the famous grotto on Boracay island (it's actually another tiny island by itself)
Ten years after my first trip to Boracay, I was able to visit it again towards the end of March this year. People who knew where I went thought: "Wow! Paradise!". But I didn't go there to enjoy myself. I was there on a mission - one that I would call a business trip.
The place has really changed so much since I last saw it. Only a few of the original establishments remained but there are a lot of new and better ones. I remember last time, Station 3 used to be the cheapest station where you can find all the cheapest accommodations and cheapest food. But now, if you ask me, Station 3 is only just a name because here now you can also find middle and high class hotels and resorts and expensive restaurants and cafes.
The notable changes I have observed were the improvement of the jetty port at Caticlan and also in the Boracay island side itself, the very new and modern airport, the massive growth of D'Mall - the only mall on the beach that I've been to so far, the existence of Boracay Budget Mart - the biggest grocery store on the island, and the many big high class resorts and restaurants on the beachfront. Well, ten years is indeed such a long time but I never imagined Boracay's growth to be that much.
Here are some of the things that you might enjoy when you go there...
the first cup of cappuccino that I made correctly
I've been a coffee-drinker since I was a kid. I think I have drunk more coffee than milk in my whole life. So it's quite possible that I have dreams of owning my own coffee shop. In fact, I have dreamed about it ever since I had my first cup of espresso many years ago.
This summer, Hubby sent me to a coffee school in Manila in support of my dreams of being a Barista and eventually opening my own shop. I must say I enjoyed the course so much. Aside from the joy I got in learning how to make espressos the right way, I also met many new friends.
After the 4-day course, I can say that now I can make decent espressos. But my journey has just begun. With more practice and with more patience, soon all my espressos will all be perfect and I will earn the right to call myself a Barista.
Last Saturday (August 13), I was able to have a get-together with my girlfriends from high school together with their families (kids and some husbands). It was held at Dakong Bato Resort in Dalaguete, Cebu - the next town after Argao if you are traveling to Southern Cebu. We decided to have it there for a change of scenery as we are already getting tired of the usual venue, which is the beach in Lawis in Argao.
That was the first time I've been to that 2-year old resort and my first time to come back to that area. Many years ago, I sometimes pass by there to travel south and I remember having picked that spot as my favorite. It used to be just a cliff at the side of the highway with a dangerous long drop to the ocean below. It was considered dangerous because one wrong turn and you and your car could be tumbling down to the ocean below. But the scene from there was always quite lovely with the blue sea as the backdrop. I remember asking my father once to stop there in that spot for me and my brothers and cousins to take a photo. I have to look for that photo now.
Now, the place is hardly recognizable. It is no longer a dangerous long drop to the ocean. They have converted it into a nice small resort with two swimming pools (one for kids and one for adults), rooms for those who want to stay some nights, a restaurant and plenty of staircases on the sides of the cliffs for access to the whole property. If you want a dip in the blue sea, there is also a small area for you to do so.
Overall, our get-together was very enjoyable although only six of us girlfriends were able to come. It is always nice to catch up with old friends and much more in a very nice place.
**Dakong Bato means "big rock/stone" in English. The place is aptly named because of a huge rock nestled in front of the property.
Finally, after almost 2 years, Hubby has decided to boycott their office cook's monotonous lunch menus and asked me to cook him lunch everyday instead. So since he came back to work after the Chinese New Year break, I have been cooking his lunch every morning so that I can pack it and he can take it with him to the office.
The dish I prepared this morning was my pork meatballs with an egg/onion sauce inspired by the one served at Carmen's Carenderia in Argao. (*According to him in Malaysia they call this dish "lion head".) I started experimenting with this dish when we were still in Melbourne because he requested for it once since he liked Carmen's version. The one I came up with is not exactly the same. It's a simpler and much easier version to do at home but he still loves it.
Happy New Year everyone! I have not written anything for quite some time because I'm currently in my hometown. I was supposed to write about the Sinulog Festival here in Cebu, but due to bad weather, I was not able to go out and take photos and experience the celebration in the streets. Let's see if I can do this next year.
Another year has passed and I'm starting to worry because I haven't really done anything "financially" productive for over a year now. So yesterday I went to do a cake-baking course in one of the culinary arts center here in Cebu City. I have been watching a lot of cooking and baking shows lately and these made me realize that this might actually be my true calling. I had always been passionate about "creating" food and selling them to those who want to buy them. A few years back, when I was still based in Cebu, I had been making leche flan, polvoron, yema and puto cheese and selling them to friends and officemates. I only stopped when we moved to Australia.
The cake-baking class was fun and enjoyable. We were able to bake 4 kinds of chiffon cake and were able to try out simple decorating. It wasn't really part of the course but was just a bonus so our cakes got a little dressing up. Unfortunately, I was not able to bring my camera to class so I was not able to take any photos of the cakes in all their glory. I was only able to do so when I got home and after transporting the cake for 66 kms. The result is not so nice because the decorations were already smeared but still I would like to show them here as I was proud of what I achieved for just over 3 hours of work.
Next time when I'm already good, I will post some more photos of my future work. They may not be at par with Eric Lanlard's "glamour puds" but hopefully they would do me proud.
mocha cross-section
plain chiffon cross-section
marble chiffon cross-section
chocolate chiffon cross-section
Realizing that today I have nothing for lunch, I decided to finally cook the green bean vermicelli that I bought a few weeks ago. I never had the chance to cook it because Hubby is not too fond of the Filipino way of cooking vermicelli. So today is my chance but there's not much ingredients to cook it with since I never really planned to and didn't buy the other ingredients last Sunday.
Luckily, I still have some leftover raw ingredients in the fridge so I just made use of them. I still have some 20 or so shrimp heads leftover from a few weeks back when I was cooking a shrimp dish and also a leftover pork liver. These two combined with some crushed garlic, sliced onion and capsicum, soy sauce, chicken powder and some shredded cabbage and chives all made up the dish as shown below. *The shrimp heads are not meant to be eaten but their juices lend a very rich flavor to the vermicelli.*
(Note: I don't normally publish my recipes because I never measure my ingredients but if you are interested in trying them out, feel free to contact me.)
Not a lot of traveling happened since the Maldives (actually there's zero traveling after that) but a lot of cooking did! Well, I do indeed cook everyday but this time I found that I've been using more and more coconut milk in my cooking. Blame it on my Malaysian husband who really just loves his coconut milk. Thankfully, we were able to find our favorite brand here in China (the Ayam brand), so coming up with these dishes are a breeze.
Ok, so aside from the curries, I had also been doing a lot of coconut rice (another Malaysian invention). It's a good accompaniment to the curries. Then one day, I decided to add a little twist to my usual chicken adobo. You guessed it! I added coconut milk and in doing so I found out that in some parts of the Philippines, they actually really cook their adobos with coconut milk. Oh well, it's the first time for me and luckily my husband liked it.
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