Sorry Sari-Sari

I needed to get rid of some carrots and a head of cabbage so I thought I would make some lumpia. (Recipe here.) I headed to the Sari-Sari store in Mishawaka only to find the building gone, taken over by an expanded intersection. This was depressing news as I didn’t know of any place that sold the Simex brand of wrappers which I am fond of. I tried the Korean store that I knew of but as I suspected they didn’t have it.

Let me give you an example of why I love my smart phone. As I sat outside the Korean store, I googled up oriental stores in Mishawaka and South Bend. I found one promising result that was just outside the Notre Dame campus. Then I pressed a button to get turn-by-turn directions to the place. Oh what wonderful technology we have available now. If only the coupon app that I had anything useful.

The Oriental Store (yes that’s its real name) did have what I was looking for, thankfully. It has now become my new go-to Asian store. While I was ringing out, the very nice lady there told me that the Sari-Sari store had actually burnt down. Burnt down? What a coincidence then that the there would be a road/intersection expansion. Hmmm…

I told my mom about this and she told me that I should go to a store that’s in the middle of downtown South Bend. I’m guessing word of the Sari-Sari store’s demise has already when through the Filipino phone tree and an alternative establishment chosen. The thing is that… I detest downtown. I dunno, maybe I’ll give it a shot next time.