July 3rd, 2009
I vividly remember the turn of the millennium when Davaoenos gradually grew a love for coffee. No, it wasn’t because of the need to stay awake, nor was it due to cold weather. It was because of one brand that jumpstarted the city’s caffeine craving: BluGre Coffee.
Even during its first few baby steps, BluGre Coffee has established itself as a premier-brand coffee shop. It is even touted as the Starbucks of Davao, with its strong brand marketing and excellent product quality.
Wifey and I only have pleasant memories at BluGre Coffee. The most memorable one was on the night of our wedding. Right after the reception party, we suddenly realized that we were hungry! So, at about 11:30 PM, we took a cab to BluGre Matina Town Square to satisfy our grumbling tummies.
While BluGre puts the Durian Gatchpuccino on their must-try list, our favorite is the classic Mocha. Their ice-blended Larcepuccino Coffee variants have also satisfied our palates quite a number of times. For desserts, nothing — and we mean, NOTHING — beats Banana Cream Pie.
Despite the emergence of more coffee shops in the metro, BluGre will always hold the distinguished title of offering the first great coffee experience in Davao.
————————————–
As of this writing, BluGre Coffee has three branches in Davao City (Landco Bajada, Matina Town Square, and SM City) and the newest in General Santos City.
Blugre Coffee Central
Phone: (082) 221-4667
Filed under: food, personal | No Comments »
July 2nd, 2009
Attention, local shutterbugs and photography lovers!
The month of July kicks off with COMDDAP Davao 2009, an expo that showcases the latest trends and technologies from famous IT brands. This year’s event will be held on July 2-4, 2009 at the Main Ballroom of the Apo View Hotel.
A handful of computer and IT-related manufacturers and distributors will offer their top-of-the-line products in the three-day promo.
One of the featured brands is Canon, famous for its trendy digital cameras like the IXUS and Powershot models. During the expo, Canon will be offering huge discounts for their cameras and photo printers. For people who love freebies (like me!), Canon will throw out raffle prizes such as Canon PowerShot A460, iPod shuffle, and discount vouchers.
We have been users of Canon products ourselves, like their Pixma IP1300 printer and the IXUS 70 digital camera. We surely love our techie stuff!
Filed under: bargains, news & events | No Comments »
June 27th, 2009
Change starts from within. That’s how Davao City — and Mindanao, on a wider scale — should be envisioned towards prosperity and peace.
This year, Davao City will play host to a peace gathering of Mindanao’s key representatives from local government units, civic organizations and peace advocacy communities. This event is connected with ACTION-REPAIR, a two-year project aiming to improve the lives of Mindanawons gravely affected by natural calamities and socio-political conflicts.
To date, ACTION-REPAIR has lended its able hands to eight provinces in Mindanao, or close to 30,000 locals.
The peace gathering will be conducted at Garden Oases Resort on July 1, 2009. Expected in attendance are Vice Mayor Sarah Duterte, and party-list representatives Luz Ilagan and Satur Ocampo.
You can read more about this event, through the official PIA Press Release.
Filed under: others | No Comments »
June 23rd, 2009
Part of our Independence Day food trip included a visit to this expensive-looking coffee shop along Tionko Avenue. Kangaroo Coffee Company seems like a typical Manila-based cafe: impeccable interior design and concept-driven menu choices.
We were surprised to find out that this particular coffee shop is, on the contrary, a local brand.
Sticking pretty much to their name, the cafe offers some menu items with the name “Kangaroo” or “Kanga” attached to them. Suckers that we are in marketing ploys, we sampled Kangaccino (their version of cappuccino) and Kanga nuggets (chocolate-coated corn flakes). We also ordered White Chocolate Mocha and the heavy Chocolate Matcha Cake, as recommended by their staff.
Their coffee brews were okay — nothing spectacular but not bad either. Kanga Nuggets was rich in chocolate goodness, and was delightfully crisp. Too bad we’re not fans of tea-based food, so we did not like the Chocolate Matcha Cake.
Fortunately, the cafe’s style was an entirely fresh experience for us. Books and magazines are readily available to consumers — even in the restroom! The walls showcased paintings and posters reminiscent of Philippine history and culture, despite the cafe being named after a foreign animal. Most of all, I loved the image that they put on my Kangaccino foam. 
In summary, Kangaroo Coffee Company gets a load of plus points for stamping a fresh image to the otherwise common coffee shop.
Kangaroo Coffee Company
Tionko Avenue, Davao City
(082) 222-2766
Filed under: food | 2 Comments »
June 19th, 2009
It’s time to put Davao City on the global online map.
A group of online mappers are currently in talks to update Davao City’s web-based map in OpenStreetMap. The ultimate plan is to launch a mapping party on July, pooling together a number of interested individuals to participate in a simultaneous GPS mapping activity.
For those who are not well-versed in this field of specialization, a training workshop on online mapping will be conducted on June 20 (Saturday) at the DabaweGNU Lab in Sobrecarey Street, Davao City.
If you are eager to share your time for this tourism-boosting event, visit the Mapping Mindanao blogsite to read further details about the event.
News from PIA about this event can be found here.
Filed under: learning, news & events | 2 Comments »
June 15th, 2009
Jericho Rosales, Christian Bautista, Yeng Constantino and Chokoleit will be having a concert at the CAP Auditorium (located in Anda St., Davao City) on June 20, Saturday. Set to start at 7:30 PM, the concert is for the benefit of the SOS Children’s Village.
Ticket prices are at PHP1,500, PHP1,000, PHP500 and PHP300. As this event is being sponsored by the Western Union Company, members of the 2009 Western Union Gold Card Rewards Program can avail of 50% discount on ticket prices.
Filed under: entertainment, news & events | 1 Comment »
June 13th, 2009
Before the reign of Pizza Hut, Shakey’s, Greenwich and Yellow Cab in Davao, there was this local pizzeria offering delectable homemade pizza — Papa’s Pizza. I remember I was still in high school then (shoot, this gives out my age!) when Papa’s Pizza ruled as Davao’s favorite pizza place.
Papa’s was gone for some years and later came back as Paparazzi’s by Papa’s Pizza. They were at SM City Davao (near the back exit) for a year and then transferred to its current location at A. Mabini Street (near Siggi’s and Tumble Tots) where they have been serving yummy pizzas for about 2 years now.
As one of the stops of our weekend food trip, Hubby and I made a visit to Paparazzi’s.We ordered old-time favorite Sicilian pizza. As we shared on Twitter and Plurk, their Sicilian pizza looked and tasted just like it did 15 years ago.
The place may not be as cozy as we thought it would be and the prices may not be as affordable as before (even after considering inflation), but our first bite of their pizza told us that visiting Paparazzi’s was a good decision.
Filed under: food | 1 Comment »
June 10th, 2009
Click for closer look.
Filed under: tourist spots | 6 Comments »
