Quillon

as a child, whenever we hear mass in Quiapo Church, my mom would always take us to an alley adjacent to the Balikbayan Market. my fondest memory is that once we reach home, we have bags after bags of goodies consisting of kikiam, fish balls, hash browns, french fries and the like. today, i revisited the area.

after the usual flea market bargain hunting in Carriedo, my constant companion Lee and I decided to hunt down the "alley". remembering the place with how my mom calls it, we naively asked peddlers where Quillon is. and in no time, we traverse the labyrinth of alleys ending up in the quaint store which carried my childhood memories.

Quillon, after all these years, is still the same. same look, same smell, same procedure. you write down your order in the yellow form, give it to the staff, pay off in the cashier, wait for your name to be called. i know it sounds ancient as compared to how we netizens shop for stuff in the web but the thrill is unique. something only a trip to Quillon can give.

reaching home, i unpacked the frozen goodies which actually dripped the whole trip. nevertheless, i am now reaping the fruits of my well, labor.

as of this writing, i have a mouthful of fries in sour cream and onion and cheese!