Pancakes for Breakfast

Here in Sibulan, we don't really have what one would call a grocery store. We do have a farmer's market where one can buy fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, chicken and pork, but there is nothing here like Krogers or Publix in Sibulan. For certain items -coffee, tea,cereals and canned goods- you have to go into Dumaguete.

When I first started visiting Dumaguete 14 years ago, the only place that could compare to a grocery store back home was located at Super Lee Plaza. Honestly, you can find everything at Super Lee, from groceries to clothing to electronics. You name it, it's at Super Lee.

Within the last few years, competitors have arrived. Cang's department store has relocated and expanded into the grocery market and with the coming of Robinson's Mall, the Robinson's company now has two grocery locations in Dumaguete.

For me, however, these new guys can't beat the prices at Super Lees.

Two of the things we miss most in Philippines are pancakes and home made biscuits. As for the biscuits, we'll be buying an oven, but unfortunately, not right away; at least not until we knocked a major dent into our house renovation projects. The pancakes, on the other hand, are do-able.

My first stop for flour and baking soda was, naturally, Super Lee. This was before our first visits to Cang's and Robinson's. There wasn't the wide selection of all purpose flour like I'm accustomed to in the States. There was only one brand, and it was PHP 95 a kilo; a little more than $2.00. I wanted to do a bit of price checking before buying this flour, but as it turned out, the other grocery stores were higher.

I promised JP that I'd fix pancakes Sunday, so I bought the flour at Super Lees, along with the baking powder, margarine and pancake syrup. On a later visit to Lees, I went over one aisle from where I found the flour, and found bulk items. On that aisle, I found all purpose wheat flour for just 45 a kilo. I bought a bag and I'll compare the two. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the cheaper flour from here on out.

It's Sunday now....Pancake Day, but it's just 6:30 AM and the only one awake now, besides me, is JP's five year old cousin, Karl. Karl has yet to discover the wonders of pancakes. He'll have to wait until JP's up and about. Karl doesn't know what's in store for him.