Chocolate review: Pobeda Dark Chocolate 50% Nuts & Raisins

It seems that I still have a backlog of chocolate reviews. I saw these Pobeda Dark Chocolate bars at the Puregold branch inside the Clark Freeport Zone. The name Pobeda was familiar to me because there are Pobeda watches. Perhaps its a totally different company that makes these chocolates? Who knows. They might have diversified their product lines and are also into food.

This was a big bar of chocolate that was comparable in size with the laundry soap bars you can get at the supermarkets.

The back of the bar contains information on ingredients, nutrition and the manufacturer, among others.

Nutrition information on the chocolate.

The chocolate is Made in Russia. I didn't expect to be able to buy Russian chocolates at Clark so I got a few to have an idea about how they tasted.

Ingredients in English - there is no mention of the minimum cacao % in the chocolate. I guessed I should just trust the 50% claim stated in front of the packaging.

The chocolate was okay. It was decent as far as imported chocolates go. I thought it was on the sweet side of chocolates as far as dark chocolates go. Perhaps it was because of the fruits integrated in the chocolates that made it sweet? Shall I buy more of these if the opportunity presents itself? Maybe. It was not so expensive and could be given as a gift especially with the approach of Christmas. But for personal consumption, maybe and more as something to enjoy occasionally rather than regularly.

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Comfort food on Ondoy anniversary

This year marks 16 years since the floods of Ondoy (Ketsana). We lost a lot of valuables then and I am not even talking about the damage to property including our home at the time. The more valuable things were the photos, books and other personal, sentimental items that we had collected throughout our lives until that time. Most of these were in my room at my parents' home in Cainta.

Right after Ondoy, I had two trips abroad scheduled. Both were to a city that we would eventually call home for two years (while the wife was assigned to work there) - Singapore. Singapore to me is something like a 'comfort place'. There is where I gathered my senses and sanity after what was a traumatic experience by Ondoy. One of the food we usually buy from there is the bakkwa that's available at shops at Changi and around the city. We usually get this at Bee Cheng Hiang. There's supposed to be another shop that has better bakkwa but we've been unable to find this despite residing in the city state.

Gourmet bakkwa pack from Changi

Yesterday's breakfast was baksilog - bakkwa, sinangag and itlog (bakkwa, fried rice and eggs).

We were unable to buy bakkwa the last 2 times either of of were in Changi as there was a ban on pork products entering the Philippines due to the diseases that affected swine and hogs in the region. There were even restrictions within the country. It's a good thing these were already lifted and we can get some of this comfort food this time.

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A metal strap for my Ricoh World Timer

I tried to find a suitable metal strap for the vintage Ricoh World Timer in my collection. I had a spare oyster strap that was the original strap of my old Mido diver but the end links weren't a good fit to the watch head. So I've been using leather straps for this watch until finally I finally had the opportunity (and the budget) to get a nice metal strap for this vintage piece.

I chose a super engineer strap for this watch. It turned out okay and here's a wrist shot with the strap fitted to the watch.

I am very happy with the strap as I felt that watches this big and heavy deserve metal straps more rather than leather or nato straps. But that's just me. I have other watches that I prefer to use (and regularly change) nato straps including a couple of vintage divers that I really don't use for swimming. The variety and colors of nato straps allow for a different look every time I use the watches with various straps.

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Brownies by Ally

Our daughter knows I love brownies so she bakes them once in a while. Recently though, she baked some for her uncle who commented one time we were visiting that he also wanted see if the brownies I've been bragging about were really good. Here are a couple of photos showing the brownies baked from the mix we usually buy at the supermarket.

The chocolate scattered with the cashew nuts are Meiji milk chocolates.

This is ony half of the brownies baked by our daughter.

I will share some photos of the brownies she baked last weekend. Those were even better than the usual fudge brownies she made. 

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Fruits in season this September

Last weekend, the trip to the market yielded the usual fruits plus one of my favorites - atis or sweetsop. Upon arriving at home, I was elated to see a bag of familiar fruits - rambutan. Turned out that my father sent some from the tree at our home in Cainta. The rambutan is as sweet as I remember and certainly a joy to eat.

Rambutan from my parents' home in Cainta

Atis bought from the market

The atis also turned out to be fleshy and sweet. I bought a few that was already turning ripe and enjoyed one after dinner last Saturday. The trip to the market this morning though did not result in the purchase of more atis. I found the ones available to be smaller and with the tell tale signs of pests - borers. So I passed on buying atis, settling for the usual bananas, cantaloupe melon, dalandan and kiwi.

 

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Baking experiments at home

Our daughter is currently into baking; among other hobbies she's into now. She started with cookies, which I think she's somewhat perfected. These are not from cookie mixes but from scratch, using recipes she found on the internet. She's also made cupcakes and brownies. Last week was her first time to bake a cake. 

The cake in the ref after a successful first time bake for our daughter. She put off the icing for the following day.

Her first attempt at icing was to us okay. You can see there's a concept that she wanted to execute there. And she did this all by herself; without any formal training in baking. She just followed the instructions from a Youtube video.

The cake turned out to be on the moist side. At first, we thought it wasn't finished but after tasting it, were convinced otherwise. This was devil's food cake so it shouldn't really come out like chiffon. It really doesn't look like what you can buy at a store but its the taste that matters. 

More on our daughter's baking in the next posts. 

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Chocolate review: Ovomaltine Crunchy

There's something nostalgic about the Ovaltine brand as it brings back childhood memories. My mornings usually started with a hot drink prepared by Mama. She rotated among Ovaltine, Milo and Enervon. I preferred the taste of Ovaltine over Milo and Enervon but had to go for Enervon for the nutritional value of the drink. I was thin when I was a child through grade school. I gained weight only in high school and partly because of my morning drink.

This is basically the chocolate equivalent of the Ovaltine drink.

Details on the chocolate at the back of the package.

Nutrition information

Ingredients state that the chocolate contains a minimum of 32% cacao.

Inside the wrapper is a recipe for a drink using the chocolate.

The chocolate is practically Ovaltine in a bar. Of course, there is also the Ovaltinees, which is in tablet form. I now find these chocolates on the sweet side and enjoy them only from time to time despite the temptation to consume more. 

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Animal drawn mobile stores

I took a photo of this animal (cow) drawn cart as we passed it in Taytay en route to Makati via C-6. These  used to be larger and wagons drawn by one or even two animals (usually cows or bulls). Families lived in those wagons and were somewhat nomadic in a sense that they traveled while selling products like walis tambo (brooms for indoor use like those in the photo), walis tingting (brooms made of coconut stems also in the photo to the rear of the cart), baskets, and other handicrafts. I have memories of their regular if not frequent visits to our village in Cainta in the 1970s and early 1980s. Eventually, they vanished. I see some from time to time but only like the one in the photo below. I have not seen the larger wagons.

The cart was pulled by a bull that looked emaciated to me.

While this seems like a spectacle these days, they were the mobile stores of the past; often traveling in groups. I wonder how long there will be animal-drawn carts like this.

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Davao morning street food

This is a late post of something I started writing back in May 2025. This was just after my travels to Davao where were setting up a program in UP Mindanao. The photos below capture the morning street food scene in Davao City. They provide a glimpse of what's available and what people typically buy whether as their first meal of the day or as baon or lunch pack to eat later at their offices or schools. These are familiar scenes in our cities that we hope can be accommodated even as we continue to develop.

Here's a vendor on a trike selling food for breakfast or lunch meals. You can purchase fried viand like fish or longganisa, rice, and bottled softdrinks or water.

Fresh fruits being prepared for selling. The aquarium-like case is for sliced fruits that are sold ready to eat.

Street vendor selling coffee to the early birds - people who were commuting to their office or school early in the morning. I assume the coffee also sells well during the rest of the day.

Different versions of fried bananas

Maruya or banana fritters - I got a couple of these for myself. I ate one when I arrived back at the hotel and another as an afternoon snack. Surprisingly, it survived without being feasted on by ants.

Turon or fried banana spring rolls

Bananas in the frying pan

The food reminded me of my early morning walks in other cities including Bangkok. You see a lot of these near the workplaces and schools as well as the PUV terminals or where people typically get on or off their rides (sakayan). I believe these are an essential part of life in our cities and provide inexpensive meal or eating options for everyone.

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Glad that August is done

I wanted to post about how eventful August 2025 was. For some reason or reasons, it didn't go well for us. It started with our dog being hospitalized for almost a week due to blood parasites. She was already diagnosed with another ailment before and this made it worse. A few days later, it was our daughter's turn to be hospitalized for a week. Fortunately, she was quick to recover and her lab tests turned out okay. That was so scary for us as the initial diagnosis pointed to her probably spending two weeks in the hospital.

Those were the medical incidents. A week before our daughter was hospitalized, our vehicle (carrying her) was involved in a freak road crash where a truck hit a vehicle that in turn collided with ours. While we were able to compile the documents needed and the truck operators have been cooperative, we still haven't heard from their insurance company about our vehicle's repairs.

Was it a case of a severe type of ghost month? I'm sure some people believe in the stuff. I would say that a part of me would like to believe so considering all the "pamahiins" (superstitions) we grew up being mentioned and even substantiated by relatives. We are just thankful and relieved that August is over and we can now move on starting with the first of the 'ber' months. Christmas, as we jokingly say in the Philippines, just started! 

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