# Greetings from the Philippines!



## tatoosh (Feb 16, 2013)

Hi, I'm a retired US Citizen living in the Philippines.  I originally came from Iowa and spent thirty years in Oregon working for snail mail people.  When I retired I headed overseas.  I'm married, with a lovely wife from Cebu, but we live in Baguio City up on the island of Luzon, same island Manila is on.  We are at 5,000 feet elevation, so it is nice and cool, but quite rainy.  Oregon was good prep for Baguio!

I love food, I am learning to smoke in small amounts using my Weber Kettle and Smokenator insert.  I make my own bacon regularly and hickory smoke it.  I do a couple of turkeys each year on the Weber, smoking them with apple wood.  I'm learning to do sausages with most of my attention on the hotdog or frankfurter.   Hotdogs here are not the same quality you find in the States even if they appear similar.  Right now I'm doing a beef and pork fat dinner dog based on a recipe found in Len Poli's group of recipes.   I also do home made ice cream and some sous vide cookery.  My next projects will be Pizza (on the Weber) and making cheese.  

My wife loves to bake and does apple pies, cinnamon rolls, and Toll House chocolate chip cookies regularly.  She is finishing her Masters in Special Education at local university.  I'm just enjoying life, reading mystery stories with a historical setting, and reading up on the history of the Philippines.  We expect to come back to the States in about a year.  But I hope we will end up back in the Philippines where life is a slower pace and more suited to me at some point down the road.  

My dream is a couple of different smokers, maybe a nice cabinet style and a Weber Smokey Mountain.  An old style Chop Rite grinder with a pulley drive, maybe a good 10 pound stuffer, and a meat mixer would round out dream list.  I love making (and eating) bacon, so that will always be a pleasant part of my routine.  

Steve A. aka Tatoosh - Baguio City, Benguet - Philippines


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## kathrynn (Feb 16, 2013)

to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us!

Have you signed up for Jeff's E-Course yet?  There is a lot of great information and its good for every level of experience too!  If not...here is a link to get you started!  http://www.smoking-meat.com/smoking-basics-ecourse

If you need any help roaming around the forums...just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat


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## s2k9k (Feb 18, 2013)

Hi Steve! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	



to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 45,000 members who just love to share their experience and over 900,000 posts describing it! The search bar at the top can be your best friend when you are trying to find answers to your questions but you can still ask too if you want!


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## tatoosh (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks guys, I look forward to learning as much as will stick in my ol' noggin.  I'm smoking some hotdogs right now, a little hickory for them until they reach 150F, the same with a small batch of maple cured bacon after the hotdogs are done.  I will watch the tutorial soon.  I love to see how folks with experience do it.

My "inexpensive" meat grinder died and I'm using an old style #32 hand grinder with my bro-n-law providing most of the elbow grease.  It really makes you appreciate what they used to have to do before electricity was common.

Tatoosh


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## junkcollector (Mar 3, 2013)

welcome man, missed your thread last week. 5000ft, your up into the mountains too then? My neighbor immigrated from your area about 6 years ago. she lived up in the mountains, not in baguio city. my wife is from cayagan de oro WAYYYYYYYYYYY down south. we're coming over in about 3 weeks to see the family. 

'

i do have a quick question for ya. do you have any notion as to what a electric grinder will cost down in manila? i'm debating on bringing one from here against buying one when i arrive??? 110 plugs are no issue, i have already sent over several outlets, wire, outlet boxes, drill n masonry bits so i can wire in some 110 outlets once i get over there. they already MANY US electronics. some of which they can't run on those cheapy power converters.


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## tatoosh (Mar 3, 2013)

I'm about six hours outside of Manila.  They have grinders, but mostly either very cheap Chinese or they import from the USA.  Where you gonna find the 110v power?  The Philippines is 220v kinda sorta. Step down transformers are commonly available, but the price jumps up if you need a hunky one to handle the larger power draw an electric meat grinder often demands.  That will set you back a few bucks.  Baguio City used to be 110v when the Philippines was an American colony, but those days are long gone.  A few guys, will spend the extra bucks and build their houses wired 220v/110v.  It's not common here in my experience except for private homes of foreigners that pay the extra.  Also "Brown Outs" as they are named here, what we call Black Outs in the USA, are not all that uncommon.  That includes Manila and anywhere else the Philippine flag flies. They will take down the power monthly to work on the lines, those are 8 hour outages.  A bad typhoon or drunk driver, power outages can run from a few hours to days, and out in the more remote province, weeks. 

I'm a newbie at grinding,  I have tried one cheap machine, from the USA.  It worked for a few months but since I was freezing my meat too much, it died.  Plus the necessity of the step down transformer for it.  Now I'm putting together an "old school" rig, similar to the hand grinders you used to see, but with a pulley and a 220v half horse motor that won't need a step down transformer.  Plus if the motor sucks up, it can be repaired easily locally.  A nice #32 heavy duty will chomp meat for me by June.  

My advice, bring it from the States.  Anything culinary is either expensive or impossible to find.  Good knives, good pots and pans, casings for sausage, you name it.  A grinder, for sure.  Buy it there, as well as a stuffer if you are doing sausages, and ship over Balik Bayan, the cheap cargo ship method.  I brought good kitchenware which is a god send here.  You can buy cast iron, Lodge, but for an amazing mark up. Buy it in the USA and ship it over BB. 

Have you lived for any length of time in the Philippines before? 

Tatoosh - Baguio City


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## junkcollector (Mar 3, 2013)

tatoosh

cool deal, my neighbor said she was 7-8 hours outside of manila. don't know exactly where, but i know the baguio was where she said she was from. 

Only been there once, was there for 3 weeks. Going for 4 this time. 

i've sent all  kinds of stuff over in balik bayan boxes. got a 5lb stuffer sitting there. unfortunately the electric grinder i have here didn't make it into the last boxes to go. with what you say about the grinders, i'll just throw it into my luggage and it will either clear without issue or it will get taken. i see no  reason they'd take it though. already have wiriing supplies and multimeter over there. figured i'd wire right into house so there were hard plugs around  the kitchen for me/them. i've been sending pots/pans/knives etc,etc,etc... over for 6 years now. 

i've heard about the brown/black outs for years. never experienced em when i was over there last time.


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## tatoosh (Mar 3, 2013)

Hey, sorry, I didn't catch you wife was from CDO, nice place I hear!  Haven't had a chance to visit there, health problems hit me that limit my ability to sashay around the islands the way I'd like to.  There are some very interesting guys living down there.  A French Canadian is starting a dairy farm in that area or near by.  We will come back to the States in 2014 or 2015 for a few years.  I hope to improve my knowledge of BBQ/Smoking and also learn a bit about cheese making as well. 

I take it you will do a step down to your house?  That will work nicely.  I'd still bring the grinder from the States.  Much much better quality control.  Same for a vac packer.  Dunno about your area, but where I live they sell "Pink Salt".  If you ask if it is #1 or #2, they will give you a puzzled looks.  It's all been repackaged so no way to know.  I actually order mine from the States so I know what the heck I am using. 

If you haven't heard of "My-ShoppingBox.com" you need to.  I use them but have not other stake in them.  Once you are here, getting small items from the States is way expensive, but the shopping box folks make it pretty reasonable, sometimes even cheaper to ship from the US to the Philippines than inside the US proper.  Who dah thunk?

Mahbuhay Bro!


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## shenita574 (Mar 4, 2013)

We are so glad you joined us!


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## junkcollector (Mar 4, 2013)

Yup, I'd agree, CDO area is pretty nice. A few issues with the major religous organizations in the area and somewhat of a problem with rebels, but not too bad on the north end of mindinao. I rekin the south and west are sposed to be a lot worse. I'll have my inlaws look into the dairy farm. Be nice to get some proper fresh milk that is safe for me to drink. Last time i was there, my friend who had been living there close to 15 years made sure I didn't get into the milk. Even the store bought. Was kindly disheartened, I really like my moojuice. As far as bbq info on here, if you have a question n can't find the answer, spit it out, lots of well informed folks on here happy to share. GREAT board here. 

I was figuring on bringing some cure 1 when i come over. Is there a good herb/spice selection over there for making bratwurst/kielbasas/italians/hotdogs etc.....? i'm figurin on stepping down a few outlets for electrics, not the whole house. found a dealer for kitchenaid mixers in Manila last nite, yeah buddy, $900 for the cheapest mixer in 220v. Nope, I'll step down some outlets and send a KA mixer in a BB box when I get home the end of april. Guess we'll have to make our pizza dough the old fashioned way this trip. 

Thanks for the link for [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]  "My-ShoppingBox.com", gonna check em out. [/color]

Mahbuhay Bro!


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## tatoosh (Mar 5, 2013)

Sounds great and that's the way we plan to do our electrical if we build a house here.  Though if we can afford it, I want to buy our own transformer, so it will be a bit more stable than the local electric company's. 

Milk, well the UHT stuff should be fine as long as not opened prior to buying.  I think there is an SM mall in CDO but not sure.  Can't use the UHT stuff for making cheese and it doesn't have quite the same flavor as fresh milk, but it's a lot better than nothing. 

Gotta be careful of the fresh produce depending on whose growing it and their watering and handling practices.  Typhoid is a common disease here, so is Amoebiasis, all due to either use of human waste water for fertilizing or poor food handling/prep practics.  Now, I know guys that have not caught either and eat fresh produce predominately, also know both foreigners and locals that spent a fair amount of time in the hospital with them.  Luck o' the draw. 

Amazing timing on the Kitchen Aid, I'm getting one for my wife's baking and my sausage making.  Buying the Pro 600 model in the States and shipping here Balik Bayan.  You can get the classic and the Artisan models for around $500 bucks locally.  They are 220v but underpowered compared to the Pro 600 model.  Repair is a horse of a different color when they find out it is not the local model.

This looks like a great place to get info and share ideas.  Good luck and fair winds on your trip over! 

Mahbuhay Bro ... Love, Peace, & Bacon Grease


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## junkcollector (Mar 5, 2013)

Cool deal on the milk. Been to SM mall in CDO several times. Nice place. 

Thanks for the heads up on [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Amoebiasis, was well familiar with typhoid but not ameobiasis. going to have to research it. Wife has also warned me about the fresh veggies. [/color]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]We've got the pro600 here. Never used a classic or artisan model. I'll begin my search for a 600 then. Repairs don't worry me. Pappyinlaw can do the repairs. I'll just send parts from US. He's a big boy, between us I'm sure I can walk him through it. [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Thanks a lot[/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Louie[/font]


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## mneeley490 (Mar 5, 2013)

Hey Steve, nice to see you over here, too!

Mike


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## shannon127 (Mar 5, 2013)




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## dj mishima (Mar 5, 2013)

Maligayang pagdating!


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## disturbed1 (Mar 7, 2013)

welcome to the forum


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