December 31, 2011

Monaco Suites de Boracay

You think I’m happy because there are so many emotions I choose not to show.











Nonetheless, I was a happy pauper who found sanctuary in contemporary Mediterranean-inspired villas with a dolphin-shaped pool and a live cinema of water sports adventure fit for a prince.

Happy New Year!

December 29, 2011

Pangihan Cave

“They know where happiness lies, not in a cave,
but in love and the freedom to give and take
what has been there all along.”
- Amy Tan









With stalactites, stalagmites, crystals and a plethora of bats, every chamber of Pangihan is a world of wonder.

From Caticlan airport or jetty port, Pangihan in Malay, Aklan could be reached via 15 minute tryke ride (P100). Entrance fee is P50 and hiring of tour guide costs P150. Spelunking in Pangihan makes a good prelude to your Boracay escapade.

December 26, 2011

Tourne by Chef Sandralyn Hataway

Tournée (pronounced tour-nay) is French for the word "turned." The term refers to a method of cutting and peeling root vegetables into oblong, seven-sided football-like shapes. Aside from its aesthetic element, the classic French technique helps vegetables to cook evenly.



Soyami chips with salsa

Tourne house salad

Ostrich pesto pasta

Red velvet cake


Dear Chef Sandra,


Most of the time, I use carrots and potatoes as main ingredients whenever I cook, but I never tournee-d them.

I love the whimsical feel of your place, the eye-candy writings on the wall, and the clean open kitchen. I love how you and your team painstakingly prepare and arrange the food; they not only made my palate merry but my eyes, as well. But above all, I love how you unabashedly showed love to your staff. I was secretly watching when you gave them presents and I saw how such small gesture made them feel happy.  

I was there a day before Christmas. And I didn’t regret that a few hours before my flight for my holiday break, I chose to spend it at Tourne.

They say money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy your red velvet cake and that is like happiness.

Frenz Fries

Tourne
Fort Strip, 7th Ave. cor. 26th St.
Bonifacio High, Taguig City
Tel. No.: 555-0267

December 25, 2011

Sometimes, you need to forget people you love just so you can go on living


“To live in this world, you must be able to do three things – to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.”
- Mary Oliver

December 23, 2011

Balay Dionisia

A cozy place with crystal clear swimming pool, jacuzzi, and amoy-simoy ng Pasko na hangin, Balay Dionisa is ideal for romantic get-away or intimate private party like our traditional PPRD Christmas Party.











In behalf of PPRD, we thank the generosity of our hosts, Nicole, and Mr. and Ms. Pangilinan. The place is cute and the food (especially alimango, hipon, tionalang manok, chicken inasal, tinapa, buko pandan with lychee and Tequilla Rose) made us all merry-full. Happy holidays!

Balay Dionisia Private Resort
Cecilia De Montagna Exclusive, Purok 1
Pansol, Calamba City, Laguna
By reservation only
Tel. No.: 0915-8675705, 0919-3342213 or (046) 437 2916

December 9, 2011

Casa Roces

No matter how rich you are, you can never buy back the past.

But if you have a little money, you can always step back in time as you enter the almost one hundred year-old ancestral home (turned cafĂ© and gallery) of the Roces clan, the country’s print media mogul who built their empire on La Vanguardia, Tribune, Liwayway, Daily Mirror, and the Manila Times.




Warm breaded goat cheese salad

Oven baked salmon Wellington

Pan fried sole ala beure noisette

Bulalo steak ala pobre

Basque apple tart




Casa Roces
1153 J.P. Laurel corner Aguado Sts.
San Miguel, Manila
Tel. No.: 735-5896, 708-4020