Must not mislabel Casita Ysabel, Mabini, Batangas

For almost P6,000.00 per night for a "family room", staying in Casita Ysabel is flat-out expensive. 

Price aside, it is beautiful while you're there. It has a Balinese theme that feels so beach-y and tropical even for someone who lives in a tropical country. (I wish I took more photos.) It has a bamboo deck where those who wants a tan can get it. I assume that this was built because the beach here is too rocky. Nonetheless, it's perfect for enjoying the sea and the sun sans the messy sand.

Meicha vs Gong Cha is a challenging decision

Manila is abuzz with the milk tea craze. I don't really like going with the fad, so now I'm running quite late. I blame it all on my sister. 

My sweet and thoughtful sister loves bringing us home food/drinks when she goes out. Lately, due to requests from my other sisters (I have 4!) Ditsi's been bring home a lot of milk teas. A lot as in our freezer as well as fridge is full of huge milk teas, much to my mother's chargrin. :D

My whole family is currently addicted to two milk teas: Meicha's milk froth (much like Happy Lemon's cheese & rock salt) and Gong Cha's Milk Wintermelon Tea. We're so addicted we race to the fridge every morning for that one leftover cup from last night's drinking round. I win most times by the way. :D

MEICHA MILK FROTH regular P80, large P90

I have tried the Happy Lemon rock salt & cheese blend before and didn't like it. I told my sis this when she was trying to entice me to try this milk froth. She taught me that I have to drink it bottoms up to be able to enjoy it. Thinking back, I did drink it with a straw after mixing the whole thing. Apparently, it's the wrong way to go. 

So late one night, I tried the milk froth. OOOHH!!! I've been missing out! 

I love the salty sweet taste the cheesy froth brings. I love it so much I even lick those that stick on the plastic lid. (I'm home when I do this, so don't judge me. :p)  

GONG CHA MILK WINTERMELON TEA regular P80, large P90

Another milk tea we all love is Gong Cha's Milk Wintermelon Tea. Oh, I love drinking the wintermelon tea through the creamy layer. It doesn't have the salty twist but it's sweet in the Mr. Right way. 

Of course, it's human nature to compare. But why this two? The owner of Meicha was first thinking of franchising Gong Cha but they require you to be able to open at least 5 branches the first year and that's a lot of risk for her. She then went to Singapore to study the art of making milk teas and opened Meicha, her own brand.

I totally support opening up your own brand rather than franchising an international brand. But I must say, Gong Cha still makes it better. Due to years of experience I suppose? 

Taste-wise, I just can't decide. The deciding factor is that after drinking Gong Cha, I feel I can still drink yet another one because it's just so light in the tummy. It makes me feel like singing, "Mahaba-habang inuman... Gong Cha light!" Hihihi. Yeah, corny, I know! It's the advertising training! :D   

Meicha

126-C Speaker Perez St, Sta Mesa Heights

(right beside Starbucks Retiro) 

Quezon City, Metro Manila

(02) 501-2531

Gong Cha

2/F Il Terrazzo Mall
305 Tomas Morato cor. Scout Madrinan
South Triangle, Quezon City
(02) 376-9163

Pan de Maluggay for Breakfast

I am no breakfast fan, unless I'm traveling and need to fuel up for the day or else it's a sumptuous meal like the breakfasts served in Antonio's. 

When I'm in Manila though, I rarely eat breakfast. But like your typical Filipino, I love HOT pan de sals in the morning when I can get it. It is therefore LOVE when I discovered this added OOMPH in the good ol' pan de sal.

H Cuisine is Heaven Cuisine

I've been hearing about H cuisine... Never got to try it though... Until one friday. Apparently, my sister and her beau are huge fans! Sadly, they're not as big eater as Fred Flintstone is so I wasn't able to try more of their good food.

The restaurant apparently opted to just serve a few quality dishes. Their menu contains just a handful of choices. It's more than enough though. It's already quite hard to decide which ones to pick. We just had two orders. 

Full Belly in Dinelli Gourmet

Being distracted from hunger while exploring about, we emerged from Mind Museum with growling tummies. 

We headed for the nearest lane of restaurants we know. Looking about, we were supposed to try Yakitori but a restaurant caught my attention. I remembered reading about this deli from Yummy Magazine about its cheese platter. And we love cheese!!!

Kao Chi: lazy sunday's lunch

Gotta stay home one Sunday. What to eat, what to eat? I scanned my mind for a nearby restaurant with yummy food. *Light bulb picture here* Kao Chi!

Lugang Cafe is popular at the moment as having the best Xiao Long Pao in Manila. Kao Chi's xiao long pao is their closest rival. But more than its xiao long pao, the restaurant offers a lot of good Chinese food.

Nueva Vizcaya Eco Park & Senora Falls rolled into one

The day after we visited Capisaan Cave, I was at a lost on what we could do, where we can go. I initially wanted to do more spelunking in Heaven Cave connecting to Sabrina Cave. It wasn't the body ache (true only for the lampa me) that stopped us but the car going through the same arduous journey to Bgy. Capisaan again. So we looked for other things to do. 

According to Marcos, the cave used to  because the governor who previously supported the caves as the primary tourist destination of the province. Sadly, the current governor is supporting a local zoo instead. And so Fred was keen on checking that "zoo" while I was thinking of the eco-park I saw online. Apparently they're one and the same: Paraiso Tribu Vizcayano. 

We started our day late since there was no need to look for abuos or ant eggs anymore. At 10am, we drove through Solano and Bagabag to reach Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya by 10.45am seeing this sign just along the highway to the right.

Eat Fresh, fresh from Hong Kong

Well, no, not really. It's all made locally. But it does try to capture the taste of Hong Kong street food which I so love.

On my way home from work, I stopped by Eat Fresh to take home some food.

While waiting, I love seeing the kitchen of restaurants. It means that they let you see it because they're confident of their sanitation. I love watching as my food gets done as well. It's like falling in love, the skipping of your heart as you see your treasure going from raw to cooked! :D

Wow Fried Siopao

I've been craving for quite some time for this...

I don't like siopao in general. I find them a bit dry. So I like the siopao that comes a sauces. Or the siopao from Shang Palace with moist asado inside with the size perfect for one big bite. But there's one siopao I love and crave for whenever I'm in the office.

Fried Siopao!

Nueva Vizcaya's Capisaan Cave, my personal enclave

It's summer!!! We were all itching for a vacation. Although... Where to go, where to go? The initial plan was to go to Quezon but we're KIND OF tired of beaches. That's when I remembered the trip to Sagada when we passed by the very foggy Nueva Vizcaya. Cool weather, here we come!

Nganga made me sick

I've heard of nganga in Taiwan with the famous nganga girls and also locally in Baguio. I've always wondered what it tastes like. Finally, in Nueva Vizcaya, the Juniors who kindly helped me achieve my dream of acquiring abuos / ant eggs asked me if I wanted to try their nganga. OF COURSE! 

They taught me that it's actually taken in 4 steps. First is the fruit itself, which I hurriedly tried.

Abuos / Leaf-Cutter-Ant Eggs Begs to be eaten

I was just searching for something to eat online (a really good way to kill diet intentions) when I came across this post. Since then, I've been meaning to visit that place we passed through with all the fog on the way to Sagada. 

The moment we arrived in Nueva Vizcaya, we searched for this Abuos. We even woke up early just to get some from the local market since according to the guard, it arrives as early as 5 am and is sold out by 6 am. Alas, we found that we got the wrong information (like so many times there).

Enjoying my DB Down Boy

I'm actually wearing this pair right now. :D

What I love about this pair of Down Boy black platform sandal with rhinestones and diamond ring by Girl Two Doors Down is the felt texture. It feels soo good against my poor feet! Of course, the downside of it is I can't wear it everywhere, and, I can't wear it on rainy days. Thank heavens it's sunny today! 

Laiya, Batangas ay Wagas

Filipinos love heading to the beach when it's summer. I don't. Maybe because I'm Chinese by blood?! It must be funny to others but I love going to the beach in the cold months of October to February. I actually feel guilty about being internally happy that it's still cold despite the fact that it's April. I wish I could sincerely shout "Climate change go away!" but deep inside me, the beach lover in me, goes "WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" 

During this cold summer, I reminisce of the time we just woke up and went to Laiya, Batangas for our beach fix December 2010. 

My 25th @ Manila Bay

There was one weekend when we had nothing to do. We ended up along Manila Bay. We decided to sign up with Prestige Cruises (P350 without meal, P550 with meal) instead of Sun Cruises because of the time. Sun Cruise leaves 5.30pm while Prestige Cruise leaves 6.00pm. It was a good experience but the food is bad with baby cockroaches on the spoons. EWW! Food aside, it was a glorious experience that I wanted to share with friends. 

TKees are the Keys to My Heart

My mental feet need their protection. Since I walk too much, I tend to er... wreck a lot of slippers. Not to mention the fact that I must either too much or I walk in a different way that I'm prone to blisters and whatnots including killing my toenails. Thus, my search for comfy footwear started. 

Okay, okay, I'm just a typical girl who adores and worship good shoes! :D 

J. Co Donuts will make you Nuts

I've been drooling over my crush jinlovestoeat's post. I shared with Fred how delighted I would be if "somebody" were to buy me these donuts soon. Of course, my very thoughtful and sweet boyfriend bought me some to make me happy. :D

He bought two dozens (I have a HUGE family) for just Php550, plus a half dozen for Php230. A boxful of mixed flavors and another of just the green tea flavored one and alcapone. Then the half doz for a friend. 

Italiano Pasto

I love weekends. It's when I can cheat on my diet. (As if I don't cheat everyday...:p)

I had to meet Meh to borrow her DSLR (mine's unfortunately still in the hospital for cleaning and repair.:c) in Greenhills. Where to eat, where to eat?? I know GH is filled with restaurants, sadly, I just don't really fancy eating in much of them. We ended up in Pasto.

I am amazed that most people, even Meh who basically lives in GH, dosn't know Pasto. I guess it's their location above Starbucks, in the mezzanine where people doesn't usually look. I wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for a friend. This is sad because their food is yummy!