Chocolate review: Twenty Squares dark chocolate mint crisp flake 55% cocoa

Chocolate review: Twenty Squares dark chocolate mint crisp flake 55% cocoa

Here's something like a flashback. I was in Australia last year in July and bought a few bars of chocolates from the store near my hotel. One of those bars turned out to be with mint. I probably overlooked the mint as it was a dark chocolate and also had crisp flakes. I generally don't like mint with [...]

First dinner in Amsterdam

First dinner in Amsterdam

I did a lot of walking on my first day in Amsterdam. I had wanted to see how long it took to go back to the hotel beside Amsterdam Central Station from the Museum Quarter. It rained suddenly when I was midway to the hotel and so I had to do some evasive maneuvers as I only had my coat and wasn't able [...]

Breakfasts at Enschede

Breakfasts at Enschede

The Intercity Hotel where I stayed at in Enschede last March served a really good buffet breakfast. The selection was good considering it was a business hotel and one could have a complete meal to start the day. I always like to have cereal and particularly love to have muesli in the mornings. They [...]

Timex manual wind watch

Timex manual wind watch

I acquired this watch last year for two reasons: 1) It was a Timex assembled in the Philippines, and 2) it was priced really cheap. I had wanted to have a Timex for quite some time as I knew they assembled the watches in Cebu. I've seen the many models on display at Mactan Airport but could not quite [...]

Cortébert manual wind vintage watch

Cortébert manual wind vintage watch

Cortébert was considered a luxury brand during its heydays. Unfortunately, the brand suffered much during the onslaught of quartz watches (mainly from Japan) in the 1970s. It was not among the brands that survived but surprisingly was not resurrected later like other Swiss brands that are now actually [...]

On inflight meals again

On inflight meals again

During my recent travel to the Netherlands, I decided to take Emirates in order to have more manageable (for me) times in flight. The flight between Manila and Dubai was about 7 hours while the flight between Dubai and Amsterdam was about 8 hours. My layover in Dubai was 4 hours. That meant a lot of [...]

Chess in Amsterdam

Chess in Amsterdam

I came upon this scene where a crowd had gathered around an outdoor or garden size chess board. There were two people who were the actual players but they were surrounded by pundits and hecklers (the friendly kind I think). It turned out that the area was a square dedicated to Max Euwe who was a chess [...]

Chocolate review: Twenty Squares Simply Dark 65% Cocoa

Chocolate review: Twenty Squares Simply Dark 65% Cocoa

I had forgotten about a few chocolate bars that I purchased during my trip in Australia last year. I found these as I was arranging our stock with the addition of a few bars I got from my recent trip to the Netherlands.65% dark chocolate from Twenty SquaresDetails on the chocolate at the back of the [...]

Late lunch at the Enschede outdoor market

Late lunch at the Enschede outdoor market

I returned from Arnhem and decided not to return to my hotel but instead take a walk around Enschede and maybe check out where the open market will be on Saturday. I was surprised to see an even bigger outdoor market than Arnhem's at the Van Weeksplein. The market at Enschede featured a lot of stores [...]

St. Jakob's Church, Enschede

St. Jakob's Church, Enschede

My trip to The Netherlands took me to Enschede but I went around three other cities: Arnhem, Amsterdam and The Hague. The only church I was able to enter was in Enschede. This was a Catholic Church (I checked) that was still functioning as a place of worship. Due to the wave of liberalism in Europe [...]

Hearty pesto and chicken sandwich from Spar

Hearty pesto and chicken sandwich from Spar

I have had minimal rice since I arrived in Holland. It's actually a welcome development for me as I need to reduce my rice intake and switch to higher fiber options. Bread counts as long as it is not the regular type. And I've managed to eat healthier thanks to the hotel where I'm staying at and the [...]

First meal in Europe - Happy Italy

First meal in Europe - Happy Italy

My first meal in Europe was...Italian! That should not come as a surprise considering this is usually a default choice for me if I am not knowledgeable of the restaurants in the place I am visiting. In this case, I really didn't bother researching about the restaurants in Enschede and based my decision [...]