Out to lunch with Overthinkers Anonymous
After way too much thinking, Mike decided where we would have our voucher lunch. I call it a voucher lunch because every morning Mike scours the internet for deals and discounts (our buffet lunch was 50 percent off) and snaps them up. Then he realizes that he’s bought too many vouchers and they’re about to expire. Then he schedules a series of voucher lunches, which makes him feel guilty about overeating so he resolves to go on a diet just as he’s starting the series of lunches. Yes, there is nothing so relaxing that an overthinker can’t turn it into a source of stress.
Read Walk and Eat.
True to the concept of Walk and Eat, I walked to the venue in the blazing sunshine. See I didn’t know where Berjaya Hotel is so I googled it. In the map the hotel appeared to be after A Venue if you’re coming from Gil Puyat. Turns out that it’s before A Venue so I had to backtrack along Makati Avenue at 12 noon.
After our lunch we wanted a good coffee so we went to that Paris cafe something Delice up the street. We think it is an odd place to have a Parisian-type cafe but the French don’t seem to think so because the diners we see there are all French. I wonder if French cafes are profitable in Manila. There’s also Alexandre, which opened in Megasmall. Delifrance was a Jollibee company but it didn’t do well so they sold it to another group, which changed the name to Cafe France. The name is kind of blah—wouldn’t Ooh La La be more enticing, or as my friend suggested, Ooh La Lafang?
It’s not clear in the picture but I was wearing my earrings made from empty tubes of super glue (“rugby”). I love those earrings, they’re a conversation piece. On the way to the cafe I noticed a group of beggars (taong grasa) huddled on the steps of the bank next door. When I left one of them approached me. I don’t give money to beggars—they work for a syndicate, it is not paranoia—I give them whatever food I have on me and I didn’t have any. Without thinking I handed her some change. The beggar, who must’ve been 14 or 15, looked at my earrings and said, in a concerned voice, “Ate, bakit ganyan ang hikaw mo?!” (Why are your earrings like that?!)
Hah! My accessories have been critiqued by a vagrant! Sadyang mapanlait talaga ang mga Pinoy, ano? It cuts across socio-economic classes. I wanted to say “Kasi hinithit ko na yung rugby” but what if she asked for some? (No! I overthought my riposte!)
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
May 3rd, 2011 at 13:08
Hi Jessica. Are you referring to Paris Delice along Jupiter? Have been meaning to try out their sandwiches. I read a write-up saying the owners have their baguette dough flown in from Paris because it is hard to produce an authentic baguette from scratch in Manila humidity.
May 3rd, 2011 at 13:37
In case the members of Overthinkers Anonymous want to break free of their addiction, I can recommend a group with a 120 Step Program.
May 3rd, 2011 at 14:09
the vagrants, they usually stay there..a few steps and you’ll find another..sa may generika, that’s where some of them sleep..i remember from constitution class na bawal ang vagrancy..haven’t read about it further because i so hated my constitution professor..(people on the senate it seems are decriminalizing vagrancy)..i don’t care about the adults, really, but the kids, it’s a pain sometimes..
May 3rd, 2011 at 15:17
I’ve been to that Paris cafe with my sister, we were looking for something sweet after we had lechon sisig at Chickboy. Puro foreigners nga andun but I’m not sure if they were French.
May 3rd, 2011 at 15:52
These kitty-go-nerdy plush toys would be cute giveaways for an Overthinkers Anonymous convention.
http://static.neatoshop.com/images/product/83/2483/Kitty-Go-Nerdy-Plush_9815-l.jpg
May 3rd, 2011 at 17:16
Correction: “try their sandwiches.”
May 3rd, 2011 at 17:43
Please tell me that the pastries in this French café place are suffused with delightful french butter, as they should be.
May 3rd, 2011 at 21:53
Obvious na overthinker ang kumain. The serving sizes of the food he got from the buffet complies with the standards. Hehehe.
May 4th, 2011 at 01:45
I heard all Cafe France restaurants still belong to the same food company and are supposed to serve basically the same menu; food company just thought to do away with the renewal of contract fee that came with using the better known brand name.