Random Factoid: Cheese Rings are awesome…

February 4, 2009 - Filed under Eats, Random Factoid

cheese rings

…until you expose them to air. Much like people in speedos, too much exposure makes you nasty. Yet still cheesy.

Posted by: Shim

Week 22: Dinner Parties with Friends

February 3, 2009 - Filed under Drinks, Eats, Entertainment, Scuba Diving, Stuff to do, Weekly Report

It’s likely due to our limited time left in the Philippines that this week we attempted to be a little more social with a few of our local friends. We’ve been busy working and preparing for the next phase of our trip, but no excuses! Parties must be partied…

Early in the week we had Patrick from Dive Society over for a lasagna dinner accompanied by a few bottles of wine. He’s given his notice at the dive shop where he works as a dive instructor and will be becoming a nomadic yogi rambling through Bali in the near future. We hope to meet up again in Thailand in a couple months. Patrick is also an illustrator. Check out his portfolio site if you’ve got a minute.

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Posted by: Shim

Week 13: 3 Months Housewarming Party

December 1, 2008 - Filed under Drinks, Eats, Entertainment, Weekly Report

We’ve been in the Philippines for 3 months now. Since we’ve finally settled we decided to throw a little housewarming party at our new place and invite a bunch of people over to celebrate. We started out the week by heading into town for party supplies. Off to Hypermart in Dumaguete, we loaded up a shopping cart full of Mexican food supplies, and another cart full of beer, rum, gin, and soft drinks. We nearly cleared the shelves of San Miguel. The grand total? About $200. I love how cheap food and beverages are here. Unless you’re wanting specialty items, nearly everything is 50% what we pay back home. Booze and beer is even cheaper with no government taxation like in Canada. Read More…

Posted by: Shim

Week 8: Boracay

October 30, 2008 - Filed under Eats, Entertainment, Scuba Diving, Stuff to do, Travel, Weekly Report

We’ve spent 2 months in the Philippines! Wow, that went by fast. This week we headed off to the Buglasan festival in Dumaguete which is kind of like a tourism fair for the local communities on Negros Oriental where each town or barangay sets up a display area lauding their tourist attractions. It was quaint, and there was a great selection of barbecued foods and baked goods at the concession area. Plus, each evening there are musical competitions and we were lucky enough to show up on rock band night having missed the marching band event the previous day… There were around 40 bands playing that night for 10 minutes each. I don’t know the words to many of the songs they were singing, but it was a nice break from the love ballads pouring out of most places.

A couple days later we headed off to Boracay to check out the white sand beaches. We’d been putting it off because we’d heard it was over-commercialized and touristy, but after the last 2 months in the Philippines and realizing just how rural the country is outside of the cities, we decided to take a week or two to see if it was a viable place to live long term. We flew from Dumaguete to Manilla but due to a flight delay we really didn’t have any time to scope out Manilla. From what I saw it was big, with lots of hi-rises. Flying on to Caticlan, we were met at the airport by the hotel ‘shuttle service’ – where a guy with our names on a card piled us and our luggage into a trike and took us to the Caticlan port. We then took a short 5 minute boat ride over to Boracay and another 5 minute trike ride to the hotel we had arranged to stay in.


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Posted by: Shim

Good Eats

September 22, 2008 - Filed under Eats

We’ve managed to get ourselves set up in a small studio apartment near the beach. Most importantly, with a furnished kitchen! While Kelly and I are often more inclined to head out for a meal than prepare something at home, after three weeks of restaurant food we’ve been craving simple comfort foods.

There’s no lack of familiar ingredients here. Rice and noodles, coffees, teas, and spices. Most are readily available. The basic meat groups are the same… and usually fresher than at home. The seafood is plentiful, colourful, and sometimes confusing. Many types of fish and shellfish are unfamiliar, and will require some experimentation. Vegetables are similar, but of varying varieties. Tomatoes are orange or green. Carrots are short and fat. Oh, the selection of fruit! Banana and mango trees are everywhere and during the storm last night at least 3 coconuts fell onto the roof, scaring the wits out of us. The papayas are amazing. Read More…

Posted by: Shim

Malapatay Market

September 19, 2008 - Filed under Entertainment, Stuff to do

About 20km outside of Dumaguete lies Malapatay, a sleepy little seaside town which comes to life every Wednesday. People from all over the island come to, buy, sell, barter and trade everything for anything at the Malapatay Market.


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Posted by: Kelly