I'm Baaack!!!!

After putting off buying a computer, we finally did it! We were forced to buy a new one since my dinosaur is in computer heaven, aka dead.



No, hubby's not building a bomb in this picture, he's making butingting his new toy. Hopefully I will be able to pry him off it within the day so that I can try it out. In the meantime, I am commandeering his laptop to make this post.

For the past two nights, hubby couldn't sleep. Thoughts of the new computer kept him awake. I know for sure he was excited. Why wouldn't he be? He's an IT Operations Manager for crying out loud. He eats, breathes and talks nothing but computers. Poor thing he did his best to educate me. In the days leading to our purchase, he kept discussing with me about dual cores versus quad cores, motherboards, OS and whatever. My eyes glazed over halfway through most of his monologues. For the life of me I couldn't inject an intelligent technical reply.

For a computer idiot like me, I was just concerned about a few things: one, is it faster than my previous dinosaur? (ideally, must be at least 50% faster). Two, will it allow me to browse the web faster? Three, can I install an editing software for my pictures and homemade movies? Lastly, how much will that thing cost? I'm a simpleton, what can I say? My requirements are practical.

The answer to my first three questions were all yes and more. The new one is 60% faster that will allow me to browse and process documents faster and more efficiently (now the computer is too fast for our browser). The cost wasn't bad either, hubby was able to find the best bang for our buck.

Hubby's happy and hasn't stopped smiling yet. I even got a really good and long massage from him last night as a thanks for agreeing to purchase the top of the line specs.

Hmmm... wonder what rewards I'll get when we buy a new laptop?

Goodbye to my Dinosaur

My computer has died. After eight years of service, it's little motherboard, batteries and hard disk gave out and taking with it some of my recipes (which I plan to cook and bake someday), worksheets and old pictures. The old bugger couldn't be fixed anymore. Sad sad week for this blogger.

I have so many things to blog about but no computer to use (yet). I can only sneak in a short message using hubby's laptop while he's snoring away :-)

I hope to be back blogging next week.

Ciao for now.

Hey, that rhymes ;-)

Buhay Baboy sa Tagaytay

Another pasyalan day for my cousin Butchie, my mom and me. Today, we scheduled the whole day to be spent in Tagaytay.

Our first stop was Ilog Maria. Butchie is an avid fan of their honey shampoo, soaps and lip balms. His visit to the Philippines will never be complete without buying some honey bee potions from Ilog Maria. All their products are organic and the honey is harvested directly from their farm located on site. My cousin is absolutely addicted to the stuff. He bought like a year's supply of shampoo, soaps and lip balm plus some royal jelly. Mom and I just couldn't resist buying some virgin honey, bee pollen and some really fantastic smelling soaps for ourselves.





Our next and main destination is Sonya's Garden. It is a beautiful garden restaurant, bed and breakfast and spa destination for the weary Manilenyos and tourists alike. Despite getting lost once, fog and rain blanketing our path, we remain steadfast and enthusiatic about our journey.

We finally reached Sonya's Garden. The restaurant is set inside a florishing flower greehouse. White gossamer curtains adorn the ceilings and windows, capiz and stained glass windows serve as walls and dividers, antique multi colored chandeliers also adorn the ceiling, white floring inlaid with travesia, or railroad wood planks make the place truly charming and familiar. The place is quite soothing and inspires guests to relax, take their time, have a leisurely lunch, have long conversations with your companions and generally be lazy the whole afternoon. There are even some outdoor sofas and beds that you can lie on. Well, maybe not on a rainy day like this.











Aside from the meandering flower, herb and lettuce gardens, Sonya's is famous for its Green Salad (pictured above). The salad is composed of freshly harvested lettuce and arugula with a choice of mango, jackfruit (when in season), edible flowers (when in season), broad beans, carrots, eggs, cucumber, pineapple, honeydew melon and turnips. Drizzled with the restaurant's secret dressing or balsamic vinegar, if you prefer something non creamy. I suggest to forego your diet and stick to the secret dressing. It's really really good and don't scrimp on it either.



They also serve freshly baked wholewheat bread from the restaurant's panaderia or bakery with homemade dips of pesto, kesong puti (local goat's cheese) marinated in olive oil and spices, anchovies and tomato tapinade. The bread is always served piping hot. We ordered extra servings of the wholewheat bread and the kesong puti because they really do go well together.



For our main course, we were served pasta with two kinds of sauces: sun dried tomato and chicken cream with mango. Toppings include salmon belly sauteed in olive oil, shitake mushrooms, black olives, capers and grilled vegetables. I personally prefer the sun dried tomato with a healthy healping of shitake mushrooms and grilled vegetables. The pasta dish is not that exceptional but the combination is a bit unusual, don't you think?







For dessert, a slice of home-made chocolate cake, turon and carioca (fried sweet potatoes then stewed in honey). All desserts are reminiscent of our childhood in different eras. I particularly don't remember having carioca, buy my mom does :-) He he he. Very comforting and familiar. A second helping of everything never hurts anyone :-)

Sonya's only serve the above set menu, for as long as I can remember. Menu variety isn't one of their strongest points. But everything is refillable. I suggest you get double extra helpings of their salad because it's really fresh and delicious.



To wash everything down, Sonya's serve bottomless freshly squeezed dalandan juice (local oranges) and tarragon tea.

After our delicious and very satisfying meal, we explored the rest of the property. Our first discovery was the Panaderia. The Panaderia (or bakery in English) offers guests freshly baked wholewheat breads, the secret salad dressing, broad beans and a host of other baked goodies and snacks.







Our next discovery is The Greenhouse. The Greenhouse is a bigger venue than the restaurant. It is often used for large gatherings like weddings and parties. The place certainly is very suited for a country wedding reception. White billowy curtains adorn the ceiling, antique multi-colored chandeliers and rose petals give an interesting contrast and whimsy. Several patches of lettuce can be found at the far side of the Greenhouse, hence the name. Very charming. We couldn't resist taking a few pictures.









Sonya's also has a gift shop called the Country Store. The quaint little store is filled with gossamer curtains with shells (similar to the ones used in the dining areas), soaps, dishes, postcards and a lot of curio stuff. It's interesting despite even though we didn't purchase anything.





The three of us also checked out the massage room and the cabanas. The cabanas were occupied and we couldn't take any pictures inside. Sonya's offer reasonably priced pampering packages. Maybe we'll try that next time. For more information, you can go to www.sonyasgarden.com





What a very satisfying and lazy afternoon. We slept almost the entire drive back. Kain, tulog, buhay baboy talaga! (Eat, sleep, really living the life of a pig!)

Before finally going home, we stopped by Insular life in Alabang to get a hot cup of Alamid coffee and some macaroons. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I do love coffee alamid.

A Day of Pampering

Butchie and I agreed to meet up in LP for a simple lunch and just planned to stay the whole day there and be lazy :-)

After a sumptuous meal of Monggo with prawns and fried Tilapia, we decided to hit the mall instead. Our destination was Alabang Town Center, just a few minutes' drive from LP.

Our first stop was to buy some pasalubong for Butchie's friends back in the US. We scored some really nice native items that were cute and reasonably priced.

Next stop was David's salon for a hair treatment. Butchie was curious about the hair spa treatment that I had told him about previously. He spent an hour getting his hair deeply conditioned and shoulder and back massage while I read a food magazine in the salon's lobby.

With Butchie's hair deeply conditioned and soft as a baby's hair, we make our way to Shakey's for some sustenance. Butchie's been craving for Shakey's since he got here so it's only natural that we eat there at the earliest chance that we get. We ordered Spaghetti, Carbonara and Friday's Special (shrimp, anchovies and mushrooms) pizza with extra green bell peppers. Butchie wasn't too keen about the anchovies initially but he loved the pizza in the end.

A bit tired and sleepy from all the shopping, massage and food, we make our way back to LP only to be sidetracked again by the lure of a pedicure in my favorite neighborhood salon. Butchie got his pedicure and a foot massage and I got a haircut. In the middle of our treatments, there was a power outage. I thought that I was gonna go home with half a haircut. Fortunately the power came back on almost immediately. Close call! Do you like my new layered haircut? :-)



After all that pampering, we make our way to Baliwag Lechon to buy some pork barbecue for dinner. My car smelled like smoked pork the entire drive to LP.

Nakakagutom.

A Trip to San Pablo - Kusina Salud

When my cousin Butchie read about Kusina Salud in my previous blog, he was very intrigued by the salads served there.

With my mom in tow, we took a two hour drive to San Pablo, Laguna. But first, we had to buy Tita Socky's Coffee Alamid at the coffee bar at the Insular Life Building in Filinvest, Alabang.

"Coffee Alamid is Philippine Civet Coffee from wild civet droppings on the different forest floors of Philippine mountains. The Paradoxorus Philippinensis is a civet which belongs to the mongoose family - a nocturnal animal which uses its nose to choose the ripest and sweetest coffee cherries and relentlessly eats them during coffee season. Gathered very early in the morning usually before the sun rises, the forest dwellers climb the mountain and pick the civet droppings on the forest floors. On a good day, a gatherer can collect one kilo of civet droppings .

Coffee Alamid is a blend of the Philippine's finest Arabica, Liberica and Exelsa beans. When roasted, it exudes an almost musical, fruity aroma. It has a strong, sweet , dark chocolatey taste."

From arrengga.com

All three of us never had this coffee and we were curious of how it tastes like. We bought two cups of freshly brewed alamid coffee and we unanimouly loved it! Butchie loved it so much he bought his own bottle of Alamid coffe beans despite not having a coffee machine at home and vowed to buy one as soon as he got home.



The drive was very pleasant and filled with happy conversations about work, family and of course food and recipes. All the talk about food made us very hungry indeed.

When we arrived to Kusina Salud, we immediately took a group picture for posterity.



After pouring though the menu, we ordered Kusina Salud's famous salads. The Pako Salad (fern salad) and the Kulawo Salad with Calamares.



The Pako Salad (above) is made with baby ferns, crumbled salted egg, cheddar and local white cheeses, onions in a tangy vinegar and hollandaise dressing. The baby ferns we learned, are sourced from the local market. Butchie loved this salad so much, he ordered another one.



The Kulawo Salad, pictured above, is made from banana hearts with coconut milk cooked in a palayok or native clay pot over hot coals (the kulawo itself is the grayish mound in the middle of the plate) that's why it has a distinct, coconutey and smokey flavor. A must-try.



For main courses we had Kare-Kareng Dagat and Pinakbet with Lechon Kawali. The Kare-Kareng Dagat (pictured above) is a combination of prawns, mussels, fish and squid stewed in peanut sauce and served with bagoong (shrimp paste) on the side. This particular dish's sauce was surprisingly light and the shrimps are served tempura-style on top of the Kare-kare. Another winner.



The pinakbet was made using bagoong isda (fermented fish) instead of the typical bagoong. It also has ginger slices to mellow out the bagoong isda. The lechon kawali that accompanied it was also great, crispy on the outside but the meat is very tender.



For dessert, we had home-made Avocado Ice Cream, which is not on the menu. Be sure to inquire about this dessert when you dine at Kusina Salud because it very good. The ice cream itself is not too sweet yet creamy enough to satisfy any sweet tooth. The best part is that you can really tell it was made with real avocados.



My mom and I tried the Ube Guinataan, a coconut cream based dessert that had jackfruit, sweet potato, plantain bananas in ube (purple yam) sauce. A unique twist to your typical guinataan dessert. Yummy.



Butchie was also craving for Turon, it's fried crepes with banana, sugar and langka (jackfruit) inside. The turon was served with vanilla ice cream and cocojam sauce with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

My mom is very hard to please when it comes to dining out since she is a wonderful cook herself. But this time at Kusina Salud, she gave two thumbs up! A rare compliment to any restaurant.

After our very satisfying meal, we took more pictures.










During our drive back, we saw some lanzones stalls and bought a few kilos and managed to eat one kilo while talking about Butchie's famous home-made espasol. My mom and I were intrigued on how this particular kakanin was made. Butchie made an overseas call to his parents to get all the ingredient list to make his family's well guarded secret recipe (which I am not sharing here, as requested). Before going home, we dropped by the supermarket to buy all the necessry ingredients.

For dinner, Butchie had asked the maid to steam some baby blue crabs and oysters, as well as shrimps cooked in 7up soda, grilled and fried tilapia. Everything was cooked perfectly and laid out so nicely on the serving platters. The best parts of the meal were the lively conversations that we had while eating our meal and that hubby was able to join us this time.











I don't thing it should be legal to ingest this much food in one day :-)

A Day of Showbiz and Food

My cousin Butchie's request prior to his visit here in Manila was to get tickets to watch a live television Sunday show called ASAP. Don't ask me what the TV show's acronym means because I haven't the foggiest.

I coaxed hubby to wake up early so that we could have an early start to beat the traffic and be the first in line to get good seats. Hubby dropped off mom and me to LP to meet up with Butchie. Hubby opted to sit this one out and just stayed home. My cousin Butchie took his time getting ready to make sure he's absolutely camera-ready.

Mom, me. Butchie and Tita Honey finally set off about an hour later than what we intially planned and was happily being driven to our destination. Only to discover that Butchie had forgotten the tickets! We had to turn back and get the tickets. Fortunately, we haven't reached the highway yet.

Since we had delays, and we were not allowed to bring food and drinks to the studio, we had brunch at a nearby Burger King drive thru. I have never eaten a burger that fast in my life. It's not a pleasant feeling, I tell you. We barely made it on time to the studio. The studio closed their gates right after we came. Whew, close call.

ASAP is a popular Sunday noontime show here in the Philippines. It's a three-hour long variety show filled with a lot of lip synching, live singing (for real singers) and a whole lot of dance numbers performed by a bevy of young local stars.


Tita Honey, Me and Butchie

It was a fun show overall. Very lively. I only hope that they improve the sound. The voices of the hosts are drowned by the background music and I could barely understand what they were saying. One particular lady host had a very shrill voice that annoyed the heck out of me.

Here are some highlights of the show:


ASAP Stage


Piolo Pascual


The singers


A view from the other side of the stage


A cosmetic launch


Heart and Echo

Butchie and I even had our picture taken at the stage after the show was over. You know, to get a feel of what it was really like to be on a TV stage :-)



My cousin Butchie befriended one of the famous comedians in the country named Brod Pete :-) who was a guest in the show. He gave us a tour of the studio and even shared a few tips with Butchie regarding his (Butchie's) aspirations to be an actor/reality star/tv host someday. The first step was to sign up at the Talent Center which was closed since it was a Sunday. I reckon we'll be back another day to submit an application.


Butchie with Brod Pete


Butchie getting advice from the comedians

After all the excitement, we were absolutely famished. We scored some gift certificates from Tita Socky for a Japanese restaurant called Yoshinoya in Park Square, Makati. We ordered the biggest platters they had and stuffed ourselves with gyudon, chicken teriyaki, lobster balls and tempura. There are no pictures because we attacked the food as soon as it was served on our table. The beef was particularly good. Very tender.

Butchie also ordered Shrimp Sandwich from Wendy's next door since it's not available in the US. Of course a Wendy's purchase is not complete without a Frosty.

With our tummies filled to the brim, we spent the remainder of the afternoon roaming Glorietta. We had heard that Bizu has really good ensaymadas and purchased a box of 6 assorted ensaymadas. Cheese ensaymada, chocolate ensaymada and almond ensaymada.


Butchie at the Bizu kiosk in Glorietta

If that wasn't enough pasyal for the day, we make our way to another popular mall a few kilometers away, Rockwell. We roamed around the mall and found some really nice items although none of us managed to purchase one.

We also chanced upon a Baker's Dozen Festival where assorted baked desserts are exhibited and sold. We tasted almost every single thing on the booths and sadly just bought only a piece of ensaymada with grated edam cheese on top. I didn't buy any of the stuff since I've been on a abking high for the past few weeks, rest muna.





Dinner was at an Asian fusion restaurant called Banana Leaf and Curry House. It's called banana leaf because diners use a sheet of banana leaf as plates. We ordered Pandan Chicken, Thai Style Manila Clams, Sauteed Salted Squid and a noodle dish (the name eludes me at this moment). The food was good overall. The price is also reasonable. The service though is not very good. Be prepared to be ignored some of the time since the place is usually packed on weekends.


Our "plate"


Sauteed Salted Squid


Pandan Chicken


Thai Style Manila Clams


A noodle dish with shrimps

With our tummies filled and our feet tired, we decided to call it a night. Afterall, tomorrow will be another day of pasyalan to the max.