Mido Commander Ocean Star Datoday

Mido Commander Ocean Star Datoday

I open December with a post on a recent acquisition for my expanding collection. The 'new' watch is this Mido Commander Ocean Star Datoday. Mido is an established Swiss brand that's part of the Swatch group and is classified among the mid-range watches along with Tissot, Certina and Hamilton. I had [...]

Titus vintage watch

Titus vintage watch

I have a memory of my father purchasing a watch back in the 1970s. It was an automatic watch as he didn't like the manual winding ones. He also at the time probably didn't fancy the quartz watches that were then becoming popular since these were not as highly regarded as the automatics and manual winds [...]

Gabriele Italian Restaurant, Tiendesitas

Gabriele Italian Restaurant, Tiendesitas

After our daughter's regular check-up at The Medical City, we decided to have lunch along the way home at Tiendesita's. There's a very good Italian restaurant there that we usually go to whenever we are there and we want to eat. Italian food is always a good option if you have a good place to eat at. [...]

History on the beaches of Tacloban

History on the beaches of Tacloban

The venue for a workshop we attended in Tacloban last week was Patio Victoria near the airport. Upon arriving at the venue, one couldn't help but notice the historical marker on what appeared at first as a big piece of rock on the property. The 'rock' turned out to be a pillbox constructed by the Japanese [...]

Chocolate review: Cicada Artisan Chocolate Salted Caramel

Chocolate review: Cicada Artisan Chocolate Salted Caramel

Another chocolate bar I got from Sydney is this salted caramel from the same artisan chocolate maker from the bazaar. It is a milk chocolate and therefore is an exception to the series of articles on dark chocolates that I posted here.Salted caramel chocolate from CicadaDetails on the chocolateClose-up [...]

On "phone zombies" and road safety

On "phone zombies" and road safety

[This is my post for the World Day of Remembrance for all the victims of road crashes]You see a lot of people these days who are always on their smart phones. Many are walking while doing something with their phones whether making a call, typing away, listening to music or perhaps attending to social [...]

Of collections and model airplanes

Of collections and model airplanes

I have several hobbies collecting various items of interest to me. When I was much younger I had several collections, too, including stamps (I was pretty much into philately at one time) and coins. My stamp and coin collections started with the stamps and coins Tatay brought from his trips overseas [...]

Chocolate review: Ghirardelli Intense Dark Toffee Interlude

Chocolate review: Ghirardelli Intense Dark Toffee Interlude

We haven't had some Ghirardelli chocolates for quite a while. This was mainly because we opted to get some new chocolates - those we haven't had before - during our trips abroad. But then the opportunity presented itself when I spotted a small shop selling Ghirardelli's and decided to purchase a couple [...]

Chocolate review: Cicada Artisan Chocolate Almond & Sea Salt

Chocolate review: Cicada Artisan Chocolate Almond & Sea Salt

I continue with the recent series of posts on chocolates. It may seem as if we are having too much chocolate but these are ones we tasted weeks or days ago and we do try to manage our "cache" so that we have good chocolates to enjoy whenever we want to. Among the good one we got to enjoy is this artisan [...]

Chocolate review: Venchi Nocciolato Fondente/ Dark Chocolate & Hazelnuts

Chocolate review: Venchi Nocciolato Fondente/ Dark Chocolate & Hazelnuts

Another bar the Clairvoyant bought from the Venchi shop in Rome is this dark chocolate with hazelnuts.Venchi's Nocciolato FondenteInformation on the chocolate at the backThis chocolate claimed to have at least 56% cacao.Nutrition information on the barThis was another hit in terms of quality. The chocolate [...]

Chocolate review: Valrhona Christian Lacroix Grand Crux Noir

Chocolate review: Valrhona Christian Lacroix Grand Crux Noir

I almost forgot writing about this box of chocolates and so I'm posting this on this All Saints' Day and perhaps try to put some "Undas" angle to this article.The box is already quite enticing and perhaps what led to this being purchased at the duty free shopDetails at the back of the wrap-around packagingI [...]