Once the school afternoon break starts, all students will go running in different directions. Some will go run to where the canteen is to have their snacks, some will rush to the fields to play, and some will just stay in the room to study. Yeah, we have that kind of classmate who'll spend more time studying, unlike some of us who want to have fun rather than study, lol.
As for me, I do a lot of things during break except study, I play more, I talk more with my friends, I run around being friendly to all, and I also stay at the canteen because, why not? And I mean, I can do all the studying at home and not on my break, lol. I can only enjoy myself during that time, and I can't even do a lot of playing at home because Mom is so strict. So when I'm in school, I am more happy and carefree.
Anyway, during the afternoon break, most of the time my money would already run out even before the afternoon recess. I think I already mentioned this before. There's a vendor outside school where they sell different junk foods, and I can't help myself sometimes - or nah, all the time? Lol - but to stop by and spend all my allowance for the day to get junk foods, lol. They sell different kinds of junk food, while in the canteen we can only have bread, sopas, spaghetti, pancit, champorado, porridge, and more bread, then buns with mayo.
I mean, can we have Rinbee? Or snacku? Or maybe clover, moby, peewee pizza supreme, crispy patata, nova, piattos, and more? Wait, I can't afford the last two, sadly, lol. They're kind of expensive compared to the rest, lol. But anyways, it's a school canteen, so it's just right that they sell much healthier products there. Ah, remembering all these, I suddenly miss eating spaghetti and pancit in a plastic labo. You know, forget about the spoon and fork! Just bite the edge of the plastic and eat it directly! Those are the happy days!
So what can I do when I don't have the money to spare for a snack during the afternoon break? Well, ignore the growling stomach or play with other kids or wait for "Sapin-Sapin Woman to arrive." She's a person, and she sells different kinds of "snacks," or Pilipino foods. She put them in a big "Bilao" and will walk around with that big Bilao in her head. Bilao is a round or a circular shape like a basket and is woven using a Bamboo. See image above if you are not familiar with it.
She shells, sapin-sapin, buchi, pilipit, carioca, pichi-pichi, maja, nilupak, banana cue, camote cue and many, many more and depends on what she prepared, she can only make two snacks a day, putting them on in one big bilao. Imagine the weight and she carry it in her head, aguyy. The the good thing is, we can get her food with the condition that we will pay for it the next day. It's like she's teaching us how to "borrow" or to be "in debt" to someone by her doing that (≧▽≦). But thanks to her though, because we can survive the long afternoon studying and listening to the teacher.
And speaking of Miss Sapin-Sapin (sorry, I still have no idea what's her name ಥ_ಥ.) So yesterday, I saw her again after so many years of not seeing her around Poblacion. And she still had this usual get-up of hers. The only change is that she has more in her hands now - I mean, one on her head and one on her hand. I remember she always had an umbrella in her other hands, and she still has it today. Well, she better be, especially since it is too hot right now. As for how she carries those, the basket on her head doesn't need a hand anymore because she's used to it, she can walk around without holding it. Cool no? Hehe. She has great balance, y'all.
I'm not sure if she remembers me though, maybe not anymore, my baby face before is now an old face, lol. So anyway, when she saw me yesterday in front of our gate, our eyes met, so I feel like she wants to ask me, so I encourage her by looking at her too. So she asked me, "Do you want to buy?" Then I asked her what she's selling, and she said it was "Pilipit" and "Buchi." I just had Pilipit the other day, so I chose this Buchi. For $0.86, I can have 6 pieces of buchi. To make it more presentable, she put it in a styrofoam bag, it has plastic too to cover it. Her way of selling it really improves too, before when we buy it, she would just put it in a plastic labo, sometimes she uses banana leaves too.
I asked her what the flavor of the Buchi was, and she said it was "Ube" flavor. And there we have it. But to be honest, I wanted to back out of buying yesterday, but seeing her in that scorching heat of the sun pushed me to buy and ignore the price. I actually got surprised when she said that it cost 50 PHP, so to make sure, I asked her again, and yeah, it is really 50 PHP. Lol. I asked her too if she has assorted, like, you know, she's selling two different kinds of snacks, so I thought she could have assorted so that I could have both for 50 PHP. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the assorted ones. So I just got this Buchi-Ube flavor.
As for the taste, it tastes good, the sweetness is just right, and I love the crispiness outside. From what I know, she always sells a new product, no leftover, like warming it up then selling it again, she doesn't do that. I remember her selling her product when it was still warm, which is why it tasted even yummier. As for this Buchi, I'm actually looking for something. Buchi should be a little sticky, no? It's kind of hard to chew, it's very chewy, but in a nice way.
But her Buchi is kind of different, the filling is real Ube though, and I love it - soft and really creamy. It has bits of grated coconut too. But I think it just lacks something in its coating. I think she didn't use a real glutinous here, or if she did, just a lil bit of it. Well, that's only for the texture. Over all, I still enjoy it a lot. And I was surprised by its price, but I think it is still worth it. And I'm sure the Ube fillings are homemade, just the effort to make them is already hard, no? And the generous amount of fillings is just a chef kiss. And another thing is the items used in her product, from the styrofoam to its plastic cover.
It makes sense that her pricing is like that, it's acceptable! And for that, I'll buy again for sure ಥ_ಥ. She's been part of my school life, it's not bad to make her a part of my adult life too, no? Ehe.