Sunday Stamps - (M) Meatball from Taiwan

For the letter M - Meatball

2013 - Taiwan - Signature Delicacies

Designer: Creative Design and Advertising Corporation 

I've been to Taiwan twice but I've never had the chance to try their meatball or Ba Wan. I hope there could be a third time! 

This stamp, together with 3 more, were released on 16 August 2013. The other stamps could be seen here. 

For more stamps with the letter "I", visit See It On A Postcard

Postcards for the weekend 73: Happiness/Joy

Private Swap, Sent from Morges, Switzerland
Sent 3 Oct 2016, Traveled 10,451 km

On top of this perfectly joyous picture of little girls enjoying fondue, what made me pick this postcard for this weekend's theme was the message at the back. The sender wrote, "The Swiss national dish: fondue (cheese + white wine). I am not the father of these lovely girls!" -- I chuckled!

On a side note, I'm really happy as I'm here in the Philippines since Tuesday. It's so good to be back home!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 67: A cup of coffee

DE-6803592, Sent from Germany
Traveled 10,360 km in 16 days

Here is my first Postcards for the Weekend post. And unfortunately, it's another post that needs to start with another apology. I realized that I have edited the linky for the weekend of 16 Dec instead of creating a new one for last weekend. I'm truly sorry about this and for all the other weekends wherein I was late in posting. With work being constantly busy, I have been pondering again whether to discontinue the linky party or not. But then, I'm going to miss all my friends who have been sharing with me this Postcards for the Weekend tradition for more than a year now. So, I'm pushing on! 

DE-6790870, Sent from Halle
Traveled 10,029 km in 20 days

Here are a couple of postcards that I received yesterday. I guess, I just need more cups of coffee to stay on top of things ;-)

I wish you all a nice weekend,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 61: Food & beverage

I have just returned from an overnight team building trip to Melaka, Malaysia. We were joking among ourselves that it was not a team building trip but a food marathon instead. Melaka is a foodie haven! I wish I found a postcard for a souvenir but I didn't! Too bad as I realized that it would have been nice to share a postcard with Melaka delicacies for this weekend's theme of food & beverage. 

Now, onto the main topic, postcards:

Postcard sent to self, sent from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Sent 26 June 2016, Traveled 2,678 km

One of the best things about Vietnam is food. My partner and I went to a cooking class where I learned how to properly wrap a fresh spring roll without creating tears through the rice paper. 

Postcard sent to self, Sent from Beaufortain, France
Traveled ~ 10,600 km

This slice of cheese is from my first trip to France this summer. I was taught to eat more varieties of cheese. For this Beaufort cheese, the affinage variety was said to be the best. That variety also costs twice as much compared to the rest. Thankfully, its strong taste didn't agree with my palate. I don't have to break my wallet whenever I have the craving!

Postcard kept as a souvenir

For a Christmas treat last year, my boss invited us for a high tea at the Fullerton Hotel here in Singapore. It was a very expensive experience that I most probably won't pay for by myself. As a souvenir, I took this postcard from the hotel shop. It features local Singapore dishes, that are served in the hotel. These dishes are a combination of Malay and Chinese dishes.

I hope I have your tummy full by the end of this post.

Happy weekend, 

~maria 

Postcards for the weekend 51: Start of year 2 !!!

Congratulations to us blogger friends, you know who you are! And, congratulations to readers and followers of Postcards for the Weekend. We are now in our second year!

In the end, I decided to do another year as the joy of sharing postcards and providing a community venue for other collectors who want to share their postcards in a community-like fashion are more reasons enough than the pressure that comes from hosting this linky from time to time.

For this first weekend of our second year for the linky and with the theme Anything you wish, here are postcards from the country I have recently visited:

Direct Swap, Sent from Zwolle
Sent 8 Nov 2015, Traveled 10,377 km

Gouda, tulip fields, and the Dutch bonnet -- these are among the most iconic representations of the Netherlands. I came back to Singapore with a ball of gouda to share with friends. Regretfully, not as huge as this one in the postcard though!

NL-1525406, Sent from Flevoland
Sent 3 Nov 2012, Traveled 10,383 km in 12 days

Windmills -- probably the most iconic Dutch representation. I only saw one at Delft. I wish we could have gone to Kinderdijk. Perhaps next time ...

I'm waiting for my linkytools subscription to be renewed. The payment has gone through but I'm not sure why the subscription status is yet to be updated.

For those who are linking up this weekend and the linky isn't available for this post, please leave the link for your posts in the comment section for the meantime. 

Apologies for the inconvenience,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 28: Japan

The theme for this weekend is from a country you have visited or a favorite place in your country that you have visited. I'm sharing postcards for the former.

Last November 2016, I traveled to Japan with my partner and four other friends. Our first destination was the old capital of Japan, Kyoto.

Postcard sent to self from Kyoto, Japan
13 November 2016, Traveled 5,368 km

I would admit that I was faked in a kinda ignorant way by women walking around in kimono. I thought these are real Japanese women who roam around as part of their local tourism board initiatives. But then, I came to a realization that many of them are tourists who have rented a kimono for the day. Many boutiques offer such experience including photo shoots.

JP-905949, Sent from Saitama, Japan
Traveled 5,368 km in 17 days

I can still remember how delighted I was when I received this postcard and the explanation behind the photo back in December 2016. This was one of the fishes we were wondering about the name when we're in our Japan holiday. It's a narrow and long fish with not much flesh but very tasty. It was explained by the postcard sender that this fish is locally called as autumn sword fish or sanma. Its common name is Pacific saury.

Postcard sent to self from Nikko, Japan
16 November 2016, Traveled 5,368 km

Nikko, our second destination in Japan is a town renowned for lavishly decorated shrines and temples. On this postcard is the heavily decorated Yomei-mon Gate at the Toshogu Shrine. It was under renovation and covered by scaffolding and while plastic drapes when we were there. Nonetheless, the rest of the place was equally astonishing. More details about this UNESCO WHS can be found here. 

Postcard sent to self from Tokyo, Japan
20 November 2016, Traveled 5,368 km

Our third and final destination was the bustling and busy capital city of Tokyo. The atmosphere was a stark contrast with that of Kyoto and Nikko. Tokyo was a maze of tall buildings, colorful neon lights at night, and people on the go regardless of the time of the day. 

Japan was a balance of relaxation with the charm of the old world in Kyoto and Nikko, and adventure with the action-filled urban atmosphere of Tokyo.

Happy weekend everyone! Looking forward, as always, to see the postcards you're sharing for this weekend's theme.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 11: Coffee/tea/pastries

Wow!  We're on our 11th linky party, since we started on 3 September. Thank you so much to all of you who's been participating, making visits, and most of all -- showing your appreciation to each participant by leaving your comments on the postcards shared. I hope we're all having fun with our postcards for the weekend.

Pardon me, for my round of visits will be delayed for this weekend and the next as I'm traveling. Nonetheless, I'm making sure that the linky is here even though I'm away.

DE-5534053, Sender: ha45K
Sent from Germany, Traveled 10,352 km in 16 days

For this weekend, I'm a non-kitchen-genius so my idea of a theme with coffee/tea and everything usually served with either for a snack (ie, cake, cookie, biscuits) has been reduced to "pastry". I'm posting these cards ahead of time to hopefully, try to provide reference as for the inclusion of the theme. For the first card above, how I wish I have at least one of these cupcakes to enjoy with my cup of mixed lemongrass, ginger, and citrus tea at the moment.

BY-1171367, Sender: Anna
Sent from Minks, Belarus, Traveled 8,926 km in 33 days

Here's a cup of tea (perhaps coffee) with matching biscuits. I love the appearance of tiny white bunnies on this postcard. It's a work of Alyona Baranova, a Dusseldorf-based illustrator from Ukraine.

It's getting cooler and cooler here in Singapore. I'd say despite the daily downpour, I love this time of the year when I have my time out from extremely warm days! As some of you may know, our weather here in the tropics usually can only be warm, warmer, and warmest. We don't have four seasons with more significant temperature changes. This weekend until the next, I will be in a country where I can enjoy autumn colors. I'm not exactly sure though if I will very enjoy the temperature, forecasted to be at 15 degrees Celsius drop from my usual 27 - 33 here in Singapore.

Happy weekend everyone!

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 10: Foods of the world (Asia edition)

Sent from Bangkok, Thailand by myself
Sent 5 Dec 2015, Traveled 1,409 km

My partner and I love Pad Thai! This is our favorite street food in Thailand. There's a food cart run by a couple in their late 50's at the end of the street of Sukhumvit Soi 11, Bangkok. Facing the Holiday Inn Express, the cart is on the right. No trip to Bangkok is complete for us without eating Pad Thai at that humble street side location. Sukhumvit Soi 11 is accessible via BTS Nana station.

Sent from Yokohama, Japan by myself
Sent 16 April 2016, Traveled 5,291 km

I had the pleasure of enjoying Kumamoto-style ramen at the Shinyokohama Raumen Museum earlier this year. This ramen style is said to be invented in Fukuoka, the origin of pork bone soup base or tonkotsu. Eating ramen at the Museum felt like an experience in a different era of Japan. The place has street and shops scene replication from 1958 Japan. It's the year when the first ramen was invented.

Outgoing: sent to Manila, Philippines

Chili Crab is on my top 3 must-try dishes for a visitor in Singapore. One must be willing to eat with bare hands to enjoy this dish the most. It is savory, rich, and fluffy. To be honest, I love the sauce more than the crab meat. But it's always fun cracking the shell and extracting as much meat as you can from the delish crustacean.

I'll be traveling to Japan & Thailand before the year ends. I'm excited to enjoy the first two dishes in their home countries. I'm also very much looking forward into inviting my whole family who will visit me here in Singapore soon to one of the restaurants that serve good chili crab. I can't wait!

Happy weekend everyone,
~maria

Stamps: Foods of the world

The stamps on top are food I'm most familiar with:

Satay from Indonesia - locally, satay is pronounced as sate. There are many variants and Sate Tambulinas (beef) is the most favored in Sulawesi, the western part -- according to my research. What sets apart the Indonesian satay from other skewers is the use of turmeric in the marinade. Normally, I get my satay with diced onions and sliced cucumber relish and the best part, peanut sauce.

Roast goose from Hong Kong - this I believe is the "star" on the menu for most of the Chinese restaurants. It's crispy on the outside and tender in the inside. Here in Singapore, we often get the roast duck version. I'm not sure if I've ever tried roast goose at all.

The stamps at the bottom are foreign to me:

Kranjska klobasa from Slovenia - In English, it's Carniolan sausage. From my research, Slovenia has successfully entered it into PGI status. The sausage are joined at the ends by wooden skewers; often coming in pair. It's often served with bun and mustard.

Karjalanpiirakka from Finland - The pie has a TSG status in Europe. I'm a bit confused about the ingredients of this pie. In the end settled with, "This is rice pie but not any rice pie, it's a rice pie from Karelia." I read that the release of this stamp caused an online protest because it shows a store-bought pie not a traditional home-made version.

For more gastronomic stamps, check the page -- See it on a postcard.

~maria

Share the happiness!

DE-235834, Sender: Jardinantoine
Sent: 14 Oct 2013 from Brussels, Belgium
Received: 20 Nov 2013, Traveled 10,517 km in 37 days

Hurray! One of the happiest seasons of the year is almost here -- Christmas!! I'm thrilled to post my first December entry for my blog this year. I'm not a fan of carbonated drinks, I don't drink soda as much as possible but that doesn't prevent me from loving Coca-cola's tagline, "Share the happiness", which is also very appropriate for this holiday season.

In line with this postcard, I'm happy to share, too (forthose who haven't seen this on the news) that Coca-cola Philippines, true to the Coca-cola tagline, have made a very charitable and generous act. Since 18 November, they have suspended advertisement campaigns to route the funds for these instead to helping those affected by the Super Typhoon Haiyan. Here's a link for Coca-cola's press release about this.

This Coca-cola postcard is among the first Christmas-themed postcards I got this year. Together with the cheerful front design, I got an equally delightful treat from the back of the card!

It's a lick-taste-smell Belgian chocolate stamp! When the taste is a bit disappointing, it does smell like chocolate! Wonderful enough... Kudos to whoever thought of this idea (I'm too lazy to run a research right now :p ) I think this is a winning way to get people back into the art of sending letter, postcards, and other stuff in the mail!

Sharing this heart-shaped chocolate with Clytie's Guest Heart Thursday. How I wish I can also share my actual experience of "lick-taste-smell" with this stamp, how I wish I took a video! It was my very first time to actually "taste" a stamp! Goodness... perhaps next time ;-)

~maria

PS. And I just realized, 6 December, tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day in Europe. St. Nicholas is identical to the American's Santa Claus. So let me also take this opportunity to greet my readers from Europe, Happy St. Nicholas Day!!!

Wine & Cheese - Szeretettel!

Facebook Swap, Sender: Veronika
Sent: 5 June 2012 from Szeged, Hungary
Received: 21 June 2012, Traveled ~10,000 km in 15 days

Much to my disappointment, I don't have any Thanksgiving - related postcard to share. Oppss, that first sentence just sounds so wrong ... What I truly wanted to say to open this post is that, I'm grateful despite my lack of Thanksgiving-related postcard, I have this one with a glass of wine - to suggest a toast in celebration of Thanksgiving!

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines. I don't think that's a reason though not to join my American friends in expressing gratitude for the blessings we constantly receive. Especially this time of the year, I feel the most grateful; with many of the important things I wished for this year coming true.

I'm currently in Singapore by the way. It was Friday last week when I learned I need to go back for an urgent appointment. I was here also during the first week of November. On Monday I flew back in and that evening, celebrated one milestone in my career, courtesy of the beau. (N.B. The urgency of coming here and the celebratory dinner aren't connected.) And lookie here what we had, wine and cheese, same as in the postcard!

When the wine and cheese on the card is from Hungary; the wine and the cheese platter on my photo is from a French resto called Cheese Bar by Wine Connection. It was a new experience for me trying different kinds of cheese (and foie gras, too!) For the first time, I tasted the hard cheese Gruyere "12 months" from Switzerland, which according to the menu is of raw cow milk, aromatic subtle and fruity. The soft cheese, bloomy rind Chaource from France which was pasteurized cow milk, crumbly, fruity, and mushroomy. And the goat cheese (which became my favorite from the 3 selections we had), Crottin de Chavignol from France, raw milk, smooth, lactic, and peppery. The wine were Pradio - Pinot grigio from Fruili Grave, Italy for me. And for the beau, it was Herve Azo "Chablis AOC" - Chardonnay from Burgundy, France. 

I believe I'm starting to fall more in love with French food (who will not, really?). Yesterday evening it was another cheese and wine affair, being invited for dinner by another French-Filipina couple. We had the soft-washed-rind, smear-ripened Reblochon from Haute-Savoie, France with nutty taste on croziflette. For the wine, it was Domaine du Bois-Malinge - Muscadet Sevres et Maine Sur Lie.

On top of what seemed to be a wine and cheese feature for this post, I'm thankful for the new friendships I'm starting to build here in Singapore. Meeting new people teaches me many new things and makes me know myself a lot better. It's nice also being able to share about myself that hopefully is something inspiring and useful for the people I meet. I'm positive that once I find a job here, adjustment won't be too hard for me with the friendships I've already established prior to moving in.

So long for now. Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all! Cheers!

~ maria

Sharing this for:

Beth's 

and Paulita's

La Raclette

Facebook Swap, Sender: Sebastien
Sent: 7 Aug 2013 from Cadillac, France
Received: 13 Aug 2013, Traveled ~11,526 km in 6 days

For my readers who have been reading my recent posts, I'm thrilled to share that I'm on my third day of vacation now  with my beau :) It's just crazy how time flies when we're together and how slow they are when we're apart... Moving on ...

On Thursday night, we hosted a dinner for another French-Filipina couple. We prepared a traditional French cheese dish from the mountains, raclette. On the postcard, it's shown under a heater, which melts the cheese and the melted part will be scraped. This scraped melted cheese is then used as topping for boiled potato, enjoyed with cold cuts, and greens.

For the dinner we prepared, we had a modern electric raclette grill. We realized the quantity we had was a bit short to satisfy 4 people. Raclette is really a nice dish and grilling the cheese and the pink and red meat gives a break from chewing -- which makes one a bit longer to feel full from it. (It's really very heavy in the tummy though in the end!)

Our guests brought 2 bottles of red wine. On top of that, we had other alcohol before dinner. The beau brought me back 3 bottles of wine back from France in early August. We served 2 bottles. And that Côtes de Bergerac moelleux AOC Novelum (inset), easily became the favorite. The wine was true to the French to English translation of 'moelleux', it was truly mellow indeed! I loved it because I'm not good drinking red wine.

There was some left of the second bottle, the pink Rosé Coteaux d’Aix en Provence seen inside the bucket above. I was supposed to have a glass tonight but I'm a bit sick. The beau had one glass and saved this quantity on the bottle above for me -- more than enough to get me really lethargic and sleepy but I'm very enthusiastic to enjoy it (again) as soon as I get better. ;-)

I've got 3 more days remaining for this vacation but I've already got lots of happy stories to share from the first 3 days. 

For more postcards, check out Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday, for French-related posts, hop on to Paulita's An Accidental Blog, to brighten up your weekend with pinks, check out Beverly's Pink Saturday linky party.

A lovely weekend to everyone!

~maria

Paris vs. New York 2

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Terry
Sent: 3 May 2013, Sent from Sherwood, AR
Traveled ~12,288 km

My first Paris vs. New York post made me hungry, now I'm thirsty. 

The title for this comparison is l'apéro - the colloquial form of l'apéritif. According to Uncle Wiki, "This name is given to a drink, usually alcoholic, taken before a meal. It also relates to the 'social event' that happens alongside the actual drinking, for example going over the days/weeks events or just keeping up to date with friends/family events also involving little munchies, crisps, pastries, etc."

On the French side, of course we have bordeaux, which refers to grapes used to make the wine. Bordeaux is a place in southwest France notable for producing wine. It has a rich heritage of wine production and wines produced using Bordeaux grape varieties have registered names or are trademarked. For easy reference and for universal parlance, the wines are referred to as bordeaux.

On the American side, we have cosmo, or cosmopolitan. It is a cocktail made of vodka, cranberry juice, triple sec, and lime juice. It's served in a martini glass, garnished by a lemon twist. It became popular because of the HBO show, Sex and the City. This cocktail is light and fruity, a good choice for a casual night out with girl friends as seen in that tv series.

Personally, wine drinking appears to me as classic and relaxed, while cosmo (cocktail) drinking is hip and bubbly. I was first introduced to cosmo drinking; it's more of a feminine alcoholic drink. Now with the French beau who has a sommelier friend and housemate, I got to try different bottles of good wine. My taste has since preferred the more refined sensations of drinking wine. On a second thought though, both wine and cocktail drinks make me dead sleepy so I guess the difference doesn't really matter in the end. 

Yesterday is a 'Be An Angel Day' -- it's all about making the world a better place through acts of kindness, care, and support. I would like to note that in my deltiology and philately world, Terry - the sender of this postcard is one of my angels. She often sends me extra/surprise card with the cards arranged for swap. Also, the sisters Clytie of Random Hearts and Beth of The Best Hearts Are Crunchy are my angels, too. They allow me to share my postcards and stamps collection to a bigger audience.

Sharing with Beth for the Postcard Friendship Friday and Paulita for Dreaming of France, cheers for the weekend and for next week, everyone! 

~maria

Round stamps plus more!

Working on the premise that usual shape for stamps is either square or rectangle,

I am sharing these two round stamps for the unusually -shaped stamps theme for Sunday Stamps.

The first stamp is from Portugal for the 2010 Campenato do Mundo de Futebol.

It was released on 31 May 2010.

The second stamp is an aromatic stamp from Russia

It's part of the series called the Gifts of Nature issued on 27 August 2003.

Other fruits on the series are pear, melon, wild strawberry, and apple.

On this second set, the first stamp is a cross with rounded edges from Finland.

It's from the theme Flora (Trees), with a birch bud printed on it.

It was issued 24 January 2011.

The hexagon stamp is from a set of 6, souvenir stamp called Bees of Taiwan.

Shown here is the Apis cerana or the eastern honey bee.

It was issued 12 July 2012.

~maria

Life was a box of chocolates.

US-2204290, Sender: Carochan
Sent: 29 April 2013, Sent from Marrero, LA
Received: 23 May 2013, Traveled 14,066 km in 24 days

Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

- Forest Gump's mum

Check out Random Heart's blog by clicking the meme below

for more posts with adorable hearts.

~maria

Beschuit met muisjes

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Aritha
Sent: 29 April 2013, Sent from Veenendaal, Netherlands
Received: 7 May 2013, Traveled 10369.34 km in 9 days

Aritha said that beschuit met muisjes is a cracker with pink and white mice on it. The cracker is actually rusk, a hard and dry biscuit. Rusk is baked twice, hence the texture. The mice are the aniseed sprinkle, coated with colored sugar. The sprinkle is called mice because the stem of the aniseed resembles the tail of a mouse. The aniseed is believed to aid lactation and the muisjes to symbolize fertility.

This white and pink beschuit met muisjes is eaten when a baby girl is born in the Netherlands. There is a a blue one for when a baby boy is born. Orange ones were sold in 2003 in honour of the birth of Princess Catharina Amalia. Parents of the newborn baby serve beschuit met muisjes to visitors. Older siblings bring beschuit met muisjes to school to share with their friends.

I think this is a beautiful Dutch custom. I'm thinking of what Filipino custom we have for when a baby girl/boy is born but I can't can't get out something right from the top of my head...

~maria

Little Sugar Hearts

Bag of Vruchten Hartjes, Sender: Mary
Sent: 6 May 2013, Sent from Sassenheim, The Netherlands
Received: 14 May 2013, Traveled 10,429 km in 9 days

Little sugar hearts or suiker hartjes in Dutch. Finally, I know now how they taste!

Mary read my write-up about the postcard she sent and my curiosity 

about these sweets. She offered to send some and the sweets arrived last week.

I was in Singapore to visit the boyfriend so I wasn't able to try them right away.

I arrived here in Manila today and the first order of business upon getting into my apartment:

try these really sweet-looking little goodies.

And I was right! It's the melt in your mouth sugary candies.

The different colors of little hearts also taste somewhat different from each other.

I think I've eaten around 10 little hearts in one sitting. I put them away in a safe container for now,

otherwise I'll eat all of them in less than 24 hours. I kinda worry about the calorie content

but oh well, life is sweet and good -- enjoy it to the fullest!!!

Speaking of life being sweet and good, I was really happy being with the bf.

And yep, for once I have a nicer reason from not posting blog entries,

different from the usual of being too busy for work or my residency.

It was really good life for us because every time we're together, we love to eat a lot 

and try different restaurants and cuisines from all over the world, per the bf:

'It's always a gastronomic trip!' -- and no one can deny, eating always brings pleasure.

We're both starting to gain weight. But we can always try to exercise (next time). 

The bf and I in a tea shop after a heavy dinner.
Among all of our gastronomic delights,
this is definitely and always the healthiest!

I already miss being with him but then again, I subscribe to the idea that,

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Posting this for Guest Heart Thursday and hoping to find more nice heart link-ups at 

Clytie's Random Hearts blog.

~maria

Paris vs. New York 1

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Terry
Sent: 20 July 2012, Sent from Sherwood, AR
Traveled ~12,288 km

I am taking Beth's lead and posting something edible for today's Postcard Friendship Friday.

This postcard is from the Paris versus New York Postcard Book by graphic artist Vahram Muratyan. The artist is French who later moved to New York. His Paris versus New York postcard set is a witty and genius visual comparison between the two great cities. It was based on his blog bearing the same title, with a welcome note that says: A friendly visual match between two cities told by a lover of Paris wandering through New York. Details, clichés, contradictions, this way please.

Here is the 'le pain' or bread comparison -- with the French's  baguette on the left and the New Yorker's bagel on the right. A similar graphic was posted on the artist's site on 22.10.10.

Baguette means stick or wand in French. It is a long thin loaf with crunchy crust made using lean dough. It basically contains flour, water, yeast, and salt. It actually came from Vienna, Austria but is very much considered a symbol of French culture. It can be eaten for breakfast with jam or chocolate/fruit preserve spread, usually torn or broken into pieces for serving. The 65 cm long le pain can also be cut in half and eaten as sandwich for any time of the day.

Bagel, the New York counterpart, is called cement doughnut. It is made from a pretzel-like dough recipe. Though it also comes as a ring-shaped roll like the doughnut, this bread is dense in the inside with a shiny and crispy crust. The texture is different because bagel is boiled first before it is baked. It is the only bread that is boiled before it is baked. It has similar ingredients with the French baguette but sometimes, eggs, milk, or butter is/are added to make the inside lighter. It is great served with cream cheese for breakfast (my favorite version of it, actually) and can also be made into a sandwich for snack.

Ok, that's it for now. I'm hungry and will proceed into preparing dinner after posting this. Happy Postcard Friendship Friday everyone!

~maria