Taho Story, Gyud Food Hub, UP Diliman

There's a new stall at the food hub at UP Diliman. Taho Story sells taho with a nice sweet twist - actually, different kinds of twists. I took a photo of their poster showing some of the items on their menu. They looked like the popular halu-halo but instead of ice as the base, they had taho.

Taho or halu-halo?

Ube de leche

Avocado loco

We thought that their concoctions will taste funny or unusual but they turned out quite well and we surely enjoyed  our dessert for lunch that day. We'll surely try the other items in the future whether as dessert or for merienda. But next time I think I will try their cold taho, which probably would go better with the ice cream.

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Lechon at the Carcar Public Market

We had our lunch at the Carcar Public Market where they have lechon, of course. There were many stalls selling roasted pig and you can purchase lechon along with puso rice (rice cooked in coconut leaves). There are tables located at the second level where you can also purchase other food and drinks.

Upon entering the market, one is greeted by stalls selling lechon.

You may purchase to eat there or to take home.

The market is clean and absent is the smell you usually expect from a wet market.

We purchased 2 kilos from this vendor.

What looks like special sauce is vinegar. The coloring is probably from the chili mixed to it. The taste to me is somewhat like sinamak and goes well with the lechon.

Puso rice is sold at nearby stalls.

Other stalls sell achara (pickled papaya), lumpia and a variety of pansit (noodles).

Instead of measuring your rice by the cup, you can probably use the puso as a unit.

The lechon is terrific and can easily derail a diet.

We joked that perhaps the local government in Carcar should be monitoring the average life span of people there considering two of their main products are lechon and chicharon. While these are definitely delicious and tempting, one should exercise self control and avoid indulging in too much of either. As they say jokingly, these are "nakakabata" meaning you probably won't reach an old age if you ate too much lechon and/or chicharon.

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Chocolate review: Belgian Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel

Among the chocolates we got last year from our trip to Singapore is this Belgian chocolate. I remember buying a couple of bars and we still have one in our cache of chocolates at home.

Belgian Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel claims to be organic. There is also the fair trade logo at the bottom right of the package.

Detailed information on the chocolate at the back of the package

Ingredients stating a minimum of 72.6% cacao for this chocolate.

Nutrition information on the chocolate

Some information on the maker

We thought that this chocolate was good though it is on the sweet side of dark chocolates. I would probably buy this again but only if there were not so many other choices. Airports like Changi and Hong Kong would usually have many choices including Valrhona, Godiva and Leonidas that would be preferred. What more if we were traveling in the US, Europe and Japan. Also, there may be locally made chocolates in other countries like those in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia that would be worth trying.

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