Zamboanga's Knickerbocker

We have had several trips to Zamboanga the past years and in 2019 landed a couple of projects that would make sure we would be traveling to the city more frequently that year and in 2020. One of our close friends joined us in one of our trips late last year and was looking for a particular dessert. The knickerbocker is a variant of the very popular halu-halo (directly translated as 'mixed' to describe the mixture of various ingredients for this cold dessert). It has no ice unlike most halu-halo. Instead, it relies on ice cream (strawberry in this case) to make it a cold treat. It had lots of fruits instead of the beans and nuts in the typical halu-halo.

The Zamboanga Knickerbocker

Unfortunately, our friend forgot where he was treated to this dessert after they had eaten there so weren't able to enjoy this last year. This lunchtime though, our search for a new restaurant to eat at proved serendipitous as we spotted Palmeras along the way to another restaurant and decided to eat there instead. I got curious about each table ordering the same dessert and checked the menu to find the knickerbocker there. We ordered one each and was treated to one of the better variants of halu-halo.

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Chocolate review: Leonidas Dark 70%

We love Leonidas chocolates and that is not an understatement considering the quality of their chocolates. Of course, there's a lot of sentimental value to this chocolate as my first chocolates to give the wife was a box of Leonidas. I bought the box at the Leonidas shop at the Landmark Tower in Minato Mirai, Yokohama. And I think that was the only time I bought anything from that shop.

Here is a 70% dark chocolate bar that we enjoyed after one dinner. The wife bought this at the airport in San Francisco en route to Manila via Incheon. It was a last minute purchase as she already secured our supply of Scharffen Berger chocolates in Berkeley.

This is a dark chocolate having a minimum 70% cacao content

Details about the chocolate at the back of the box

Aside from the ingredients, what stands out here is the claim for the product to be of 100% sustainable cocoa.

Nutrition information

The chocolate is as smooth as it can be at 70% cacao. It is definitely a must buy the next time we have an opportunity to do so.

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Zamboanga Archdiocese Metropolitan Cathedral

Before I return to Zamboanga next week, I thought it would be nice to post something about the city. In this case, I thought I would be writing about going to church there. My colleagues wanted to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar at Fort Pilar. A quick map query showed, however, that the cathedral was just a couple of blocks away from our hotel. And so I chose to go there instead and was able to catch the last Sunday Mass. Here's a few photos of the church interior.

Main altar

Stained glass windows at the right side of the cathedral

Stained glass windows at the left side of the cathedral

The Mass was in English so I didn't have any trouble understanding the homily. Other parts of the Mass I don't really need a translation since I know the words anyway. In fact, when I was living in Japan, I could go to the Mass celebrated in Japanese (Nihongo) and only struggled during the homily as I tried to get the essence of what the priest-presider was saying to the congregation.

I actually attended a Mass con-celebrated by the chaplains of the different branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). As such, there were a lot of uniformed personnel in the cathedral. Outside, a combined force of marines and police stood guard and managed traffic. Zamboanga and the rest of Mindanao is still under martial law, and there are a lot of servicemen posted there who are from other parts of the country.

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On Taal and Tagaytay

We were frequent visitors to Tagaytay the years prior to the rapid commercialization and (over)development of the city. While we still go there occasionally, We have not been able to enjoy the city and its environs as much as we did before. Nevertheless, we genuinely feel for the people (the real residents but not necessarily for the carpetbaggers) of Tagaytay and other cities and towns affected by the eruption of the volcano. They deserve better and yet they should also heed the advice of science over those of politicians who have taken advantage of them and now claim innocence over what is perceived as a lack of preparedness for such a calamity.

Dawn over Taal - I took this photo from the balcony of what was our favorite bed & breakfast hotel in Tagaytay. I thought this showed a rather peaceful scene complete with the background of roosters giving everyone a wake-up call.

I had wanted to post an aerial shot of Taal volcano. I have one or more somewhere in an old folder when the planes (not sure our origin) I were on flew over the volcano. Unfortunately, these are probably in my older computers or portable drives. I will for these and post them soon.

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Chocolate review: Venchi sampler

Another set of photos I keep forgetting to post are these about Venchi chocolates. I stumbled upon the photos as I was clearing one of my phones and saving them to my back-up drive.

The chocolates were packaged inside this nice tin container. From the looks of it, it is something that's given as a gift to a special someone.

There were three varieties of chocolates inside - 75% dark choco, creme cacao, and creme pistachio. The last two were milk chocolates

Some poetry in Italian and English about Venchi and their passion for chocolate

Details about the chocolate at the back of the tin

These Venchi chocolates were exquisite and I must say a "must buy" for those who love chocolates. We got more Venchi chocolates in our recent trip to Singapore. I will post about them once we've eaten a bar or two. :) The wife is celebrating her birthday today so its a perfect time to have 

[Note: We just cleaned up after last night's ash fall from the eruption of Taal Volcano. I'm stating this here as a reference.]

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Cafe Quezon, Maginhawa Street

Just before the Christmas break, we were looking for a place to have a quick lunch at. We hadn't eaten at the Gyoza restaurant at UP Village in a while so we headed there. Unfortunately, the place was closed for a Christmas Party and we had to look for another place to eat at. Driving along Maginhawa St., we spotted a cafe we have always passed for to eat at other restos. And so we decided to go to Cafe Quezon. Here are a couple of photos of our meals.

Their version of beef salpicao

Tuna pesto pasta

The food was okay and was prepared/cooked quickly enough. We thought the servings were just the right quantity. The cafe interior was cozy and comfy. The staff were warm and attentive. There was only just one other person eating there at the time we got there and that was likely because of the time of the year when there was no longer school and many were already on break. Price-wise, it won't hurt your wallet so it's budget-friendly.

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Christmas lights in Zamboanga

Before I forget again, I am sharing some photos taken before Christmas last year when we were in Zamboanga City for a kick-off meeting for a project we are implementing for the city. Here are some photos taken one night time we decided to take a stroll at the park and city hall.

Christmas tree at Plaza Pershing

City Hall all lighted up

Another view of City Hall with the belen in the foreground

View of City Hall from the intersection just across it and the public market

View of Plaza Pershing from across the street

Monument to Jose Rizal

Here is what City Hall looks like in the daytime. Note that the building is an historic one; one of many heritage structures in this Latin City of the Philippines.

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Turkish lamps from the Arab Quarter, SG

The recent trip to Singapore allowed us to go back to some of our haunts including the Arab Quarter. Among the shops we went to were those selling Persian carpets and rugs from that region including Afghanistan. But the objective was really to pick up one or two lamps from the Turkish lantern shops in the area.

An assortment of lamps - it was quite a challenge to choose lamps among those on display but we were able to get a couple.

One of the lamps we bought was installed at our lanai. This one was a glass mosaic.

The other lamp is beneath one of our balconies and above a favorite seating area. The glass panels are brought together by a decorative brass case. When lighted, the design gives off that burst on top.

Our only regret was not being able to get a couple more lamps as well as a rug or two. We almost got one rug but thought the purchase would hurt our budget. We were also shopping for Christmas presents and the really nice rugs cost a lot. More on this in a future post.

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Arab Quarter in Singapore

I begin the year not with a chocolate review nor a watch feature but with some travel photos. These are from our recent trip to Singapore, trips that we always consider as sentimental journeys. Despite living in the city-state for almost 2 years, we have not really explored as much as we wanted to. We do have our favorite haunts and almost always go to one or some of them whenever we are in SG. One of the places we had planned to go to for the weekend trip was the Arab Quarter. We wanted to have another look at the carpets and lamps

The buildings evoke the Singapore of old times. Shops and restaurants (businesses) were usually at the ground floor and residential space on the second.

Contrary to what some think or imagine Singapore to be, there are actually a lot of cars here but many are used on the weekends and for leisurely drives or trips. Most Singaporeans and foreign workers take public transport any day of the week.

There is a good view of the grand mosque from the pedestrian-only street. The street is lined with restaurants, cafes and shops. 

Turkish restaurant - we have a favorite where we always have a great meal and enjoy Turkish coffee afterwards.

Malay-Singaporean cuisine themed restaurants are also along the street

There are also Lebanese, Indonesian and Indian cuisine themed restaurants but the central attraction is the mosque.

The mosque attracts both religious (Muslims) and non-religious (tourists) people. Singapore is a model in terms of tolerance and understanding among peoples of various religions and cultures. There is respect here among them and that is reinforced by the rule of law in the city state.

I will post about the lamps we got soon!
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