Sweet Nothings | Food, Travel, & Lifestyle Blog

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It was just an ordinary day when Mark suddenly thought of heading out for another adventure. My dad, who's fond of asking our whereabouts from time to time (yeah he's sweet like that :D), did his morning routine of asking what we (Mark and I) plan to do for the day, so I told him that Mark wanted to visit JE Camp in Tanay, Rizal. I guess my dad was also up for an adventure that time that he thought of going there too with the whole family.

And so there, after breakfast, we found ourselves all packed up and set for a family bonding. :D We arrived at JE Camp in Tanay, Rizal, after around an hour-long drive from our house.

Date of visit: March 24, 2014

Read full story HERE :)

Okay, so it's already June but I'm still not done with my summer posts. Will you guys forgive me and allow me to just squeeze in this one? :D

A few days after our day tour at Cristina Villas, we again got to enjoy another summer fun, at the beach, but this time without my mom and my older brother. Last April 20, Gia, Jaoey, and I were tagged along by my dad for their company outing at Ocean View Resort in Subic.

Although I've been to Subic a lot of times already, it was my first time to be with my family so I still got excited. Jaoey was the most excited because it was his first time again (after almost 7 years I think) to hit the beach. We left the house early and got to the resort after almost a 3-hour drive. We were provided with breakfast while waiting for our room to be setup.

Summer time is family time! I know most of you have already been busy planning a lot of summer vacations and activities which your entire family will enjoy. But if planning for a summer fun is getting to be a challenge, why not just indulge into a family feast and bring the folks and the kids to Eastwood Richmonde Hotel's all-day dining restaurant, the Eastwood Café, and have a delectable yet affordable feast that everyone will surely love? :)

I was invited to the launch of Eastwood Café's Weekend Family Buffet yesterday at Eastwood Richmonde Hotel. Along with other guests and food bloggers, Mark and I got to indulge into an extensive buffet spread, with stations strategically placed in the cafe, featuring hot-off-the-grill meats, healthy hot pot, native delicacies, unlimited sweets, and so much more!

Starting this weekend, Saturday, April 6, and for all weekends of April, May, and June of 2013, Eastwood Café pays tribute to the summer sun and brings a scrumptious Weekend Family Buffet packed with dishes to satisfy every family members' cravings all for just Php 880 nett!

Our accommodation at Summit Ridge Hotel includes a breakfast buffet for two and a complimentary use of their gym and swimming pool.

C2 Classic Cuisine, which is at the ground floor of the hotel, was were the buffet breakfast was served. The food choices weren't that extensive but they were definitely an eye candy. The omelette section was what welcomed us as we entered the restaurant. There were bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, and parmesan cheese which guests may freely choose for their omelette. Since I don't know which to choose, I just had the staff choose everything for my omellete. :p

Omelette Section

Starting the long buffet table is a salad and soup section and at the far end is the waffles and pancakes section. The soup of the day was egg drop soup while the salad section includes lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers, and a choice of Asian or Caesar dressings.

We headed back to Tagaytay City proper after our hearty breakfast at Sonya's Garden. Since we're still early for the hotel check-in, we decided to kill time by enjoying the cool breeze and wonderful view at Tagaytay Picnic Grove.

Taal Lake

Summit Ridge Hotel was were we stayed during our Tagaytay trip. Since we didn't have any plans for the trip, this hotel was indeed a perfect choice for Mark and I since we just wanted to relax and spend some quality time together.

The Corregidor Halloween Treat that Mark and I availed already includes overnight accommodation and meals at Corregidor Inn. According to our tour guide Uncle Bob, Corregidor Inn is the most popular hotel in the island, well since it is the only hotel in the island of course. Haha!

Corregidor Inn

Mark and I were given a twin-sharing room at the second floor of Corregidor Inn. Our room was not that glamorous, but it was air-conditioned, clean, and big enough for two. Also very evident in our room, and the whole of the hotel itself, are the furniture and fixtures made of wood and rattan, very typical in a Filipino house especially during the old times.

Aside from the sophisticated ambience, trademark personalized service and good food, Segara Suites and Villas also boasts of its hotel amenities.

Bar and Pool Area

At the far end of the Segara Suites is a walkway which leads to the hotel's bar and pool area. They also have a small playground where toddlers and the young-at-heart can enjoy. :D

Asian Spices Bar and Restaurant, housed inside the Segara Villas and Suites, is where Mark and I had our lunch as we arrived in Subic from Manila.

Mark and I also liked the restaurant's ambience just as how we fell in love with Segara Suites. The restaurant is chic and elegantly designed and decorated in shades of gold, ochre, and earth tones.

Also very evident in the restaurant's interior are the Balinese accents.

We came to Subic without having any hotel reservations. I know this entails a lot of risks, but according to Mark being care-free and just going with the flow sometimes adds up excitement and fun and most of the time results to an extraordinary adventure. And well I guess he was right! :)

I already expected Camayan Beach Resort to be fully booked but we still gave it a try and got no luck. Good thing Segara Villas and Suites saved the day! Segara Villas and Suites became our home during our Subic trip last January 5-8.

We came across this serene boutique along the Waterfront Road as we were looking for a place to dine. The staff suggested that we checkout the place and upon checking the rooms, Mark and I agreed to book at Segara.

We went back to the hotel after our lunch to rest a little and prepare for our dinner cruise. But I guess luck was just not on our side that time because for the 2nd time, our dinner cruise got cancelled. And yes, it was still due to the bad weather. :(

The cruise was definitely out of our itinerary, so we just decided to stay at the hotel and make use of its facilities. :) Mark came prepared with some downloaded movies in his laptop and so that was what we did to kill time. At around 6pm, we decided to hit the in-house gym. We were pigging out since day 1, so we thought of shedding off some pounds. :p

The gym is located at the second floor of the hotel. It is open from 6am-10pm and guests may work out here for free. According to my fitness expert boyfriend, the gym still lacks some machines but at least it has the basic equipment and machines for cardio exercises and muscle toning.

Aside from the clean and cozy rooms, Lotus Garden Hotel also boasts of its in-house restaurant and sports bar where guests can enjoy Filipino delicacies while unwinding and relaxing over a variety of drinks.

The Cilantro Restaurant provides guests with a fine dining pleasure while savoring a choice of Filipino dishes. Our accommodation at the Lotus Garden Hotel comes with a breakfast buffet for two per overnight stay. And since we booked the room for 3 days and 2 nights, we got to have breakfast buffet at the Cilantro Restaurant for two days! :D

The buffet opens at six in the morning. Breakfast stubs are claimed at the reception. On our first breakfast, we arrived a little after nine and so we had to wait a little for seats to be vacated. On our second breakfast, we came in earlier around 8 am and got the liberty to choose our seats. :D

After our lunch at Pan de Amerikana in Katipunan, we went to Manila to book for a hotel. We didn't have any reservations and so we just searched over the net for hotels while we were having lunch.

We were supposed to book a hotel at BGC in Taguig but since a Manila Bay dinner cruise was also included in our itinerary, we thought that it would be practical to just stay in Manila since there are a lot of hotels there anyway.

After surfing through different hotel websites, Mark and I finally agreed to stay at the Lotus Garden Hotel in Manila.

We were greeted by the hotel guard as we alighted the cab and he ushered us to the reception. The receptionist that accommodated us was all-smiles as she answered all our queries and handed us the leaflet with room rates.

Aside from the gym and spa, and the resort's relaxing ambience, Valentino Resort and Spa also has their own restaurant.

The rest of the group already had their share of the dining experience at the resort's restaurant over lunch, but Mark and I just had to skip having lunch with them since we brought our own food. :)

Come dinner time, Marwin suggested that we go out since they already had their lunch at Valentino's restaurant. Unfortunately, aside from a kambingan, there wasn't any restaurant nearby, so we just went back to the resort's restaurant.

While waiting for our food. Galit galit? :p

Mark was on a diet and was prepping up for a competition, so he just ordered their grilled chicken. Mark and I were both expecting a char-grilled chicken, but the chicken looked like it was fried. I guess it was grilled using a turbo broiler. The dish had a generous serving of chicken breast and it also came with a garlic mashed potato and sautéed bean sprouts. Mark enjoyed his dish and was captured by the taste of the mashed potato that he ordered another serving for take out. :)

Grilled Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potato and Sautéed Bean Sprouts

I was on a meal plan that time and was only allowed to take in vegetables for dinner, plus whey protein, so I just settled for their chopseuy. Another generous serving, the dish also had some kikiam and pork slices in it which I just had to set aside. :p I was also very keen in setting aside the sauce because I was actually allowed to have only raw veggies, or steamed/boiled at the least. :p

Chopseuy

I wasn't able to jot down the price but as far as I remember, Mark and I only paid less than Php 500 for our dinner (which included 4 bottled waters).

Our accommodation includes free breakfast, American and Filipino breakfast were the ones I remembered, which also come with a choice of coffee, hot chocolate, or juice.

Mark had coffee while I chose to have the hot chocolate. I guess it was a bad choice for me. The hot chocolate was just, uhmm, too sweet. It actually tasted like chocolate syrup (like the ones used in pancakes) placed in hot water.

Hot Chocolate

Everyone who ordered coffee was raving about how good it was, so when one of the servers gladly obliged when Marwin had his cup refilled and asked who else wanted a refill, I immediately asked Mark to get a refill for me. :p

My meal plan doesn't really allow me to have liquids other than water or fresh orange juice, but since I already deviated from my meal plan by having hot chocolate and coffee, I thought that I might as well indulge in Valentino's Filipino breakfast! :p The Filipino breakfast comes with a choice of tapang taal, daing na bangus, tocino, or longganisa; plus scrambled or sunny-side-up egg and steamed or fried rice.

Filipino Breakfast: Tapang Taal, Fried Rice, and Sunny-Side-Up Egg

Mark and I both chose the tapang taal. The tapa wasn't like the ones that I got used to but it was just delicious! It actually looked and tasted like the Filipino version of Beef Steak, or Bistek Tagalog as what we all know of. Although I was really enjoying the dish, my stomach just didn't want to take in that much food, so I was able to finish only half of my plate. The other half was devoured by Mark.

Filipino Breakfast: Tapang Taal, Fried Rice, and Scrambled Egg

He must have been very hungry that time that he got another order of the Tapang Taal meal, making him finish a total of 2 and a half meals!

All of us had a good dining experience at Valentino. Aside from the good food, their customer service is also commendable. There was this one staff who never failed to greet us each time we were in the restaurant. Most of them were also very accommodating especially with our (mine and Mark's) requests and numerous questions regarding their menu. :p

With food that are both palate- and budget-friendly partnered with good customer service, I guess I can just forget about the glitches in the resort's accommodation and that middle-aged lady. :p Over-all, I can say that I enjoyed my stay at Valentino. :)

VALENTINO RESORT AND SPA

Barangay Pinagtung-ulan,
San Jose, Batangas

Most of my close friends in the office had already ventured into different businesses, offices, and even other countries; and so our monthly get together (for the ones left in the country) have been our way of catching up. We usually have monthly dinners, but for our March get together, we planned of having a summer getaway.

We conducted a survey and I was overly excited when Eagle Point initially got the most number of votes. I've been wanting to go to the beach and out of town resorts with only swimming pools do not really get me as excited because there are a lot of them here in Antipolo, one of which is just a few walks away from our house.

So imagine how the excitement turned into dismay when a re-vote happened and almost everyone settled for the next choice which was Valentino Resort and Spa. I was supposed to back out, I even told Joie not to consider me joining anymore, but then again I didn't want to be the kontrabida so I just decided to set aside being a brat. :p

We met over at Makati and then started on our trip after everyone got to have their breakfast. We got to the resort after almost a 2-hour ride. Special thanks to Joie for taking care of all the reservations.

We arrived earlier than the check-in time so I was anticipating that we would have to roam around the place first. It was Joie and Je who were communicating with the receptionists, but I already knew that we were already allowed to check into our rooms because of this middle-aged lady who kept on saying how she gave us some favor and allowed us to have an early check in. Mark felt happy with the favor so he asked me to give the lady a box of egg rolls as a sign of gratitude. I actually got pissed and really didn't want to hand the rolls to her, but Mark insisted and even got mad at me for being selfish, but had he heard how the lady kept on insinuating that favor (which none of us really asked for, in fact we were all willing to wait for the check in time) I think he wouldn't have given anything to that lady. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who got pissed, Je also got irritated. Mark, see? We should have just given all of the rolls to our driver! :p

With Gretz and Me-anne on board a golf car from the reception area to our rooms :)

Their deluxe rooms are cozy. It was clean, had a decent bed with basic toiletries and clean towels,

a clean bathroom,

a good working aircon, a desk and a couch,

a small TV with a not so good reception, and a small walk-in closet.

It really wasn't that impressive, but at a Php 2600 rate per night with free breakfast for 2, I think I just got what I paid for. :)

After having a quick lunch in our room, Mark and I roamed around the resort. What I liked about our room is that in front of it is this gorgeous pool.

It has a jacuzzi at the corner an an infinity pool surrounded by lush greens.

At the side of the pool were small cabanas which guests can use for free.

Aside from the deluxe rooms, they also have bigger rooms which looked like houses in a village.

Multi-purpose hall

Also surrounding the whole resort were lush greens and colorful flowers.

An indoor gym and spa are also available at the resort, which unfortunately we weren't able to try.

Restaurant

A few walks from our room were a bigger pool and a kiddie pool.

They also have a small playground which the kids and the kids at heart will surely enjoy.

Although there was no beach and the room wasn't glamorous, and although this wrist band (that we had to wear all throughout our stay) was a bit uncomfortable,