Harry and Wendy's

Yesterday I went shopping with my parents at a shopping complex some 40 kilometers from here. I didn't really have much on my shopping list but at least I got to buy whatever I needed: headbands, a new ink cartridge for our Canon printer and some office supplies.

Then I had also thought of inquiring at the bookstore if they were accepting reservations for the Harry Potter Book 7. They had a similar promo in 2005 when the sixth book came out so I was waiting for some kind of advertisement or announcement on their website this year. But I couldn't find any and decided to ask about it at the store when I had the chance. Naturally, I was a little embarrassed to ask considering that I'm not a kid anymore and scanned the walls of the bookstore for any poster announcing that they were taking reservations. As there were none, I just swallowed my pride and approached the saleslady at the customer service desk. I was relieved though when the lady said, yes, they were taking reservations and that I just had to pay the deposit of Php500 at a cashier and return to her with the receipt. I did just that (paying at the same time for a copy of the classic children's book Make Way for Ducklings on sale for just Php100!), went back to the customer service desk and signed up. Happily there were nine other people who already had signed up ahead of me. That seems to be much less than last time but I guess that's because the bookstore didn't advertise about the reservations this time around. Still, at least I'm not the only one who can't wait to get their hands on the last book in the series.

My parents and I also dropped by Wendy's Hamburgers fastfood for lunch and found that they had completely renovated their place there in the mall. It now sports a different but more vibrant color scheme and a more practical layout. The walls are now painted a refreshing light pine/moss green and matched the speckled green laminated tabletops. Adding contrast to this were the red seat cushions. As for the layout, the counter was now up front on the right side of the expanded entrance (no more walls to separate the area from the promenade outside) with the eating area located on the left extending to the read of the stall and a few tables up front. (The counter had bigger and brighter displays of the menu items as well.) I find this is more efficient than the old layout where the counter was typically situated at the back of the stall with the eating area in front. This made getting to a table a little difficult and confusing because the queues which were often long during traditional mealtimes would intrude into the eating area and cause a lot of traffic problems. With the new layout, a customer could walk up right to the counter without having to wind through the tables and chairs (as well as and fastfood employees assigned with clearing the tables or delivering food) and more easily get out of the queue and find a table. I wish the other fastfoods here in town could use a similar layout as it's always a big hassle trying to get into and out of a line with a trayful of food and drinks.

As for the food, it was still the same good sandwiches with lots of vegetables and the variety of salads that were recently introduced. (Hmmm... I've just realized that they've done away with the salad bar which had become an eye sore in my opinion mainly due to how people here tend to make a mess of things there when they prepare their salads.) I tried their taco salad--typical lettuce and tomato salad topped with tortilla chips and a bit of chili--and found it satisfactory. Nothing great but good enough for me to consider ordering it again next time we decided to drop by Wendy's for lunch or dinner. But I found the vegetables wet; I wished they'd learn to spin their lettuce leaves here. I also had tried their caesar salad months ago and found it just a bit too salty (because of the bacon bits I think) for my taste. I don't think I'd dare touch their macaroni and lettuce salad: for me macaroni salad on top of caesar's salad just doesn't make sense. I'd rather have one or the other but not macaroni as part of a salad. (One habit of customers here who go to the salad bar is to top their macaroni salad with a salad dressing. Ugh!) Nevertheless, I'm happy to see that Wendy's Hamburgers is still surviving here in the country since it is still one of my favorite fastfood restaurants next to Burger King and Subway.