Take Home Yummies from The ECHOstore in Eton Centris

Lunch time friday found me laughing hard with mommy blogger friends and the friendly C-Lium Fiber people over at La Asya in Eton Centris. It was the day after Valentine’s Day and everybody was engrossed in the topic about “the aftermath“, Victoria Court’s groupon deal, the husbands and Christian Grey’s Red Room of Pain.

I still can’t help but smile at the thought of how the conversation went…Ms. Diane gave each of us a pack of this Coconut Oatmeal Cookies and when I took a closer looked it says on the package that it came from the echomarket. I remember seeing the Echostore right before entering the restaurant and I got curious, so I made a mental note to drop by after lunch.

ECHOstore was more like a café-slash-store. They have tables where you can sit while you dine and they sell different kinds of things. They sell bread, fresh produce, coffee beans, ice cream,home decor, gifts, fashion accessories, health and wellness, body, beauty and nutritional products, food and beverage, products that help the environment, books, music and so much more.

I just had the cookies this morning and it sort of complimented my coffee. It’s crunchy and the coconut is evident in the taste. It gives out a sort of caramelized coconut flavor which tasted more like bucayo and it was good. Knowing and seeing that it has oatmeal makes me feel like I’m having my morning oatmeal… only in a heart-shaped cookie form.

Doing a little research while having the cookie and coffee breakfast, I found out that all the products  that the ECHOstore sells are environment friendly, sustain marginalized, indigenous and creative communities, support poverty alleviation programs, are created with fair labor practices, are animal-friendly,  and express Filipino design excellence.

I cannot leave any store that sells chocolate without one in hand so I bought this ChocoLoco Chocolate Bar in Queso de Bola {flavor} for ₱105. It’s hardcore dark chocolate that is bitter sweet but has an added saltiness due to the queso de bola bits. Chocolate as dark as this one is actually good for you, right?

I also bought this locally-made Sundried Tomatoes {₱95}. I haven’t decided yet if i should put this in this pasta recipe I have in mind or a sandwich recipe I’vejust thought about in the last 24 hours.

I guess we’ll just see which recipe will this turn out.

And I will be back to try what the cafe offers…

ECHO is the acronym for Environment & Community Hope Organization STORE. In one place, you can get everything you need to start you on your way to living a sustainable lifestyle.

Its about conscious and caring consumerism that chooses fair trade and green products to help drive livelihood to the marginalized while helping our planet (ECHOstore Sustainable Lifestyle), eating and drinking healthy (ECHOcafe: Culture, Coffee, Community) supporting locavorism or buying food grown locally (ECHOmarket Sustainable Farms). Then planting and tilling the earth (ECHOfarms) while we nurture wellness through our Body-Mind-Connection (ECHOyoga). And through our ECHOsi Foundation we reach out, volunteer, share our talents to help others.