Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

Blogger bash

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Last week was a nice treat for us here in Davao.  Dave Starr and his family made a journey down south to Davao, and I had an opportunity to spend a fair amount of time with Dave and his family while they were here.  I have met Dave previously, but this visit we got a little more time than previously, I think, to talk and compare notes on various issues.  For those who do not know who Dave is, he is the owner of the PhilFAQs site, and has been living in the Philippines for a number of years now.  I have known Dave, mostly online, for several years now, and he is one of my closer friends on the Internet.  We share a lot of e-mails together, and talk about most any subject under the sun.  So, it was nice to see Dave again.

We first got together with Dave and his wife, and some extended family on Tuesday evening last week.  We invited the whole crew over for dinner at our house.  Feyma and I shared the chef duties.  I cooked up a huge batch of homemade spaghetti, using a recipe that was given to me by my good friend, Father Franco, an Italian Priest who lives up in Bukidnon.  Everybody liked the spaghetti, and that made me happy.  Feyma pitched in by making several pizzas, using her recently found pizza recipe.  Dave’s group consisted of 9 people, as I recall, and we already have 10 here in the house, so you can only imagine that it was quite a feast here!

The next day, Wednesday morning, Dave and I met up at Kangaroo Coffee Club here in Davao and sat down for a nice cup of coffee and some stimulating conversation.  Since Dave and I normally stay in touch on a regular, daily basis, we didn’t have that much new to talk about, but it’s always nice to have a chance to meet face to face.  After a couple of hours at the coffee shop, Dave suggested that we go have some lunch, and I readily agreed.  Dave was in the mood to sample the burger offerings in Davao, and I suggested that we go visit Harley Street Motor Cafe.  Dave thought it sounded like a good idea, so we headed over there.

When we got to Harley’s, I saw Sam there, he is the American owner of the place, and always a nice guy to talk to, very friendly and personable fellow.  Sam told me that he had a new sandwich on the menu, a Chicken Breast fillet sandwich, so I decided to give it a try.  Dave had hamburgers on the mind, so he ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger, which looked really good.

When our lunch was served, I sure was happy with the Chicken Breast fillet, it was really tasty, and very large too!  Sam told me that he uses an entire Chicken Breast to make the sandwich, so it’s quite a meal!  If you are in Davao and looking to sample some “American style” food, I do recommend that you try Harley’s.  It’s a rather small place, with only 3 or 4 tables, but the food is great.  It can be hard to get a place to sit, though, as the place is quite popular.  If you like spicy food, give Sam’s homemade hot sauce a try, it’s the best.  Whether you decide to get a burger, the chicken sandwich, Sam’s famous chicken wings, or whatever, I am sure you will be happy with the food.  Not only does it taste great, but it’s quite inexpensive too.  Harley’s is located within walking distance from Ateneo de Davao University and is mostly a place where a lot of  students hang out.

Well, I must say that I really enjoyed seeing Dave again!  Go over and give his blog a read if you are not familiar with it, because Dave offers similar issues to what we cover here on LiP, but a bit different viewpoint, I guess.  It’s a good read.

Thanks for visiting, Dave!  Thanks for the great lunch too!  All the best to you and your family.

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Comments

  2. I did a quick look at Dave Starr’s PhilFaq and noticed the visual difference between LiP and PhilFaq right away. I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is, but the entire layout – the fonts, ad placements, recent comments, navigation, etc. – of the LiP articles and comments page are easier on the eyes. Not criticizing Dave’s PhilFaq, I am just pointing out the difference between the two websites. If I noticed it, I’m sure many others have, as well. I am just speculating that, perhaps if it’s possible for PhilFaq to mimic the LiP page without adverse complications, it would attract more readership and boost its comments count? I think PhilFaq’s popularity or lack thereof may have to do more with the architecture of the page layout than the treatment and delivery of Philippine-related subject matter.

    • Hi Ricardo – Ha ha.. what I did not mention is that while I designed the LiP site…. I also designed the PhilFAQs site for Dave! Ha ha… I like the looks of his site as well as the LiP site, they are just different. But, the world thrives on “different”. 😆

    • I like the red color scheme on Dave’s site but I think he really needs to to tone down if possible the bright white background as well as use a darker font color. Black would be best as now it seems to be a dark gray? Also, he should implement what Bob has done with LIP… in shading the comment section and right/left side colums with color . Finally, reduce the top title bar width of the page to the same as the tempate below. Bob, I couldn’t help myself.

    • Hi Ricardo, thanks for the mention. One of the first times I have seen my blog mentioned on another blog of significance. I chuckled, as Bob did, about the comments on the layout of the them and the other ‘window dressing’ aspects, since Bob himself is the designer of both themes … and one of my big concerns was that it didn’t look like a ‘copy’ of any other site.

      I heartily recommend his services, by the way.
      http://web-earner.com/content/websites/blog-offerings/

      But philosophically, I seen lot’s of similar comments about traffic and comment count over the years and I wonder why so many people seem to approach the subject as if it were a horse race? I’m not in competition with Bob (or any other blogger) regarding traffic, comment count, etc.

      Bob publishs a Philippine Living magazine with multiple authors and an ambitious publishing schedule.

      I am one person, all about information that interests me, and when that information interests others, then so much the better. My blog is very much a ‘feel like it’ operation. If I interested, I write something, if I’m not, I go play elsewhere, and when I do write, if it interested only me, hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Competition type comparison is really an apples and oranges kind of thing, our goals and level of interest and level of effort are very much different.

      I will say in the interest of design issues, my blog now ranks on the first page of Google for a number of Philippine-related keywords that it never did before I had the site redesigned by Bob, so perhaps there’s something more to this ‘appearance’ thing than meets the eye … so to speak.

      Thanks to you and your family for hosting us Bob, everyone really enjoyed our vsit to Davao and meeting you and your family was a highpoint of the visit. For those of you still ‘wondering’ or doing ‘due diligence’ about visiting the Philippines in general, or Davao City in particular … get off the dime … you’ll be glad you went.

      • Hi Dave – your visit here to the house was also the highlight of your trip for us! Ha ha… just kidding…

        We enjoyed seeing you and all or your clan! It was a good visit, and I enjoyed our conversations a lot!

      • Hey Dave!

        You have a great site, so forget about it, as they say in New Yorker. I’m actually one of your readers although I don’t comment on it as much as I do here on LIP but it doesn’t mean your topics are not interesting enough. On the contrary, I enjoy READING your contents rather than COMMENTING on any topic that you write cause your site strikes me as more on a personal blog type (like the old diary) compared to Bob’s. Just to mention, another blog I enjoy reading is John’s “The Albularyo” because it never fails to amaze me how much knowledge John has on our local folklore and things and sometimes I feel he’s more knowlegeable than I (being a Pinoy) about the topics discussed.

        Good job, Dave!

  3. Sounds great and that burger looked awesome. Almost worth the trip to Davao in itself. For me, I find it so much easier to make friends here. Most I have met are retired and come from so many varied backgrounds which makes it so much more interesting and different. They tend to hang out in specific places and the conversation is always good and varied. There are dinners together with the wives and gf’s and house parties. My friends in the states tend to be work related or those I might meet playing sports. Good friends as well but just a different demographic and less time together dur to work issues. I like it here very much. Still trying to figure out where to settle.

  4. Bob:

    That burger is huge!

    Glad you and Dave had a good time. I enjoy Dave’s perspective and site, read it regularly. He has a very much common sense tone in his writing that I generally tend to agree with.

  5. Well you both seem to be nice guys who enjoy living but dont you think you will live a little long if you dont make your focus all that unhealthy food? That practice is not a good lifestyle for showing the young ones how to live you know. It would be sad to see nice guys leave the Philippines so early in life because they ate too much and too much of the bad things.

    • Kristina – Do you think that your lifespan might be longer if you stop stressing out over others, and just focus on your own life? Is what Dave or I eat on a single day of lunch really any of your business? Did you ever eat a hamburger in your life? If so, I hope you don’t die too young. 😉

      • Nice reply Bob. Sometimes you can be a little curt, but this one was well deserved. Liked it! After all, Filipino food is typically much, much, much less healthy than the average BALANCED Western diet.

      • Bob

        Good article Bob. Dave has alot of valuable info on his site, especially about earning a living there. Pulled up the Harley website and couldn’t beleive how cheap the prices were. Will definately visit there when i’m down that way.

    • Here in the Philippines I wouldn’t dream of telling a stranger what he or she should eat, and I’d be floored if a fellow diner criticized my food choice as well. It virtually never would happen.

      One of the major reasons I don’t live in the US anymore? Too many people who take it upon themselves to believe it’s their duty to manage other people’s lives.

      I like living in the Philippines much better becuase it’s extremely rare, almost unheard of for strangers to come up to you and tell you what ‘they’ think ‘you’ ought to be doing.

      Without going off on one of my famous tangents, I will say that calling good lean beef ‘unhealthy’ is a bit over the top. That’s just not true.

      Oprah, the ‘queen’ of meddling and telling others how they should live, found this out in court when she went off on a campaign of spreading dis-information and half-truths about American beef producers, honest, hard working Americans producing top quality food for the hungry multitudes of the world.

      Let’s make a deal, Kristina … I won’t tell you what is right for you, ever, if you will pay me the same courtesy. Fair enough? May you live as long as you wish to, and eat whatever you please. God bless.

        • Bob;
          That remark about what you and Dave ate broke me up! Last week on FB I posted this.
          “Healthy people are going to feel really bad, when they die of nothing!” Plus does she think that’s what you eat for every meal? I love a beer or a cocktail, would she think that’s what I do 24/7? I was wondering what type of question, or comment she would find rude? I’m going to have a Buber Burger today, please don’t judge me!

          • The way I see it is that we only live once, Paul. I’m all for eating healthy foods because I believe that they do prolong life, but I can’t see myself denying myself the pleasure of eating the kind of foods that I love but are deemed “unhealthy”. I love lechon to the max, the same with prime rib that has marbles of fat all over it and steaks. The key is moderation, and not entirely avoiding those kind of foods.

          • Hi Paul – I hear you talking about those Buber Burgers every day! How many of them do you eat per day? 😆 Yeah, I was thinking the same thing… does she think that I eat a hamburger for ever meal and snack? My goodness. Hey, I had a Caesar Salad for dinner the other night…. didn’t write about it, though! 😉

    • Hi Kristina
      Im sure you meant well, but i dont think not eating hamburghers will improve your health in anyway. Its about what you would replace them with lol…I dont like hamburghers very much , very rarely eat them as a matter of fact. Now i do love pork soup and other nice phillipine dishes the wife cooks me and they are also full of fat. Its very hard to have a fat free diet, as most foods that contain no fat are very bland and tasteless , dont you think?…I guess the secret is to have things in moderation..as the saying goes “a little bit of what you fancy does you good”lol

      • Ah I think I believe I’ve been told at one time or another I can be curt too. Some of us can’t just help but run our mouths. I think she had the best intent but not the right blogpost to opine.

        That said I will mention I have only had a few burgers in the past two months. It is one of my most favorite foods without a doubt. I am trying to cycle more and eat less in general. I have dropped weight from 230 to 207 and I’m feeling great.

  6. Good article Bob,

    That burger looks pretty darn good too! As for criticizing Dave’s website… as a Graphic Designed for 26 years, I think his website is more than just “OK”, I think it looks great! Besides, yes, you helped him with the website, but just think, it would be down right stupid to make his site look juts like yours. Then, for sure, you would get a lot of lip (pun intended) for simply cloning your site.

    Have a good day.
    –Rich–

    • Thanks Rich! Yeah, Harley has some good burgers, I can’t complain about them! 😉

      Thanks for your kind words about Dave’s site. Personally, I like the looks of it very much.

  7. This is a coincidence. I have known of Daves website for quite some time and looked at it for the first time in months just yesterday. I spend time on this site regularly and get such a good fill of info I seldom take the time for something similar. As I mentioned yesterday I visited Daves site for the first time in a long while and the next day here is an item about Daves website right here on LIP. Daves site is a good read and I always liked his artcles that were published here as well.

    WoW, that is some burger in the pic there Bob. Looks as though it could be a 1 Pounder ( or the metric equivalent of one ).

    • Hi Bob – I have a brain scanner installed in your brain, and I know what you are thinking! That’s how easily I can write articles that fit right in with your life! 😆

  8. Hello Bob.
    Just like you said. It’s the time that you guys enjoyed together. The Burger looks for me a “little” bit tooo big. But I guess Dave figured out, how to eat that Burger. 🙂
    And yes. I also know that a fresh salad would be healthy, but a Burger is a Burger!
    (I hate it, when my wife is telling me that after I ordered a Burger meal.) 🙂

    Best regards

  9. Hey Bob- Wow at that burger! Looking at the pic, must be really good. Like a guy burger. But I sure can eat that! half or ok, 1/4.. he he. For my my itinerary, I’ll remember that Harley place.. then visit your house for uhm, spaghetti and pizza? Ha ha. Just joking. :). I’m just stuck here in the city.. he he.

    • I can tell you one thing, Sugar, that spaghetti and pizza deal from Bob is well worth the short flight to Davao. Delicious to say the least.

      And if you can’t fit a trip to Davao into your schedule soon, just let me know when you have a free Saturday, and my wife (the Unofficial Cook and I will be happy to take you to Subic to sample the food at Texas Joe’s. They make a burger that’s at least equal to Harley’s, and along the way you’ll see some scenery that illustrates what the Philippines ought to look like. You need to get out of the city more.

      Offer goes out to any other reader/writer in the Metro Manila area too … the driving, gas and tolls on me, you buy lunch and dinner on the way home … (I know plenty non-burger places as well if a ‘Bubba Burger’ isn’t to your liking).

      Another famous “Dave’s Fair Deal”. 😉 (oh, fair warning though, my car is nearly the same color as my website, and I might just wear a bright red shirt 😉

      • Bob- Ha ha, I think I’m gonna file 5 day leave from the office 😉 I’m really curious about Mindanao, Davao in particular. I like to do food trips too and hey, I don’t refuse an offer esp. food! Ha ha. 🙂

        Dave – Are you serious… I’ll take you up on that one! :). Never been out of the city since 2003. And when it comes to food.. count me in. Yep, heard of Texas Joe’s from reading article of Paul T. I’ll eat burgers.. Philly cheese steaks, pies ..the best apple pie.. as in like the American apple pie. Plus, I’ve been wanting to know where to find bestest strawberry milkshake. (Rosies diner had the best.. but no more diner).

        I saw your site Dave, pretty rad colors, cool design too!

        • I’m serious, the only fact0r is time … just came back from Subic today, matter of fact. We were visiting Mita’s uncle who’s back in intensive care, sad to say. Aside from th epurpose of our vsit, it was abeautiful, beautiful day.

          Probably won’t be going this coming Saturday, the 26th … how about tentatively the 2nd of April? Let’s take this off line … dave(at)philfaqs.com …