Coffee Mugs

Just before lunch yesterday, my wife and I went to the Fil Products office to pay our Internet/cable tv bill. As a late Christmas gift, those paying bills yesterday received a coffee mug with the Fil Products' logo emblazoned on it. Mine is shown here filled with my morning cafe mocha.

Coincidentally, when we had gone window shopping at Robinson's mall Saturday, I had been in the market for a new mug, but was unable to find one that suited me. Most of the mugs at Robinson's department store were over priced, in my view. The exception was one particular style of coffee mug priced cheaply, but I didn't care for the design.

I realize that a swastika has a very different meaning in South Asia than in the U.S. and Europe, but obviously, I wasn't about to buy one.

Brunch at Cafe Mamia

Like every Thursday for ages, I met with a small group of American Expats for brunch at a local cafe today. At one time, we would find a suitable meeting place and return to the same place for weeks or even months at a time. Recently, however, we've taken to meeting at a different spot each Thursday.

Today, we decided on Cafe Mamia at the corner of San Jose Street and Sta. Catalina Street not far from Rizal Blvd. in Dumaguete. There were six Americans meeting this morning - one is a newbie -. Three of us had met at Cafe Mamia once before. We seemed to be in agreement that it had been two years since we were last there, but a check of photos that I had posted to Google Maps at the time show that we last visited the cafe in September 2018.

Today, we all agreed that the food was top notch. I had a bread pudding à la mode, which was absolutely delicious. With lots of creamer and brown sugar added, my coffee was not bad.

I had planned on trying a mango shake in order to add to my reviews. The menu listed mango smoothies rather than shakes, but no matter. Two of my companions ordered mango smoothies with their regular order, but I didn't want mine to come out with my coffee and bread pudding. I'd order my smoothie after the food arrived. Unfortunately, when I ordered my smoothie, I learned that my companions received had the last mango smoothies available. When it came to me, the cafe was "out of stock, sir".  One of the guys with me - who is also a regular reader of this blog wanted me to point out that he thought his smoothie was very good. We're planning on returning next Thursday, so perhaps I can have one then.

Something odd happened while I was paying for my food. The menu gives the price of brewed coffee as 55 peso, and the bread pudding à la mode as 105 pesos. The cashier had my bill and told me the total was 90 pesos. That's less than the price of the bread pudding - not to mention the brewed coffee. I pointed out to the cashier that the price was incorrect. She said the coffee was 55 and the bread pudding was 35. I was confused. When I told her that the price on the menu was 105 she looked confused as well, and said something to the waiter in Visayan. I'm hardly fluent, but I believe he must have explained to her that the à la mode increased the price.

If that's the case, then I'd hardly think that the addition of cream should raise the price by 70 pesos. I have no complaint because the menu clearly had 105 and the dish was delicious. I'm still finding it hard to believe that I could have had the bread pudding sans ice cream for only 35 pesos.

In addition to posting the photographs I took this morning, I'm including maps from Google showing the location. There will be two maps below. Google has two entries for the same location.....one given as Cafe Mamia and another as Mamia's Bar and Restaurant. There was a time when I would notify Google Maps of the duplication, but after seeing nothing being done to correct this in the past, I'm reluctant to point out the error now.

Poor Man's Mocha Java

After publishing my last post [This Blog at Nearly Thirteen Years ] I make a slight change with one of the gadgets on this page; basically, an update on my most popular posts.

With this arrangement, a post from August, 2014 [My New Beverage of Choice.] pops up near the top. In that post, I wrote of my having developed a taste for hot green tea with sugar and calamansi. Over the years, I've not been drinking quite as much green tea as I was when that post was written, but coincidentally, I've been drinking more green tea w/calamansi the past few days, after a neighbor gave us quite a lot of calamansi from their tree.

I went back and read what I had written five years ago. My method of making the beverage today is slightly different from 2014. I put in the juice of several of the fruits - with sugar - prior to my adding the hot water and tea bag.

The five years in Sibulan has brought about another change in my beverage(s) of choice. Before moving here, I would not touch instant coffee, nor would I add anything to the brewed coffee other than sugar occasionally. Now, it's instant coffee, brown sugar and loads of Coffee-Mate. For a breakfast treat, my first coffee of the day also has Bear Brand Choco Milk Powder as a major ingredient.

Still, even with my switching back to coffee from green tea, I haven't noticed any ghosts. nor have I been hearing strange voices as described by the BBC in 2009.

More Pastries

In Philippines, a city or municipality is divided into districts or wards called barangay. Sibulan, the municipality (or town) where we live consists of 15 barangays. We live in the barangay (brgy) of Cangmating. Our property is located in Brgy. Magatas. Like most Philippine cities or municipalities, the name commonly used for the central, downtown, or central business barangay is called Brgy.Poblacion.

In Sibulan's Brgy.Poblacion, you'll find the police station, the municipal offices, the market, pier and several businesses. There are several bakeries in Poblacion - too numerous to count, actually - but there are three, which we frequent, just feet from each other; Arbee's, AHL Richie & AHL Rose bakeries and Birdie's. When it comes to sliced bread, we prefer the bread from Birdie's. We haven't found any sliced bread in any of the bakeries or groceries in Sibulan or Dumaguete that's better.

Unfortunately, the other types of bread and pastries found at Birdie's aren't as good.

This morning, my son and I walked to the market area to buy bread. The pastries in the photo were purchased at AHL Richie & AHL Rose bakeries. I'm sure these two different varieties have names, but I didn't ask. They're as good as they look.

How do these compare with pastries found at The Rollin' Pin? The pastries from AHL are comparable to a Bear Claw or Danish in the U.S.. The pastries from The Rollin' Pin are a flakier pastry, more like a turn over or croissant.

I knew that a flaky pastry may be a bit more labor intensive, and I can understand why a pastry made that way might cost more, but the two pastries shown in the photo cost 5 peso each. The two pastries from The Rollin' Pin (show in the earlier post) were almost 4 times as much - 18 pesos each. The Rollin' Pin raisin pastries were a wee bit smaller than the AHL pastries. A pastry of a similar size purchased at The Rollin' Pin was 35 pesos.

Another advantage AHL has over The Rollin' Pin is it's location in relation to our apartment. AHL is well within walking distance from our apartment. If one has to indulge in one's craving for a sweet pastry, it doesn't hurt to get a little exercise before hand.

Take Out Pastries from The Rollin' Pin

In August of last year, I posted a piece, onto my Dumaguete Website blog, about a little coffee shop near Silliman called The Rolling Pin. Since that time, I've returned a few times with my son; my wife hadn't been there until the three of us stopped by Saturday morning after picking up my son's report card.

My wife tried a Mango milkshake - my son having his favorite; the cookies and cream milkshake. I had a pastry and a latte. I had no complaints about the pastry; it was quite good, in fact. However, I was disappointed in the latte.



To make up for my disappointment, I bought 2 raisin pastries to take home and have with a coffee that I prepared myself.

Like all the pastries I've tried from The Rolling Pin, these were very good. The price of these particular pastries is 18 pesos each. Two raisin pastries, 36 pesos - that comes to about $0.75. That's about on par for the U.S., although, I'd say that's a little high by Philippine standards.

My New Beverage of Choice.

There was once a time - many, many, years ago - when my diet pretty much consisted of three things; coffee, beer and cigarettes. That's no longer the case.

I gave up cigarettes more than 20 years ago. It was 22 years this past July, as a matter of fact.

Although I won't go so far as to say I have given up having a beer now and then, I hardly ever indulge any more. I'd say probably no more than once or twice a year. Compared to what I once put away, this is nothing.

Of the three vices mentioned above, the only one that I still indulge in on a regular basis is coffee. But, even my coffee drinking isn't what it once was. Even before moving to Sibulan, I had made a conscious effort to cut back on the Java. Now that I'm living in Philippines, I can see the habit dwindling even more.

Part of the reason for this drop in coffee consumption is the desire to cut down somewhat on the caffeine. I brought along a supply of ground coffee and I put some into a balikbayan box which has as yet, not left the U.S.. No, one of the main reason why I foresee a further drop in my coffee consumption is the price of coffee in Dumaguete.

Since I still have a small supply left, I haven't shopped for ground coffee; I have looked at prices, out of curiosity. Instant coffee is preferred in Philippines and there isn't a wide selection of ground coffee. When looking at Super Lee's, I noticed only one brand - one that I had never heard of - though it came as either ground or as whole, roasted beans. The cost of both varieties is the same, and neither is a bargain.

Translating pesos to dollars and kilos to pounds, it seems that the price of coffee is around $10 a lb.. I didn't spend a lot of time searching for more coffee at the grocery, and it's possible that I might fins a wider selection. But, I cannot understand why coffee should cost that much here. Coffee can be grown here, though I've never seen a Filipino brand anywhere. Vietnam, one of the main coffee producers in the world is not so very far from here. Walmart's store brand coffee is arabica beans grown in Vietnam, so the coffee shouldn't cost so much here.

As my coffee consumption has gone down, I've started drinking a bit more green tea. I've found one brand of green tea here that is reasonably priced, and actually quite good, though it is also a brand that is new to me.

The green tea I'm using now is called "Susan Baker's Chinese Green Tea". I've Googled the name to find out more about the brand, but very little shows up on the Internet.

Here's my preferred method for green tea:

I put the tea bag into a mug; I've found a regular cup too small. I pour in boiling water, cover the mug with a saucer and allow the tea to steep for a few minutes. When it's the color I like, I had the juice from one calamansi and loads of sugar. For you folks who can't get calamansi, well, I guess you can substitute some other type of citrus. Calamansi is a wee bit smaller than a key lime. The taste is different, however. I've read somewhere that it is a cross between a lime and a Mandarin orange. I don't know. Limes, oranges, grapefruit - all the citrus fruits - have a slightly different taste and I couldn't possibly describe the taste of a calamansi.

Every I read on the Internet tells me that green tea has several health benefits. Reading about, calamansi, I learn that it's pretty good for you as well. Perhaps by combining the two, I can live to be 100.

Even if green tea and calamansi turns out to not be a magic elixir, it certainly tastes good.

Rhymes with Coffee.

According to an article from abcnews , the name of the leader of Libya can be translated into English from Arabic 112 ways. Personally, I'm particle to using Muammar Kadhafi.

While I may not be 100% certain as to how we should spell the name, I'm fairly sure of the correct pronunciation - it rhymes with coffee, right? .....ironic, since it appears that Kadhafi may have been drinking a bit too much of the drink lately.

An AP story - which prefers Moammar Gadhafi, incidentally - says Kadhfi is blaming the unrest in his country on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida who have been putting hallucinogenic pills in the coffee of young Libyans.

Had Kadhafi read my blog, he would have learned from my post in January, 2009 that Too Much Coffee Causes Hallucinations. Can't imagine what would happen if hallucinagines were added.

Rioting, I guess.

Too Much Coffee Causes Hallucinations.

According to a bbc article,
"People who drink too much coffee could start seeing ghosts or hearing strange voices....."

The article goes on to say that a new study shows that people who drank more than seven cups of instant coffee a day were three times more likely to hallucinate than those who drank just one cup.

Balderdash !!!!

I've never heard of anything so preposterous.
Coffee is completely harmless.
I know because the flying Folgers can told me so.