The Cooking School in Chiang Mai Experience

I have quite a number of reasons why I love Chiang Mai. One of the reasons, perhaps the most important, is the food. Thai food is good. I don’t need to convince anybody of that. And it is outrageously inexpensive, too! So I thought, what better way to celebrate this spectacular reason than with signing … Read more

The Lost Bag of Oatiekin Bars from Tsokolat Bakeshop in Dumaguete City

UPDATE: The Tsokolat store sign might not be there, but you can still get these oatiekin bars. It’s not on display anymore but just ask the employee in the shop if you want some. For orders, contact Francine at 09178639443.

November of 2009, I spent a week in Dumaguete City in order to learn online jobs. It was a nice break since I never really had a long vacation from work. My leaves were usually spent as added days off from my normal rest days. While in the City of Gentle People, I was advised by a friend to check out oatiekin cookie bars from Tsoklat Bakeshop along Hibbard Avenue.

Tsokolat Bakeshop
Dumaguete City

oatiekins tsokolat
Oatiekin Chocolate Fudgy Bars
photo credit: michellephilippines.blogspot.com

Oatiekin Chocolate Bars – fudgy chocolate cream bars wrapped between oatmeal blankets.

I couldn’t remember the actual note posted in a red cutout paper. But it sounded something like the description above. This was recommended to me on Facebook and a few people at the office requested me to buy these rich choco bars for them. Below is a conversation on my Facebook wall.

facebook dumaguete
Great how technology works, no?

Prior to our online chat, I had to visit the place in order to see how their pastries tasted. The bakeshop wasn’t hard to find as it was located near a house where we lived when we were still staying in Dumaguete. Besides, the city is small so everything is easily accessible.

I arrived after lunch time and was welcomed with a quaint store between a water station and a laundry shop – really multifunctional. The bakeshop sold a number of desserts with peculiar names such as chizmosa, lanky chews, mango tango, kalamanji, hooters and so much . Pretty odd labels but still looked interesting.

tsokolat bakeshop dumaguete
Tsokolat Bakeshop Bread and Pastries
Where Sweet Dreams Come True

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JoEd’s Lutong Hapon: Affordable Japanese Food in Cebu

Craving for some CHEAP Japanese food here in Cebu? I suggest you try JoEd’s Lutong Hapon in Mabolo.

I first read about this small eatery on Carla’s blog which was also what an office colleague also mentioned in random. I was able to check a thread of this store in a local forum on how you can really find value for your money because of how affordable the prices are.

Japanese Cebu
JoEd’s Lutong Hapon in Cebu

I’m not a big fan of Japanese cuisine but I like to try out different food places when they’re new; most especially when they’re cheap. So during our lunch break, my officemates and I headed to Juan Luna Extension from Asiatown IT Park.

california maki
California Maki – 65 Php per plate

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Hong Kong Trip: Hong Kong to Cebu

The last day of our trip. Our flight wouldn’t be until 12:45am the next day so that meant we had to be at the airport before that time. Since this was our last day, we did some more shopping on items that a couple of colleagues requested for us to buy. Check out time at … Read more

Hong Kong Trip: Citygate Outlets and Disneyland

September 5, 2010
Hong Kong Trip Day 4: City Gate Outlets and Disney Land

We woke up late because of our trip yesterday in Macau. We covered a lot of areas and despite having to walk for four days straight already, we still had a couple more tourist spots in Hong Kong to check out.

mickey mouse
Mickeys – not hidden

disney hongkong
Disneyland in Hong Kong

The weather was way better now so it was good to go to a theme park. We already purchased our tickets from Ate Yolly (of the Tai San Guesthouse) so we planned on dropping by Hong Kong Disneyland. However by this time, we already needed to shop as we didn’t have any extra clothes left and I was reusing my shirt. We decided to head first to City Gate Outlets first.

Had breakfast at Maxim’s (not the male mag) Restaurant as it was one of the recommended places to eat in Hong Kong according to PinoyExchange.com. I ate a sandwich because I didn’t want to spend on food knowing that I can always eat in hordes back in the Philippines.


inside Maxims restaurant in Hong Kong

Had a bit of a difficulty locating the food shop because we were looking for the word ‘Maxim’ around town, only then did we realize that Maxim’s restaurant is displayed with the initials MX on their store.

12 HKD – Ham & Egg Sandwich for me
24 HKD – Fish Fillet Sausage Breakfast with drinks for Logan
24 HKD – Bacon & Egg Breakfast with drinks for Cindy

We rode the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central Station; and then Central to Tung Chung which led us directly to the Citygate Outlet mall.

city gate hong kong

Places Mentioned:
Maxim’s Restaurant
Citygate Outlets Shopping Center
Food Republic
Disneyland Resort
Modern Toilet

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Hong Kong Trip: World Trade Center & Times Square in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai

September 3, 2010
Hong Kong Trip Day 2: World Trade Center and Times Square in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai

It rained on our second day in Hong Kong and it was declared as Storm Signal Number 1 which was such a bummer since we were raring to go out.

clive owen bvlgari
Designer Tram at Causeway Bay

Although we slept late in the morning, I woke up early to find some food for breakfast. From our hostel at the Tai San Guesthouse, I went to iSQUARE which is just a couple of blocks away. Initially, I thought iSQUARE was an office owned by Apple; later did I found that it is one of Hongkong’s skyrise malls.

I went there because I was looking for a supermarket to buy some grocery items: water bottles and chips; as well as some hair gel because we realized we weren’t in our best look when we saw our pictures the previous day. hehe.

marketplace by jasons
Marketplace by Jasons at iSquare mall

Places we visited:
iSquare Mall
World Trade Center and Times Square in Causeway Bay
Wan Chai Computer Center
The Spaghetti House

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Hongkong Trip: Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok Computer Center

September 2, 2010
Hongkong Trip Day 1: Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok Computer Center

It was a good thing Cindy, the ever-reliable researcher, read through a lot of information online especially on PinoyExchange.com (PEX). She told me that all the necessary details on what to do, where to go and how to get there is already laid out so there was no need for us to hire a travel agency to create an Itinerary for us.

busy hongkong streetshongkong night
shops and streets at 10pm!

I woke up and saw my friends, Cindy and Logan, still surfing the net with their laptops. I slept for a couple of hours at the Hong Kong International Airport which was a good thing as I had more energy to stroll around the place when we got to our hostel.

tickets train station octopus cards
Train Tickets to purchase Octopus cards

Unknown Object6am, at the airport; we went to the center where we could buy some Octopus cards for our MTR (Mass Transit Railway) fares. This proved to be a wise choice as it’s a very convenient way to travel and pay for your fare when going to different towns.

Octopus cards – check out wikipedia for more information about it: Wikipedia – Octopus Card

Places we visited:
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tai San Guesthouse
Avenue of the Stars
1881 Heritage
Mongkok Computer Center

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Hongkong Trip: From Cebu to Hong Kong

This will be a series of blog entries on how we got to Hong Kong from Cebu. Because of the information we got online was so helpful, this is my way of giving back to the community in sharing my experience for those people who might also need the information.

Hongkong Trip: Going From Cebu to Hong Kong
September 1-2, 2010

This was my first time to go abroad so I was apprehensive because I didn’t know how many issues we would be facing that would prevent us from setting foot onto foreign soil.

There were three of us (Cindy, Logan and I) and we were all first-timers so this was something we’ve looked forward to ever since we booked tickets about a year ago. We paid only 1200 Php each for the round-trip ticket from Cebu to Hong Kong using Cebu Pacific’s Piso Fare.

tsim sha tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

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Green Leaf Kitchen: Cherry’s Home Cookin’

Been helping out my next-door neighbor with her cooking. Colleagues were requesting for her services to come up with some dishes that they picked from a magazine for mother’s day. Green Leaf Kitchen is a home project which I believe will prosper since Cherry (the cook) loves to prepare food. Because of this, I get … Read more

Hebrews: my little wifi corner in Asiatown IT Park

Hebrews is a wifi haven! IT Park is turning out to be a haven for wifi surfers. Given that it’s an IT zone, the whole place should have internet connection available. Because it would still be costly, there are only a few establishments that offer wifi service, One of the normal days where I usually … Read more

Bigby’s Cafe at Ayala Terraces

Bigby’s Cafe & Restaurant Terraces Ayala Center, Cebu The night of my birthday last September 09, 2009, we went out because I wanted to treat Doi and Audrey for dinner. I wanted to try something new and we figured that we’d eat at Bigby’s restaurant at the Terraces in Ayala Center Cebu since I’ve always … Read more

on a diet, really.

Just wanted to test myself if I can refrain from binging on food. I initially asked a colleague who’s a yoga instructor for some tips on what to eat cause I’ve been living unhealthily nowadays and I just want to get fit again (lol). Now I’m pressured cause she (the yoga instructor) really created a … Read more

Cebu high blood station

One evening, my colleagues were planning to go to High Blood Station in Mabolo. I've never been to the place and they've been able to eat there a number of times so I decided to tag along. High Blood Station has actually been termed as such by the people who eat there. There's no actual … Read more

food binge

Been binging a lot on food nowadays. Probably because of not having enough sleep, I’m now reduced to a slob. Everytime I eat, it seems like I’m never satisfied with the food that’s presented to me. Chicken, pork, pasta, chicken, beef, chicken; I take them in big servings. People explain to me that it’s natural … Read more