Just be happy!

BANKING up a list of ice cream shops or juice bars is but the way to go, now that the weather in Davao City is slowly turning back from being hot and humid again after days of coldness and sporadic rainfall due to the low pressure area (LPA) hovering over Mindanao.

While it's hard to predict the weather, it's still good to get acquainted with stores near where you are so that the next time you feel the need for an ice-cold drink, you can easily satisfy your thirst in no time.

Just early this week, we hit the Happy Lemon, one of the juice bars at The Peak of Gaisano Mall, as recommended by a colleague about a couple of days ago. Knowing that it passed his picky palate, we undoubtedly tried out what's in their menu, too.

Happy Lemon offers a wide selection of cold drinks ranging from smoothies, lemon series, fresh teas, milk teas, mousse spin, rock salt cheese, and cocoa and coffee. Some of these options come with fresh fruit mixes to spruce up the taste while others have none but flavorful enough to make it not less satisfying as well.

Among the many ice-blended drinks, my pig out buddies rather got themselves each with Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese. I could still remember Ara, saying: "You have to lick the straw so that the drink could taste a little salty."

They liked it even more because the salt really brings its flavor up above a new level, offering your palate with a new and contrasting taste to the sweetness of the ice-cold drink with thick foam and bits of cheese.

While they obviously enjoyed their Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese, I got somewhat frustrated with my Grapefruit Black Coffee. That, at least, was true on a first few sips.

I was thinking that it was plain juice with more ice which I could easily make myself at home, nothing more and nothing less. But, it was not.

Only after I chugged down more of it that I got my interest back for the drink. Surprisingly, there were cubes of fruits which I mistook as cubes of ice right in the bottom of the glass.

Other delectable options are Cocoa with Pudding, Mocha Cocoa, Cocoa with Taro, and Lemon Black Tea. And yes, I'll try each one after another. Why not? They are now in my shortlist.