Barefoot Luxury in Dedon Island, Siargao

We'd been in the resort for two hours or so before I realized what had been nagging at me since we'd arrived. It was almost eerily quiet. Sounds silly, I know, but being a full-on, born and bred city mouse, it takes a while in real QUIET to fully grasp how tremendously noisy a city can be.

Had a massage at 3:30PM in the afternoon, heard ONE motorcycle, that's it. No other engines of any kind, no radio, no TV, no karaoke (thank heavens!), no telephones. Perfect.

Now it's 6:30PM, and someone's got a generator going somewhere but you almost have to strain to hear it. The main soundtrack for tonight seems to be cricket songs. There are a lot of them out here, and I think they're all in love. Perfect.

A Double Dose of Healthy Living

New Year! New journeys! I wonder what adventures await the Big K and I for the year. One of the things I always look forward to at the start of each year are the travels the Big K and I will be embarking on be it for work (well his work, I tag along), celebrating milestones like our anniversary and birthdays. Or just simply packing our bags and see where our itchy feet will take us.

To start the year and to celebrate our anniversary we were off to one of our favorite places in the country. A short drive south of Metro Manila, Tagaytay, is a great place to visit this time of the year when the air is still cool and the holiday crowd has just gone back to their regular daily grind. Ah! Peace and quiet!

Not Your Everyday Farm

I am still hung over, in a healthy way.....

The Big K and I make it a point to always go somewhere to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Since I started blogging I was able to write about our anniversary trips in Hong Kong and Tagaytay.

This year's anniversary celebration, we decided to go on a road trip. The Big K only had a few days off so driving somewhere near the metro was preferable. 

Now where does one go for a romantic celebration that is within an hour or two hour's drive away?

Sulyap Gallery Cafe and Restaurant, A Road Trip

The big K and I were looking forward to taking Ruth out on her first long road trip. Who is Ruth? She's the big K's Royal Enfield motorcycle. Okay, just a little background on the company. Royal Enfield is a British company that used to supply motorcycles to the British War department during the First and Second World Wars. The company also manufactured guns that's why the RE's logo is a cannon with the motto "Made like a gun, goes like a bullet". Definitely fast! I was hanging on for dear life the whole time.

On this trip we were joining a group of other Royal Enfield bike owners on a foodie trip to San Pablo Laguna, a city south of Manila and one of the Philippines' oldest cities. 

And we're off!

Food Tripping at Abaca Restaurant

Having booked our stay at the Abaca Resort, the big K and I were looking forward to another foodie adventure because we heard that the resort had a restaurant that was famed for its gastronomic offering. Good luck my diet!

Abaca Restaurant has been serving California-Mediterranean inspired menus since 2006. It had gained popularity among Cebuanos and local tourists because of its good food at affordable prices. It was actually the restaurant that came first followed by the hotel two years after.  

The restaurant also doubles as their reception area for guests checking in at the resort.

Abaca Boutique Resort and Restaurant in Cebu

The big K and I just came back from another wonderful adventure. It was a continuation of sorts of both our birthday celebrations. We started June with a birthday treat for the big K in Tagaytay where I wrote about it here and here. 

Now it was the birthday girl's turn. C'est moi! Yay! 

Well, technically we were still celebrating for the both of us since it was our birthday month. Plus a double celebration is much more fun, don't you think? Specially if you will be celebrating at this awesome place........

Abaca Boutique Resort + Restaurant

Abaca is L-O-V-E!

The Big K's birthday treat continues

The big K and I woke up the next day to a wet and foggy Tagaytay morning. We could barely see anything outside. The whole place was blanketed in thick, cold fog. No mistake here, it was not smog (as what we are used to in Manila on a bad day!) but definitely a fog. 

It was a perfect start to the day sitting at Verbena's balcony waiting for our breakfast, sipping a nice cup of strong "barako" coffee while watching the heavy mist slowly clear up and reveal the lake and its volcano.

Our stay at the Discovery Country Suites included a complimentary breakfast menu of our choice plus a buffet of different breads, jams, fruits and juices.

The Big K's birthday treat in Tagaytay

June is the most celebrated month in our family. For some divine reason several family members have something to celebrate in June. 

Okay let's see now, there are the birthdays of my beautiful mother who unintentionally named me after an infamous French queen that probably influenced my love for anything French, two grandmothers who have long been celebrating their birthdays with the good Lord, the gorgeous H's adoring and long suffering husband, Dr. A. and his equally engaging dad, Dr. Z. who portrays the jolly good guy come Christmas time (the gorgeous H is the perfect foil as the sidekick elf), then there's the wedding anniversary of my big little brother and charming sister-in-law (got to be in the good side of the in laws!). 

And of course last but not the very least, the big K and I celebrate both our birthdays in June.

Surprise dessert treat for the big K from Verbena restaurant. Not as artistically done as Antonio's but good-tasting nonetheless. I just wished it came in a bigger slice! 

My Childhood Playground, Bohol!

Bohol, my Mom's hometown. I have been coming to this beautiful island ever since I was a little girl. Childhood summers with my siblings and cousins were spent on the beach until we were all toasty brown, days running around the corn and kinampay fields, digging up those fragrant purple yams. Or, just simply lazing around in my Mom's ancestral home.  

If you're wondering where Bohol is, it is one of the 7,000+ islands in the Philippines located in the middle part of the archipelago. More famously known as the home of the Chocolate Hills (a group of limestone hills that turn brown during the summer months) and the smallest primate with the biggest eyes this side of paradise, the Tarsier. Oh, and of course there are the white sand beaches scattered all over the islands. The once sleepy province of Bohol is fast becoming a popular tourist destination.

The province of Bohol actually consists of 70+ islands and islets (depending on the tide). The main island, Bohol, is where Tagbilaran (capital city), Chocolate Hills and the airport are located. While the second largest island, Panglao, is where the famous white sand beaches can be found. Panglao is connected to the mainland by two causeways, one as seen above (squint a little and you'll see it or better yet come closer to the screen).

Sweet Sixteen at Antonio's, Tagaytay

The big k and I just came home from a wonderful lunch at Antonio's Restaurant in Tagaytay to celebrate our wedding anniversary. While last month's Hong Kong trip was our pre-anniversary celebration, today was the real thing. Sweet sixteen!

The last time we were at Antonio's was when they were newly opened. That was ages ago! Still, the big K and I remember the pleasurable experience we had. Good food, good service. So, we decided to go back.    

At the restaurant's foyer one is greeted by the bright red wall filled with old photographs and a Klimt-inspired painting.