Ladera Tagaytay

Going to Tagaytay is inevitable...that was what I said a year ago. The town proper is half an hour or less from where we live so it's always a very convenient trip. We've been going around the city since we arrived, had pleasant food experiences but not today. We were supposed to have a photo shoot, a prenuptial of sorts for my brother and his wife to be. My brother-in-law, a photographer by profession, has been doing photo shoots around Tagaytay for the longest time and he knew well the best places there. We went to Splendido Taal, at the Ladera Grill..a small terraced restaurant overlooking the terrains of Taal. (Admittedly though, we lack the permission from the management that time.) They serve a mixture of Filipino food, pasta and pizzas, crepes and more. Unfortunately, I wasn"t able to taste any of them (the Tilapia na binusog sa Laing sounds really good pa naman). Read on to know why.

We decided to do some shoots first before ordering anything, we really enjoyed it there so it took a while until one of the crew (I assumed him to be a crew) came out and told us that it's not allowed to take photos in the place. Bro-in-law argued that he's been doing shoots there before and that we got permission from the guard stationed at the upper level of the place. Still we were told not to do any more photos.  Pissed off, we scratched the idea of dining in altogether. We did some more shots at the adjacent lot you see above...The kids were with us (all 3 plus my nephew) and one by one they asked for something to drink. One of the other crews came near us so I asked what drinks they serve and the reply came "Madami po." (Many.) I asked for Iced tea and he said "Yes." In I went, ordered Peach and Lemon Iced tea. Peach was not served so the little girl also settled for Lemon...

While waiting for the drinks I looked around, took some photos and noticed a Delimondo products corner. I asked if the place is owned also by Katrina Ponce Enrile of the high-end carinderia Petra and Pilar, the answer came "Opo, sila din po." (Yes, it's them also.)

Notice that no other soul was around? I wonder too, it was around lunch when we came (a Thursday). :) Anyway, the Iced teas came, the kids had a sip - I was surprised at their reaction...their faces were like "weeeeh" with tongues out...I asked why and  my two older kids said "This is not lemon..."  I sipped from dawty's glass and true enough, it was calamansi which is new to them...I liked the concoction anyway.

Great view, great food (perhaps) but definitely not a great crew...or just a bad first acquaintance...I'm not sure but I'm not spending time again there for my short stay here. After the shoot, we went to Splendido's other side, unlike the crew of Ladera (who never even said thank you that I bought some Iced tea lol), the Manong guard there was friendly enough to allow us to shoot. (Salamat, Manong!)

Below is a take from my cam :D I was trying out some shots behind my brother-in-law kasi. After the shoot, we went to (future) Sis-in-law's house (a 10 minute-drive from Splendido's) and ate there instead with the experience of being told off from Ladera almost forgotten. ;)

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Ladera

Splendido Taal Golf and Country Club l Taal Ridge Road, Laurel, Batangas

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Upgrading

Have you tried searching for HUD apartments for rent? Here, we call it in another name but like HUDs we live in a flat actually owned by the government and we used to get a subsidy too. We are on the 9th floor and ours has the last balcony, no roof. At times it's annoying to see it really dirty from stuff accidentally or intentionally thrown from above. Most of the times though, especially mornings, the sun looks majestically wonderful, perhaps more beautiful than the view from that new hotel Dubai you often see featured among blogs. On lovely days, that is, when  the sun shines nicely and there aren't no rains, it's nice to sit at the balcony and watch the clouds crawl by. Play a bit of loco roco or monkey defense and yawn until your asleep. The hubby prefer reading his choice books. ;-)

We have been in this flat a little over 5 years, I can't say that it's the best the city could offer but we still haven't got a chance to move to a bigger and a better-located apartment/house. Maybe in 3 years time, we'd be able to save up and get a bigger flat (we currently have a 76 sq-mtrs, 3 room unit) with 4 or 3 bedrooms separate kitchen and living room. It's free to dream so that's what I'll do now, who knows, I'd woke up one day in that dream house of mine...

Transferred

Blog transferred to Mirage.

Cloth bags! (Sticky Post for Giveaway)

I had this entry in my drafts since January. I totally forgot to publish this until Mommy Peh posted about something similar,  so here goes.

I was raised in the rural area of Cavite so I'm used to having trees and greenery around. We also have a small creek that served as a wash area for many people. It was still clean then...I haven't seen it since I started in highschool but I heard that the water isn't as clear as before. 

Back then we drank tap water and it tastes refreshing. Now, we buy them from the mineral water store. My kids ask me often whenever we're on vacation, why? Why can't we drink tap water? I feel sad and I tell them it is not clean .

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When I first came to Vienna I was impressed at how clean the surroundings were, it was autumn but the leaves appear as though they have been placed by the wind perfectly side by side or on top of each other. Well, there were the regular sweepers. :D Kidding aside, I just love the smell and look of autumn....

I was awed when for the first time I went to the grocery store, the older people where taking out cloth bags for their fare instead of buying plastic bags (which by the way costs 0.20cents). There are no baggers around so it is trusted that you put your stuff in your own bag. Honesty and trust plays a big role in this country!

There and then I thought "it would be very nice if we have those bags in Pinas." I couldn't anyway understand why are there so many plastic bags given out for free at the stores. For many years now (8 to be exact) I've been using eco bags or cloth bags and sometimes nylon bags that are foldable and chic when I go to the grocery. I refuse plastic bags from the apothecary, I just put what I bought in my shoulder bag which would always have spaces for anything. I deliberately bought bigger ones for such purposes. I'm doing my share to help lessen the plastic problem. I sort out our trash well, from papers to plastic bottles to biodegrable and glass bottles. I tell the kids to throw their garbage properly...reason that I don't like selfish smokers and undisciplined dog owners. The city provides trash bins for cigarettes and free plastic bags for picking up dog poo and still, some just don't care. There are those who would leave the cigarette still lighted and throw it in the bin, imagine the smell of paper, and whatnots getting burned on a cold, early morning. Pffuuu! 

So in light with this, I would be giving away two trendy nylon bags for this month. I believe in the saying "Small things together makes something big." I wouldn't require following or other things, just write about this giveaway and leave your urls in the comment section of this post. Thank you! 

*This giveaway is open to all (international shipping). Winners to be announced on May 14, 2011.

Blog Transfer

Fickle-minded me attacks. Should I transfer back to wordpress?

I'm having doubts with godaddy...I purchased 3 blogs via blogger and that's 12$ yearly...I didn't get a godaddy account because I was using google apps.


For 4 months now ( I checked late, stupid me) I've been paying monthly 8+$ to them. So I cancel paypal authority of allowing them for auto payments, I then emailed customer support, got a reply quickly but I was told they need my PIN-which I don't have so I said I bought the domains via google apps.


I was sent an email on what to do, I'm a bit busy so I still haven't done anything which makes me think that if they deliberately do this and know that people are too busy, they run off with a lot of dollars in the process with no one running after them....geez! Can't trust people nowadays... :(