Road Trip

Back in Las Casas, and This Time I’m Blogging About It!

February 2, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 12 Comments

I first visited Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar last summer, when my sister-in-law invited us to join them for a quick stay on the weekend of their prenup photo shoot. Me being me, I never got around to blogging about our actual stay. I’ve been trying to figure out how and when I can write about that trip, since it was too long ago to actually be relevant. Luckily, my dad treated our whole family to an amazing 3-day stay at Las Casas for the Chinese New Year weekend (THANK YOU, DADDY!!!), and yes I plan on blogging about it this time! Yay! The best part about it is I get to use photos from both trips. Double yay!

Here’s a sneak peek, while I get my new batch of photos together. 🙂

What did you guys do over Chinese New Year weekend? 🙂

Road Trip to Villa Escudero

August 4, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 3 Comments

One of the fun things about planning my sister-in-law’s wedding is getting to go on family road trips for the planning and prenup sessions. Their wedding will take place in Villa Escudero, a place that brings back many happy memories from when I was younger. One of my favorite trips there was with the whole of my dad’s side of the family when my grandmother was still alive. Here’s a photo of my cousins and I with our Lola on that trip, many years and several pounds ago.

lol2 — This was in 2003 or 2004, I think.

The Out-Of-Towners: Discovering Cafeño

May 7, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 6 Comments

I’ve often said on this blog that our family likes to go out on trips together. Vacationing is one of the things that our family does well, and some of my fondest memories are from the many out of town trips that we have taken as a group. I consider myself lucky to have parents like mine, who have been planning day-trips, weekend getaways, and sometimes even week-long adventures for us since we were little. Over the years, my dad has made it a point to take time out from his busy schedule to take us someplace nice for the summer, or during Christmas season, New Year’s, and even just on an ordinary weekend. There were also times when he would take us all with him whenever he’d have out of town lectures or conventions. Because of this, my siblings and I have been able to see quite a lot of the Philippines already. On the photos on our foyer wall, you will see images of our younger selves on the San Juanico Bridge, at the Maria Cristina Falls, in Dapitan where Rizal was exiled, and on many other beaches and mountains all over the country.

These days, the vacations have become even more exciting with the addition of new members to our out of town crew. What was once a family of five has expanded to include MrC and my Little Kiddo, my brother’s girlfriend, my sister’s boyfriend, and occasionally my sister-in-law, her boyfriend, and her roommate Phil, who is practically our adoptive sibling already. As expected, my parents have become even more excited about travelling now that the little guy is part of the group. The nice thing about it is he is so appreciative of new sights and new experiences, and he truly enjoys sharing these moments with his grandparents. At the age of five, he’s already been able to take a plane to Ozamis, see Baguio twice, play on the beaches of Dagupan and Batangas, and hang out in Tagaytay at least five times. He is now eagerly anticipating our 2012 summer outing, which is coming up soon. Actually, we’re all really excited for three whole days of fun in the sun at a private resort owned by one of my dad’s doctor friends in Zambales. We were told that they will eventually be open to the public, and from what I hear, their beachfront is really nice. I’ll definitely be sharing photos and recommendations after the trip.

Speaking of vacation photos, I just realized that the year is almost halfway done, and I still have not been able to post much about our 2012 family outings. Promise that you will soon be able to read about our Chinese New Year weekend at Virgin Beach Resort, our first ever Hot Air Balloon Festival experience, my birthday weekend at Discovery Country Suites, the little guy’s birthday weekend at Hotel H2O, and all the fabulous food we’ve had along the way. Promise.

In the meantime, let me share this wonderful little place we discovered en route to Laiya called Cafeño. If you ever find yourself on our way to the many beach resorts in the area, I suggest you stop by this quaint cafe and restaurant for some coffee, homemade ice cream and other treats.

We chanced upon the place on our way to Virgin Beach Resort last January. We happened to leave the house much later than we’d originally planned, and so, at a little past noon, we found ourselves too hungry to keep driving, but too close to the resort (and a proper lunch) to risk spoiling our appetites by eating a big meal somewhere else. Plus we all needed to take a bathroom break, and so it was decided that we would stop at Cafeño. The building is actually an old house, one of many in the area, and sits at the corner of General Luna and Rizal Streets in Poblacion, San Juan, Batangas.

The first thing you see when you enter is the counter and display case filled with yummy pastries. It took some time before we all decided on what we would be having. While waiting for the rest of the family to order, I took a quick look around to see what the rest of the place looked like, and since it is a relatively small restaurant, it didn’t take me long to survey the entire area.

The brightly colored perimeter wall of Cafeño showcases many cute illustrations like this one (Lolo and Kiddo not included)

The decor inside Cafeño is mostly made up of vintage items and old photographs. I thought I was able to take a photo of the table next to us, which was made of the base of an old Singer sewing machine, but the photo is probably in my sister’s camera. The place being designed this way makes it very homey and cozy.

There’s also an alfresco dining area labelled Cafeño Annex, but we opted to stay inside on this very hot day

An old ice shaver sits on top of the counter

Shelves of merchandise and framed photographs line the walls

I finally decided to order churros and Spanish chocolate, but was disappointed to learn that the churros were not available. I ended up just getting the chocolate, while mom and my sister ordered coffee floats. Dad and MrC had barako coffee, and my brother and my son went for the crispy waffles.

Cream and chocolate-filled crispy waffles

Looking back, hot chocolate was a pretty odd choice for me on such a warm day. Oh well, I enjoyed it anyway. The crispy waffles were really good too, and were a good enough substitute for churros, dipped into my chocolate.

Crispy waffle ice cream sandwich made with home-made vanilla ice cream

My sister Rocky with her coffee float, which actually is cold Kapeng Barako with a scoop of ice cream on top

Coffee + Crispy Waffles + Homemade Ice Cream + Dad

It was a good start to what would be a totally enjoyable Batangas weekend for us all. As always, the little guy cozied up to his grandparents for most of the trip. He even chose to ride in their car because he found my dad’s GPS completely fascinating.

I’m sure that we will pass by Cafeño again on our next trip South. Hopefully when I get to go back, I’ll finally get to try those churros.

Cafeño
No.9 Cor General Luna and Rizal St.
San Juan, Batangas
(043) 575-5161
cafeno.cafe@gmail.com
#/cafeno.batangas

Panizza 101 at C’ Italian Dining

April 29, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Last February, when our family trooped out to Clark for the Hot Air Balloon Festival, our first stop was C’ Italian Dining for a very late lunch before checking in at Fontana. Like I always do before heading off to an unfamiliar place, I asked around about the best places to eat at Clark. C’ came highly recommended by a lot of my food-lover friends, and so I made sure that we stopped there to eat before our schedule got filled up.

C’ is located outside the Clark Freeport Zone, in Balibago Angeles, Pampanga. The facade is pretty simple, and if not for all the cars parked in front of the restaurant, and even across the street (and of course the big sign in front of the building), I probably would never have realized that we’d found the place. I use the word found because we had made a number of wrong turns in search of the restaurant, and ended up lost and with no idea where to go, more than once. I’d never have guessed that such a nice restaurant could be found in such a shady place. Then again, I forget that a good number of Angeles’ residents are foreigners.

The place has this rustic, old house, sorta cozy sorta creepy feel to it. I’m guessing this vibe is caused by a combintion of the stone walls, the big windows , the art pieces on display, and lighting of the place. The entire restaurant is laid out in various sections and rooms, and nooks and corners you could just disappear into, which kind of made me think of it as dungeon-like too. Then again, maybe all this was just hunger messing with my senses.

My sister and her boyfriend actually got to the restaurant before we did, so we were expecting to have something to munch on while we ordered. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any food or drinks on the table. Since the two ordered ahead, they made a follow up while we placed our orders. My hunger was making me cranky, so I distracted myself by taking photos.

Obviously, Lola was already tired and hungry

Like I said, it took us a while to find the place. Ironically three out of four people in the car had maps and GPS apps in our phones. It was close to 3pm when we arrived at C’, so you can just imagine how tired and hungry we were by then. My Mc Donald’s Big Breakfast was long gone, replaced by gurgles and other similar complaints by my stomach.

Good thing these two were still in high spirits

When the drinks and bread arrived, we attacked like wolves. Pretty, composed wolves. I ordered a Strawberry Italian Soda, which was really refreshing. Their bread was super yummy, and I had to restrain myself from eating too much so as not to spoil my appetite. No, let me re-phrase that, my appetite is never spoiled. I just didn’t want to get full too fast. Bread is my absolute weakness, and C’s pesto dip was just too good to resist. Carbs, this is why I’m fat.

Now here’s the problem. Because I’m blogging about this so late, I can’t remember what any of the dishes were called, and how much they cost. My bad. Lesson learned, write about things as soon as I can, or at least take notes for future reference. I’ll be sure to make a note of the names of these dishes if I ever get to pay a visit to C’ again. For now, photos and descriptions will just have to suffice.

We were informed by the waiter that the reason why my sister’s order hadn’t arrived yet was because they switched tables, and the servers got confused. Not a good enough reason, as far as I’m concerned, but lucky for them, I found myself to be extra forgiving that day. Maybe because I was on vacation mode and refused to be put in a bad mood. It could also be because the food was so good that it gave me an extra happy vibe. I kid you not, the food was that delicious.

Rolled up with arugula and alfalfa sprouts

We ordered two different kinds of Panizza, and two pasta dishes. Now let me tell you a secret. I never had Panizza before my visit to C’. Not even Yellow Cab’s Dear Darla. I think it’s a good thing, because I read somewhere that this is what inspired the Dear Darla, and I’m glad I got to taste the original first. Rocky and Koko chose one with the best tasting bacon ever, while mom picked a four (or was it five?) cheese panizza. Both were wonderful, but the cheesy one needed an extra sprinkling of spices for added umph.

Meanwhile, Mr C and the Kiddo chose to have Pasta Carbonara, which was also topped with the best bacon ever, and mom added an order of Spagetti Bolognese with Meatballs. The Carbonara was a hit. Their white sauce was exceptionally good, and that means a lot coming from someone who isn’t much of a fan of white sauce on pasta.

I expected more from the Bolognese, but it was still pretty good. After enjoying the bowl of bread so much, I hoped that the garlic bread that came with the pasta would be amazing as well. Guess I shouldn’t have expected much, since it turns out that all garlic breads are pretty much alike. Or maybe I feel that way because I don’t particularly like butter.

The food at C’ is really good. Too bad that it’s really far away, and in a place I don’t normally frequent. It’s also quite pricey. We ended up paying close to P3,000 for lunch for 5 adults and 1 kid. That’s more or less P500-P600 per person. Plus I got turned off with the slow service, although, I do realize it’s probably better on non-peak days. After all, we visited during Clark’s busiest season. This is exactly why I prefer not to travel when I know it’s going to be crowded where I’m headed. Yes, I can be antisocial like that.

For more photos from our visit, check out this post!

C’ Italian Dining
1210 Don Juico Ave. Clarkview, Balibago
Angeles City, Pampanga
(045) 892-4059

Laguna for Lunch

April 1, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Welcome to part two of my family roadtrip post! It was one of those days where we all thought it would just be nice to get away for the day, since we were all gonna be home on holiday. So on this day in November, we decided to drive all the way to Calauan, Laguna for lunch. The food was great, we got to go fishing, caught nothing, threw some plates and cups against a wall, and got stuck in the rain. It was a great afternoon. I’m glad my family enjoys doing things like this.

Boiling and barbecuing huge batches of chicken, pork and beef. Yum!

And were entertained by three of the funniest singers we’ve ever listened to.

It was too hot to get out of the hut after we placed our orders, so we just took some photos of each other while waiting for our food to arrive.

The little kid who wanted to go out and run around.

We had steamed rice, snails in coconut milk, lechon manok, grilled liempo, fried calamari, red egg and tomatoes, and shrimp sinigang. Because we were so hungry, we were only able to take photos of the first few dishes that arrived. We were too busy eating already to pull out our cameras once the rest of the food came. Everything was really good. And I mean EVERYTHING!

Shrimp sinigang (sour tamarind broth), my super favorite!

One of the things I like most about Isdaan is there are a hundred and one spots to take a photo op. Silly as it sounds, our family loves taking pictures with statues, monuments and figurines. At Isdaan, they have huge mermaid statues, statues of celebrities and politicians, and a lot of random stuff all over the property.

We finally got to try the Tacsiyapo Wall where you throw plates, cups, bowls, even old clocks and TV sets against a wall to release your anger. My friends and I keep trying to plan a trip up north to try this in the Tarlac branch, but we’ve never pushed through. It was fun, but a little expensive because you have to pay for the stuff that you break.

While the kiddo was fishing with his grandparents, it started to rain. Mr C and I got stuck waiting it out at the pasalubong area. There were a lot of native goodies for sale like garlic chips, peanuts, yema, polvoron, candies, tarts and a lot more. Prices were reasonable. I got to take home two pairs of platform wedges for only 700 Pesos! Apparently, shoe shopping is more fun in Laguna.

I love peanuts with toasted garlic chips!

When the rain finally stopped, we were all extremely stuffed and quite tired from our morning adventure. The drive home was just as pleasant as our drive to Laguna. That trip definitely gave us some much needed, and well-deserved family bonding time. The best part is kids who come to Isdaan get a free balloon and bag of goodies.

Yup, I felt like a little kid right there

Our family summer outing is coming up real soon, and I can’t wait! That’s gonna be a fun vacation for sure.

Southbound! vol.2 – A Visit To The Zoo

November 28, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

The second stop on our Southbound family day trip last November 1 was Residence Inn, Tagaytay. This wasn’t the kiddo’s first time to come here, but the last time we were at this zoo, he was only around 3 years old. He probably has no recollection of his first visit, so this particular trip felt like a fun and exciting first time for the little one. I, on the other hand, get all nervy and squeamish at zoos because I’m not really fond of wildlife, or the great outdoors. I’d even go as far as to say that I’m perfectly content seeing them all on National Geographic. But of course, in the interest of giving my 5-year old an memorable experience, I’m proud to say that I managed to get through most of the afternoon with a smile.

Just finished their photo op with a giant snake

Apart from some pretty birds, the rest of the animals at the zoo actually looked frail and skinny. I really felt bad for them, and I wonder if they are being given enough food and water. A few months back, I had the chance to visit the Ark Avilon Zoo, and the animals there were much livelier than the ones at Residence Inn. I was particularly bothered by the monkeys, tigers and lions, as they looked rather grim.

This bird has better eye makeup than I do!

In my honest opinion, the entrance fees At Residence Inn are ridiculously high. If I remember correctly, we were charged around 250 Pesos per person. Considering the amount of money one needs to shell out to enter, you would think that the animals would look a little more healthy and filled with life.

Anyway, here are a few more photos from our afternoon visit:

We finished looking around just in time for the Animal Encounter and Cultural Show. The Encounter was a lot of fun for the kids who got to experience holding some of the zoo animals. When it was time to call mommy volunteers, one of the ladies tried convincing me to go onstage. I’m glad that I forcefully declined because the mommies were made to carry a giant snake! I would have completely freaked out. Meanwhile, the little guy willingly joined the animal handlers in front when he was called to volunteer. I’m glad that he enjoys learning about animals, and he’s not afraid to get close to them and touch them.

The Kiddo being interviewed during the Animal Experience show

The program culminated with a cultural dance presentation, and you could try to dance the tinikling at the very end. As always, I chose to sit that one out. Yes, I can be boring like that.

These dances originated from the northern part of the Philippines

Residence Inn has other activities too, like zip lining, a restaurant and souvenir shop. So, when was the last time you visited the zoo?

Residence Inn Tagaytay
Km. 65 Barrio Neogan, Tagaytay City
(02) 899- 9828
http://zoomanity.com.ph/2011/03/residence-inn/