This Bell’s great

I am in heaven!

I have been for the last two weeks and a few times before that as well when I’d brave the long drive to Gateway Mall from Alabang just to indulge in one of my favorite things in the world. Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit, but it would be an understatement to say that I’ve been ecstatic ever since my absolute favorite Mexican fast food joint finally arrived on our sunny shores.

Yup, I’m talking about Taco Bell. I’m sure by now everyone knows it’s here – having opened in Gateway Mall several months ago and finally in SM Southmall last week. I know a lot of foreigners here are happy about that but I can see that a lot of Filipinos are warming up to the idea as well. After all, why not, it’s fast, affordable, and absolutely heaven on the taste buds.

Taco Bell finally opening here has been about more than just satisfying the craving I could only ever quell whenever I went out the country. It was about being able to go back to something from my childhood that’s practically a stones throw from my backyard. Taco Bell, in many ways, has become a symbol of many of my favorite things while growing up, and though that may sound shallow and weird to some, if you were around during that time you would understand.

I grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado with both my parents and my cousins. It’s a picture-perfect small town community where you make friends with your neighbors and have barbeques on Sundays and hardly anyone ever leaves their doors locked. Every once a month, everyone would get together for an ice cream party at the school or the kids would fly kites in the park while the parents just talked and hung out. No smog, no traffic, no pollution. It was the perfect place to be a child. We had picnics, sleepovers, lemonade stands, county fairs, and in my little corner of pre-adolescent paradise I had Taco Bell and Dominos Pizza.

My parents worked a lot while I was growing up and that didn’t bother me one bit. They spent every free moment they had hanging out with me, my mom taking me shopping and making me awesome enviable lunch for school and my dad teaching me how to ride a bike, play tennis, or basically just enjoy sports. He even regularly took me to the library and helped me check out different books every week, which fostered my love of reading and writing. In either case, due to their constantly full schedules of working and hanging out with me, we would scarcely have the time to eat full home-cooked meals.

Usually one parent would be working in the evening and sometimes both of them would. We reserved home-cooked meals for Sundays or special occasions like birthdays or holidays. On the regular evenings I became accustomed to that wonderful world of microwaveable meals, Chef Boyardee, and of course take out.

Enter Taco Bell.

There was a branch really near our house and ever since I was a little girl I remember that it was always my favorite thing to eat. When either Mom or Dad would pick me up from school before going to work they would ask what I wanted to bring home. In the face of McDonald’s, Burger King, Popeye’s, Long John Silver, and even Dominos (which was my second choice) I would constantly yell out Taco Bell whenever my parents asked me where I wanted to grab dinner.

At the risk of sounding like a sap talking about an ex, Taco Bell has been with me through many times of my life that were really special to me. Other than always getting my no-cheese order right, it was always there. It was the first meal I remember eating after we finally moved into our own house on Bella Drive, it was the meal I remember eating after I got my first dog; my beloved German Shepherd Dutch, it was the meal I was eating when I watched Star Wars for the first time, it was what I ate with my best friend Lena at our first sleepover together (and through many more after that, along with Dominos of course), it was the meal I ate after winning second place in the race of champions and first place in the Science Olympiad at school, it was what I was eating when I read my first favorite book King Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory, it was what I ate several times with my friends, parents, and cousins, and most importantly, it was what I was eating when my parents decided to move back to the Philippines and I had to say goodbye to my beloved childhood home.

In many ways, I think my constantly searching for Taco Bell (and I suffered over a decade here without it indulging every single time I was out the country) has been more than just a search for that delicious one-of-a-kind taste, but also a search for a way back to happier times when I had no problems and life was so carefree. These days as I worry about my career (or lack thereof), building the business, meeting deadlines (which I’m still quite bad at), losing weight, and carrying the baggage of past failed relationships and insecurities, while trying to quell the fear of the future, I think I long for way back to when none of this mattered to me at all – and in a way, Taco Bell has become a yummy time machine. Not to mention, its staple ad dog has become a reminder of my own beloved Gordo who passed away last December. All in all, thank God it’s finally here!

So, in the age old question on Taco Bell’s famous Chihuahua ad "’Yo quiero, Taco Bell?" my answer will always be a resounding "Si!" I recommend it to everyone! From delicious tacos, to quesadillas, burritos, nachos, cinnamon twists there’s something for everyone’s palate and if you chew hard enough in between the mouth-watering bite-fulls of Mexican delight you may find a bit of childhood paradise.

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Taco Bell is now open in Gateway Mall and SM Southmall. E-mail me at aquamarine_tranquility@yahoo.com.