foot prints: Canyon Cove: A travel worth it…but

Summer is past officially here and I’ve made a promise to visit a Philippine beach each year. Last year, we hit the road to Pahiyas Beach Resort in Laiya, Batangas . This year, with the suggestion of my sister-in-law Loraine, we went to Canyon Cove in Nasugbu, Batangas.

Lorraine and her husband, Paolo, frequently visit this place as they’ve signed-up as members of this residential beach resort. They have good and positive words about the place and I’m excited to see it for myself.

April 18, 2010. It was still dark and just a few quarters of hours before dawn, I and my extended family left Los Banos, Laguna on a rented van. Our driver took the route via Sta. Rosa City and Tagaytay City. By sunrise, we were in Tagaytay, had a glimpse of the renowned Taal volcano and experienced the cool morning breeze that we don’t get to experience in the city.

We arrived at half hour past seven in the morning where we were greeted with a tight security. Upon arrival, we can’t help but admire the beauty of this well-developed place. Immediately, you will notice the condominium units that border the mountain slope which, as I imagined it, would have given you good scenery of the resort and the sea from a top view. We entered the building and did an initial ocular inspection. From the first impressions, this place isn’t cheap and I felt a rush because it’s all going to be worth it.

We initially planned an overnight stay, but due to schedule constraints, since most of us have work on Saturdays, we opted for a day tour on a Sunday. As Paolo and Loraine said, there are fewer visitors on Sundays, but I doubted, its summer time, children are off school and the sun is hot.

After officially settling business at the reception area, we chose a cabana near the infinity pool. We settled our things and had a buffet breakfast at the restaurant. Once done with our hearty meal, it was time to apply sun block lotion and readily set to explore the area.

My wife and I took a walk by the beach. Holding her hand, I fell in love with Canyon Cove. But more than the sea, sand the sun, I was more in love with this woman who said, “She’d always dreamt of walking by the beach with me, our hands together”. I was happy for the feeling was mutual, we had the same dream, and we fulfilled it together, by the Canyon Cove beach. Forget the headache-causing heat, forget the people around, it was just me and her and she’s beautiful.

I can’t resist the call of the water. It was clean and clear and cold. The sea was a soothing bath that drenched the excruciating high temperature. The sand is creamy and close-to-being-white, but isn’t smooth because of the stones and shells. It is picture perfect for shell and dead coral picking, but not for barefoot swimmers. 

Time is up for the dip. The heat was giving us headache. So we hit the pool next. It was supposed to be an infinity pool. But I didn’t get the feel of it. It was a spacious pool; tourists have started to populate the water. But it was still fun. Lifeguards are visible, and they ask the ladies out off the water if they are not complying with the dress code: strictly swimwear.

The trip was not cheap for someone on a budget. Entrance fees run at Php 800.00 per person. Bringing of food is strictly prohibited and corkage fees are applicable. Thus, if you’re hungry and want to eat, the restaurant offers buffet meals at Php 600.00 and rates may change without prior notice. The only good thing about it is that you get a rebate off your entrance fee which you can use to partially cover for your buffet breakfast or lunch.

We decided to leave early, at around 2PM, we hit the road back home and planned to have lunch on the way. Along the Nasugbu-Tagaytay City national road, we had a pit stop at Perfect View Bulalohan, where we indulged on a savory bulalo dish.

  Canyon Cove is a treasure for leisure, a commercial paradise open for exploration by tourists and bakasyonistas as well. Paolo and Loraine had positive feedback about the place. I wanted to try it. I did. And I say they were right. I knew it was not cheap. Indeed it was. But it was all worth it and we’re planning of going back again..soon.

 

Finding your money's worth with a Bulalo indulgence

Lately, I’ve been hearing much about the bulalos (Beef Bone Marrow Soup) served in Tagaytay City, but I never had the chance to taste one. So when we got off from our summer outing at Canyon Cove, Nasugbu, Batangas, we took the chance to drop by Perfect View Bulalohan located along the Nasugbu-Tagaytay national road. And just by the name of the restaurant, you know that this dish is a specialty.

The place is decently clean and small (approximately 60 square meter floor area). It has the look and feel of a carinderia. But not like an ordinary carinderia, you are served with a menu list  instead of choosing from readily cooked food from cooking pots.  Located at 2,500 feet above sea level, you get the feel of fresh air while indulging in a sinfully good bulalo. No need for artificial ventilation, the restaurant is open air and you could enjoy your food with the satisfying and cooling effect of the wind.

Aside from the bulalo, we also tried fried tawilis and grilled liempo. The liempo is half cooked and I like my meat well-done. But the fried tawilis is a delicacy, its a fish found only on the waters of Taal Lake . It also taste good and a must try for local and foreign tourist as well. No need to debone, you can eat the fish whole and feel its crunchy texture and soft, and somewhat milky, meat in just a few bites.

As for the bulalo, it does taste good. Its very flavorful and delicious and tasted better when served hot. Just like any soup dish, its best combined with condiments, I prefer having patis (fish sauce) with calamansi and siling labuyo (hot pepper).

After the fulfilling lunch, our driver was generous enough to take us on a side trip to the People’s Park in the Sky. And long after were done eating and on our way home, we just couldn’t help but still talk of the bulalo. The restaurant’s service is quick; our food was served in less than 15 minutes after placing our order. Also, as the name implies and aside from bulalo, it also serves a perfect view of the Taal volcano.

I’ll rate the restaurant with 4 stars with regards to the food and the service. But more than the rating, the experience is certainly priceless.

Bar: Pitch @ d 4th

If you’re in Lucena City and you want to explore the night life, you might want to try out a videoke bar in Enverga St. corner Enriquez St. Or if you are within the stretch of Quezon Avenue, just a few blocks away from Jollibee, you will discover Pitch@ d 4^th floor.

I am not a party animal; I just love to relax if I have the chance, and most of the time, my idea of relaxation is to hit a bar, sip (and eventually gulp) some cold beer until I get tipsy, and enjoy the company of friends (just like most of us do). And it was the night after my wife’s birthday when we decided to hit the road and just enjoy the night with our friends. And yes, we went to the Pitch@ d 4^th floor bar located at the heart of the urban Lucena City.

It obvious how the bar got its name, it occupies the 3^rd and 4th floors of a building (which I failed to note for it was dark) along Enverga St. The 3^rd floor has a dance floor, while the 4^th floor has videoke that houses a wide LCD projector screen for visual purposes. The microphone is passed around the tables for songs which costs Php 5.00 each.

We hit the 4^th floor and we met the bar owner and operator who goes by the name Pitchy…thus,  Pitch@ d 4^th floor. And everyone knows how we, Filipinos, love to sing especially with videokes, nobody would mind if you’re out of pitch and tune…so long as you have the character and behave as civilized partier.  

Aside from the videoke ambiance and atmosphere, Pitch @ d 4^th also offers a relatively mass (masa) appeal. But don’t get me wrong with the term for its not so “masa”. Matter of fact, professionals and occasional partiers flock the bar for a really nice after-work and just-some-time-to-relax moment with friends. It offers prompt and decent service and the place is clean. By the word clean, I refer to the bar itself, free of clutter and free of “drunk” patrons. I just didn’t like the rest room, for its communal and its not really well maintained (just like most of other bars you would know). But it’s a decent place afterall.

Menu-wise, it offers regular prices for the drinks. They serve fried chicken as pulutan and has tokwa’t baboy in Mang Tomas sauce. Other than these, there’s nothing really much extra-ordinary about the place. What’s priceless is the fact that you get some quality –time with your company. Plus, I like the way the counter is presented. With its counter alone…the place may have looked classy.

The Story, the book and a girl named Primrose

“Didn’t you ever believe anything just because you knew it was true?”

Primrose Squarp lost her parents on a stormy night in their fishing village, Coal Harbour. Her father, despite the raging storm went to sea to fish and her mother tagged along. They never got back and the village thought they drowned. Primrose clung on to her hopes that her parents are still alive, even if the whole village thought that she’s taking her healing process indifferently

 

The Story

Left to deal with her loss, she embarks on an adventure of living in the custody of her uncle Jack. While dealing with her parent’s death, she relives her friendships and with a whole lot of people including an elderly woman, Miss Perfidy, whom she entrusted her hand woven sweaters made by her mother and who claims she has memories of things she did not have before (re: Alziemers desease). Another interesting character is Miss Honeycut, a self-centered school counselor who took for herself the job of making sure Primrose deals with her loss appropriately; a woman whom Primrose regarded as “someone who has a pea-sized tiny heart and who travelled with eyes wide shut”.

But the most influential person in Primrose’s life without her parents is her restaurateur friend, Miss Bowzer. She taught Primrose new recipes and helped dishes with her. Their talks and how she considered Primrose special is outstandingly pictured and subtlely relayed.

“The  only really interesting thing about someone that makes you want to explore them further is their heart”, a thought that came to Primrose which she shared to Miss Bowzer, owner of The Girl on a Red Swing, Primrose’s favorite restaurant that serves everything on a waffle including air-dried beef and marinated lentils on a bed of radicchio.

There is also Bert and Evie, a childless couple who took over her custody after she lost a toe in a street accident (which the village considered as a failed attempt of Primrose to kill herself) and while her custody to her Uncle Jack is in review.

The Book

This is one of the most meaningful books I have read so far along with Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mocking Bird” and “The Little Prince” by Antoine Saint-Exupery. I may not be “close to tears” as I was when I finished the book “A Secret School” by AVI, but “Everything on a Waffle” is such a relaxing treat.  It is packed with cool, touching and practically useful quotes that would engage its readers to turn on to the page. It is also made unique with the inclusion of recipes that Primrose learns along and those that she keeps on her recipes notes.

 “Sometimes we are tempted to make something wonderful and better but in doing so you lose what was wonderful to begin with”, an excerpt from her Caramel Apple recipe.

A book critic said “subtlety and slapstick is a challenging combination; Horvath pulls it off beautifully”, but I say the author “did it well and did it best”.

The Girl named Primrose

Primrose had it, “…Some people got old and some died. I left parts of myself on some part of the scene and found others unexpectedly. Now people appeared on the scene and others disappeared before I could say goodbye. All kinds of ordinary people gave their whole hearts to things you wouldn’t think you could give your heart to. I made discoveries. And Coal Harbour never became a big resort or swank tourist spot, but I didn’t care because I know that for as long as you lived there you could get everything you wanted. And it always comes on a waffle.”

But the most important thins she learned is that “the things that you find out become the places that you go and sometimes you find them out by being jettisoned off alone and other times it is the people who choose to stay by your side who give you the clues. But the important things that happen to you will happen to you even in smallest places.”

This is a coming to age story filled with hope and pessimism. And its believing deep in your heart that’s its true just because you know it’s true, even if other people, it not all people think otherwise. And in the end..by some twist of fate, you were right after all. Primrose had her parents back…they’re alive.

This 2010

I'm not much into Astrology but like any other year-enders and year-starters, I enjoy indulging myself on predictions/forecasts (whether it was realized or otherwise) and the looking-back slash review slash the-year-that-was tradition that we have. And I'd like to give a rundown of what I still could remember from December 2008 predictions that happened within 2009.

The-year-that-was

And I honestly can't remember much aside from that one person who made a prediction on national TV that we will have 'hot' politics, 'weak' economy and that a new president will be reinstated by mid-2009. The first 2 need not be predicted for its always been that way, but the third was such a big bluff that I never really believed it would but it stayed on my mind and I waited for it to happen. And apparently, it did not.

This-coming-year

Again on national TV, same predictions, chaotic politics, a new president will be elected and it was forecast to be a close battle between a "V" and an "A", but in the end it will be "A" who will win and institute change in Philippine politics...Lets see.

Calamities, disasters and accidents are also staple predictions. Sea and land accidents; and typhoons but not as devastating as 'Ondoy' was also predicted. This sounds too natural and effortless since its been that way since my (and yours too) greatgreatgreatgreatgreat ancestor was born. Why do they have to predict this...since we all can too?

Economy-wise, it will still be struggle but later on before the year ends will have better economy. This is a positive note. And hope we do.

That's theirs, 'tis mine

Those were too general prediction.....and these are my specific forecast and predictions.

Politics
1. Politically, Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino Jr. will be our president, if the automated elections pushes through. And the Philippines will hold its first ever automated national elections.

2. Gloria Arroyo, a former Philippine president, will win a congressional seat and leftist groups will cry foul over her victory. She will cheat in all ways she can.

Economy

More jobs available but majority will still be unemployed and underemployed.

Sports/Politics

1.  Manny Pacquiao will lose his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in March and he will cry for a rematch. Also, he will lose his bid for any political office this year.

2. Ginebra will win another conference in the Philippine Basketball Association.

3. UP Fighting Maroons will again topple down the giant Archers and Blue Eagles....but still end up trophy-less for the UAAP season.

Showbiz

1.The Philippines will win its first Oscar throphy.

2. A teen young star/matinee idol will be shot dead while a veteran actress will leave the mortal world.

3. More indie films will be produced but less will focus on sex and gender issues.

4. It will be a close battle between 'Melason', Melai and Jason in the Pinoy Big Brother Double Up edition this year....but Jason will bring home the bacon.

5. Marian Rivera will have a scandalous video and Kho will finally die of drug overdose. Hahaha....lets see...its a prediction anyway

There it is, I have laid bare my fearless and slightly pointless forecasts this year. But here is the best part:

Disclaimer: The stars and the moons are there to guide us but it is still us who create our own luck. What's been said and publish does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Network...and Boy Abunda will still be Skinhead (Damn.... and sigh sigh and another sigh)

A child's battle and a father's rescue: A book review

When Joel and his best buddy, Tony, decided to take a ride to the State park, they started on a journey to push their limit on what their juvenile mind and body could endure like any other 10-year olds. Joel made a promise to his father that they will be back home safe. ”On my honor” he said and was warned not to go near the Vermillion River.
Along the way, the two boys decided to take a detour and explore the river instead. Tony initiated to take a dip but Joel initially declined. With Tony’s persuasive bullying on Joel, he decided to challenge Tony for a swim. When he reached the sandbar, Tony was not within sight. Fearing the death of his friend, Joel must face the consequences: to go home alone and tell his parents about the news.
In the book, the author, Marion Dane Bauer, distinctly contrasted the characters of the two boys, Tony as a daredevil cloaked under an underprivileged living while Joel is a good son to a more blessed family. And what I found most interesting in the book is how Bauer narrated the panic that Joel felt when he realized Tony had drowned; the rush of guilt on how to tell the bad news to their parents; and the depression that he had lost the company of a best friend. The interpersonal conflict was grippingly and perfectly told, and the experience of reading the book was like getting into the mind of a real Joel.
Personally, I also had a close encounter to drowning. I was with my brother when it happened. And while indulging into the book, the memories flooded my mind. While on the water, I can only see water bubbles, white light and the screaming of my sister in the background. And after all that, my father was quick to save us. We did not lose a life, but the experience made the story closer at bay.
Aside from being a book on pain, guilt and conscience, it also holds a space for healing. The last scene, when Joel finally told his parents about what happened, Joel found refuge in the arms of his father, a father who understands and ready to help a battered soul pick-up the pieces of a shattered life. This reminds me of a course in a seminar I had attended before about Ancient Paths. It is about endowing of blessings, how parents are responsible to the emotional and spiritual wellness of their children, form conception, to birth, to adolescence until death.
On my honor is a book that chronicles a boy’s struggle with conscience, told simply and timelessly. It is an ageless contemporary classic. A must read for those seeking a place where to start their soul search.


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"On my Honor" is a book by Marion Dane Bauer, a Newberry Honor Book Awardee in 1987

A garden's silent cry

I find nature as an amazing subject for photography. Plants, specifically, are my preference for I love the majesty of the shapes and the beauty of its colors.



I’m not exactly sure how my interest on plants started, perhaps the environment where I grew up played the part. My father is also an agriculture teacher and sometimes we attend to in his classes.

Looking back, it is interesting to note that in my junior year in high school, I did a research paper about “plants and gardening” which included what soil type is suitable for what type of garden. Also, in my English Communication II class in UP Los Banos, I did a research paper on the “economic effects of Philippine endemic plants”. I was taking up BS Agricultural Economics then.

Having spent 5 years of college education in UP Los Banos, where the mythical Mt. Makiling rest, where nature is abounty of its natural assets, I have come to note that there, in the Senior’s Social Garden, garden shows are regularly held. These events are normally held in April in time for the graduation rites and in October for the Loyalty Day.

This year, I got the chance to visit the garden show held from October 9-18 presented by the Los Banos Orchid Society. As the sponsoring group’s name imply, the show exhibited mostly orchid varieties and the staple landscape/booth design contest.


The Orchids

 

The Landscape/Booth designs

 

 

And since it is a garden show, other garden staples are also present like:

Bromeliads: are tropical plants with sturdy and overlapping leaves. The overlapping leaves are able to store water which makes it a low maintenance plant suitable for gardens and the indoors. It could be grown on trees, rocks and pots making it the fastest growing pot plants and is best propagated with seeds.

Mussaendas are ornamental shrubs characterized by its distinct and colorful petaloids. Philippine mussaendas are hybrid of the endemic M. philippica discovered in Mt. Makiling in 1915. Mussaendas are named after the Philippine first ladies collectively termed as “Doñas”. The first hybrid was named Doña Aurora, after the wife of President Manual L. Quezon. Shown in the picture is Mussaenda “Corazon C. Aquino”.

Novelty items decorated with various flora species and even dried flowers framed to serve as decorative ornaments were also on display.

Tissue cultured varieties of orchids were also available. The orchids were grown and cultured by the Department of Horticulture. When the orchids in the bottle sprout to reach out the opening of its containers, it is then transferred and transplanted to grow like a normal plant.

Also on display are various ornamental plants cultured and cultivated mainly for aestetic value like criss-crossed stems and are believed to be signs of prosperity and goodluck

Some, I just took the time to admire the beauty of the varigiated colors...that I didn't even care if I knew what they're called

In the end, its not how cheap the plants are or how many new plants I had acquaintance with...but its about knowing that nature is abounty of treasures. And mostly, its about nature's silent cry for preservation and propagation. But that is secondary for me.

After all, I heed the call, heard the cry, enjoyed its beauty...and I took her picture. And that's one reason why I created this blog. Perhaps, this is my way of reaching out to a garden's silent cry.