Brunch in Cologne: Fromme

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Ody

Located along Breite Straße (take U-Bahn line 3 to Appellhofplatz) Fromme is a café and patisserie that serves breakfast all day long. Fromme has been in Cologne on Breite Straße since 1893. If you can get past drooling about all the cakes and pies by the entrance, you’ll find a dining area further inside. If it’s warm out, you can grab a table outside – there are blankets placed on the chairs in case it gets cold.

I ordered the Schlemmer Frühstück with a slice each of black bread, white bread and a croissant, cold cuts, cheese, butter, jam, a boiled egg, sweet cream cheese and a glass of fresh orange juice with pulp – all for only € 5.95. You can upsize it to a portion for two for € 9.95. I added a cup of peppermint tea, which cost me € 2.40.

With a day of sightseeing and/or strolling along the shopping streets of Cologne, I’d say a brunch at Fromme is perfect to start things off. Not convinced? Check out this eyecandy:

Fromme
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday: 8:30 – 19:00
Saturday: 8:30 – 18:30
Sunday: 10:30 – 18:00

Flashback Friday: market, market BCN style

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Ody

The Mercat de la Boqueria was one of the highlights of my Barcelona trip in 2010. It was on my to-go list as it was recommended to me by the Bag Hag on Twitter.

Located along the busy pedestrian area La Rambla, it was easy for me to miss it at first. If I remember correctly, the fastest way to get there is to take the L3 and get off Liceu. The market is right above the station, near Dunkin’ Coffee.

I got there at around noon, so I was a little hungry. I didn’t want to eat anything heavy because it was really hot, I just wanted something light and refreshing. I ended up buying fresh juice from a fruit stall and ensaymada from a bakery. That ensaymada was hands-down the best piece of bread I have ever eaten!

The Boqueria market has a fresh, colorful, sweet, savory and exotic assortment of food – just looking at everything is an experience itself.

The dress code: no swimwear allowed! That sign was absolutely necessary as there actually were lots of tourists walking around in the city dressed as if they were at the beach.

Fresh fruits! For the health junkies, there were pre-mixed fresh fruit salads available. I got myself fresh fruit juice.

Mercat de la Boqueria Candies!

Mercat de la Boqueria Dried fruits and nuts!

Not really sure what these were, but they were moving!

There were other things not for the faint of heart like bull testicles and goat heads (very Fear Factor!)

Organic/orgasmic lasaña!

Flashback Friday: 5 Nice things

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Ody

this view while enjoying a snack. specifically: the waiter

the most comfortable bed

colorful leather goods at the market

Crossover Festival

this ice cream: salted caramel, chili chocolate, and dark chocolate

Sweet treat in Edinburgh

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Ody

If you’re in Edinburgh and have a sweet tooth, I highly recommend a visit to the Fudge House located along the Royal Mile. After hours and hours of walking, the fudge served there is a well-deserved treat.

With so many fantastic flavors offered, it was hard to choose which to try. The variants ranged from chocolate fudge like classic hazelnut and chocolate pecan swirl to special flavors like lemon merengue pie and peppermint. After a lot of thinking, I went for butterscotch, pistachio & white chocolate, and chai latte. I immediately devoured the butterscotch fudge – when it melts in your mouth, it turns into a rich, creamy, and sweet treat. So good. I saved the other two flavors for the next day, which I think made them even better. Day-old fudge is really good. Among the three, I’d have to say that the chai latte was my favorite. It’s such an unexpected flavor and the sweetness of the fudge and the spice of the chai latte is a great combination.

We stayed a few minutes in the store to watch part of the fudge-making process. Noting that it would be hard to resist all the deliciousness in the store we asked the fudge maker if he ate fudge every day. He said he has to taste it, it’s part of the job. Lucky. He would, however, resist the temptation to feast on it all day, every day. I’m not sure if I would.

The Fudge House
197 Canongate
Edinburgh

twitter: @FudgeHouseEdin

Fun thing to do in Edinburgh: karaoke at The World-Famous Frankenstein

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Ody

While traveling is all about exploring new places, discovering different cultures, and tasting foreign cuisines, it’s also good for just hanging out and having some good, old-fashioned fun in a new setting. Because my friend E doesn’t drink, we went to a pub that has something different to offer. After all, if she was going to just watch me drink, there should be something else for her to enjoy as well. The World Famous Frankenstein looks like a church from the outside, but is a really cool pub inside, and is located just a few steps away from our hotel.

After booking a table via twitter – they answered really quickly! – we went to their Karaoke Sunday party. The inside of the pub looked like a cross between a church and a dungeon. There was a long table with girls celebrating hen’s night, a few semi-drunk, LOL-ing guys, so mostly a fun crowd. Like the usual karaoke bar, there are a few books with a song list to choose from. To request your song, you have to write the title and your name on a piece of paper and pass it along to the DJ. The DJ would call the performer up to the small stage, chat a little and play the song.

I sang a few songs throughout the night. The most fun performance was Rock DJ, because a) it has been my dream to rap in public (and this was perfect because I would never see this audience again in case of embarrassment), b) everybody in the pub knew the song, so they danced, sang, and rapped along, and c) there were some funny cross-dressed guys who danced with me on stage.

Speaking of guys, there were some really cute ones in there. Look:

Frankenstein Edinburgh
26 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh
Midlothian EH1 1EN
United Kingdom
+44 131 622 1818

Home

twitter: @frank_pub_edin

TNT Travel Edinburgh

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Ody

Aside from the city’s beauty (even when it rained!), Edinburgh is memorable to me because I got to TNT, or Try New Things there! 🙂

While I do ~~enjoy~~ appreciate alcohol, I have never tried Scotch Whisky. Thanks to Mad Men, the drink looked sophisticated in my eyes and made me fantasize about offering Scotch to anyone who would visit me in my office. What better place to try Scotch than its origin? After hiking to the Edinburgh Castle, I went on a Scotch Whisky Experience to know more about the whisky making process, the regions where Scotch is made, and to taste-test.

The Barrel Ride is similar to theme park rides, but instead of little dolls singing “It’s a Small World”, there’s a ghost that takes you through the entire process of Scotch Whisky production.

After the tour, a Scotch expert introduces the different aromas and the different regions where Scotch comes from. To determine which aroma you prefer, there are scratch-and-sniff cards. From the regions of Highlands (there can only be one!), Lowland, Islay and Speyside, I chose the Lowland because of its fruity, fresh and citrusy aroma.

I chose wrongly. Haha. While citrusy is perfect for my mojitos, caipirinhas and gin fizzes, I didn’t quite like it in my Scotch. As it is the most light-bodied Scotch, it is usually preferred by beginners though. Maybe I should have gone with the Highlands with its sweetness with a touch of smoke. Oh well, that leaves more room for experimentation in finding my Scotch. When that day comes, you’ll see me swirling Scotch in a nice little low glass and sipping it slowly before I offer you a drink.

My favorite part of the tour was seeing the world’s largest collection of Scotch Whisky. The collection belongs to Mr. Claive Vidiz, who started collecting in the 1970s and has amassed almost 3,400 bottles!

The bottles range from the old…

the royal …

and the quirky. Yes, that’s Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster!

Okay now this is was my absolutely my favorite new thing I got to try in Edinburgh. Sometimes I still daydream about it.

The deep-fried Mars bar.

OMG. Look at it. It doesn’t look as pretty or special as other sweets like cupcakes and macarons, but it’s heaven.

Deep-fried in batter, the Mars bar is warm and gooey. When you bite in, the chocolate, caramel and nougat melt together and swirl in your mouth. It’s the best. This is coming from someone who doesn’t even prefer regular Mars bars over, say, Milky Way or Twix. I ❤ you, deep-fried Mars bar.

where the magic began

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Ody

During our trip to Edinburgh in Scotland in October, my friend Elki and I scored with the location of our hotel. Hotel du Vin is charming, cozy, and near everything. Admittedly, it wasn’t easy lugging our suitcases uphill, but it was worth it. We were a little creeped out to find out that it was also near the cemetery where we took a Haunted Graveyard Tour. While walking around to acquaint ourselves with the area, we passed a coffee shop named The Elephant House with a sign saying it’s Harry Potter’s birthplace and wondered what that could be about. Hours later, I remembered that J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter in a coffee shop in Scotland. (When I was still a student, my friends and I would ask each other trivia questions about Harry and J.K. – such geeks!) We figured it must be a really popular tourist spot, so when we passed by it at night and there was no queue, we took advantage and went in. All tables were taken, but luckily there were some free seats at the bar.

The café has a certain enchanting and comfortable vibe – a personality that lacks in the run-of-the-mill coffee chains that we see so often nowadays. No baristas shouting your name (or made-up coffee house names) across the room, and no fancy synonyms for small, medium, large. I really loved Elephant House’s assortment of teas. I ordered tea and Malteser cake made of Maltesers, caramel and shortbread. If I could, I would only eat Malteser-everything. So good. Perfect for ending a cold, rainy evening.

Unfortunately, I did not get any magical, best-selling idea for a book while there, but I did get to sneak a pic of me pretending to think while having tea.

The Elephant House
21 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EN
Tel. 0131-220-5355
Fax. 0131-220-4272
contact@elephanthouse.biz

Oslo Photo Diary

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Ody

One of the amazing things about Oslo is how walkable the city is. On the map of a foreign city, places tend to look large and attractions far away from each other, but a quick visit to Google Maps, would reveal an estimate of travel time in minutes, and how close some places realistically are. Thank you, modern technology. (On the flipside, one time Google Maps told us a restaurant was a 4-minute walk away from us, when we actually just had to cross the street in a few seconds. It’s always best to use your eyes, no?) Everything was just so close. My friend Joahnna and I aren’t exactly gym rats, but all the walking during trips is the best and only cardio that we need. We were walking with a purpose, walking to explore a new place, walking to find inspiration.

I have no idea who this woman is, but she seems really happy, and I want to be like that every day. Or if I live to be a legend and someone would build a bronze statue of me, I’d want it to exude as much happiness as her, although maybe not as ladylike.

Simple, but beautiful Scandinavian packaging design.

Henrik Ibsen wearing a pop of color.

Stones and shadows on the Norwegian Parliament, right smack in the middle of the city.

Jo and I wanted to go on the river walk by torchlight, an annual event to celebrate the autumnal equinox, buuut we got lost. We saw the Oslo Opera House instead, and it’s a beauty at night. It was closed for a private function; I imagined how lovely it must have been to be inside.

Nobel Peace Prize winners

Norwegian beer to cap off a great trip

Go for the bronze: Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Ody

getting nauti-cal in Oslo

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Ody

Growing up in a city, I used to be a little envious of my friends who would visit their grandparents in the countryside during weekends. They had all these fun stories about gardens, dogs, hedgehogs, and apple-picking. When we finally moved to a province, I really missed the urban life. So it’s true, the grass really is greener on the other side. Now, however, I feel lucky to live in a quiet, but not remote part of a city, next to a river. The sunsets are beautiful, and the sunrises, however rare I experience them, cast a spectacular glow. I just love looking outside my window and seeing the Danube river. It makes me miss the Philippines and its seas a little less. That’s why any new destination with any kind of body of water really makes me happy.

I went to Oslo in late September and was so pleased with the cool, but sunny weather. Midsummer and its long days might have been over, but in the early evening the sun was still shining bright, ~~like a diamond~~ giving us so much more time to explore the city. As we walked past the Oslo City Hall, the refreshing view of the harbor said “hei” to us. And this view, well, it had me at “hei” *whispers* it had me at hei.