[smartads] I was in a dream world at the end of the last post. I was just coming out of a heated pool and sat down with a cold beer in a full sized lounge chair waiting on my steak that was grilling right next to me. That’s not an unobtainable dream, just not likely to happen anytime soon.
I was up extra early this morning. It was around 0505. Lita had just left for the market and I decided I needed to take a shower. I wanted to get in and out before Vicky arrived around 0530. I made it. After getting about half dressed, I turned on the computer. I was going to do a post (8 Jan), but I got distracted doing other things. I’m hoping that I fixed the problem I’ve been having with people not being able to comment on my other blogs. I found that there is a known problem and they gave a temporary fix, so I hope it works.
Lita showed up from the market about 0615 and decided that we should open the store early. I told her, “Sure, just let me check a few more things here and have breakfast first”. There was not much for breakfast this morning, so I just had 2 peanut butter sandwiches.
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (March 22, 1869 – February 6, 1964) was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role during the Philippines’ revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War or War of Philippine Independence that resisted American occupation.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Emilio_Aguinaldo.aspx
Aguinaldo became the Philippines‘ first President. He was also the youngest (at age 29) to have become the country’s president, the longest-lived president (having survived to age 94) and the president to have outlived the most number of successors.
- Emilio Aguinaldo – P15 Stamp
For some reason I’m thinking cinnamon rolls and pop tarts this morning. I’m not sure where the pop tart thought came from, but the cinnamon thought must be from the recent talks about the bakery we want to open. Titing already has a name for the bakery too. He wants to call it “Our Daily Bread”. Titing is a bit religious and I suppose it shows in the name he wants. It’s cool with me. I don’t care about the name. I just want the cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate, no more sari-sari store and my share of the profits. There are plans in the works and I’m not saying what until they are more materialized. If all goes well I will be putting 3, 4 or even 5 entries per year in a yet to be started travel blog. I’ve actually been trying to think of a good name for the travel blog. How does “Texan in the Philippines and Elsewhere” sound? Or Texas Tripper? Or Tripping Texan? Or just UJ’s Travel Blog? I don’t know yet and it’s not crucial at this point, just thinking out loud and typing. But if you have an idea for a name, let me know. Maybe I’ll like it.
I did get to go into the house for about 3 hours. It’s 3:53pm according to the untrustworthy clock. Business is very slow right now. We are out of soft drinks, except for 2 Stings. It’s a little late now, so I might buy some more tomorrow.
http://www.libotero.com/barasoain-church-malolos-bulacan/
I wanted to buy a battery for the truck this next payday and I had myself all talked into it, but then I found out that the registration is expired and it will cost about P6000 to renew it. The registration was due last September (they go by the last number of your license plate) and if we renew it now, we would still have to renew it again in September. I was hoping to have it running to pick up someone at the airport next month. I can still do it if I want to take a chance at getting caught with an expired registration. It ain’t worth the risk. I also wanted it running so we could take trips to Tacloban once a month to shop. We can always go by van, but with the van, we are a little limited on how much we can carry with us. With the truck we can put stuff in there and lock it up, then shop some more or go eat. With the van, you have to carry the stuff with you all the time.
I ended up closing the store early yet again. This time it was a little past 7:15pm. It’s still raining and I only sold P8 worth of stuff in the past 2 hours. I just didn’t see any reason to continue sitting here staring into space.
- The Aguinaldo Shrine – Cavite
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/a76f1/764/
Salamat, Paalam
Answers to 10 Jan Quiz in Green.
Filipino: Guimaras. The province is basically agricultural with palay, coconut, mango, vegetables, livestock, poultry and fishing as major products. Its major industries are tourism, fruit processing, coconut processing, fish farming, handicrafts making, mining, quarrying and lime production.
Guimaras is well-known for its agricultural crops, particularly mangoes, where some 50,000 of these trees are planted. The Guimaras Island is famous for producing the sweetest mangoes in the world. Guimaras mangos are reportedly served at the White House and Buckingham Palace. Guimaras’ largest event of the year is The Manggahan Festival (the Mango Festival). The variety of mangoes produced are also best for making dried mangoes, jam and other delicacies.
Texas: Gonzales is one of the earliest Anglo-American settlements in Texas, the first west of the Colorado River. It was established by Empresario Green DeWitt as the capital of his colony in August 1825. He named it for Rafael Gonzales, governor of Coahuila y Tejas. Informally, it was known as the Dewitt Colony. The original settlement was abandoned in 1826 after two American Indian attacks. It was rebuilt nearby in 1827. The town remains today as it was originally surveyed.
Gonzales is most famous as the “Lexington of Texas” because it was the site of the first skirmish of the Texas Revolution. In 1831, the Mexican government gave the settlers a small cannon for protection against Indian attacks. At the outbreak of settler hostilities, a contingent of Mexican soldiers was sent from San Antonio to retrieve the cannon. On 2 October 1835, Texians under the command of John H. Moore confronted them. The Texians had fashioned a flag with the words “Come and take it“. The Texians successfully resisted the federal troops in what became known as the Battle of Gonzales.
New Quiz Questions.
Filipino: The Mayon Volcano is located in what province in Region V?
Texas: Which European was the first to ‘see’ the coast of Texas?
Answers tomorrow.
Hi John,
We have just started a bakery as you may know. I don’t know anything about your location so I really have no idea how big your market will be. Have you already started purchasing bakery equipment? I bought mine from bakery in a location that was surrounded by other bakeries. That is a better bet than buying new stock. You will need an area of about twenty five square meters for baking. That is how big my cooking area is and it is already consumed by racks, tables, refrigerators, a dough roller, and oven. I got my start up equipment for around 100k and added about 20k in ingredients. We were lucky enough to have a real master baker that comes three times a week to bake and to train our full time baker. Today I bought a bread slicer from a bakery supply in Manila. The local suppliers wanted 20k for this unit but I paid 13k from a big supplier in Manila and 700 pesos for the shipping by boat. The master baker has said that for every sack of flour there is a gross sales of 6000 pesos. If you have experience there is very little waste. They make bread pudding from the outdated bread and it sells out before the new stock. we are getting ready to build an additional oven because the giant oven that we have cannot keep up. Contrary to what someone else wrote rising time for bread dough is two hours.
I’m not going to have to do any of this work. Titing is in charge of all that, I’m letting him handle it. He is going to have the money, if he sells one of our trucks that actually no longer runs. It only needs a starter though. He and Neneng will be in charge of the building, the equipment, everything. After it gets going, I will be like an assistant bookkeeper, but that’s it. Lita will not have to do anything, but she will have input on things. Same for the Blue Gazebo. When/If it gets going, the other cousin Judith will take care of the restaurant and we will just get our 40%. So 40% of the profit, from each, and not having to do much or any work, sounds good to me, especially since I’d rather be visiting other areas of the Philippines eating lasagna or so other place in the Far East, Europe or North America experiencing things I’ve never seen or done before.
I knew about your bakery, but I didn’t know it was started already. Thanks for the input though. I will gauge your amount spent as a ballpark figure for ours.
The area is not so great at the moment, but things are building up and we want to be the first in the area to have things going. That goes for the bakery and the restaurant, but I think we will be a little late on the restaurant. Someone about a 1/2 mile from us has already got one up and running. Ours will cater to the American tourist though, so it will be different.
American style cinn rolls can be bought at the Christian Bake shop on Magsaysay Blvd only place in town i know now that makes them. I really miss good strudel or turnovers here, I like the “Our Daily Bread” name. Travel Blog names?? Texan Traveller, Lone Star Travels, Cowboy Ways to Travel, American Asian Adventures, LOL AAA has a familiar ring to it! I got a full size 12 volt battery charger and an extra battery if you need to borrow them, if it would help you to put off the expense of buying till you are more comfy , borrow the charger for a day anytime too it can be used to charge 2 battery’s at one time if you have the extra jumpers.
Okay, and cinnamon rolls I might eat when I smell them. Titing seems to be really stuck on that “Our Daily Bread” name, so that most likely will not change.
Thanks on the battery, but I don’t need it right now. I can get a battery, but the registration is overdue. I ain’t taking a chance on driving it here and getting it impounded.
Well, if you open a bakery, will really have to watch your eating. Carbs are the killer.
You really need to run the numbers – how many loves of break can you sell a day at what price. How much does it cost for flour, eggs, etcs. Need over, fridge, storage so include capital costs. Hiring a baker. If you think you or your wife will bake, think again. Baking is a 24 hour operation. You need to prepare the dough a day in advance to let it rise. The humidity can cause havoc so need a dry area. So if you think running a sari sari store or bbq is difficult, x3 for a bakery. Better to buy an established place away from your home. If its at home, to easy for you to just want to go back to bed instead of thinking its a real job. In the end, you may find the profits are to thin for the amount of work you need to put in.
Reminds me of the old American commercial on TV the sleepy guy waking up in the dark mumbling,” It’s time to make the donuts” Bakery work is like the old Dairy farmers not so much work as a life style that you choose.More power to you!
I remember that commercial very well. I even say that on occasion when it’s time to do something or cook something.
Like I said, I’m not going to bake or sell or do anything much. I’m going to be in Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe or the US somewhere.
Even when/if we open the Blue Gazebo, we plan for Judith to be the one in charge of that. She already knows how to run a business because she’s been doing it for years at the Joyous Eatery.
We will just collect our big percentage of profits from both and just let that supplement our money while on a trip.
It’s a plan. A plan that I like and feel more confident with then any other plan we’ve had since we’ve been here.
Luckily I won’t have to worry about all that. The bakery will be here on our property and we will be getting a percentage of the profits. Titing and Neneng will be the ones worrying about all that stuff. The only thing I have to do, that I know of, is to input the final financial #’s after Neneng figures it all out. She just doesn’t know how to use Excel. Maybe I could set her up a template and tell her all she has to do is put the #’s in the slots. Isn’t there a template already set up for such a thing?
Except for bread, I eat little baked goods. I only eat 2, maybe 3 donuts per year.
Personally I’m not worried about how much the profits are, just something. I think that as long as we stay debt free, we have plenty enough money to stay here.