Although Red.Berry Frozen Yogurt is more expensive than regular icecream, I highly doubt my children will trade their vanilla icecream with yogurt, but if you ask me, I can live without vanilla icecream– definitely!  Try it out for yourself!

Satisfied Red.Berry Consumers!

Red.Berry Frozen Yogurt

SM-CDO

(mid-aisle; opposite SM Appliance Center and Terriyaki Boy)

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The trip from Cagayan de Oro was swift.  I arrived at the Kabayan Hotel at 6pm and after a swift check in, I unpacked my things and decided that the best mode of transport from Pasay to Cubao is my MRT.  I cringed.  Its funny how I have lived in Manila for many years, not counting the 4 years in UP…  I never had the chance to take the MRT.

After surveying my room and was fully satisfied, I logged into the internet to check the location of the venue before leaving.  Apprehensive of the MRT ride, I decided the earlier I leave Pasay the better– then it rained.  :(  In Manila as you all know, rain means traffic and possible flood.  Since I only have an hour to get to Cubao, not to mention that its rush hour, I decided to head for the EDSA MRT station which was only a few steps from Kabayan.

I rode the train and my worst fear manifested.  The train was full to the brim.  Commuters squished together like sardines- head to foot almost.  :(  I allowed 2 trains to pass but as rain continue to pour and judging by the bumper to bumper traffic below me, I really did not have alot of choice.  So I bravely hopped in.

Connie and Maricel

Upon getting off EDSA-Kamuning, I decided to walk all the way to find the next landmark-  Petron Station.  I arrived there at around 8pm and was disappointed to find that none of my friends made it on time.  :(  Surprisingly, 77 Bar lived to its promise.  The 2 storey house was beautifully lighted on muted tones.  Upon entering, I was greeted by a waiter who took me to the second floor when I asked him I was looking for my friends.  The interior was made of antique wood.  The interior setting looked like someone’s house.  There were sofas and day beds on every corner.  Middle part of the place were glass topped tables for 4.  There was also a another bar on the second floor.

A clean looking lean waiter approached and handed me the menu.  I ordered a margarita and cheese sticks for starters.  Iced cold margarita came and I started calling my friends.  Cel finally arrived.  We were talking about what happened after college when Mike and Citos came.  We decided to move in the covered second floor veranda since they have a huge L shaped sofa there.  We all ordered iced cold beer and pizza.

Then Joy and Connie came in and we ordered more drinks and pika-pika.

We all chatted just like way back in 1993 when we all met and joined UP-Outdoors.  Its funny how we allow years to pass without reconnecting with people who have helped form us.  Back when we were 17 and 18, things were simpler.  UP-Dorm-UP– my route for 4 years.  We reminisced about the old times.  About how much we missed the climbs and the most memorable moments of each trek.  Would you believe I used to climb almost every weekend?

HA.

Bottomline, I miss climbing and the happiness it brings.

Melt in your mouth Cheese Sticks

Me and Joy

Me and Citos

Me and Joy

Me and Connie

If you need a cozy place to hang, you must try and hit Kamuning.  The place is easy to find, its beside Petron.  For the map of the place, click here.

77 Bar Cafe Resto

51 Kamuning Road,

Cubao, Quezon City

http://77cafe.weebly.com/

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My children love Nutella so much they can polish 1 huge loaf bread in one sitting.  I try to referee and place myself in between the Nutella and their eager hands, all excited to dip and slap that all chocolate goo.  I try to put Nutella sparingly, partly because of its bad rap on calories but also because Nutella is a tad expensive here compared to local bread spreads.

So I bought a huge jar of Nutella from Robinson’s Supermarket and was shocked to learn from my eldest daughter that we had ran out of spread.  I looked and found the jar empty– yes empty.  In 3 days?  Something fishy is going on… So came another weekend– grocery day is now Sunday, and my children begged for Nutella again.  So I grabbed second jar for the month…  and after a few days, I found my Nutella culprit.

One early morning,  I was busy working and I heard someone getting a spoon in the kitchen– then silence.  I gazed suspiciously towards the kitchen and there was no sign of activity.  Hmmm. I walked towards the kitchen and found my youngest daughter, holding an opened jar of Nutella and eating the spread! OMG!  Anyway, I snapped a picture on her and got this.  lol

This brought me back memories, when my sister and I would sneak into the kitchen with a spoon to eat peanut butter.  I did not have the heart to get mad at her.  I just hunched over and dipped her spoon again and I took the jar from her and return it on the cupboard.

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Anyway, looking for a place to eat was challenging as half of the restaurants in the mall was without airconditioning.  I was thinking of eating at that Chinese Dimsum place in Robinsons, and we retreated once the musky and warm place greeted us.  Forget the dimsum, hainanese and soy chicken…  We moved on…

We walked all the way down and I thought our best bet would probably be Cafe Laguna.  But before we reached Cafe Laguna, I noticed this place in colorful Mexican theme.  The place have this fancy looking ceiling fan so  we decided to try the place out.

Moon Cafe.  Nice name but it did not match the Mexican theme.  But their chairs and seating arrangement looked comfortable and inviting.  Really great for groups and family gatherings.  I took note that the place has an airy ambiance.  Perhaps its the light yellow and brown hues.

The menu was extensive.  They even have a separate, attractive and sturdy refreshments menu.  They even have a wine menu… Hmmmm, interesting.

Nachos drizzled with warm melted cheese

So I ordered Nachos, pizza, quesdaillas, spaghetti bolognese and coke.  I thought the food will not be enough but their servings were huge.  The quesdillas have crunchy tomatoes and mixed with different kinds of cheese.  It was tasty and the white sauce drizzled on top of it made it tastier and more delicious.

Quesdadillas and Spaghetti Bolognese

My daughter and son at Moon Cafe

I like the plating as well and the price of the food reasonable and quite affordable.  My children and I had a great time at Moon Cafe, and we’d certainly be back soon!

Moon Cafe is located at Robinsons Mall

Ground Floor,

Opposite Bayantel Office

Cagayan de Oro City

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We had our all time favorite Hawaiian Pizza, Hot Wings and my favorite mouthwatering, Twice Baked Potato Halves.  For dessert, the kids had 1/2 pint of vanilla icecream each!  It was a well spent lunch, what else could I ask more, the kids as always loved it.

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Anyway, since my lovely and generous sister paid for our lodging and airfare, I really have nothing much to complain about– so I decided to brave the crowd.

As expected, the plane ride from CDO to Cebu went without a hitch.  The kids love the short plane ride.  We got to Mactan International Airport around 8:00am and since we did not have any breakfast, we went over to the Waterfront Hotel and Casino, which was only a stone throw away from the Arrival Area.  But as soon as we stepped out, it started to drizzle.  So I scurry back inside and walked to the Waterfront Hotel Desk and told the concierge that I want to have breakfast at their hotel and if its possible for him to arrange for a hotel car to pick us up since it was raining.  No questions asked, he quickly did a headcount and mumbled on his radio and told us to follow him.

With the kids galloping all over the place, we went out and waited until a huge white van came and we went in.  The ride to the hotel was swift but the kids were all bouncing up and down the chair and chatting endlessly.

Waterfront Hotel

We went inside the grand hotel lobby and I walked into the restaurant on the side where Chinese, Continental, Filipino and Japanese food were lavishly displayed.  I asked for a table and a high chair and I instructed Alis and Freida to hit the buffet tables.  My father whispered to me and asked, how much is the food?  I told him to shut up and eat as much as he can… lol

I started my breakfast with a little fried rice, and hainanese chicken.  The girls started with pancakes, bacon and siopao.  Tyrell had rice and bacon.  Sophie had chicken.  And that was first round.

Second round, the girls had cereals and milk.  I made some congee and coffee.  My father did a huge carbo load and platter of fruits.  We hanged around until it was an hour to our flight to Kalibo.  The damage?  USD 85.

The trip to Kalibo was even shorter than the other flight.  The children behaved well.  Each one have their own chair.  The girls were chatting while Ty and his Lolo were busy reading a comic book.

The only problem was the travel time from Kalibo to Caticlan was 2 hours.

Me

Daughter brooding over the window

Plakda.

A van from the hotel picked us up and we were comfortably seated and the drive although panoramic and not at all bumpy.  So after 2 plane rides and a huge breakfast, everybody except me dozed off.

The drive to Caticlan was quiet and scenic indeed.  When we finally got to the port of Caticlan, the kids were recharged and excited.  I had to counter several, “Are we there yets,” and “Is this Boracay?  Where’s the beach?” Kids…

Anyway, we had to wait for 5 minutes when we were told that the boat has arrived.  We hoped into a boat and off we went to sunny Boracay.

First glimpse of Boracay

The ride took less than 15 minutes and honestly when I saw those stupid billboards, I was disappointed… “so this is Boracay?”

We hopped out and a driver approached us and told us to ride a smallish jeep.  We piled in and was told the ride will take less than 30 minutes.  The drive was short.  The roads in the town of Boracay was narrow.  I was surprised to see how crowded the main town was.  So many small stores and foreign pedestrians.

The jeep stopped at a wooden gate and we were told we were in the hotel already.

It was funny we were dropped at the back of the hotel, I thought and when we were on the way to the reception area, I saw the clear blue sea of Boracay.  Wow.

So we have reached our destination.

Boracay exceeded my expectations.

So, is it possible to travel to Boracay with small children?

Yes.

So, how did I manage?

1- luggage.  Instead of carrying one huge luggage, I allowed the  children to pack their own backpacks and they were responsible for their own bags.

2- clothes.  Never bring too much clothes in Boracay.  For my kids, my sister has advised us to bring swimwears and nylon shorts.  Never bring shoes in Boracay.  The sand is so fine and powdery it does not hurt to walk along the shoreline. Being slippers or flipflops instead.

3- preparation.  Weeks before we traveled, I prepared my children about the flight and the ride.  It pays to prepare the children mentally.  It would not hurt as well if they are full while traveling.

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I found Starbucks accidentally in Boracay.  My children and I were having lunch at the Yellow Cab and waiting for my sister and her family to pick us up for island hopping when this young man approached the security guard of the place for something.

The security guard obviously had a hard time understanding the guy so he beckoned to me, and the young handsome fella approached me and asked, “Do you know where Starbucks is?”  To which I responded, “I have no idea, we just got here… you sure there’s a Starbucks here?” “Yea, saw a girl drinking her coffee earlier…”  So anyway to make it short, I asked the security guard and the security guard pointed to the left and the guy and I looked and found the oh so familiar green logo further down the street.

Aha, so there is a Starbucks in Boracay… much to the excitement of my children.  The girls made me promise to take them over to Starbucks after dinner…

So right after our dinner buffet at the Talipapa, we strolled and window shopped.

Its amazing how much people and tourists are really out there during dinner time.  The place was buzzing with activities, and peddlers calling us to look at their wares.

So while walking we passed by Starbucks and my daughters begged me to for an ensaymada…  Who can resist that?

We went inside, ordered, one huge cafe mocha for me, and 5 orders of vanilla frappucino, a slice of cheesecake, 4 ensaymada and a slice of banana loaf bread.  Ahhhh… Starbucks Coffee taste so good…

We ate under those Starbucks umbrellas and the kids ate their desserts while the adults talk and share bites of those wonderful ensaymada.  Damage?  P1,200.  Was it worth it?  Definitely… 

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It is really amazing watching her actively bargaining the purchase from P11/kg to P10/kgs of unmilled rice. According to her, one sack of unmilled rice would net her 10-15 kgs of rice which is currently still sold at a thundering P35/kg here. The price of rice has gone down a bit from P46/kg. From where am at, I guessed that she must be profiting P20-25 per kilo of rice. Not bad!!!

I asked her how she manages her farms and she said as usual the key is finding a reliable and trust worthy farmer-overseer. Having worked with a huge production farm in Negros years ago, I had more or less some understanding on land preparation needed for rice production. What I lack right now is land. My friend actually asked me if I am interested in financing some farmers in our area, since most farmers here have problem with money to start seeding, planting to fertilization of their rice. Not mention, harvesting, drying and threshing of rice during harvest season… I asked her how much it would cost to do so. She quickly whipped her calculator out and said more or less P2,000 for 2 square paddies and that usually yields to 30 sacks of unmilled rice, which would in turn yield 12-15 sacks of 50kgs of rice. At the current price of P35 let’s say, gets P1750/sack. In total she’d get P26,250 total for 15 sacks of rice.

I am interested in co-sharing or financing rice production with some of the growers here. I do have P5,000-10,000 to pay around with and with P2,000 or more for a couple of paddies which would yield P20,000 or more… that is actually NOT so bad at all. The thing with rice production is it is labor intensive. Like for example, land preparation and planting would take a couple of days and a couple of people. Not to mention the one week of drying period before the rice is milled.

I asked my friend how she pays her farmers and she said she pays them with rice also. Sharing usually goes 60-20-20. 60 for the financier, and 20 to the farmer and another 20 for the rest who helped with the planting and fertilization. But mostly, these other farmers needed more cash and they end up selling their share to her also.

Not bad at all… Now if only I could find a farmer who needed a financier soon…

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The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has requested ice cream maker Ben and Jerry to consider using breastmilk as opposed to cows milk in order to “reduce the suffering of cows and calves and give ice cream lovers a healthier product.”  PETA has written the honchos behind Ben and Jerry stating that ice cream eaters would benefit more with ice cream made from breast milk than from cows since diary products are the main cause of obesity anyway.

PETA‘s proposal has been dismissed by Ben and Jerry and why wouldn’t they?  The idea of using mother’s milk for public consumption is ridiculous.  And besides, how can you process mother’s milk into ice cream?  But first things first…

Would you eat that ice cream?  Personally, I would, only if it came from my own mother’s breast!  (LOL)

To read more about this incredible news item, click here.

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