Saturday, April 12, 2008

Off we go!

To Donsol, Sorsogon! That's our adventure trip this summer. Since we got married seven years ago, we make it a point to take at least a week off from work to enjoy an extended anniversary celebration in a beautiful island destination.

On April 18th, we are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary. Can't believe it's been seven years!!! Parang ang bilis masyado. Does that mean we are having fun? I definitely believe so.

Anyway, I am so excited for this trip. My leave just got approved last week so we only got to check flights then and unfortunately, all Legaspi-bound flights are full. We have no choice but to take a long bus ride. I'm kinda excited because it's the first time I'll be taking a long road trip in a public transport. We're leaving monday night at 7:30pm. Here's our itinerary:

Day 1 - (Tuesday) Roam around Legaspi; meet with fellow scrapper Diane for some photo op
Day 2 - Trek to Mt. Mayon, drive to Donsol in the afternoon
Day 3 - Whaleshark interaction, River Kayaking
Day 4 - Island hopping, Firefly watching
Day 5 - City Tour in Sorsogon
Day 6 - Fly back to Manila (no more bus ride for us!)

So excited!!! I even made a travel journal for this trip.

We'll be bringing along two cameras - my brand new Canon 40D, and my 4-year old Canon Powershot A95. We're bringing the latter for the underwater shots since I have an underwater casing for it.

Will provide a full account of our trip when we get back.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Kanin anyone?

I saw this post in my drafts folder. I wrote this December last year but never got around to publishing it because I didn't have the pictures then. Now that I have the photos, you can read all about it.
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Who doesn’t like rice? The fragrant, perfectly white, sticky kind. The one that’s perfect with savory, fork-tender, slightly spicy, a bit oily, pork adobo. A must for every true blue Filipino dish – think laing, kare-kare, kaldereta, menudo. How can you not have rice with these dishes?

I thought Kanin Club was aptly named given that the dishes served in this restaurant are best enjoyed with steaming white rice. It was a bright Monday morning when Karen, Aileen, Ian and I drove to Sta. Rosa for a sumptuous lunch at Kanin Club. We were going to attend a wedding in Tagaytay and Paseo De Sta. Rosa was along the way. We just spent an hour or so in a Makati salon for hair and make up and we were already wearing our evening dresses when we trooped to Kanin Club. It was Aileen’s first time and my second. For Karen and Ian, well, let’s just say they are veterans. We ordered the bestsellers – Crispy Pork binagoongan, Crispy Pork liempo, Sigarillas express (cooked in coconut milk), binukadkad na plapla, mango salad, and a bowl of fully loaded rice. Just hearing the names of the dishes is enough to make our mouths water in anticipation. Not even the fear of blotting out our lipstick could stop us from enjoying our lunch.

Here are the mouth-watering dishes we enjoyed at Kanin Club (photo courtesy of Ian Reyes):

Binukadkad na plapla

Crispy liempo

Crispy pork binagoongan

Sigarillas express

Dips

We didn’t have time (nor tummy space) for dessert but I’ve tried some of their sweet endings before. The turon (sweet banana roll) is a must-try. Aside from the usual banana, it also has langka (jackfruit), ube (purple yam) and other yummy ingredients stuffed inside - reminds me of halo-halo. Try the turon ala mode if you want a scoop of ice cream. The fusion of warm turon and cool ice cream provides a uniquely delightful sensory experience. And you must try my personal favorite – banana fritters. A bite into the crisp coating and the sweet banana smell bring back fond childhood memories.

Kanin Club is located at Paseo de Sta. Rosa and is open daily from 11am – 2pm and from 5pm – 8pm.