The Sneaky Sincere Smile

This entry is really about chocolates and smiles that sneak up on you. That's a note to myself, in case I end up rambling on about things that are not what I'm supposed to write about.

I was in Mega Mall one rainy day last week. I was late for class and had to buy something at Toy Kingdom. I needed coffee to take with me to class. It's a 9am to 6pm thing in one classroom and believe me, at my age, I cannot keep my sanity sitting down the whole day in one room. I make regular trips to the 7-Eleven in the building, just to change the scenery a bit and get a much-needed caffeine boost.

So anyway... in Mega Mall that day, I decided to try Blenz, a new coffee chain from Canada. Let's forget about the coffee. It was rather uneventful. Walking back to the carpark with my uneventful takeout coffee, a booth selling chocolates caught my eye. As most chocolate-selling booths are wont to do.

It was a four-sided booth in the walkway, with three sides of display cases filled with all sorts of chocolates. I must remember to post pics next time. So sorry but you'll have to imagine with me for now.

What caught my eye was a foil pack of Ghirardelli chocolates. I'm a Ghirardelli fan and I used to always bake these brownies from a Ghirardelli mix and I'd pretend I had made them from scratch. Hehe.


So anyway... I was on the first side of the booth display and was checking out the Ghirardelli foil pouches and the Whitman samplers. They also had Andes Mint and Turtles (hay naman... I am melting even as I write this).

I was asking the shop girl about the prices as I proceeded to check the other side of the booth display. This was when the "sincere smile" sneaked up on me. On that glass display was an array of handmade chocolates from Cacao and Chef Laudico.

I couldn't suppress a wide smile and a giggle. I'm sure you know what that feels like. I smile and laugh a lot but I'm aware of THAT smile that just happens spontaneously, without much thinking on my part. It's the kind of smile that comes from the most instinctual part of us. It just comes out involuntarily. It just surprises you that you are grinning madly from ear to ear. And it feels so damn great when that happens. Suddenly all your troubles melt away and the world is well.

Handmade chocolate did it for me. What with names like buco, dalandan (or calamansi... I have to check), lambanog, etc. I could imagine the taste of each one. I was in heaven. I walked away floating and waving in slo-mo to the shop girl.

I didn't get anything from the store that day. I just made a mental note to make a date of it with myself or C if he's good. I want to go back to that Cacao booth when I'm not in a hurry and I have time to choose what I want to try. Chocolate tasting, instead of wine tasting.

I promise to tell you how it goes.