An afternoon in Tagaytay

I just got my hot curlers from my cousin Butchie and I was itching to use it. A roadtrip/date was in order. Eric and I drove to Tagaytay to get some homemade bee products for my cousin Butchie and some for me too. Our first stop for the day was Ilog Maria. A bee farm in Silang, Cavite. They sell an assortment of beauty products made from honey and royal jelly harvested from their own bees. We bought some yummy smelling soaps, lip balm (Butchie's ultra favorite), honey shampoo and beeswax wood polish for my dining table. Prices are very reasonable. The soaps cost between P60 and P65, Lip balm P55, Propolis, an anti-itch cream (I highly recommend this one) is P175 for the big tub, Shampoo is P140, and beeswax wood polish is P110 for a small tub. We happened to bump into some Americans and Koreans shopping in the farm. It's quite popular even for the tourists. You can check out their website at http://www.ilogmaria.com for a complete list of their products and map. The farm is closed on Mondays and public holidays.

To get to the bee farm, you have to pass through a dirt road that's ideal for one vehicle only. Make sure that your car is an good condition to handle rough road. The farm is not very far from the main road so there's only a bit of off-roading on your part. Getting a flat tire in this area will render the farm impassable until you change your tires. The owner of the farm is ornery and seem to be always in a bad mood. I suggest to just ignore his ramblings and proceed with your shopping.

My husband was getting cranky. And that's usually a sign that he's hungry. We decided to have late lunch at Gourmet cafe just a few meters away from Ilog Maria. It's a popular restaurant and organic farm in Tagaytay. It's my first time dining there so I was
very excited to try their dishes. For starters, we ordered clear mushroom soup with bread and roman garlic spread, which my husband liked. Then shrimp salad with honey vinaigrette dressing and cashew nuts, beef lasagna, chocolate, pinwheel and lemon balm cookies and iced cappuccino with Bailey's. The food was ok but my husband said that I could do better. My husband even said that he would love for us to have a farm like that so that I can show off my culinary skills. Is he in love with me, or what?

Here's the low-down: The mushroom soup is easy enough to make, it tasted like home-made beef broth with garlic, shitake and oyster mushrooms, can be easily duplicated at home, the shrimp salad will be better off with pine nuts or walnuts, both the dressing and the roman garlic spread (which is just butter, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper, according to the waiter) can be bought in the Gourmet cafe store and most groceries, their lasagna only had mozzarella in it (you need at least 3 cheeses, people), I must admit though, the cookies and coffee were good. I must visit place if only for the cookies and coffee.

The cafe also has a farm and a coffee processing plant. My husband and I were not able to see them because the farm closes at 3pm. If you want to see the farm come in between 9am to 3pm everyday. You can buy potted herbs, salad dressings, spreads and very fresh and organic salad greens and vegetables and barako coffee in their store up the road. The coffee beans are roasted over hot coals and had somehow retained their natural oils. The coffee beans looked so good, my husband couldn't resist buying a bag (P180 each).