STK ta Bay! Paulito's Seafood House

A highlight of our trip to Cebu last month to coordinate with our counterparts for a conference we are organizing there is the discovery of this restaurant in the capitol area. STK ta Bay! is located along Climaco Street and is actually a couple (?) of old houses across each other converted into a restaurant. The houses contain a lot of antique items including furniture, houseware, religious items and decor. Following are photos taken at one of the houses where we were led since the main restaurant building was already getting full. The houses have several sections so groups can have more intimate or private meals.

The main restaurant on the west side in the middle of Climaco Street

STK stands for sugba, tola, kilaw, which in most cases will probably be referred to as sutukil by the Cebuanos.

Paminggalan or where the plates (pinggan) are placed at old houses

Long dining table for large groups with paintings in the background

Table settings for smaller groups

More vintage artworks and decor

A collection of vintage clocks and silverware (framed)

There are a lot of old cabinets and lamps

Another photo of the paminggalan at the entrance to the restaurant. It is on top of this old slab of wood that looks like an old door converted into a table.

Impressive collection of religious items (mostly depictions of Mary and the Child Jesus) on the wall beside the staircase leading to the restaurant office.

More table settings in the inner part of the house

We are back in Cebu for our conference and will surely dine at STK ta Bay! soon. This time we have a bigger group as these conferences are also an opportunity to have reunions with friends from all over who we don't often see (they're working at universities spread across the country).

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Space watches

I was always fascinated by the space race between the US and the then USSR. The first satellite launched to space was from the USSR - Sputnik. The first watch in space was Soviet-made and made famous by being worn by the first man in space - Yuri Gagarin - in 1961. That was a Poljot Sturmanskie manual wind watch. John Glenn followed in 1962 and wore a Heuer 2915A.

Vintage Sturmanskie in my collection

The USSR was ahead of the US for a while with another cosmonaut making the first space walk. I still have to acquire a Poljot Strela chronograph like the one worn in that walk by Alexey Leonov in 1965. The US though, went beyond orbits and spacewalks and successfully landed men on the moon in 1969. It is now 50 years since the first moon landing via the Apollo 11 mission. That mission also launched another watch model into its top iconic status that remains and would likely endure - the Omega Speedmaster Professional. There are basically two models of this watch - the ones flight qualified by NASA and the 'normal' Speedmasters that also have several variants.

My most cherished watch is one I saved for so many years

But there is another moonwatch. As the story goes, one of the astronauts of Apollo 15 damaged his Speedmaster but brought along his back up watch, which was a Bulova prototype chronograph. This was a privately owned watch by the astronaut and not official issue by NASA. The watch though became part of history and Bulova produced a more affordable version of the watch with a high precision quartz movement.

The back of my Bulova moonwatch. This one cost less than 10% of my Omega. :)

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Chocolate review: Co Chocolat High on Happy

Here's a first take on the chocolates of Co Chocolat. "High on Happy" is a dark chocolate of single origin cacao from Agusan Del Sur in northeast Mindanao. It is vegan and halal. The latter I am sure of because it is being marketed in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and one of the owners being Muslim.

High on Happy is a 60% dark chocolate using coconut sugar as sweetener. Details shown in the photo include the harvest date for the cacao and the chocolatier.

Details at the back of the box includes date of production and expiry date. At the lower part in the photo is info on the location of the farm (I assume this to be a barangay).

Well-designed box

Opening the box reveals a wrapped chocolate and even more information about the company and its advocacies.

Close up of the company's health code

Close up of the company's community code

The chocolate itself is made on a mold that gives this intricate design

The chocolate is fine but I thought the coconut sugar is evident in the taste, and that made it a bit on the rough side as far as chocolates go. There is still room for improvement here as the goal is to come up with a chocolate that's par with the really good ones from abroad. I will soon post again on another chocolate from this batch we received from our friends.

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