Weekend Eating | A Stay at Taal Vista Hotel

A Tagaytay trip has always been a plan for us because it is relatively near and that we still haven't really explored the place as a family. The main reason for the delay was that we couldn't find an affordable accommodation. Our mantra has always been, "find an affordable, but decent accommodation so we can spend more for other things." We still haven't reached a decision where to stay, when mom told us one of her good friends suggested Taal Vista Hotel.

Shocked was the initial reaction because of its price. On their website, a room in this hotel is about 7 - 8 thousand pesos, very expensive for us. What made us decide to go for it was its location and also because we were given a good discount as well.


We arrived around lunch time. After eating at LZM Restaurant, we immediately checked-in so we could rest.


The place was really magnificent! Seeing the beauty of the place was enough to make us feel we made the right choice in staying here.


The room had two single beds, but the room also had a big couch, where my sister decided to sleep on. Things to know - the room had Cable TV, hot and cold shower (with the usual items - soap, shampoo, lotion, dental kit, etc), fridge, hair dryer, as well as flat iron (and ironing board). There were also a good amount of electric sockets for you to charge your gadgets.


But, the best thing about the room was this awesome view of Taal Lake.


That afternoon, we roamed to different nearby places, and because we ate early dinner and we got back at the hotel quite early at night, too, we decided to go to the garden / view deck to enjoy the chilly Tagaytay weather.


The next morning, nature had a wonderful "Good Morning" message for us.

Part of the accommodation was free buffet breakfast for two. Since we are three in the group, sister and I used the free breakfast ticket, while mom decided to pay for her own meal because she could use her Senior Citizen ID to avail the discount.

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures because I don't know... the break I took from blogging somehow lost my "photography instincts." Anyway, some pictures I took:


The buffet had different stations -

• Pancake / Waffle - which also had a good selection of maple syrup, fruit jams, and other toppings.
• Salad - with different kinds of dressing; this is also where one could get different fruits for dessert.
• Egg - they do have ready made scrambled eggs, but should you want to have an omelet with your choice of ingredients, you could ask the cook to prepare it for you.
• Cereal - of different kinds and different other toppings.
• Meat - selection that day included Beef Tapa, Pork Sausage, Bacon, Chicken Tocino. 
• Congee 
• Bread - of different kinds (croissant, white sliced bread, whole wheat sliced bread) with packed butter, cheese slices, cream cheese balls, and packed jams. This is where you can get pastries (ensaymada, muffins, etc). 
• Drinks - different kinds of fruit juices and water (regular and infused)

Upon choosing our table, we were immediately asked our choice of drink. I went for coffee, while my sister and mom went for hot chocolate.


My choice of breakfast was all-protein. I personally loved their Pork Sausage and I was glad they offered two kinds of bacon (soft and crispy). Of course, I went for the soft bacon. Unfortunately, I didn't eat all of the Beef Tapa because I just ate beef yesterday. My mom ate the rest of my Tapa. The egg... I am glad the cook took my instruction for cooking the yolk well. Aside from this plate of food, I also ate two kinds of pastries and a small plate of fruits.

Their breakfast buffet was (I think) at 800+ pesos, so it was a good decision that mom paid for one meal using her SC card. Though expensive, we figured the whole stay at Taal Vista Hotel was fairly priced. A little computation - 5,500 for the stay (with discount), 800 x 2 for the breakfast... that would be 5,500 - 1,600 = 3,900 for the actual stay in the hotel.

We were very happy with our stay at Taal Vista Hotel. Too bad we didn't bring any swimsuit, but we did decide that the next time we travel to Tagaytay, we will stay here again.

Nissin Souper Meal, #SouperSarap Talaga!

The humble instant noodles has been part of our lives for many, many years. For me, I consider it as one of the food that helped me go through schooling, especially during those times I had to burn the midnight oil - making projects or reviewing for an upcoming exam. There are a lot of negative connotation for the instant noodles, but the simple truth is that... it is easy to prepare (no need to cook anything), it's hot soup is comforting, and the carbohydrates is enough to fill the tummy for the next few hours.

Now that I am out of school, the instant noodles is still part of my life, and is my usual go-to food whenever I am home alone and lazy to cook. At home, we prepare a bowl for us to share whenever we cook fried dishes. Fried food and hot noodle soup sure make a good pair.


When it comes to instant noodles, one of the brands that would always come to mind is Nissin, and for a long time now, I consider their Seafood Cup Noodles my favorite. I love it because it offered a different taste (as it is often the Chicken or Beef that people go for).

Just this month, Nissin-Universal Robina Corporation (NURC) launched its latest offering - Nissin Souper Meal, through its Japanese-themed noodle festival, the Nissin Souper Food Trip at Robinson's Place Manila.

A part of the mall was transformed into a Japanese alley, complete with accents and stalls that offered different Nissin Souper Meal noodles, making it feel like guests were strolling along a Japanese street. We were given a passport, which we had to present to every stall for stamping before we were given a sample of each of the noodle flavors.


Nissin Souper Meal (Seafood)
Offers a deep-sea delight in a hefty serving. Like what I have said earlier, this has been my favorite flavor, and I was glad that even if Nissin noodles had a new look, the flavor didn't change at all. It still had it's distinct seafood flavor with the spicy kick of the ginger.


Nissin Souper Meal (Garlic Pork Tonkotsu)
Whenever we are at a Japanese restaurant, I don't really go for Ramen, but when I do, I usually go for pork-flavored ramen because of it's savory thick (and slightly creamy) broth, and I am so happy that Nissin offered this flavor. The way I described this was that of a fusion of Japanese Pork Ramen and the garlicky Batchoy. This is Nissin's first ever pork-based variant.


Nissin Souper Meal (Hot & Spicy)
I like spicy food, yes... but only as a side condiment, because I still prefer the not-spicy dish and just add a little of the spicy condiment every now and then to change the eating experience. When I reached the Hot & Spicy stall, I was apprehensive if I could appreciate it, and of the four flavors, this was the one that surprised me the most. It is spicy, but not too much that it burns the roof of your mouth, and certainly not the kind that would make you cry profusely. What I liked more was its refreshing feel in the mouth, maybe because the soup was like that of water (not creamy or thick). The hint of mushrooms in the soup also added a new flavor, making this my favorite of the three "new" flavors I tasted that day.


Nissin Souper Meal (Beef Brisket)
If one eats with the eyes first, I say we eat with our nose next. I loved how this soup smelled, and tasting it completed the whole experience.

At the end of the food tasting activity, we presented our stamped passports and we played a ball game. Unfortunately, I didn't win, but if you want to be part of this tasty event, there will be another Nissin Souper Food Trip happening next year - January 16 and 17 at the Trinoma Mall and January 30 and 31 at Glorietta Mall.

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At this time and age, we are no longer settling for "pwede na." Today's go-getters look for bold, delicious, and filling noodles, and the Nissin Souper Meal offer just that. With its now bigger size compared to the usual Cup Noodles, it is guaranteed to satisfy our hungry tummies. What's better is that Nissin Souper Meal is packed with a lot of toppings, so we are no longer eating "just noodles."

Then again, if you want to elevate your noodles, you may try any of these:


1) Serve it with toasted bread. Doesn't matter if you butter it or not... doesn't matter if you add garlic bits to it or not... just toast the bread and eat it with the noodles. Yeah, it's carbo-loading food, but bread and a bowl of hot, comforting noodles just taste good together.

2) Add more vegetables. Each bowl of Nissin Souper Meal has enough vegetables and meat bits, but if you want more, you can always add thinly sliced cabbage leaves and carrots. These two vegetables can be eaten raw, so just add the veggies into the bowl, add the hot water, wait.. then eat.

3) Add protein. A lot of people criticize instant noodles as just "carbohydrates and seasoning," so why not make it a complete meal by adding vegetables AND protein? For the Seafood Flavor you may add some baby shrimps, for the Hot & Spicy you may add flaked chicken, for the Garlic Pork Tonkotsu you may add store bought siomai or any pork products, and for the Beef Brisket you may add thinly sliced beef.


However, for if you're a student or a very busy working person and you had no left over meat or you don't have the time to prepare the meat, you may add egg instead. Just take out the noodles first, and in the empty paper bowl, add the dehydrated toppings and seasonings, then add boiling water. For this, I recommend you use boiling water and NOT just hot water, because you need to cook the egg. Once you add the boiling water, add the egg and stir the broth before adding back the noodles. Leave it covered for 3-5 minutes, and enjoy your meal.

Nissin Souper Meal is now available in all supermarkets and grocery stores for only 29 pesos per bowl. A satisfying meal that's easy on the budget...now that's the way I like it!

Eating in Pangasinan

Last weekend has been a wonderful one for us, because we celebrate mom's birthday in her home province - Pangasinan. Initially, my sister and I were planning that us three girls would stay at a hotel somewhere and we would visit nearby interesting places... but while on the road two weeks before (Caramoan trip), our companion mentioned about us doing a Pangasinan trip and it sparked an idea between mom and I... that instead of staying at a hotel, might as well travel to Pangasinan and spend her birthday with Aunt Mary, one of her sisters. Good thing, Aunt Mary is scheduled to travel to Pangasinan as well, so a definite plan was set.

We traveled 11pm from Cubao and reached their hometown of Bolinao around 4am. Uncle Arthur met us and we took their boat going to the fish cage where there is a hut for us to stay at. We slept a little, got up at 6:30am and we then laid out our proposed plan so everything will be coordinated.


Our first destination (12 September) was in Tondol Beach, located in the town of Anda. It was our first time to see the place, and we were in awe of its beauty! I can actually compare it to Boracay - with its powdery whitish sand and clear waters that made us feel as if we were in a big swimming pool. The downside was that as time passed, the water of the beach subsides little by little, and that there weren't much water to swim on because there's a part in the beach with lots of seaweeds. We didn't wear any slippers, so we didn't dare walk on those parts in fear we might step on some sea urchins. My tip... if you want to go to this beach, be there as early as possible so you can fully enjoy the water, and I heard sunrise here is spectacular.


The next day, we traveled to Hundred Islands in the town of Alaminos. Coming from Bolinao, it was already near lunch time when we got there, so our island hopping was actually shorter than expected, because we opted to go for the "service" type of trip, which supposed to allow us to visit whatever island we wanted to visit (the regular trip will only allow visit to the three major islands in the area). Anyway, I am happy to see Hundred Islands again - it was refreshing to see the changes in the area, though part of me was sad as well, because I personally wanted to see the islands as is - and seeing a concrete kind of development sort of "ruins" the experience for me.


If there's one kind of concrete development I am grateful for, it would be this railing atop the Governor's Island. When I first traveled here in 2010, there was only a thick rope that acted as a fence, which was a little risky to put up.

Overall, I enjoyed the island hopping. We didn't get to set foot in Children's Island anymore because the rain started to fall, but we were able to enjoy the waters of Clave Island and we got to pass through Cuenco Tunnel as well. This place already earned a soft spot in our hearts, and we are sure to visit there again.

Okay, food. Hahahaha.

Prior to this trip, I got to see pictures posted by a friend on Facebook and I loved the way she chronicled all the food she ate while she was on her trip. I told myself I will do the same for this trip, but I guess I am still adjusting to owning a camera again, that I wasn't really able to do such. Still, here are some of the food I ate while I was in Pangasinan:

Monday Foodstagram II

It's time for Monday Foodstagram once again. Here are the food pics I posted on Instagram last week.


Instant Coffee
FatMumSlim's prompt for that day's Photo a Day was "early," and for me, the best way to perk me up early in the morning is a cup of hot coffee. My favorite instant coffee mix as of late has been San Mig White Coffee.

Sinampalukang Manok
When the girls and I went to the market the day before, I saw a stall selling young tamarind leaves and immediately craved for Sinampalukang Manok, which I cooked for lunch. Gloomy weather calls for comfort food, and this one was a sure winner.

Pancakes and Bacon
I truly don't like my sister to skip meals, so to make sure she eats before she leaves the house for work, I cooked pancakes and bacon for us three girls for breakfast. I used the Maya Pancake Mix for this - the one that only needs water (no need for egg and butter), but I used one part milk one part water just to make it tastier. I rarely cook pancakes in the house as it is not my favorite food - unless I pair it with something savory, but true enough this pancake mix was so easy to work with. I also didn't need to grease the pan, I just mixed the batter, heat the pan and cook. Flipping it was easy, too! For that "something savory," I cooked bacon, something I miss eating. I like my bacon still soft, my sister likes it very crispy... so this was a compromise. It wasn't soft, but not crispy yet.


Salad with Grapes
The good thing about having a big marketplace nearby is the surprise at what you will find. For that day, my mom and I saw a sidewalk vendor selling grapes at only 50 pesos per half a kilo, super cheap compared to the ones being sold at the fruit stands. Walking home, I also got to see a vendor selling lolo rosso lettuce for only 10 pesos a bunch, and for lunch I prepared salad to go with the fried tilapia. It was my first time to add grapes in my salad, and it turned out to be good. Hopefully we get to see more fruits at cheap prices so we can eat healthy without creating a hole into the wallet.

Sausage Meal at Kenny Rogers
Yesterday, us girls went to the mall to eat lunch and shop for groceries. Sister decided to eat at Kenny Rogers Roasters and I went for the Sausage Meal because I wasn't in the mood to eat something heavy. The menu didn't indicate (or it totally slipped my eyes) that rice was included, so instead of coleslaw, I went for Mac & Cheese as my side dish. I was pretty dismayed when I saw my plate...carbs overload! Well, I didn't eat the rice anymore... the muffin and the macaroni were enough for me.

Salad with Mango Vinaigrette
While at the supermarket, I got to see a bottle of Clara Ole Mango Mio! vinaigrette and decided to buy it. Since I still had the carbo horror from lunch, I decided to just prepare salad for us girls - no rice, no other viands... just salad. For protein, I cooked ground pork in olive oil seasoned with salt, pepper, and oregano leaves until crispy, and I also added some cashew nuts. The vinaigrette was sweet and tangy, kinda like Frutos or Fruit Tella candies... but I liked it. Using it, I didn't feel the need to buy mangoes for my salad anymore.

Just six food pictures from last week; hopefully this week I can share more pictures. Have a great Monday, everyone!

Recipe | Mini Fiesta Frittatas

It's been a while since I last shared a recipe, and yesterday I was happy to be able to cook something new for the family. I have wanted to try this for the longest time, but whenever I attempt to do it, I will forget one key ingredient, making me put it on hold. Zucchinis are quite cheap when we last do our major grocery shopping, so I really told myself I'd test this recipe.

This recipe is part of Yummy Magazine's "Baon" Cookbook, and is also printed on their website. Here's the original recipe:


Mini Fiesta Frittatas
{Makes 12 pieces}

Ingredients:

• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup diced sweet or spiced ham
• 1/3 cup grated melting cheese
• 1/2 cup diced zucchini
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• oil for greasing

How to Cook:

• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Stir in ham, cheese, zucchini, and red bell pepper.
• Grease a 12-cup regular muffin pan with oil. Using a ladle, fill muffin cups with egg mixture until three-fourths full.
• Bake in a preheated 375ºF oven until mixture puffs and sets in the center, about 10 to 12 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, loosen frittatas from the muffin cups and transfer to a platter.

Veggie tip: Make this into a vegetarian dish by omitting the ham and adding more veggies. Play around with different vegetables such as blanched broccoli, fried eggplant, or roasted squash.

For this recipe, I only used 4 large eggs. We don't have an oven and we don't have a muffin pan, so for this, I used the silicone muffin cups, lined with aluminum foil, just to make it easier to remove from the cup, but proved to be difficult to eat. I first steamed the egg cups for about 10 minutes, let it rest for a while, then popped them in the oven toaster for 3 minutes, just to roast the top part. Since I didn't brush the cups with oil, I went ahead and added a little Dari Creme (Herb & Garlic) on top before putting them in the oven toaster to give it additional flavor. Personally, I think it made the frittatas taste better. I made about 8 frittatas, using 1/4 cup of mixture per muffin cup.

I loved how it tasted, but please go easy on the salt with this one. The ham already had its own seasoning, and the cheese is quite salty, too, so be sure you add just a little salt. No need for dips and sauces here, but I think the old reliable ketchup might boost more flavors. Next time I'd try this using bacon or native (crumbled) longganisa.


Just a little test in the kitchen. I cooked one frittata using the oven toaster, to let me know if I could use just the oven toaster should I cook this again. The one at the front was the one cooked in the oven toaster, the rest were steamed first. Steaming + Oven Toaster resulted in a fluffier effect, while the one cooked in the Oven Toaster appeared flat. Setting the oven toaster for 10 minutes cooked the eggs completely, but there were toasted part around and at the bottom of the cup. The top remained yellowish with no hints of toasting because I covered it loosely with aluminum foil.

I still can't decide which method was the best for me. I guess cooking it in the oven toaster saves time as I was able to cook it in 10 minutes flat... but I am still bound to experiment using different cups to make it look presentable.