What are you missing in the Philippines?

FindlayMacD wrote:

Michaelm54 wrote:

Cheese

Personally I love mature cheddar and there is a brand called Vintage sold in SM that fits the bill for me.

If you ever make it to the states, Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar is/was my favorite. Their Ice Cream is fantastic too.

I once saw Tillamook Ice Cream three years ago at S&R. But any ice cream I would buy would melt before getting it home. Often S&R has Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, my favorite was Cherry Garcia. $$$

At Trader Joe's my favorite ice cream was French Vanilla and their NY Cheesecake is a winner.

Lynzies wrote:

I opened a small French bakery in Liloan, cebu island but closed for 18 months,

How come closed?  Cant they manage it without you?   
I know a bakery business at Palawan, which do good during the pandemic, I believe it even has grown, at least he has grown the egg production poultry he started to get fresh eggs supply for sure  to the bakery.

gwaps wrote:

As a strict vegetarian can't find much to eat there though. I don't miss the adventure of looking for vegan friendly restaurants  there ....haha 😄

Cant you cook things yourself?   
Beside some vegetarian things made to be as "meat" and "chicken"  - and by several mensioned cheese  - there are much cheaper vegetarian raw material and much fresher and much more to chose from in Phils than in my home country.

E g you can make one dish I cook, which is a favorite among my NOT vegetarian friends   
= Root crops and lentils casserough.  Easy to make. Just slice the root crops and make layers of them and (green) lentils. Bottom layer being root crops because otherwice its biger risk it get burned by the lentils suck up much water.  Spice with some bay leafs plus some e g a herb spice mix covering taste as pepper and salt.  Much water.
Can experiment which root crops to use. My origin recepie use parsnips, leek and swedes        A type of imported sweet potatoes didnt become good, but I suppouse it can be if test some different types.

There are some good been casseroughs too.
And burgers made of e g (green) lentils, a LITLE soy bean flour plus some mushed potatoes to make it stay together.   I started making them many years ago just because they are much cheaper than buying ready made      Some people use eggs as binder.

During many years I used a NOT vegetarian cook book just replacing not vegetarian things e g with (green) lentils.
E g some Thai NOT vegetarian recepies can be made good.
And Indian Chicken Tika Masala can be turned to Lentils Tika Masala   

Many different tastes can be done using same basic ingridience - e g I use  often green lentils  - just by different spicing.  Succesful I have done different SAUSEs making it become different dishes. One is horse radish sause, other is dill sause. Done as non vegetarian sauses except cant use the fluid from meat, I use A LITLE of bouillon from vegs or herbs so the horse radish or the dill taste stay the main. 
I havent done myself but I have eaten such as vegetarian versions of chili con carne,  gulash and kalops.

Or make Philippine conggee =Basicly same as Swedish "chrismas porrage"  =Sweet rice porrage. Swedish type just add cinamon, while Philippine type add "anything"    as e g meat and vegs.  A Filipino tried to introduce conggee to USA as a business, but I dont know if he succeeded or even found financing.

Its not about cooking at my place in Cebu. More about going out and finding no place to eat. Even at home there can't find things anywhere : pinto beans  corn tortillas, cheese. Tofu. . If I do find very expensive or in short supply. Just my experience  though others my disagree .

Salt as well, lol especially bacon. Bread we bake our own.

Cheers, Steve.

manwonder wrote:

bigpearl wrote:

Not sure where you live manwonder nor topography/land size but have you considered installing your own well and pump?

Cheers, Steve.

Not as yet....plans are in the pipeline... as for now we hv lots of rain so that flows through our inclined roof gutters & into my watertrough which helps a little.

Understand, if any of the neighbours have wells then could be a go for you.
8 odd years ago we had a deep well installed with 2ft diameter concrete rings down about 16/18ft, a 3/4 HP pump and receiver, pvc pipes and taps (Dad installed internal plumbing) to bathroom,  2 kitchens and laundry and a tap for the Sari store, all up was under 600 Aussie bucks for every thing.

This was at the outlaws house and the reason we did that was I hated going to the cousins house 2 doors up to hand pump water into buckets and cart them back for a shower or flushing the toilet etc.

The interesting thing was some months later (we were back in Oz) Ben said his parents had complained that their electricity bill went up and could he help pay for that, an extra 2 or 300 pesos a month,,,,,, my response? No, tell them to turn the power off and go back to hand pumping and carting. Nothing more said.

Sorry to wander off topic.

Cheers, Steve.

Leaning more towards vietnam because of my strict vegetarian diet.  More Buddhists there so not so meat heavy in restaurants.

bigpearl wrote:

The interesting thing was some months later (we were back in Oz) Ben said his parents had complained that their electricity bill

Cheers, Steve.

Another aspect of high electric bills for well water (what happened to me).

Many many years ago I had well water back in the states. One sign that your well is going dry is high electric bills. The pump may run 24/7 without you knowing it, trying to capture water for your holding tank.

24/7 brings big electric bill until the electric pump burns itself out. If I have had knowledge of this I could have saved a lot of money. In those days, the pump was located at the bottom of the well.

The pump had to be pulled and replaced, the well had to be drilled further down into the water table.

Very hard to find hard cheese,  sweet tomatoes, spicy sausage like hungarian or german sausage... I found Edamer christmas cheese on SM :-) - gonna try it.... I found a cheese slicer on Lazada...I also miss good bacon...and a butter knife - brought it from Sweden..

But fruit is fantastic.... I also miss bone and fat free chicken and fish.... - fillets fresh or frozen....

Service --- :-) just pay and you can get help...

Youghurt without lots of sugar, sour milch....not processed food..

Dish washer powder... I brought a dish washer here but dont know if I can use it, first I need to find a place to put it with water supply and electricity...

I have a lovely wife, stopping me from helping her in the house...... sometimes she lets me cook...

Spicy food....

bigpearl wrote:

Salt as well, lol especially bacon. Bread we bake our own.

Cheers, Steve.

I don't know what the difference is between the kind of cooking salt and table salt available in the UK and the iodised salt available here in the Philippines, (how it is made etc) all I know is the salt I buy here has to be used very sparingly compared to the salt I'm used to in the UK.

orjanf wrote:

Youghurt without lots of sugar, sour milch.....

If you can get access to "real" milk, not the low fat dried crap, that can be solved by making  sour milk/youghurt by geting a litle from one you like, mix it with the milk and let it stand at suiting temperature until its done, leting the bacterias work. Then just put a litle of it into next butch. 
A Swede living in Thailand just put it behind a water heater and use the waste heat to get a productive temperature and its done in a few days.

E g Swedes, who emigrated to USA, 100 years ago, solved it by soak home country type into a cloth and dried it, then "woke up" the bacterias after they had arrive to USA. Can be done same nowadays 

What I miss most here is good food and honesty. My wife has been trying to explain Filipino culture to me and it seems all right to cheat, lie or steal from a foreigner because they have money  The Filipino culture is a very selfish one with a few exceptions. " I am alright Jack, fuck you".  There are no regards for any rules because in most instances there is no repercussions. Filipinos do what ever they think is best for them and to hell with the rest. Filipinos believe if there is any thing "free" that they are entitled to it no matter who is paying. Overseas they are respected citizens, but here , they are not to be trusted.   Sorry for my rant, but that is how l see it at the moment.  regards  Bruce.

Too true. An eloquent, damning, succinct and accurate summary of the average Filipino. They wear their hearts on their sleeves.

As I've said in a previous post the adjective best used to sum up the nation is one of amorality.

GoDees wrote:

What I miss most here is good food and honesty. My wife has been trying to explain Filipino culture to me and it seems all right to cheat, lie or steal from a foreigner because they have money ...

Not only towards foreigners. 
There are many BIG scams targeting Filipinos for instance the KAPA scam where a "religious" organisation spread "investment opportunity" offering IMPOSSIBLE high earnings started fooling teachers and such to make them pay and making them spread it to others. When it became public known its a scam, the scamers claimed the investments were CONTRIBUTIONS to the church, not to the scam leaders posh living!!!

I dont bother much if POOR try to "scam" me at some pesos by asking to high price - I would just pay and show them I know its to high     -  but most remarkable is when RICH scam people to get richer  :This forum dont have any angry smiley! :
What I have seen are rich and upper middle class Manila Filipinos WORST in average.

It seem the police DONT investigate scams!!! Its the victims who need to file case to court and pay the costs if trying something to happen against the scammers!!!  So there are very few cases filed compared to how many scams there are by most victims dont have the determination, knowledge or money to have case many years in courts.
When cases have been filed against scamers they have avoided geting punnished by paying the them, who filed the case, if they skip the case...  Not odd its common the victims accept the offers, even if they are less than they lost, instead of risking to get nothing, losing even  more by attorney costs...
So not odd some foreign scammers move to Phils and scam there instead of risking jail in their home countries...  (As e g done by  a Britt, a Norwegian and not sure if he is American or Australian.)

Why go to US to buy Cheddar when you can buy real cheddar in UK... :-)

Originating in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset...

Or you can get it anywhere in Europe :-)

I have actually found ok Cheddar in SM and also Edamer - christmas cheese...from Holland ...

My problem is to find the right healthy bacterias ... In Sweden we have Fil-milk or Long-milk and fresh yoghurt from Greece or Turkey without added sugar, but how to smuggle it to Philippines?

I am always amazed by people that make statements like yours. It doesn't make any difference what country you are from the people there lie, cheat and steal and to think otherwise is foolish. I am from the states I have scammed many people and lied and cheated them, I worked for a huge corporation in management and that is a daily practice at all corporations. So good luck living in your fantasy world.

orjanf wrote:

My problem is to find the right healthy bacterias ... In Sweden we have Fil-milk or Long-milk and fresh yoghurt from Greece or Turkey without added sugar, but how to smuggle it to Philippines?

A-fil and Acidofilus I suppouse have what you call healthy bacterias.
You can do as the Swedish emmigrants did 100+ years ago. Put such bacterias at a clean cloth and let dry.   Or a corner of a shirt    if you believe the custom would bother. Then wet it when its time to use. Just litle is needed to add to milk. But when I checked the spelling of Acidofilus I noticed there are such pills to buy so I guess such can function too.

orjanf wrote:

Why go to US to buy Cheddar when you can buy real cheddar in UK... :-)

Originating in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset...

Or you can get it anywhere in Europe :-)

I have actually found ok Cheddar in SM and also Edamer - christmas cheese...from Holland ...

I live about 45 minutes by car from Cheddar. Coincidentally I was there last weekend with some friends who came up to stay from London. Cheddar itself is a tourist trap with tacky shops selling stuff that you wished you hadn't purchased when you get home. No decent pubs. But there is a charming quiet village next door called Axbridge with a delightful 13th century square - and a decent pub too.

As for the cheese as far as I'm aware no cheddar is manufactured in the town. I personally use it when preparing cooking sauces and make sure you get the extra strong varieties otherwise it can seem like you're eating soap. My preference is for French cheeses on the whole.

Michael P. Carter wrote:

I am always amazed by people that make statements like yours. It doesn't make any difference what country you are from the people there lie, cheat and steal and to think otherwise is foolish. I am from the states I have scammed many people and lied and cheated them, I worked for a huge corporation in management and that is a daily practice at all corporations. So good luck living in your fantasy world.

Speak for USA and the Philippines   

Of course there are scammers in all countries, BUT there is a huge difference in how many/few.  North West Europe is known for having a much different business culture where businesses LOSE or even DIE if they act to bad by customers react and chose the honest businesses instead and hang them out so others can avoid them...
Its related to corruption level too where the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) together with New Zealand are regularly rated among the best,
while USA is rated among "banana republics"...     

((Back when I had a rather big distribution business, after some years I got more new customers than I realy wanted - because I prefered to rest each 4th week    (when I had break with a big regular customer) - WITHOUT doing any marketing work by I got recomended by satisfied customers...)

My business partner in the Philippines have same oppinion    (but he isnt malay Filipino, he is tribe).  He even hesitated so long time, being affraid of losing his very good reputation within the tribe, when I offered him a very good business deal for him, so it was close to I gave up and chosed to start business with an other elsewhere     He say about workers from that tribe almost all can be left after instructions and they will go on working correct without being checked, but a few in the tribe workers group not being dishonest but lazy      so they like to rest extra when not checked.  (And there are two dishonest in that tribe, but he never include them anong them geting work by him.)
I dont bother how many hours people work or how many rests they take, I bother about how much they get done correct anyway, and this group is used to get pay by how much they get done correct since before I got involved too and they both make correct and done faster say the American, who have used their services several times      That American did get jobs done by malay Filipinos earlier and he say its a huge difference in average...

BUT so no missundersatanding, I know a some honest malay Filipinos too, but a much lower percentage than in that tribe. 
Similar in a "cousin tribe", which I have assisted some with business knowledge for free to their cooperative. I know them less, but I have only seen honest actions among them in that cooperative. The leader of that cooperative get very irritated when she see people including foreigners geting scamed    as e g one foreigner she told about got scamed by the ATTORNEY he had hired for a buying, where the attorney scamed around half to himself and made the foreigner pay whole.

Related to cheese I will NOT miss this fantastic Swedish invention    cheese slizer made to be used for Swedish type hard cheeses,   but  I will bring a bunch.
If not telling the purpouse of it, many people missunderstand the use and believe its a root crop pealer, but its wrong angle for that.

I dont know why the image dont show when doing like that.  I try a link  link     [url][link under review]

Coach, talking of peelers one of my regular culinary tools in my kitchen that I use is a potato peeler (we Brits do like our spuds ) The one I have currently which is probably the best peeler I have ever had is a 'Jonas' - made in Sweden

It's actually a Norwegian invention, they do more than skiing and producing salmon and oil...

https://kitcha.se/produkt/potatisskalar … of-sweden/

It's a earthshaking link to a Potato Peeler, reinvention of the wheel or maybe yet a better mouse trap.

Where is Ron Popeil when you need him?

This link should be under review.

orjanf wrote:

https://kitcha.se/produkt/potatisskalare-rostfri-jonas-of-sweden/

It is simply the best potato peeler you can buy...try it and you will enjoy potato peeling :-)

Notice the holder is in other power direction at the Swedish cheese slicer than root crop peelers and with the "holder" so cheese slice can be put at a sandwich without toughing with hands.   
The cheese slicer is BAD to peale root crops with by having that other angle.

orjanf wrote:

It is simply the best potato peeler you can buy...try it and you will enjoy potato peeling :-)

I guess the joy of Peeling Potatoes is not on my bucket list, but i'll check my Swiss Army Knife, I'm sure it must have a Potato Peeler.

Nor on my bucket list either Bob as potatoes are rarely on the diet here unless I push and shove and while I have my trusty (I think the brand is favour ware but the brand name is half worn off from peeling potatoes for the Sunday roast in Oz)
A superior potatoes peeler far better than those available in Oz and I purchased it some 13/14 years ago in California and still going strong unlike other rubbish peelers That came from who knows where in Oz.

Back on topic, honesty and transparency from those around me I miss where I live and guess what? Most of the cr#p comes from westerners and not the Filipino people.
Still yearning for a decent beef supplier, hard to find in my area, then again lentils have value.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl wrote:

Still yearning for a decent beef supplier, hard to find in my area, then again lentils have value. OMO.   Cheers, Steve.

I don't know how far you are from Landers, but they have an area devoted to Australian & Brazilian Beef.

My wife gets the thin sliced beef for Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches. Also their ground beef is actually cheaper than what I paid in the states.

It helps I'm only a cab ride for less than 200 php.

Bob thanks for the Landers tip, additional question any idea if lamb is available in PH?

Cheese is so sparse or expensive I'd enjoy any brand there . Nice to be able to find corn messa to make fresh tortillas there. In researching online seems cant see it there ? Last time I visited there to my place, I sent a large balikbyan box filled with stuff I can't find. Maybe I'd have to do that with the dried pinto beans and corn  flour. This year Danang , Vietnam so no worries about vegan stuff .

Hello Steve. 
No to make you jealous but have found a supplier of Australian scotch fillet here on Mactan, P850 a kg in 2 - 3kg slabs. Cooked properly, delicious.  They supply many restaurants around here.
regards  Bruce

Hello Aklokow
I know of one on Mactan but l don't know where you are.

Never doubt your swiss army knife, but be prepared to spend an hour or two with the potatoes instead of 15 min :-) Potatoe peeling machines are ok but only works on fresh potatoes from the newly picked from the field... 

I'd like to think that if nothing else I will be remembered fondly on this forum for introducing the potato peeler 

I think part of me will miss snow when I move to the Philippines.

Another one would be country music.  I would probably not hear Pinoy live bands covering George Strait, Merle Haggard, Brooks and Dun and Alan Jackson classics.

Took a pic of Merle's last concert at The Ryman.
[img][link under review]

I left Scotland for California and occasionally get nostalgic for snow but quickly get over it 😁 I'm not looking into moving to the Philippines and I'm sure there will be lots of things I'll miss

Parvaze wrote:

I left Scotland for California and occasionally get nostalgic for snow but quickly get over it 😁 I'm not looking into moving to the Philippines and I'm sure there will be lots of things I'll miss

   But how great would it be to have a man-made snow resort in Philippines going forward.  The tech is out there as you can see it in Dubai.

Meant I'm now looking into moving to the Philippines. Yeah, don't see an indoor ski slope anytime soon in the Philippines 😂