One good thing about Facebook: I can ask my friends all sorts of questions and they will happily answer. Here’s my query this weekend: “what do you love to do when it’s cold and raining?” (it’s not what you think :P)
Nina: burrowing under the covers and sleeping in. Then getting up and eating hot and very sour bowl of sinigang and tuyo
Vicky: i just love watching the raindrops fall on my porch, observing the surroundings get moist and damp and watching the water flow into the drain….
Tess: Cuddle up with someone special 🙂 Awww…but I just remembered, I’ve got no one right now 🙁
Stephanie: Sleep and/or cuddle with the kids and a good read-aloud book that has to do with water or the sea or storms — like Black Ships Before Troy.
Karla: I love to make a cup of hot chocolate (preferably the native sort) and wrap myself in a thick blanket and read a feel-good book.
Noemi: I love to wrap myself in my silk comforter and just sleep. Pitter patter of the rain is soothing to the nerves.
This has been a year when rain in the Philippines has been few and far between. Am actually missing the rain though I don’t actually miss the kind of rain (and wind!) that Milenyo brought last year which was downright scary. I do envy the answers of my friends who have the luxury of snuggling between the sheets when they feel like it. My pathetic life demands that I have to get up and work at certain hours of the day, even during holidays. But I do share in Karla’s answer that a warm cup of hot chocolate is enough to chase the blues away, since some people actually feel depressed when it rains.
It was actually a joy discovering this local chain of coffeeshops recently which specializes in preparing hot chocolate the old-fashioned way. The name is Tsoko.Nut Batirol and “batirol” as you know is the native wooden stirrer our old folks used in whipping up the drink. It brings back childhood memories and bygone days when everything was prepared from scratch. These days, kids like mine just have to reach the cupboard for instant hot drinks like Milo, Swiss Miss and Cadbury’s Choco.
A huge poster on the wall of Tsoko.Nut Batirol shops aptly describe the unforgettable experience of a child relishing her afternoon snacks in the house of her grandma: “I can’t ever forget that deep, slightly nutty aroma of cacao and milk, mixed to perfection. We would then sit at the table and wait, impatiently, as the tsokilatera would be presented and our cups filled with that wonderful nutty brown brew. Then, with a heartfelt prayer, we would each grab a soft ensaymada, bite into the buttery pastry, then finally, raise our steaming cups to our lips and, after a brief blow to cool it slightly, take that first sip… Ahhh.”
I don’t know Tsoko.Nut’s owners but they definitely get my vote for the exciting variety of their all-Filipino menu, placed in a fastfood setting – delicacies such as Bacolod’s napoleones (perfect, not too sweet), bibingka with kesong puti & itlog na pula, suman sa mangga, pinipig sa latik, pansit molo, pan de sal with various fillings, kabayan bread and good ol’ ensaymada (sugar-free or with quezo de bola).
For the lunch-time crowd, they have an assortment of dishes like dinuguan with puto, rellenong bangus, callos, bangus belly, chorizong hubad and more. Haven’t tried any of these since I mostly adore their pastries and drinks. Whenever I go to SM Makati, I cap it with a visit to Tsoko.Nut at the far end of the second floor and thereafter watch the crowd while sipping my native hot chocolate or their kapeng barako. They also have hot tea, salabat, cappuccino, fruit shakes and cool blends like a cookies and cream coffee.
Tsoko.Nut Batirol (read as tsoko dot nut) can be found at: SM Makati, Waltermart Pasong Tamo, De La Rosa Carpark 1 Makati, Fun Ranch at Frontera Verde Pasig, Shopwise-Sucat and RCBC Plaza Ayala Avenue.
In the meantime, it’s not too late to answer my question on Facebook: what do you love to do when it’s cold and raining?
Here’s what I’d love:
-hugging all my pillows
– playing with my kids or watching tv
-preparing some hot meal like misua or macaroni soup; otherwise I just get a kick out of eating my rainy day food like tuyo (yummy!), daing na bisugo, ginisang sardines with hot rice, or classic adobo
– the sound of the rain on the roof and the glass window is romance in itself.
Only thing I love to do when it’s cold and raining is get on a plane out of here; as the rain here is VERY, VERY COLD and there is a lot of it!!!!!
I’ll have to try that Tsoko.nut soon!
Yes Lawrence, I know how crappy the weather is where you are. I can’t possibly complain about having too much sunshine where I am!!!
Do try, Prudence:)
That hot chocolate looks real good. I think I’ve got a new craving.
I love that place. I took photos of the food and my hot chocolate drink then the manager decided to upsize my drinks. hehe. I will remember you next time I snuggle in my sheets during work hours. I will remember to get up and work! hehe
It’s really rare that I do that but it happened last weekend.
awww i wish they will have a branch in alabang…
Oooh! I’ve seen this place for quite sometime and was able to try it at one of their quiet corner branch in SM Makati. I enjoyed thier choco drink. But my friends didn’t enjoy their coffee offereing. I guess it ends up to the taste preference though. Still it’s quite neat
wow..yumyum..have to try that drink!:)