I cannot live by croissant and hot chocolate alone. And with longer than usual work hours, I can't always go gourmet or home-cooked. I have to eat for survival, even if that means Sky Flakes crackers or sweet spaghetti with hotdog and limp, al soggy noodles.

For lunch, my go-to girl is my officemate Binky who takes orders for sandwiches with gourmet genes such as capicollo ham, roast beef, and beer sausage, among others. I am a regular of the crabstick mayo sandwich with cheese and horseradish on whole-wheat bread. It's thick and filling, and the horseradish adds a little kick. I often request for an extra slap of horseradish for good measure. All that for 80 pesos.

In the evening, I rely on a good dinner preferably with a cup of coffee to give me a second wind at work. When I do skip, as has often been the case since the start of the year, I nibble on junk food and drink Coke light to get me through the day. They're hardly enough however so on my way home I drop by for a takeout at the usual suspects - Jollibee and Tapa King. If I still have enough energy left, I may drive all the way to Behrouz in Metrowalk for a shawarma and ground beef kebab.

Recently, my usual drive-by has been Burger Machine. Yeah yeah, there are better burgers, Tropical Hut's being the best in my book. But as an ‘80s kid, I feel a pang of nostalgia when I see that BM signage. Burger Machine was one of the local brands that rose to popularity during my college years. The burger is certainly not langhap-sarap, but it brings back a taste of my youth. If only for that, I’ll take it.