April last year, my mother attended a conference for Handmaids of the Lord, a branch of the Couples for Christ group of ministries. She is more active to her household in CFC, but she also wanted to attend this conference, and asked me to travel with her, so we both could set foot in Puerto Princesa. She attended the conference that entire weekend, so whole day of Saturday, I found myself alone in the inn. That afternoon, I decided to go out and check their museum, and after, I took a jeep going to Robinson's Place Palawan to check if they have a Booksale branch, as well as wait for my mom so we could eat dinner together.
I couldn't eat a meal or a heavy snack at 5 in the afternoon because it might ruin my appetite for dinner, so walking around the mall, I saw Divine Sweets Bakery and Café, and thought this would be a great place to try.
For some reason, I wasn't able to take pictures of the café. I guess I truly am not used to solitary dining, but the place had a good dining space - it promotes closeness without being crowded, and they set tables good for families, big groups, as well as for those who are couples, or alone (like me).
The café offers rice meals and sandwiches, but because I didn't see any bake shops or pastry shops nearby, I felt the need to try their pastries instead. After all, I only wanted a "light" snack, let me eat my desserts first, so to speak.
Amnesia Cake
Of all the cakes available that day, I chose their Amnesia Cake, based solely on the name of the cake. I am not sure why they call this "amnesia," but while it didn't really make me forget my name or where I was, it was definitely delicious! The cake itself was dense but moist - just the way I want my chocolate cake, and the caramel icing provided a contrasting yet complimenting flavor. I also liked the shaved nuts, but the most interesting about this cake was that it was so rich, it was quite addicting, but a mouthful was already enough. I know it was contradicting, but I do hope you get what I mean - this cake made me crave for more, but it was also able to satisfy me.
When I finally met my mom for dinner, I still couldn't get over this cake that I was hoping she could try it, too. Unfortunately, she told me the organizers of the conference gave them a take out dinner rice meal and that they were already full.
Iced Coffee Latte
As much as I love hot coffee with my pastries (at home), I am always drawn to ordering iced coffee drinks. In my years of food blogging, I truly believe that people eat with their eyes first, and with the age of social media, people would definitely get interested with a certain food place or food item if it looks good in pictures or videos. Eating with my eyes, I am very satisfied at the ombre look of my drink (I usually order hot coffee latte, so this was my first time to see that ombre latte look, my apologies for fangirling a little). The taste? Even better. It was rich, it was creamy, it had a good balance between sweetness and bitterness... that even if my tummy couldn't really tolerate a big amount of cold creamy/milky drinks, I drank up all my latte.
It was definitely unfortunate that this trip to Puerto Princesa was short and that my mom and I didn't really have the time to explore more of the city. My mom is the kind of person who doesn't really travel to a place twice (unless needed), but as soon as we got home from Puerto Princesa, she was already longing for that time for us to travel back - hoping that next time it will be us three girls traveling together.
*** Jenn ***
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my