Spanish tapas at Te Quiero

This entry is way past overdue since my food experience happened on one unexpected night when hubby and I had to send a parcel to Victory Liner Baguio Bus Station one May evening this year. We got stuck there since it suddenly rained. We brought our scooter with us and it's no fun at all to ride when the rain is pouring on you while you are riding with some lightning and thunderstorm taking place.

Thus, we had to stay there for a while. It was dinner time so we scoured the place. We opted not to eat pizza and donuts and decided instead to eat at  Te Quiero Tapas Bar at the Victory Bus. It was a good thing we bought enough cash to cover our meals because it was a buffet Friday. And the buffet costs Php 350.00 each. So even if we were way underdressed - Oliver with his jogging pants and work shirt and me also with my oversized jeans, tshirt and tsinelas - we braved the "kasosyalan" of some of the clients and ate.

Dining there provided us an opportunity to know what tapas are. According to About.com, tapas are snacks, canapés or finger food that originated in Spain which can be practically anything from a chunk of tuna, cocktail onion and an olive skewered on a long toothpick, to piping hot meat with sauce served in a miniature clay dish - or anything in between. 

The pictures do not really justify the colors of the food since I captured these using  my lowly cellphone but I just wanted to share what we ate:

The plate here contains chicken skewer, potatoes, a sausage, mussels, salsa salad and the one in the spoon is a deviled egg-- so yummy.

In this plate, we have some macaroni and I forgot what was on the right -- this was 6 months ago..hehehhe!!! I remember the taste of the macaroni though-- it tasted a bit cheesy. Masarap. :)

This is another view of the chicken skewers with their dynamite lumpia -- spring roll of sili and cheese.. appetizing:

We also had their salad with vinaigrette dressing. I loved this very much:

This is their roast chicken which was a bit ordinary for me.

Their sausage was spicy! We loved its taste.

  Trying to control our fat intake, we tasted their lechon --masarap!!!

This is the buffet and dining area of the resto:

I like the taste of spice and vinegar that''s why I appreciated what we had at Te Quiero buffet.  I give it the buffet  7.5/10 for the buffet but I was expecting more viands and maybe dessert or a free sweet drink afterwards. I cannot vouch for their other foods on the menu that was not served in the buffet. Although there were great reviews on them.

Te Quiero is located at the Second Floor of Victory Bus Station Baguio at the side of Microtel Baguio.

Sage - Pink, Green and Violet :)

Last weekend, I got to spend time with my friends and dine at this quaint place called Sage (just like the song with the herbs rosemary, sage and thyme). I never expected the place to be pretty nor eat there so  I was not armed with a proper camera except my phone's. It's great that  the pictures turned out nice.

Now for the place-- it's so pretty!!! Here are some proofs!

The "lobby"/waiting area and their white and pink Christmas tree:

Their white and pink Christmas Tree:

posing kunwari mabangong fresh roses ang nandun :p

I love their dining hall's colors and the windows!!!

The ceiling of the booths area is lined with these:

The theme of using oval ornaments can be seen reflected outside as well before the lobby:

And each table has a violet plant or two like ours. The pot is also nice :) :

For the foods, we had the yummy giant platter of nachos: Php 180.00. It came with 4 "sauces" - cheese, ranch, salsa and I forgot the other one hehehe! We just poured all the sauces on top! Lots of vegetables in this dish - we loved it!

I am digging in it :p

We also had puttanesca and pesto (sorry I forgot the prices :( )

The puttanesca was ordinary and so is the pesto -- I had better ones but they are still average to above average.

We also had chimichangas. According to their menu this is a Mexican dish and it is composed of potatoes and chicken wrapped in tortilla and then fried. It came with salsa and a white sauce -like garlic sauce.

It was okay. This costed around Php110.00

And then for beverage- we had the house water. Lemon, citrus and sage infused water. Yummy an refreshing. And, a visual treat, as well :)

For dessert, we had:
a. Roti with peaches ala mode sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. This was so yummy but so little. I guess it was so yummy nakakabitin :p

 b. Banana wrapped in pastry, deep fried and then drizzled with carame, bananas and chocolate sauce and ice cream. Yummy as well (Php 120.00)

 c. Rocky road cake. Yum-o!There were walnuts even in the cream in between the cake layers. (Php 75.00)

Overall, the place gets a rating of 7/10. It is a unique, cute place where the eyes not only the mouth can feast.

Sage is located at Military cut-off infront of Small World School.

Reconnecting Inside

Yesterday was a happy day for me despite the strong winds and nasty weather brought by Typhoon Odette in Baguio City.

Work was suspended by the mayor but I opted to go out and do my errands. After doing my errands I had lunch on my own, walked at Session Road and decided to have my hair cut and dyed. I bought some scratch lotto tickets and won 250 pesos after investing 70 pesos. :p 

For lunch, I tried eating a Ham and Cheese bread and coffee at Bread Talk. It was my first time to eat their bread. True! Because most of the time, when I am with my husband or friends, the place is always full and I am always hungry for heavy food. And let's admit it, I am a bit stingy with my money. Their bread is a bit pricey.

But boy, that bread is sure good. I understand completely why there are long lines at BreadTalk SM and in all their branches. And it was nice watching the bakers' bake bread while I sipped  my Cafe Latte.

I also enjoyed browsing books at National Bookstore and lingering in the craft stores.

I made a conscious effort to date myself yesterday because I missed doing things alone. I am an introvert. I am not shy. I am not afraid of speaking in public and confronting people but I enjoy being in solitude with myself. I am self-reflective although it is not so obvious. 

Before, in my pre-married life, I enjoyed crafts, books, staying at home, walking in the park by myself,  going out and eating out  and even watching movies by myself. But with my esposo with me,  I cannot do most of these things now because of other activities that we do together such as playing computer games, Wii, watching sports and movies at home and having other responsibilities.  I  enjoy tremendously being with him. However, once in  a while, I need to connect with my inner self and it is usually refreshing and energizing just like yesterday. :)

Le Chef - John Hay Golf Club

Our family has been graced by God to have friends who are willing to share their blessings to us. And with this, once in a while, our family experiences the good things that a few individuals  regularly experience.

We had this occasional dinner once again at the Le Chef,  John Hay Clubhouse and I just want to share the good things we experienced. 

For the sight:
This flower arrangement greeted us on on the lobby. Lovely and very attractive:

Going down the steps, great lights loomed above us:

The family had their pictures taken near the fireplace. It was so cold when we went there since the area is open and it was almost 5 PM and a bit foggy.

Yep, there is a bulol sitting on the ledge of the fireplace

We also had some pictures taken on the garden outside:

 This one is a view of the golf course from the garden.

For the smell and taste:

First course was bread and butter. This one was on the house. Their bread is so yummy especially the dinner rolls:

We had individual butter each to put in the bread.

My husband, niece and I had mocha latte for our drinks. It was cold there at the clubhouse-- we needed something warm:

The latte was yummy and it was worth the Php 95.00 price tag - competitive with the usual cafes.

For our individual course, I had the baby back ribs with corn muffins and spinach.

There are better baby back ribs in other restos, This one is sweet but can't complain since I chose this and it's for free. I won't post the exact price but it is the 300 range.

We had kids with us thus,  pepperoni pizza and fried chicken.

The pizza was thin crust and the chicken's breading was yummy especially for the kids.

We also had lechon kawali with laing because some of us had beer:

The lechon was sinfully masarap anad the laing was the best. It was so finely grinded and I don't have much words for it other than, super sarap.

Some of us had duck around 300 pesos range:

and mongolian beef around 200 pesos range:

It was a dinner full of burps! and whispered thank you's to God and to our benefactors. :)

Life is good! :)

Baguio's Pride in Chinese Cuisine

This restaurant is our family's favorite place to eat whenever there are special occasions such as despedidas and anniversaries. This is also where my own parents had their wedding reception during their wedding more than 36 years ago.

I am talking about Rose Bowl Restaurant and Steak House. Rose Bowl is a popular place to eat even with tourists because of its former location across Burnham Park. Now it is located at Upper General Luna Road, Baguio City near the Pink Sisters and Brent International School.

What locals and tourists love about their food is their tastiness and Chinese "authenticity" in flavor. At the same time, the food is served fast and piping hot.

Here are some of our favorites in the place:

• Service Tea: free, hot and satisfying. It feels like the oil  from the foods that I eat are easily flushed from the tea.

• Fried Chicken. If you are exposed with kids, you'll know why. But the main reason here is that their chicken is really tasty and fried perfectly. Quite pricey though at Php 450+. Sulit naman dahil simot to the bones pag kinain ng mga pamangkin ko.

• Pata Tim. This is my favorite from among the viands. I eat everything from the soft meat, skin and the watercress :) 

• Rose Bowl Pancit and calamnsi. Looks like chopsuey with noodles because of the many vegetables in the dish. Yum-o!

  

And this is my next favorite. 

• Tofu with shrimps in oyster sauce. Light, sweet and satisfying!

Burp!!!!

So if you are in Baguio and crave for Chinese food, don't hesitate to visit Rose Bowl. It can be a bit pricey but the taste of their food makes the prices reasonable. :)

Angel of Hope and Prayer

For every delay for the past 2 years, I would excitedly test if  I get 2 red stripes. Sadly, it has always been 1.

I've been wishing and praying hard for those 2 red lines to appear on the strip. But every month, the results are always discouraging - the small pile of negative test strips is getting higher.

My cousin has shared to me this angel since it did wonders for her and her husband four years ago. Now they have a 3 year old boy. And they are passing the angel to me and hubby.

I am hoping that me and my husband's prayer..and our families' prayer will be finally heard. 

Lord, hear my prayer...

Lord, hear the prayer of thousands of women like me who wish to have their own child. Please grant our wish. :)

Sunset Bay, La Union

Our May trip to La Union was dotted with our visits to other resorts. Even if we were checked in at Thunderbird Resorts, we had dinner at Sunset Bay.

Sunset Bay is also a resort located at Poro Point which is owned and managed by Europeans. The resort's theme is a resort garden. I have been here 3x already and I love the simple things it offers.

The resort has a clean seashore with almost white sand and very good sunset as shown in this picture:

I took a picture of my good friend, Mikai while she was taking some pictures:

So firsts things first, upon entry to the resort, their small pond welcomes you :)

They have a lighted walkway which zigzags between the cottages. It rained that's why there are small puddles of water:

 I posed with this plant full of flowers.

This is a frontage of one of their cottages:

They have a small infinity pool facing the China Sea

A closer look:

Near the pool is an area where you can sit and relax.

There is a walkway between this area and the restaurant where you can head out to the beach.

This is their restaurant where our group posed while deciding what to eat.

Their restaurant is modest but the quality of food that they serve is very good and worth the price. Here are some of the things we sampled at Sunset Bay:

a) This is their marinara pasta. The waiter said it's good only for 1 person but it's for 2 people. Two of us had this. They shared with one serving  and had the other 1 taken away with us in the hotel. It had squids in it. The only thing lacking are mussels as what one colleague mentioned.

b.) I had this: dorie with tomato and basil with  mashed potato and vegetables. It was huge! I shared some with my colleagues.

Two colleagues also had dorie but we had different versions of the potato. One had baked potato with it as seen in the picture below and the other one had french fries (no picture for this).

The dorie was nice but it was so big and it was a bit overwhelmed with the tomatoes. I would say there was too much sauce.

3. One had grilled tanguige which according to the one who had this was yummy. I guess I would have chosen this next time. I like plain, clean taste of my food when eating near the seashore.

4. One had ordered the fried shrimp with spicy sauce. This was also yummy. I tasted it. :)

5. And someone got Sunset Bay's baby back ribs! This was also yummy :) If I were to eat again the third time , I'd have this. Lolz. I do not usually eat  much meat when I eat on resorts or restaurants along the beach. I savor sea food but this will be an exception.

The servings are large and the prices are reasonable from 200 to 250 pesos.

So if you are in La Union and  want to relax, relax, relax and see great sunset and eat yummy food, visit Sunset Bay. 

Compared to other resorts, based from observation, this is very quiet and "reflective" type. There are many Caucasian retirees who stay there or just eat dinner and just usually chill.