Giving up RICE

There are some people who gave up eating meat because they’re Vegans, while some because of religion, and others – well, because they made a sacrifice. I on the otherhand, am giving up eating RICE. Now, why rice? Well, mainly because I love eating rice – I am a rice kind of gal. I was contemplating on what to sacrifice actually, and when I thought of meats – well, I’m not that fond of meats – beef or pork, Chicken is too small of a thing to be sacrificed – it will look like I am on a diet. As for the meats, well – since I don’t look for them often, I don’t think it will be a big sacrifice. Thus I decided to give up eating rice.

I’ve been successful so far, well actually I’m on my 6th day today (and counting!). So far so good, but yesterday morning and yesterday’s lunch time were the worst. My mom you see is a very good cook. She just made Kiam Peng (salty rice as it is literally translated in enlgish) – it’s the a rice dish with pork, hebi (small shrimps), mushrooms, veggies, and zticky (malagkit) rice. I think its best known as Glutinous Rice in english – although I think our suman is also called glutinous rice. And I couldn’t eat it! I was being chided to just sample a spoonful, but I had to be in control – I had to decline. Even if the smell was killing me (literally) I had to think of the reason why I sacrificed in the first place – and that was enough. Of course, there was the temptation – the voice in my head whispering and telling me to grab even just a spoonfull.

At first I was thought that it would be easy – simple, well – I thought wrong! I won’t be able to eat suman, ma-chang, kaim peng, rissotto, paella, congee, and I think the list will go on and on. Damn, why didn’t I think it through?! It was as if everything I wanted to eat I couldn’t! Like for example last night. I was with my Panget at UCC Greenhills – it was my first time there for a decent meal, I mostly go there for dessert or for coffee. But last night, since there were available parking slots – my Panget decided that UCC was the place to have dinner. As I looked through the menu – my gosh – the entrees were all with rice! There were numerous rice toppings, even those dishes with rice on the side. I was really tempted to get the Rissotto, my head was already making up excuses for me to order it! Like it’s not really rice, it’s considered as pasta and so on. But again, my determination prevailed. I ordered the Eel & Mushroom spaghetti instead. I was satisfied with the pasta, it wasn’t the best dish but it was okay.

The place was really under staffed, it was quite obvious because we had to wait for our meals and requests for water a little longer than usual. And since I accidentally put more pepper than I ought to, to my dish – it was a bit too spicy for me. I appreciate spice, but only on occassion. I asked the lady manager for some water but she was kind of busy attending other store matters. So I got up and went to the bar to fetch some badly needed water, and upon pouring my water – I heard her running towards me and she instantly helped me. She apologized and I replied that it was okay – I understood her situation and it was just water! As my Panget and I finished our meals – she approached us and asked us if we wanted anything for dessert, we declined because we were already full. She smiled at us and told us not to worry, because she will be giving us a complimentary dessert. ‘Nahiya naman ako sa inyo Ma’am‘ was what she said. Nice diba? Well, it was just perfect way to end our meal. After serving us with 2 hefty scoops of Caramel Ice Cream, she was telling us that they have been understaffed lately because the management has been giving way to the newly opened stores around the Metro. She was also telling us how she had to juggle being the cashier,waitress, receptionist one morning! At least she was nice enough to give us ice cream right? It was the perfect reward for me – for my not eating rice. hehehe..

Unfortunately, I again forgot to take images of our food!! I promise, on my next food entry, I will have pictures to show!!