Dalampasigan Restaurant

Dalampasigan is a tagalog word meaning "by the water". Dalampasigan restaurant is literally by Laguna de Bay. It is where I had my first taste of... uhmmnn... alcohol. Lol! It one of my favorite places on earth up to now.

Me and a “starving” Jem, decided to have our early dinner at Dalampasigan.

Our choice for the night: Sizzling bangus belly with lots of butter and garlic. At Php250, I can say that it’s worth every centavo.

Plus they allow pets inside the resto.. so that’s an added bonus...

So there.. the demolition team succeeded once again!

-The End-

Nanay

My mom  falls asleep (all the time) with her reading glasses on. This is one of the habits she was not able to take out of her system and one of the things we have to watch out for. She takes care of all of us for the longest time. Maybe its her own way of telling us that she needs us to take care of her as well. I just love my Nanay :)

Food Trip: Street Food

Saturday afternoon is usually "bonding time" for me and Jem. Last week we were in Quezon Province with some of our relatives. Pacific ocean, some rice fields and the Sierra Made mountain is hard to beat so we actually talked the whole morning on where to go and what to do. Mall is out of the question, it's too late to go to Makiling and too early for Karaoke. Since both of us are starving, we decided to just buy something to eat. We ended up eating some of our favorite street food.

Puto Bumbong

Made from purple-colored ground rice, steamed and served with grated coconut, sugar and butter. This Filipino food is closely associated with Misa de Galo (simbang gabi) and is one of the best things about Christmas. Aside from the gifts, Puto Bumbong is one of the reasons I love Christmas. However, you can now buy it all year round. **Sigh**

Siomai

Pork siomai, beef siomai, shrimp siomai or a combination of the three, steamed and then dipped in soy sauce and calamansi. Most Pinoys just love siomai. Of Chinese origin, siomai is one of the food you can easily find in every street corner. Some people eat siomai with rice but I like to eat it is as it is.

Tokneneng

Warning to the public: These babies could kill and should be taken in moderation. Had a first hand experience on how deadly it is. My blood pressure shoot up after eating 10 of those. Cant help it though - they're sooooo freakin' good!

Tukneneng are quail eggs coated with batter and then fried. Best with spicy vinegar. The bigger version (made from Chicken eggs) is called Kwek-kwek.

Dax

Rare moments where Dax allow me to photograph him.

Dax planning his Dota moves

Dax kicking his opponent's ass

Dax annoyed because the camera flash woke him up

Etcetera

Saint John the Baptist Church's Bell Tower

Sweet Doggie

Please... dont leave me here.........

Nanay mending some Jem's favorite PJ

Yeah.. I'm holding on (actually showing off my new mani)

Dax blocking my self portrait

Suicide

Morning coffee

Alright!

Canna Lily .. about to bloom

Old kitchen set-up

One of the harsh reality of life..

Infanta Quezon

Jeepney ride from LB to Quezon. It's been what? It's been a long time since we had one. It's an impromptu decision. I was belting a Whitney Houston song on the Karaoke when someone blurted out.. "Let's go to Lola's at Quezon! And off we go. Though one would think that we've been planning for this trip for years with the amount of stuff we brought with us. We even had blankets, pillows, a huge jar of purefied water. Adrenaline rush perhaps. Hey, we were able to round up all the kids with the exception of Dax who's already on a camping trip. It's a 4-5 hours trip so after two hours of bumpy, uncomfortable ride (jeepney, remember.. no aircon), everyone started complaining.

Despite all the chaos and complaining around her, Jem has the ability to stay positive. That's one of the things I love about her.

Car trouble (I mean jeepney trouble). Someone forgot to put water in the radiator. Being the smallest and the youngest, Henrick was bullied into getting the water from a roadside waterfall.

A roadside view of Lake Caliraya on our way to Infanta, Quezon

I just know that were are near our destination when I see endless coconut plantations

We left Los Banos around 2:30 and reached Infanta around 6:30 PM. Nice sunset, rice fields, 10 mins walk to the beach. I could stay here forever. Not! No cable TV! How am i supposed to watch American Idol without cable TV?

Dirt Road.

I was the designated chaperon so I took some of the kids' pics. Of all the things I'm going to forget, it's my camera. And to top it all, no one thought of reminding me about it. All photos are taken using my Nokia N8 cam phone

Wacky Shot

Another one

Took this shot while the kids are exchanging ghost stories. As usual RJ, the eldest took charge of scaring the little ones.

We are soooo cheap and decided to go to the open beach instead of paying an entrance fee in a nearby resort. Sharp rocks and pretty strong waves (at least for the kids) left all of us with souvenirs. Mine is a 4-inch scratch in my left ankle.

I didnt bring my camera and used my camphone to take this shot instead. This is supposed to be a small island in the middle of the ocean where we used to catch crabs.

Ocean view of Infanta

Endless rice fields a few days before harvest time. Smells great!

Henrick smiling for the camera

Jem, as usual, forgot something. An extra shirt. Of course mom to the rescue.

I was just about to remind the kids about the waves when Ate Tina took this shot. I didnt have any intention of swimming because I just had a hair treatment two days before (yeah saltwater is bad for the hair). This huge wave toppled me over and few seconds later I was underwater.

Didnt even had time to take off my shades. The kids did rescue me though.... So what the hell, since I was already hopelessly wet, I might as well enjoy the sun, the ocean and the kids.

After the beach, which is a part of Pacific Ocean, we decided to take a dip in the ice-cold river.

Me and Jem. You can see there the beginning of a really painful sunburn.

It's was freezing! But we had fun. On our way to the bamboo shack where we spend the whole afternoon.

There, just showered and ready to take a nap.