Cozy garden/Our World-Tuesday

 Growing up in a place surrounded by trees and flowers, I miss having my own garden, which I never have in over 20 years of living in the city.  So I was delighted when I got invited to this "weekend home" in Tagaytay.      

  Tagaytay is about 52 kilometers south of Manila, and its high altitude gives the place a cooler climate.  

The city is lush---flowers and fruits are everywhere.

It was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive---the long and winding road brought us to a house at the end of a dirt road in the middle of a pineapple plantation.  

This chair was calling my name!

I love the verdant foliage and cozy nooks surrounded by flowering vines.
Anthuriums graced the pathways around the garden.
Various species of orchids and other tropical flowers filled the property.  

The garden set provides a casual yet intimate space for new friends to get to know each other.

Tucked behind the cascading white and purple Angel's Trumpet vine is another set of garden table and stools.

A retired wooden cart  sits in the garden surrounded by orchids and bougainvilleas.

Linking to Our World-Tuesday

Buds and a flower/MoM and NF Abstract

A shy thunbergia with buds swaying in the warm summer breezes.

We turn to stories and pictures and music because they show who and what and why we are, and what our relationship is to life and death, what is essential.  ~ Madeleine L'Engle

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday and NF Abstract

Cool blue/Blue Monday

A wading pool at a friend's house in Tagaytay City.  A cool spot on a hot summer day.

Linking to Blue Monday

Active Taal Volcano [My World Tuesday]

One of the 22 26 active volcanoes in the Philippines, Taal Volcano was showing signs of volcanic activity last month and alert was raised to level 2 in  early June.  Tourists and members of the media were banned from this picturesque island in a crater lake  about  65 kilometers south of Manila as scientists predicted an eruption was highly possible.  12 towns and cities near Taal Volcano were placed under impending state of calamity due to the volcano's restiveness and residents voluntarily evacuated.  As of last week, the number of volcanic quakes has been decreasing, residents have returned to their homes and volcanologists may lower alert level status soon.  I hope Taal Volcano is just having some hiccups and would be quiet again soon.

Volcano Island is called "pulo" by locals and it contains a lake about 2 km across, called Crater Lake.  Within Crater Lake is another small volcanic island called Vulcan Point.  Vulcan Point is often referred to as the world's largest volcanic island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island, namely, Vulcan Point within Crater Lake, on Taal Island within Lake Taal, on the island of Luzon.

view of Lake Taal and Taal Island from the Tagaytay Ridge

Posted for http://www.showyourworld.blogspot.com

Hot Beef Bulalo

The cool weather in Tagaytay is enough to make one crave for a hot bowl of Bulalo, a stew made from beef shanks and marrow bones. My favorite parts, aside from the soup, are the marrow that is tapped from the bone and the soft cartilage (litid). I know they're high in fat and protein, but what the heck, life is short!

We had this delightfully rich and hot Bulalo at Antonio's Grill in Tagaytay on Labor Day weekend.

Posted for Food Trip Friday and Food Friday

Picnic Grove [Friday - Finding Beauty]

I dug into my archives looking for "beauty" and look what I found! An afternoon in September at Tagaytay Picnic Grove, overlooking the Lake Taal and Taal Volcano. What could be more beautiful than seeing parents and their children flying kites and spending time together?

This picnic grove is a place to play and take it easy, where nature gives strength to body and soul.

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.

~Charles R. Swindoll

My first post for Friday Finding Beauty hosted by Claudia at Dipity Road

Dark sunset [Sky-Watch Friday]

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art; to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, A Psalm of Life

Justice for the victims of the Ampatuan Massacre!

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Contentment

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. ~ Helen Keller

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Moon-gazing at dusk

I'll be seeing you
In every lovely summer's day;
In every thing that's light and gay.
I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you
In the morning sun
And when the night is new.
I'll be looking at the moon,
But I'll be seeing you.

In loving memory of Lola Fanny.
1913-2009

Posted for Sky-watch, Friday

To see a volcano [TWTW]

 

To see Taal Volcano from a different perspective, I walked this path from the highway to the ridge.  About 300 meters from the highway, this path leads to a residential area at the edge of Tagaytay ridge.  Residents have this view from their windows---Lake Taal and Taal Volcano.

Posted for This way Thurs-way  

Lunch at Bag of Beans

Roast beef with mashed potato and gravy

I have been hearing good things about Bag of Beans, a coffee shop and bakeshop in Tagaytay. Spent the non-working holiday in Tagaytay last Monday and we were torn between Sonya's Garden and Bag of Beans for lunch. But because of Sonya's Garden "no smoking" policy (yes, smokers insisted on their right to burn their lungs :P) and eat-all-you-can set up (bad for our figure :P), we drove to Bag of Beans.

Sally had the scrumptious Roast Beef with mashed potato and gravy. I had a fork-full of mashed potato and I liked it---it tasted like potato, not butter with potato.

Franzia's Grilled Porkchops

I enjoyed my Pan-broiled Mahi-Mahi, it was fresh and juicy and moderately spiced. And it was a good choice, too...I had room for dessert.:P

Zhallyn had this delectable Garlic Shrimps. When this plate was served, for a minute there, I regretted my choice.:P

The lunch dragged on, and it was almost 4 pm when we had our dessert. Bag of Beans is famous for their freshly-baked English Pies... unfortunately, the popular Shepherd's Pie was no longer available. The four of us shared this Steak and Kidney Pie and a slice of Blueberry Cheesecake. It was a bit strange having Steak & Kidney Pie for dessert because it's not sweet.:P I would prefer having this pie as an afternoon snack with brewed coffee. But the Blueberry Cheesecake was a big hit. It's not your usual sweet cheesecake---the texture was that of a creamy vanilla ice-cream, flavored with cheese. And the topping was simply divine!

Bag of Beans has al fresco dining as well as an indoor restaurant. The garden has umbrellas and huts, and lots of vegetation [so be ready with your off-lotion in case the mosquitoes like you]. I like the relaxed ambiance of the place...it surely felt like a holiday!

a slice of heavenly Blueberry Cheesecake

Posted for Food Friday and Food Trip Friday

Sky-watching at the Picnic Grove

Taking in the tranquil beauty of Lake Taal and volcano while waiting for the sunset at the Picnic Grove on Monday afternoon. The sky didn't disappoint me with its wondrous colors as the sun was slowly sinking into the horizon.

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. ~Rabindranath Tagore

Posted for Sky-Watch Friday

Lake Taal and Taal Volcano - Watery Wednesday

We had a long weekend to commemorate the National Heroes Day on August 31st. Sally and I wanted to go to Puerto Galera for the weekend but it rained so we cancelled our plans. On Sunday afternoon, I drove to the Mall of Asia to meet my sister and cousins for dinner. Tita Azela, my aunt and Zhallyn, my sister, went to the movies with Jan and Zyke, while Sally, Franzia and myself, watched Lisa Macuja. Late Sunday night while eating bibingka (rice cake) and spicy kebab, we suddenly made up our minds to take a road trip. Pangasinan and Subic were our options but we ended up driving to Tagaytay after midnight.

From the Tagaytay ridge and Picnic Grove, I took these photos of Lake Taal and Volcano on Monday afternoon. Lake Taal is a freshwater lake located in a caldera formed by very large eruptions between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago. The active Taal Volcano, a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is the one responsible for the lake's sulfuric content, lies on an island in the center of the lake. The island is called Volcano Island, or "pulo" by the locals. Inside Volcano Island is another lake, about 2 kilometers across, called Crater Lake. Within the Crater Lake is another small volcanic island called Vulcan Point. Vulcan Point is often referred to as the world's largest volcanic island within a lake on an island within a lake on an island. Now I know you're confused!

Visualize these---Vulcan Point within Crater Lake, on Volcano Island within Lake Taal, on the island of Luzon. See? :P

Many believe that Lake Taal is also a crater of a volcano, thus making Taal Volcano "a volcano inside the volcano".

view of Lake Taal and Taal Volcano from Picnic Grove

Posted for Watery Wednesday