big Bite at Ayala Malls Centrio here in Cagayan de Oro is I now know what food I want and even need. I won’t waste time with meaningless carbs.
Meaningless carbs? Hmmm. They’re the carbs that are not worth the carbs. Not worth the side effects: bloated face, bloated tummy, rhinitis, headaches, allergies, high blood pressure, brain fog, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
So, what carbs are worth the carbs? MiMo Cafe’s baked goodies, of course.
Big Bite is the Northern Mindanao Food Festival with 100 exhibitors for the foodies. Roam around the mall before deciding what to order because there’s a huge possibility your tummy is already full by the time you’ve finally found the food you truly like.
Meat is my priority since I’m now on a carnivore diet. Yeah, right. But then I saw this long and winding line and learned it’s for Jacks Halo Halo. The first time I joined that line on Monday, I didn’t have enough patience to wait for my turn, so I bought ube halo-halo from Halo-Ha! instead. I then returned to Jacks a few hours later. When it was almost my turn, I learned they’ve run out of ube. So, I left the line again.
On Tuesday, I went straight to Jacks upon arriving at the mall and was so happy to see there was no line. Only to realize why upon seeing their staff sitting inside the booth, doing nothing because they’re still waiting for the ingredients to arrive. Whaaaaat?! But it’s already lunchtime!
So, I went to Manoink instead to order grilled pork. After which I dropped by Jacks again. Still no ingredients. Off to MiMo Cafe then for bibingka croissant and sausage twist which are two of its Big Bite exclusives. Yummiest!
And then returned to Jacks which finally had ingredients. Wow. Talk of winning a medal for patience, all because I wanted to try their taro-ube overload. Was it worth the carbs? Definitely! But like all the other halo-halos I’ve already tried, Jacks’s version has made me realize again that it’s the halo-halo’s ube that I’m craving for.
I’ve been to Big Bite daily since Monday. Yes, it has become a hard habit to break because of this: how to taste-test the goodies of each of the 100 exhibitors in one day? Kind of FOMO—fear of missing out.
If there’s one lesson I learned at Big Bite, it’s this: I don’t like most carbs anymore. As of Wednesday, only MiMo’s baked goodies and Jacks Halo Halo’s taro-ube overload were yummy for me. The rest of the Big Bite carbs I had tried by then were not worth the carbs. Does that mean my taste buds have changed? Which is great news actually. Yay! No more carb cravings! But still craving for ube, MiMo’s croissants, and Coach Jowen Racines’s Basque cheesecake. Hmmm. I can live with that.
By the time you’re reading this, I’ll be at Big Bite again. Let’s see if I’ll have new carb discoveries.
It’s only at Big Bite that I’m taste-testing carbs again. At home, my daily menu is slowly morphing into this: grilled liempo, grilled salmon, beef burger patties, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, and butter. That’s it, pancit. Oops! No, not pancit.
