Aglio Olio at The French Baker

We had an early dinner today at The French Baker. My daughter loves their soup in a bread bowl so that was what she had. There's a new item in their menu though and that is the aglio olio. They have two choices on the menu - one with chicken and another with shrimp. I tried the one with chicken and it was really good.

The French Baker's aglio olio with chicken includes cherry tomatoes and garlic bread on the side

The chicken was right on the button so to speak and my daughter who got some was definitely pleased with her portions of the pasta. I will try the version with the shrimp the next time we have a meal there.

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Lunch at Gaisano food court

On some trips, we don't have the luxury of time to have a meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) at one of the recommended restaurants in the area. Some times, you just want a quick meal, even from a mall. Fortunately, in our recent trip to Davao, there was a mall near our hotel. Instead of going to a restaurant there, we decided to have lunch at the food court.

The selection from one stall alone is excellent. Others have similar if not more variety. There are, of course, others that are more specialized like one offering Korean food and another lechon.

I got some comfort food for lunch - tolang isda and giniling na may patatas at carrots.

The tolang malasugi was really good! The taste brings back happy memories of travels to the provinces.

We had good meals at the mall's food court. These were relatively cheap compared to if we ate at a restaurant. They sure beat fast-food in terms of quality and taste. Of course, this is not always the case as other malls might have anchor tenants for their food courts.

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On abandoned watch restoration projects

The past month, I was able to unload a couple of watches that I initially bought to restore them. Both were collectible models but I had to eventually unload both as I couldn't find time and the parts to restore them to the condition that would satisfy me. Restoration here doesn't mean making them look new because that would mean I had to get aftermarket parts to replace the originals. The collector in me didn't want that and I've always held that vintage watches lose value if they were mostly composed of aftermarket replacements.

This Seiko 6119-7173 Sports Rally was in decent condition as far as the dial, hands and case were concerned. The movement was also original - running well and keeping time. It was a reliable piece as far as telling time was concerned.

The main issue was an incorrect case back. This meant the back was probably lost and replaced by something that resembled the original watch. The value for this watch was significantly less than if all parts were original and correct.

I also acquired this 5126, which is another collectible 'rally' model thinking only the dial needed some work (don't need to do a full restoration that will involved replacing original parts) but the movement had some trouble so I also decided to unload this.

This watch had its original case including the back. Unfortunately, having a bad movement was a no-no for me considering my experience in trying to get parts for vintage watches.

 

I still have other watches needing some work but for now they will probably be retained. These include a several Seiko 6138's like one bullhead and a sliderule. Again, its the parts that are difficult to get despite some help from my go-to watch repairman. More on this in future posts.

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