Indian Cuisine in Tagaytay

If you like curry, masala, and those indian fare, you must go to the Taj in Tagaytay. A recent visit to the restaurant has taken me by surprise because although I have heard of the fine cuisine they serve, I never thought they meant it to be really GOOD! We had some lamb curry and beef samosa that were both creamy and hot!


Anyway, I tried their spicy yogurt drink and both my husband and daughter had the sweet yogurt. Both were good but since mine is unusual, I thought it to be exotic. Imagine yogurt with some ginger, black pepper and chili. The spice enhance the creaminess of the drink without a hint of sweetness. It was strange at first but when you get used to it, it is a wonderful treat. A word of caution though: if you are not used to eating really flaming, head bursting, mouth-fuming food, do ask for a moderate or light spice. You might find how hot their food is. My daughter was surprised because she has a high tolerance for hot food compared to most Filipinos. But she couldn't eat as much as she wanted because it was too hot for her taste. I liked it and it is as hot as I expected. But that's me.



Taj is not only a restaurant. It is now also a bed and breakfast place. We were allowed to take some pictures so I'm sharing them here with you. It's just sad that the halloween treat was over when we got there. But they do have another promotional offer this nov. until NOv. 30, they're offering their room rates at 50% off with free breakfast and massage for 2 and not to mention a fantastic view of the Taal Lake. That means for as low as Php2,000.00 you can stay there with another person overnight. additional bed costs 1,000 for most rooms. Not bad.

Airline Sale

Here's the new airline promotional Sale:

1. Cebu Pacific Airlines - Fly to any of their domestic or international destination for only Php500. 500 pesos all-in for their 27 domestic (Philippines) destinations and PHP500 to 13 international destinations including hongkong, Macau, Bangkok, Singapore, etc. Fuel and insurance surcharge range from USD 25 to 110 per way. The catch though is that these prices are without bags. so you've got to add 200 pesos more if you decide to bring clothes!

The sale period STARTS NOW until October 27, 2008 and is valid for travel from January 5 to March 18, 2009. This promo fare is non-refundable.

Visit www.cebupacificair.com; or your favorite travel agent; or call the customer hotline at (632) 70-20-888 for your bookings.

2. Malaysia Air - KL to SG for 149 RM (one way)

3. Philippine Airlines - Manila to Jakarta
Manila - Jakarta (JKT) - Denpasar (DPS) - Jakarta - Manila
USD 282 (WEEL8D)
USD 303 (WEEM8D)

Manila - Jakarta - Surabaya (SUB) - Jakarta - Manila
USD 292 (WEE8D)

Manila - Jakarta - Yogyakarta (JOG) - Jakarta - Manila
USD 249 (WEE8D)

Travel and Sale Period: until 28 November 2008.
Travel must be completed by 30 November 2008
Call PAL Reservations MNL-(02) 855-8888, CEB-(032) 340-0191, DVO (082) 222-0366 or any authorized travel agent. For conditions, please see the Philippine airlines website.

Food and Memories

I hope you'd agree that some food make you remember things. When I was a little girl, I remember how my parents would buy us some really delicious stuff. One of those I vividly remember is the Mazapan de Pili. They used to come wrapped in foils, smelled of nut and vanilla, were chewy and never tasted too sweet.

As I was growing up, somehow those mazapan disappeared from the shopping list. I really don't know whether they were bought from the supermarket or from a specialty store or bought from someone who travelled to Bicol, but for a very long time I had not been able to taste that wonderful flavor that I remember.

Not until last Saturday, that is, when I paid a visit to the Bicol Exhibit held at the Megatrade hall of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City. I went to the exhibit hall because these interest me - there are so many things there that I can learn from. One of the things I like about going to these food exhibits is the way they would let the visitors have a sample of their goods. As I was almost done with my visit, I chanced upon this stall where they claimed to have no flour in their Mazapan de Pili. At first I didn't quite believe what they said. Everyone said almost the same thing - that their product is the best, that I should take one sample and I would learn to love what they were offering me. But not me. Through the years, I have learned to be more discriminate with my choices.

Just the same I gave that mazapan a shot. I'm glad I did. It turned out to be truly the best one I have ever tasted since my childhood. It is the same as the mazapan I had been looking for! That one that brought back memories of my childhood, my mom and my family.

That mazapan de pili is a product of Albay Pilinut. I had asked them for a short interview and the owners were happy to oblige. They are the original makers of mazapan. The owners are the 3rd generation of this 70-year old nut candy factory and had inherited it from their grandfather, Don Antonio Morales Regidor Sr., a Spaniard who chose to live in the Philippines and had started the business way back in 1936.

I didn't have the opportunity to taste all of the goods they had on display. But what I did try were the Mazapan, the crispy pili (which had hondey) and the salted pili which were all of extraordinary quality. These products retained the taste of the indigenous pilinut and used minimal natural additives to enhance the flavor of the nut, making it the finest and most excellent delicacies of the province.

Although the factory and the stores are found only in Legazpi City in Bicol, their products can be ordered and shipped to Manila and any part of the world. I was told that for less than a hundred pesos extra, a huge box of their delicacies could be delivered door-to-door to any part of Metromanila. I had asked because I intend to buy some for my dad to bring to mommy in the US.

To order, you may call their Telefax at +63 (52) 481 11-61 or their office number at +63 (52) 820-3529. Their email address is albay_pilinut@yahoo.com.

Top Entrecard droppers for September, 2008

Like I said in an earlier post, I'd like to recognize this site's top entrecard "droppers" namely:

Good Life Review
Network Materials
Hollywood famous star
Thailand Land of Smiles
Uncommon Photographers
My Road
Politi-Gal
Thomas Travel Tales
And Life Goes ON for a Filipino MOM
Mix It Up With Marc

Thank you guys!

Got No Time For News? Try This One Out.

For the busy person, it is sometimes hard to keep abreast with the latest news. Like me, for instance, as a nurse, I normally have just enough time to do personal things and stuff for my family which leaves me practically very little time to read the morning paper. That's why it is great to get summarized health news that is presented in a few paragraphs. This website, News Company-Summarized News comes in really handy.

News Company has "politics news", "entertainment news" and "society and culture news" among them which I like reading about. When you're busy, you can't afford to read 1 whole page of the paper for each of these.

Keeping abreast with current events will no longer be a toil. What's great is that you can discuss intelligently about what's happening. Maybe with your boss or co-worker. Even a mother needs to know things because their children may ask them too. I'm glad these guys at News Company have thought about making life better for others. Thanks!

Bring Some Games During The Trip

When we travel, I always make it a point to bring some game with us, whether board game or console. That's to be sure that the kid has something to do in case she's not interested in whatever she finds during the trip. The worst part of travelling is having to get into a fight with a child because he is bored.

But the downside of bringing a board game is its size and weight. We normally have to bring our laptop with us so any additional luggage is adding weight to the already heavy load. It's a good thing there is a blog called Free games and Softwares on the internet. That way, we don't have to worry about not being able to bring any game with us.

At Free Games and Softwares, you get to play all of the games for free by downloading it first. And, as the title suggests, Free Games and Softwares shows you what softwares are freeware or sharewares too. That way, if you need to do something and you have no software to use, you can just go pay the site a visit. You'll most likely find something to use there.

It's a great site. There's normally something for anybody.

Healthy Lifestyle On Tour? You Gotta Be Kidding!

Leading a healthy lifestyle is a trend and, well, healthy. But when you're on tour, it must be put aside to enjoy your trip, right? Ding, ding, ding WRONG!!!!

I'm dead serious. Leading and transforming to a healthy lifestyle is a L-I-F-E-S-T-Y-L-E and thus has to be done anywhere and everywhere you are. Thus exercise is a must do for those who are serious about the change. ULTRA is your best bet for a place to exercise since it does have a pool, an oval, a basketball court, badminton court, and what have yous.

So, if you're in the area of Manila, or Pasig in the Philippines on Nov. 8, 2008, I want to invite you to watch our Swimming Competition and Healthy Lifestyle exhibit at the PSC Swimming Pool Complex (formerly known as ULTRA, the cab drivers mostly know the place by this name). It's a one day event and I'm really excited about the exhibit more than I am with the competition.

Come join us!

Philippines' Not-so-Hidden Secrets: Port Barton, Palawan

Don't you get this feeling that you can't seem to write about anything even when you really, really want to? The writer's block. I have that so often that I wonder why I even have this much number of articles already. LOL

Anyway, to always have something to write about, I've decided to come up with a series of articles on the Philippines. This is my first article.

Perhaps one of the best, if not the best, vacation trips that we have had as a family was during a trip to Port Barton back in 2006. My dad's invitation to visit the place had been long standing. His persistence is admirable. Just to tickle our visual senses, he'd brought home pics from SEAir that featured Palawan and Port Barton.

When we finally decided to go, I told them we'd stay only 1 night at Port BArton. From dad's description, I deduced that the place is a laid back which nothing else to do but lie on a hammock and bask. Now can you blame me for alloting just 1 night there? What's more is that I didn't get more info about the place from the internet that I did from my dad. We wouldn't be flying that far and doling out so much moulah to go to a place to sleep with only 4 days to spend. No sirree, it wouldn't, couldn't happen.


But my dad's assessment had been as accurate as it had always have. It was the best part of our trip. The sand, the sea, the night sky - these were perfect. It wasn't your usual resort with the grand structures that you would see on the pages of a travel magazine. But it had more of the natural setting that one would look for. For one, the hotel, Greenviews, that we stayed in had huts that were typical of a tropical island - the roof was made of grass, the walls were made of woven bamboo with just an electric fan to augment the cool breeze; the beds were made of coconut lumber and had thin mattresses; the floor was made of wood; the windows were of native materials too.

For an urban family, we are so accustomed to the luxuries of the usual hotels that they all looked so alike and having to stay in a hut is something out of the ordinary. That was just part of the thrill.

The night we got there, like I had said in my other article, everything was pitch black. But this just gave us a wonderful sight - I saw what had been the most beautiful nightsky I had seen ever. The stars were countless and seemed more like twinkling diamonds set on a huge onyx, with occasional sightings of meteors rapidly flashing across it.


The beach was sandy. It wasn't as fine as powder like that of Boracay but it didn't have anything that would hurt our feet - no stones, no thorns, no trash. It had some trees that gave some shade that it had been a shame we didn't have time to lay on a hammock underneath them.

The water - ah the sea - was so clear that even at a depth of about 30 feet or so, the bottom looked like it was just a few meters below the surface of the water. The additional treat there were the tortoises that came so close that it had almost poked our boat. and the fish seemed almost too eager to investigate on the strangers that had paid them a visit. Fishing and snorkeling were all that we could muster in such a short time. I would have wanted to have an introductory dive because the fish and corals were as I had seen in some of the screensavers on my desktop.

The food in the hotel was both pleasurable to the eyes and to the palate. From that time on, I had spoken of Port Barton as though it were paradise. Well, that it really is to me. I would be back there if it weren't for the fact that I plan on getting my daughter to go to more places than I had when I was a child. Soon, though, I hope we'd have time and resources to go back there as we had planned before we even left the place.

*Note: the pics have not been edited to give you a picture of how the place really look.