Yes, beauty still exists

I spent yesterday catching up on the news after a week of no internet, (and you know, things are still bad).

So today I decided to check on the blogs that see beauty.


Orwell's Picnic is visiting the city of Florence, and posts this photo:




When I was young, I visited that city (you could still see the high water marks after they had a terrible flood) and loved it. I'd love to go back and visit...

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Florence isn't the only lovely city in Italy:

BrianSibley has an entire blog of Venice Photos for your delight.


this one was taken by his friend David Weeks via Flickr.

Mr. Sibley, however, is back from vacation and is in Wellington working, and includes photos of that lovely city.

And if you aren't familiar with Mr. Sibley and why he is in Wellington, you aren't a Hobbit fan

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You can find Venice recipes that sound yummie at the NatGeo site, but for me, I'll have to just look and imagine, since the ingredients aren't found in our local Palenke.

However,The Cottage Smallholder has a recipe for eggy Cheese toasties, if you are in the mood for a British breakfast.

Looks great...but somehow using Eden cheese, Gardenia bread and coconut oil for the ingredients doesn't seem quite as appetizing, but at least we do have the ingredients...or we can fake them.

For example, here's one of the GardeniaBread recipes for a grilled chicken wrap sandwich...no, they don't sell pita bread: you flatten their bread with a rolling pin to make it...


I miss my breadmaker and oven...the good news is that we have a "Pan De Manila" shop at the nearby mall, and their bread is passing good.

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Just for cute: Bear bread in a cup. Alas, the recipe is in Japanese, but the cuteness factor makes you want to go out and bake a couple. (via Tastespotting)



presumably you could make these in a Dutch oven if you don't have a regular oven...Dutch oven bread instructions here.


(hmmm...wonder if you could bake bread in a covered wok?)
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Of course, the ingredients for all types of gourmet food can be found in Manila... and so when Chano has time to travel and shop there, we eat gourmet food...the rest of the time we eat local food cooked in traditional recipes.

We usually go to fast food restaurants in the mall, but there are several nice restaurants here that serve traditional food. For example, yesterday we celebrated two birthdays at Luz' Restaurant. Their specialty is Caldaeta Gambing. Recipe here.

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We are also blessed with various tropical fruit, albeit mainly when they are in season. So we would be able to make this recipe from La recette du Jour for Avocado orange salad ...
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Cannele et Vanille blog usually has recipes, but this week has lovely photos of autumn in Vermont...another sight that delights the eye.



Locals have to drive carefully because all the tourists are busy looking at trees instead of where they go.

I spent a few years nearby so the photos bring back memories...