Tummy Ache

Well what do you know? A day AFTER I had proclaimed to the blogging world about my word for the year (which was WORK), I don't show up at the office! I've got some weird tummy ache making me feel queasy with this niggling pain inside. I have no idea what caused it, but it's not a very comfortable feeling at all. Ugh.

I made myself get up to go to the grocery. Our pantry is bare. Our ref and freezer are practically bare. Sigh. No choice, really. And I spent P18,000 for groceries! No junk food, too! Yikes! Sigh and double sigh.

The worldwide economic meltdown isn't as felt here as in the States, but the prices HAVE gone up, especially on some basic food commodities. Spam is at P110, up from either P98 or P102. A can of sardines is P35, up from P28. Noodles have probably gone up, too, but these are the 2 notable ones that I remember. Oh, cooking oil inched up as well, at P399 per gallon, up from P379. And chicken! Breast has gone up from P124 to P137!!!

Oh well. My family has to eat, so I filled up 2 carts' worth of "basic" food items. :) Of *COURSE* there's noodles, spam, vienna sausage, sweet ham, chicken popcorn and hotdogs. Hehehe. MSG and all sorts of preservatives anyone?

Our new cook isn't all that great. Passable, but nothing great. She can cook basic dishes, but Japa's not all that happy with her. I told him to give it some time, for her to be able to read and learn new dishes. Soooo, I called Melinda and asked her to cook some siomai, chicken tocino, hamburgers, and beef tapa for me. I willingly shelled out an additional P2,500 for everything, plus a little bit of something for her trouble. At least my freezer will be stocked with something edible, hehehe.