Month: March 2013

Angkor Cafe / The Blue Pumpkin

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One of my favorite things to do when traveling to new places is to try their local coffee shops. Doesn’t matter if the country isn’t particularly known for coffee, or if their offerings don’t differ from those back home. There’s still bound to be something different about the way they prepare their drinks, the ingredients they use, the presentation. Different may not always mean good, but like I said in my confession, coffee’s an experience — one that I definitely cannot pass up on when traveling. During my trip to Siem Reap last month, my friends and I discovered The Blue Pumpkin, one of Cambodia’s most popular cafes, and liked it well enough to visit it twice (actually, thrice, but it turned out to be closed that other time). TBP has several branches all over Cambodia, and eight in Siem Reap alone. So if you visit Siem Reap and fail to spot it even once, I’m going to doubt that you were there at all, especially since they have a branch in the airport and …

Cafe Mary Grace Cappuccino

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Last Sunday, I attended my first Contemporary Romance Writing Class session. It was all sorts of enlightening and amusing, but one of the highlights was my caffeinated companion. I’d originally wanted to get an iced kopi from Toast Box, thanks to my new discovery about its connection to Starbucks’ Asian Dolce Latte, but since we were meeting up in Cafe Mary Grace, I figured I might as well just get my coffee there. Before then, the only drink I’d tried in Cafe Mary Grace was their iced mocha. I don’t remember much about it aside from it being rather sweet, but I do remember how my sweetheart of a client insisted on treating me there after one of our meetings in Serendra. Man, do I miss that client of mine. Since I was in a whimsical mood, I decided to try out their cappuccino (yes, I really do associate fanciful, romantic thoughts with that frothy coffee concoction). Thankfully, I was well-pleased with my little cuppa–I’m not sure what beans they used, but I’m guessing it’s …

Starbucks Asian Dolce Latte

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…The Queen of Procrastination strikes again. To be fair, I’ve realized that if I don’t write about something new that I’ve tried right away, I’ll most probably end up not writing about it at all. And so, without further ado, I introduce you to Starbucks’ latest seasonal drink: Meet the Asian Dolce Latte. I’ve seen adverts of this a couple of times now, but since the Starbucks near my house is now CLOSED–something I still haven’t come to terms with; it was less than five minutes away from my house!!!–it was only tonight that I got to try it. I looked it up just now and discovered that it was first launched last January 31, during the opening of Starbucks’ flagship store in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. It’s supposed to be the equivalent of Vietnam’s trademark ca phe sua da, which is basically strong coffee mixed with condensed milk. This type of coffee is not unique to Vietnam–it’s actually quite common among Asia; hence, the “Asian” in the “Dolce Latte”. According to Starbucks, Asian Dolce Latte is “the …

Mental Block, meet Random Ramblings

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I’m noticing a trend here. I seem to find myself writing here whenever I reach a roadblock in my SEO writing attempts — which happens way too often than I’m comfortable with. Who knew it would be so hard to write a couple of articles given specific keywords? It’s even harder because the subject matters aren’t exactly in my wheelhouse. Heehee, that was the first time I’ve used that phrase; I keep hearing it on shows like American Idol and The Voice. It’s a pretty tingly expression…and I probably didn’t make any sense right there. Anyway, I’ve been trying to stimulate my writing juices in different ways: munching on the forbidden-but-oh-so-tempting Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion chips; jumping/running on our ancient trampoline; disturbing our husky, Coffee, as he sleeps peacefully in my parents’ room; even flailing and gyrating in my seat to the tune of Harlem Shake. Yeah, not a nice visual, LOL. After nearly a month of this SEO gig, I’ve boned up on things that I never before thought to research about, and …

‘Cause sometimes, it’s better hot

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I’ve hit a rough patch in my writing, and since I haven’t updated this thing in a while, I figured I’d sneak in a post. I’ll make it short and sweet 🙂 Yesterday was a pretty full day for me. In between attending my friend’s wedding reception in Tagaytay and meeting my high school friends for dinner and drinks, I needed a special hit to liven me up a bit — especially since I’d only had roughly two and a half hours’ worth of sleep. So even though I’d already had my allotted half cup of coffee for the day, I indulged in some UCC lovin’ while waiting for my friends to arrive in Eastwood. Like most people, I have several “go-to” drinks in my favorite coffee places. You might know about my UCC Kori Kohi fixation, but before that was introduced, there was the iced white chocolate mocha. Starbucks has a pretty good version of it, but UCC takes the lead in terms of hitting that perfect balance between creamy goodness and caffeine kick. I’ve …

Siem Reap Day 2 (Part One): Sunrise @ Angkor Wat

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Early mornings aren’t my cup of tea, but considerations must be made for special cases. When faced with the opportunity to witness the world’s largest religious moment come alive in the first light of day, is there really any need to think twice? For us, there was only one answer. The night before, we’d made arrangements for Vannet to pick us up at 5 AM to give us enough time to get ready for sunrise, which was expected at about 6:20 AM. Now, I usually have a hard time waking up, but it seemed so easy that morning. Funny what anticipation does to you. We found out that Vannet couldn’t make it, but he sent over a replacement driver, Shen. That particular drive was memorable because it was so dark, and suddenly, we’d see a remork or a van appear behind us. It wasn’t until we neared the park entrance that we really got an idea of what an event it is to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Despite the early hour, the entrance …