The Season of Giving

Alas the season of giving is here and the child in me still loves the mystery of a carefully wrapped gift – the thrill of unwrapping a gift to discover what’s in it… ahhh!!  Which is why it brings me great joy come Christmastime to search for the perfect gift, perfectly wrapped for the people I love.  If I love the surprise, so would they, yes?   🙂

Recently, I was invited by friends to join their gift-giving mission.  Six years ago, the burden to help the needy and the desire to share the blessings they were bestowed with gave rise to this endeavor. Good friends pulling resources together just for the joy of giving – no agenda, just pure passion.  I have been donating to their effort for a few years now but this year, I was invited to take part in it first hand.  I’m glad I did.

It was heartwarming to see how a simple gift,

a simple lunch and a bit of entertainment

can add excitement and joy in their lives.  It actually took so little to put smiles on their faces.

Because of its poverty and remoteness the group decided this year to give to the students of Cumao Elementary School in a village in Gattaran, Cagayan Province.

What they lack in materials things are compensated by the beauty of the land and the pureness and the childlike enthusiasm of the people.  The teachers, who chose to stay in remote Cumao and devote time and energy to teach, care and nurture these kids; they are heroes in my eyes.  There is no season for giving for these teachers.  It happens the whole year round.

More snaps captured that day:

 

Posted on by Jenn 8

Vivere Azure: An Oasis of Calm

Every now and then this good friend of mine and I would spend a weekend together… just the two us.  So one weekend in September, having just emerged from a harrowing few weeks, my friend S wanted to veg-out somewhere away from the metro.  Being a good friend and someone who hardly pass up a chance to any kind of adventure (kaladkarinin in filipino hee hee!   :-D), I agreed to keep her company.  At the recommendation of a mutual friend, we booked ourselves a room at Vivere Azure.

A refuge, I call it, just 2-1/2 hours away from Manila, this premier deluxe resort is found in the sloping hills of Anilao, an excellent dive location thriving with divers and tourists alike.

Reception Area

The unassuming entryway from the road, as with many of the resorts in Anilao, does not do justice to the place but once inside the gate, we were transported to an oasis of calm.  It seemed like we had the whole place to ourselves.  Warmly welcomed by very gracious staff complete with a welcome drink, we were ushered to our room.

Clockwise:  Inside, the balcony, the beach just a few steps away from our room, the view

The Cobalt Room albeit a bit snug was well appointed and very comfortable.  We oohed and we aahed over our room and the splendid view it afforded us.

The Presidential Suite

The bar

Then we oohed and ahhed some more as we walked through the entire resort.  I liked it that the resort even had a sandy beach to speak of (a rarity in Anilao) and that our room was just a few steps away from it.

The rate per head (P6,500) is inclusive of 5 meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner plus 2 snacks.

The cozy dining area overlooking the sea was where they serve lunch and dinner.  The breakfast area was a different area closer to our rooms and the beach.

Our lunch was pretty impressive and satisfying – a good sign that we will be enjoying our meals here (and we were not disappointed).  After lunch we decided to enjoy the pool, which was not quite “infinity” but close enough.

A great way to enjoy the view and the sunset

The pool and the loungers were extremely de-stressing; I was in slumber land as soon as my head hit the lounge.

The following morning, I decided to go snorkeling.  They supposedly have a beautiful house reef.  For Anilao standards, it could be better.  I think Dive ‘n Trek has a better house reef.  But overall, I was pretty impressed and for a non-diver, I think the reef was acceptable.  The thing that totally won me over though was the pampering – impeccable service, I tell ya!  It’s like having a very discreet butler at your beck and call.

I frequent Anilao but hardly splurge on a resort as my main goal always was to go diving.  Not this time.  Our goal was to do nothing.  Besides, S is not a diver and Azure, although can arrange dive trips through their affiliate dive centers, is technically not a dive resort.

Our farewell snack — turon à la mode (fried banana roll)

That September weekend, I got acquainted  to a whole new Anilao.  So was it worth the splurge?  I say yes but don’t take me word for it, go book yourself a room.   😀

Getting There:

Other Useful Info:

Km. 108 Barangay Aguada, San Teodoro, Anilao, Mabini, Batangas
Contact Nos.:  (632)771-777 or +63917-843-0912
Email:  info@viveresuites.com
 

Posted on by Jenn 4

Sausages to the Rescue

I love sausages and always have a few stashed in my freezer.  These tasty bangers save the day for me many times over.  There are days when A is famished and I am worn out.  This scrumptious dish has become a winner because it does not ask for much attention or preparation for that matter and yet delivers such great flavors.  I’ve experimented quite a bit on this and one can use anything to team this up with but the combined flavors of kielbasa with apples is simply amazing.  Sweet and savory is my favorite thing of late and this dish incorporated with onions, garlic and some carrots simmered with a bit of broth… delightful.  And the gratifying part is all you need really is to slice up the veggies, pop in the oven and voila.  Happiness is…

A Simple Sausage Supper *adapted from Jules’ Stonesoup

  • 1 brown onion, peeled & cut into segments
  • 2 small apples, peeled and cut into segments
  • 2 small carrots
  • 1 small head garlic, unpeeled but broken into individual cloves
  • 2-3 thick pork sausages
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock

Here’s what you do:

  • Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Place the apples and other veggies in a baking tray, drizzle with some olive oil, top with the sausages and pop it in the oven.
  • After about 30 minutes, give everything a stir and add the stock.
  • Bake for another 30 minutes or so until the veggies and bangers are brown and the stock has reduced and thickened a bit.

The recipe actually called for another hour in the oven but I wanted more stock left just because it goes so well with rice.   Go with 1 hour if you prefer the dish drier and the sausages browner.

Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life. -Marcus Aurelius

Posted on by Jenn 3

Chilling in Sta. Ana

Yeah.  It’s a long ways just to chill I know.  But A and our good friends convinced me to go all the way to Cagayan Valley so that I can spend some down time with them away from the hustle and bustle of my town that is Manila.

But what really convinced me was the surprise birthday party planned for our dear friend J.  And so I obliged and found myself on a bus one August evening en route to Tuguegarao.  A 10-hour bus ride had me arriving at 7am the following morning.   After breakfast and a bit of a rest, I was soon off again with the gang on 3-hour drive to Sta. Ana.

Not knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised when we reached the unpretentious entrance that lead to a simple structure,

that is the resort’s reception lobby.   Located at the northeastern tip of Luzon, in a 7-hectare waterfront of Cagayan Valley facing the South China Sea,

Cagayan Holiday & Leisure Resort provides

112 spacious villas,

a seashore swimming pool,

a Spa and Holistic center and a fine dining Chinese Restaurant.

Our ocean front villa came with a private pool where we of course spent most of our time chilling.

Each of the 17 ocean front villas has 5 bedrooms with its own bath and albeit not to my taste is fully furnished and in fairness, tastefully designed.  The kitchenette does not really allow for real cooking but we had a feast just the same.

We bought most of our food from the local market and for a fee, asked a restaurant — JnJ Seafood Restaurant along the highway — to cook for us.  We had a feast.  A seaside town, Sta Ana is known for sweet, inexpensive crabs and lobsters, which suffice to say, was the highlight of our stay.

News of disgruntled residents somewhat taints this Chinese owned resort in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZF) area — they are accused of employing many Chinese citizens offering less opportunities to the locals.  There were undeniably Chinese-speaking employees working alongside Filipino employees during our visit, perhaps to cater to the mostly Chinese tourists billeted at the resort.  This town was once only known for game fishing without much facility, it is today attracting tourists from Hong Kong and China, mostly gamblers. The resort complex is really known for its casino but if gambling is not your thing, there is the spa and some watersports facilities such as jetskis and kayaks that can be rented.

The beach however does not boast of the same esteemed white sand of many Philippine beaches.

The sunset though managed to get my seal of approval.   🙂

If you are in the area and only if you are, I’d recommend that you check them out.

Posted on by Jenn 11

Clearing the Crisper

I think I buy way too much stuff.  It’s either that or I need to eat in more often.  I get over excited when I see produce that I like in the market.  You see, shopping for 2, sometimes just for me is not an easy task.  And more often than not, I tend to go overboard.  And so I always have fruits and veggies that are somewhat at the end of its prime.  Not good.  Because you don’t get the most benefit out of a wilting produce I don’t think.

So one day I saw a need to clean the crisper and get rid of all those droopy foodstuffs.  But I hate throwing hard earned money away so I decided to cook them at two goes.  They’re all left over stuff, a piece of this and a piece of that. And this was what I whipped up for dinner.

I call it Left-Over Omelet.  Pretty straightforward…  here’s what I found in my crisper:

  • 2 carrots,
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • a piece of white button mushroom
  • some shallots

Here’s what you do:

  • Dice all ingredients.
  • Whisk eggs and add milk for a fluffier omelet.
  • On a skillet coated with oil, spray or butter, add the veggies and cook for a while seasoning with salt and pepper and in my case, I also seasoned it with this*.
  • After a minute or so, add the egg mixture.
  • Use a spatula to push the eggs from the outer edge of the skillet toward the center.  Alternatively, you can also tilt the pan till the egg runs to open areas.
  • Do this till the egg turns white and edge a bit crispy.
  • Flip the omelet and cook for another minute or so.

The next morning, here’s what I did to these sorry pieces of sadness.

Peel, core and chop the apples.  In a saucepan, combine the apples with the following:

  • butter
  • brown sugar (I used coco sugar which is not so sweet)
  • cinnamon (I used cinnamon sticks)
  • vanilla bean (optional, I just had some so I used it)

Cook until mixture thickens and apple is tender.

I used this to top my Multigrain French Toast.  Yum.

* Note: Veg-Sal Spike Seasoning can be found at the seasoning section of Healthy Options.

Posted on by Jenn 1

Sulyap

Credits:  Template by Jen Caputo’s ckapr08; Papers by LivE Designs Sing 4 Spring paper kit (PP4, PP6 and SP6)

A weekend road-trip just before it ended was capped by a wonderful lunch at a café oozing with charm.  Highly recommended by Jorge and Amor Bondad (of Sitio de Amor), we headed to Sulyap Café and Art Gallery before heading home.

The café is a 2 story Spanish colonial house transported from Quezon and restored piece by piece at the Cocoland compound.

Gorgeous ceiling detail

Lovely window details, a trademark of the old Spanish houses — overlooking the gallery.

Did I say charming inside and out?

Clockwise:  Enseladang Pako (Fiddelhead fern salad), Sinigang na Liempo, Banana crepe, Kulawong Puso ng Saging (an original recipe of San Pablo city).

And the food… quite good and could merit a return in the future.

Across the café is the art gallery, which had pieces in various sizes, from furniture to plates and other collectibles.  This building used to be the Cocoland Hotel before proprietor Rommel Empalmado bought the compound.  He also recounted that prior to it being a hotel, it was a South Luzon College, which explained the school-like structure.

He also disclosed that when he was restoring the old house, being a lover of anything old, he’d use to take a peek (sinusulyap – sulyap in Filipino) and admire the unfinish house from a window of the gallery across, hence the name Sulyap.  Quite an endearing story, me thinks.

Rommel is currently building a bigger house in the other part of the compound, this time a bed and breakfast that he hopes to open by December – so watch out for this new lodging alternative in the Viaje del Sol circuit.

Definitely a gratifying end to our weekend getaway.

Getting There:

On the Maharlika Highway coming from Manila on the way to San Pablo, you’ll hit a fork, take the left road (that’s Colago Ave.), which would take you off the highway and lead you to San Pablo proper. You’ll come to an intersection with a stop light (Puregold Supermarket should be on the right corner), turn left on Cosico Ave.  Turn left 2 or 3 streets after (there should be a sign of Sulyap on the right that points to the street where you should turn).  The road will lead to the gate of the Cocoland compound.

Sulyap Cafe and Gallery
Brg. Del Remedio, Cocoland Compound,
San Pablo, Laguna
Tel no:  (049)562-9740 / 582-9735
Posted on by Jenn 5

Of Preservation and Livelihood

We were running late, directions given were not very clear and so we took a wrong turn and ended up in Sampaloc Lake.

Sampaloc Lake taken from the balcony of Tahanan ni Aling Meding on a previous visit.

When we finally arrived at Sto. Angel, we saw our friends waiting by the roadside.  We turned into a parking lot and hurriedly parked, exchanged pleasantries and off we went, following Mang Tano, on a short trek as lunch was waiting for us.

It was an easy trail and about 15 minutes later, the trail revealed a blue-green lake that is quite captivating.

There were rafts positioned at the banks, one of which was reserved for us.  One can book with Aling Sion, Mang Tano’s wife a tour of the lake for P180 and if you add another P180, you get to enjoy a delectable lunch of

Clockwise:  Ginataang hipon, buko juice (coconut juice), pako (fiddlehead fern) salad, grilled tilapia.

pako salad, grilled tilapia and ginataang hipon (shrimps in coconut milk), all caught from the river and cooked fresh.

All meals are prepared by the fishermen’s wives which make up the Samahang Mangingisda sa Lawa ng Pandin (loosely translates to “Association of the Fishermen of Lake Pandin”).  The association was established as part of a preservation effort and at the same time help the residents earn a little bit of income on the side with the wives attending to the tourists.

With the help of Mandy Mariño, the fishermen’s wives organized the “Tour of the Pandin Lake” personally paddling the rafts.

Today, it is the most pristine of the 7 lakes of San Pablo.  Although there is nothing much of the tour, it just takes you around the lake, stopping at a short uphill trail that leads to clearing where one can take a peek at its twin, Lake Yambo.

Yambo’s name was derived from its famous lengend of 2 lovers, Yambo and Pandin.

Both lakes are teeming with tilapia, carp, catfish, milkfish, shrimps and snails.

They are also suitable for swimming but just to avoid the hassle of changing afterwards, we skipped it and just enjoyed the lake, the company and the delightful lunch.

Note: This tour is likewise part of the Viaje del Sol route.

Getting There:

Along the National Highway going towards Lucena, you’ll reach a fork somewhere along San Pablo, take the left.  This will lead you to the town proper.  Go all the way till you reach the city hall, go pass the rotunda until you reach Sto. Angel.  Watch out for a sign. Ask around if you don’t see the Lake Pandin sign that would lead you to a parking lot.  The residents are very helpful and will point you to the right direction.

Contact detail:

Aling Sion
0929 9789565

 

Posted on by Jenn 3

Fresh from the Tree

Credits:  Papers by LivE Designs – UNR Grassy Sky and Lily Lines from the UNR_Naturally Free kit and PP2 from the Sing4Spring Paper Kit; Elements – Birdoodle, Brad set of 4 and Frame 1 from the Sing4Spring Elements kit.

I am not particularly fond of rambutan, at least not in the same level of fondness I have for lychee and longan – rambutan’s close cousins.  But one glorious day I was given some that was fresh from the tree and it has gained a few notches on my gustatory scale.

This tropical fruit indegenous to Malaysia is a hairy bright red oval fruit about the size of a small hen’s egg.  Inside is a translucent grapelike flesh that is sweet and tastes a lot similar to but slightly acidic than that of the lychee.   The pit is what sometimes turns me off.  It annoys me much if the outer layer of the seed sticks to the flesh.  However after tasting the freshly picked fruit, I found out that a fresh produce does no such thing, and I learned to be less judgmental of the fruit.

July – October is harvest time for these sweet juicy fruit and last August, we were in San Pablo, Laguna for the Rambutan Festival where a kilo can go as low as P20 (US$ 0.50).

On our recent road trip, we checked in at Sitio de Amor, a great place to have fresh rambutans, either by personally picking them from their trees that is sprawled all over their garden or simply have it served right after picking during mealtime.

Our breakfast fare which include scrambled eggs, longganisa (local sausage) and a dried fried fish called Nora Aunor (no kidding!)

Glutinous rice cake topped with cane sugar (panocha) — the best in my opinion.

Sitio de Amor is a sprawling 4.5 hectare landscaped orchard situated near the Maharlika Highway.  Nestled between Mt. San Cristobal and Mt. Banahaw,

traversed by the Balanga River feeding into a lagoon where people can choose to take a dip.

Another option is the infinity pool built by the owners of the resort, Jorge and Amor Bondad.  A weekend home turned resort, the Bondads are very hands-on in expanding and sprucing up this oasis of theirs.  In fact, when in their property, you will chance on Amor working in her garden, claiming the chore to be her stress buster.

Looks like more rooms coming up in the future.

Note: Sitio de Amor is part of the many destinations of Viaje del Sol.

Getting There:

Once you see Jardin de San Vicente along the Maharlika Highway, watch out for a sign that will lead you to the resort.

Sitio de Amor
Km 88.8 Maharlika Highway
Barangay San Antonio
San Pablo, Laguna
For reservations, call:  522-7340 ; 0918-9274346
Email:  sitiodeamor@yahoo.com
Posted on by Jenn 6

Temple of Heaven

“The Temple of Heaven is a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilization.” – UNESCO World Heritage.

Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998, the Temple of Heaven is an extraordinary example of Chinese religious architecture.

Built in 1420, covering an area of 273 hectares, this temple traditionally was only for imperial use and commoners were not allowed to enter even the enormous park.

Today, it is one of the most popular parks among local people (mostly retired).

Many enjoy the park carrying out various activities from dancing to playing cards all day long.

The park has more than 100,000 trees of various kind – some spotted were

ancient cypresses and

evergreen pines to name a few.

 

Posted on by Jenn 5

A Taste of Greece

Greece has always been at the top of my bucket list.  The Mediterranean has always fascinated me.  I only had a couple of opportunities to wander through some of the countries bordering its seas – Italy and a teeny-weeny bit of Spain to be exact. One day I came across this post.  It not only revived my fascination for the Mediterranean — more specifically Greece, it had me craving for some Greek food too.  And since souvlaki is only the most popular Greek food, I thought of savoring a bit of Greece by re-creating Jen’s souvlaki recipe.  Although souvlakis are usually small pieces of meat grilled on a skewer, I pan-fried mine and did away with the skewer.  And instead of pita, I topped it on my basmati rice.  Equally as yum.

Yogurt Marinated Chicken Souvlaki

  • 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • ½ tsp. dried oregano
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • ½ cup Greek or plain yogurt
  • 300g. boneless chicken breast cut into cubes

Here’s 2 ways to do this:

  • In a large glass bowl, mix together lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, yogurt and garlic; add chicken (or pork / lamb) and stir to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

Option 1: the traditional way

  • Preheat grill for medium-high heat. Thread chicken onto skewers.
  • Lightly oil grate. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or to desired doneness, turning skewers frequently for even cooking.

Option 2:  If like me, you don’t own a grill

  • Lightly oil pan or a cast iron grill pan with a little bit of olive oil.
  • Cook the chicken for 10-15 minutes or to desired doneness.

Because the enzymes of the yogurt helped tenderize the meat, this chicken was moist, juicy and very flavorful to boot.

Posted on by Jenn 1