Chocolate review: Mr. Beast Feastables Milk Crunch

I believe I already mentioned in previous posts that I prefer dark chocolates. But then I saw this in the supermarket and wanted to see if its like the Nestle Crunch chocolate that I enjoyed during my younger years.

The wrapper pretty much describes the content

Details are at the back of the wrapper.

Nutrition information

Ingredients

The chocolate brought back nice and literally sweet memories of similar chocolates I've tasted when I was a boy. These included local chocolates like Serg and another brand that I already forgot the name of. These also used rice crispies that made enjoying to eat. This chocolate though is on the sweet side so one can't have too many of these bars; especially if you are watching your blood sugar level. 

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Back in cool Tagaytay for the long weekend

We were back in Tagaytay last weekend. That's about a year since the last time we were there. We took advantage of the long weekend and got an RFID tag for our vehicle. I kept putting that off for more than a year as we usually only use our SUVs for long drives. But since that vehicle is not available for this trip, we got the RFIDs to use for the tollways. We also booked rooms at another hotel. I stayed at Casiana last year and found their facilities to be okay including the heated swimming pool. We decided to stay there after our usual hotel didn't have available rooms (a lot of people were in Tagaytay over the long weekend).

The view from our hotel room balcony at 6:00 AM

The view at 7:00 AM, with the sun above the hotel building nearby.

We also went to a couple of new places this weekend as well as rediscovered one that the wife and I frequented before. I will try to write about these experiences soon! 

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Vintage music - vinyl, tapes and CDs

There's sort of a regular weekend bazaar at the mall we got to for our daughter's voice lessons. There's lots of vintage stuff usually for sale. Among these are old vinyl records, cassette tapes and CDs. I didn't see MDs, Betamax, VHS or Laser Discs for sale so I guess these aren't popular or collectible. Here are some items I found last weekend.

Kalapana's self titled album featuring their best known song - The Hurt

There were boxes and boxes of CDs. I was tempted by some jazz and new wave albums but remembered I still have a few that I hadn't actually played since I bought them in a similar bazaar last year!

Found this rare album - The Beatles' Revolver

Much as I wanted to get some vinyl albums, we didn't have a turntable at home. Also, I was hesitant to get into another potentially expensive hobby. Perhaps I should get a nice turntable and speakers first and then swear that I will only get a few choice albums to enjoy especially on long weekends...

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Back at Tenya for lunch

We haven't eaten at Tenya for a while so we decided to have lunch there while at Tiendesitas last Tuesday. Here are a few photos of our lunch. We went for our usual orders that we consider comfort food.

Fried nori (seaweed) using tempura battter for starters

Lunch set featuring tempura, rice, and cold soba

Tendon - what we usually ordered

The tempura always brings me back to the Tenya branch in Akihabara that we frequented in the 1990s. This was the one right under the Sobu Line's elevated tracks that was just a few minutes walk from the JR Akihabara Station.

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Chocolate review: Premium Ghana Dark Milk Chocolate

I found this bar of chocolate among the stash in our refrigerator. I think this was a gift, a pasalubong from one of our faculty who traveled to Japan. They know I like chocolates and without asking them, they usually get me a bar from wherever they traveled. That explains the chocolates I got from different European countries where colleagues have attended conferences.

'Dark' and 'milk' together with 'chocolate' seems to be a contradiction. Its usually just either dark or milk and not both mentioned to describe the chocolate

Details about the chocolate are at the back of the package. While there is no English translation, I

The thing with these Japanese chocolates is they bring back good memories from the time I was a student in Japan. The mass produced chocolates like this Ghana are actually good and that's why I buy these and the Meiji (I prefer the Black) chocolates, which are now usually available in local supermarkets. 

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A view of Mt. Isarog from my hotel room window

Our last morning in our recent trip to Naga City, we had to wait for the rains to stop before we went out for a walk. As I looked out the small window of my hotel room, I was surprised to learn I actually had a nice view of Mt. Isarog. 

Mt. Isarog at 6:00 AM as seen from Centro Square

Perhaps the rains allowed for a good view of Mt. Isarog? It's usually shrouded during the day so it's difficult to get a photo of the full profile of the volcano.

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Souvenirs at Naga Airport

I took these photos at the only eatery/store at the airport in what is actually the town of Pili, Camarines Sur. We had a heavy breakfast last Saturday so we weren't looking for a meal. Rather, one of my colleagues was looking for some pasalubong to take home. He didn't join our morning walk when we got some pili nuts from a streetside stall near the old shrine to Our Lady of Penafrancia.

Various bottled delicacies including laing and santol.

Close-up of the 'Gulay na Santol'

There was also laing

 

Our colleague ended up buying some pili tarts to take home. There wasn't really so many choices for souvenirs unlike at the airport in Legazpi where there are many shops selling various items. 

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Back for more Spanish bread in Naga City

I'm back in Naga City for some meetings. As is my custom during such trips, I try to look for tinapayan (bakeries or bread shops) nearby where we are staying. Somehow, I find the breads in the provinces better tasting compared to the typical ones you can buy in Metro Manila including where we reside in Rizal. Of course, this is just a general observation on my part and I am sure there are good bakeries and bread shops around. In Naga, I've already found a few shops where the breads bring me back to my younger days in Iloilo where there were also good shops in my father's hometown. Perhaps most notable of the bakeries here is a small one near BISCAST and a national high school. I already wrote about Ednorms in a previous post and how good their Spanish bread was. Well, we are back for more!

Breads on display at Ednorm's Bakery include pinagong, star bread, kalihim, pan de coco and assorted cookies. The pandesal and Spanish bread are not on display. They are kept in the oven and only get the orders so they remain hot and fresh.

Fresh from the oven, each piece is priced at 2 pesos.

I couldn't resist eating a few on our way back to the hotel and ate one before going for our breakfast.

I will purchase some breads there again to take home to Manila. Last time, I regretted not buying more. We traveled light again this time so I only got a few together with some other breads to enjoy back home. 

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Cacaomistry: Instant Cacao Mix from Davao via Antipolo

One of my souvenirs from the most recent trip to Davao City was this box of instant cacao mix from Cacaomistry. I do try these products to have my chocolate drink fix. Of course, my go-to drink whether at home or the office is Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate. But I try to find others that I can enjoy. I wrote about the Amazon chocolate mix I got from a trip to Bangkok last year. So I was curious to find this mix at a chocolate-themed store in Davao City.

A box contained 6 28g packs of cacao mix. It already says unsweetened and dairy free so you should expect it to be so when you finally taste the drink.

Details at the back of the box include nutrition information, ingredients and maker (or in this case, processor). I was actually surprised to read that this came from a company in the city of my residence, Antipolo, instead of Davao. Davao is just the source of the cacao.

The nutrition information didn't offer any numbers at all! I was wondering how this passed quality control or DTI. Were I to assume the values to be zero?

Each pack bears the same design found in the box.

Preparation instructions as well as the expiration date are at the back of the pack.

I found the basic mix to be on the bland side. Though I have not tried it yet, some milk and sweetener (perhaps muscovado sugar) could probably improve the taste. I sort of expected the taste to be closer to the classic tsokolate drink based on the tableya. I thought it was far from that. I will give some updates on this when I finally come up with a better way to enjoy this.

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Chocolate review: Another taste of Royce Nama Chocolate

It's been a while since we've had Royce chocolates. Fortunately, the wife traveled to Japan a few months ago and got a few from the airport on her return trip. We had almost forgotten about the Nama chocolates she bought until last week when we cleaned the refrigerator and found 2 boxes tucked at the back of the ref. We opened one and enjoyed the chocolates over a few days; trying not to finish them in one sitting.

The box design is a little different from what I posted many years ago.

Description of the chocolate but in Japanese

Inside the box are well-preserved pieces of the nama chocolates that many have attempted to replicate.

Each individual piece of nama chocolate is satisfaction guaranteed. However, it only fuels the desire to eat another.

I would still say that Royce Nama Chocolate is still the best. We'll definitely getting some again soon.

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Craving for Kra pao at the Greyhound Cafe

We ended up at The Podium for lunch after our daughter's voice lessons nearby. As we kind of missed Thai food, we decided to eat at the Greyhound Cafe, which served Thai food. The name of the cafe somewhat confused us as didn't hint at being a place where you can get Thai food.

Greyhound Cafe's version of Kra pao is their "Minced Chicken with Sweet Basil Leaves and Hot Chillies. This is practically the description of Kra Pao.

This was a real good version of kra pao though the current top on my list is the version by a restaurant at SM Megamall - Nara. I will write about that one soon!

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