Villa De Oro, Tagaytay

Another random trip to Tagaytay made me discovered a beautiful place to stay. A trip with my forever childhood friends_ the whole clan of Macalintal.
Led by my bffs Icor and Raisa (from the clan), it was spontaneous with no specific direction to hit when we left Manila at 10 am. Four cars convoyed to nowhere.
Majority won. Our children outnumbered us, the parents, the unwilling victims /adults. We spent the whole day trekking the minors trail. The zip lines ride, horseback riding, cable car_ all for these spoiled creatures of the day.
Parents loved their children. Unconditionally. drama effect.
Until the sky turned dark and nobody, adults and kids alike wanted to go down to Manila. The decision was unanimous. We were going to stay overnight.
But hey, big problem with capital C (cash?? hehe!), we didn't have reserved accommodation. It was peak season. The hotel were full. Besides, we were a big bunch. Loaded on three cars, we were quite a number to behold.
Ting*. An angel Raisa saved the moment. She knew a place that would accommodate us. It was a tad late. It was after we had our late dinner. She made a call (the place was ran by nuns and priest ) and got positive reply.
The place was called Villa De Oro.
We entered a big gate which was dark . We went straight to our assigned room and slept the rest of the long day.



When the sun brightly smiled to us in the morning, everyone was surprised by the beauty of the place.




The kids were nowhere in sight inside the house. Someone said, all of them woke up earlier than us adults and ran to the pool.




As for us_ the moms, we checked each rooms of the house. And got fascinated by the antiques.








This is the master bedroom. One of the only three rooms of the house and the only one that has airconditioning. The other two are dormitory like rooms with five double decker beds that each room can acommodate up to ten pax. Both are non- aircon and have electric fans only. The rooms are all neat and span. Beddings smell good. Notice the age and materials of the room.

The old century detailed attitude is consistently evident all throughout the house. Old chairs with antique intricate designs, sit pretty along the corridor.












Side and coffee tables adorned with century old sculpture creations.




There are three living rooms in the villa, adjacent to each other. Each has a character of its own. I wish I could remember my Art history lessons so I could identify to you the age and description of each item. But sorry, my Art brain storage is no longer active at this point of my existence_*raised one eyebrow , wink*












There is a quarter sun room which cuts the other living room from the other one. Don't be deceived, the bird is fake and is just a statue. The girl? She's my daughter playing mannequin.

All three living rooms are accessible through the dining room with working kitchen.
















We stepped out of the house and started to explore the rest of the resort. From the entrance, the house where we were staying was just right beside the gate. The drive way led to a pagoda.




The pagoda is multi purpose and can hold a number of people. We had our breakfast there.








Villa de Oro was one beautiful garden, adorned with grottos, huge jars, colorful flowers, interesting plants and trees. It is after all well known as wedding and other events venue




There's a chapel for Catholic weddings and for non-Catholics, they could opt to have an open garden wedding ceremonies.








There are two pretty reception halls which I think can be turned as one depending to the number of guests.




I surely want to go back for a longer stay next time :D






























































  









































































































































































 

Let's Go To Tagaytay Market

It's funny how my dear relatives would lead me to going up to Tagaytay. My aunt would call on the phone and would say_" let's go up there, I've ran out of suka" (she loves the kaong vinegar), then a follow-up call from my cousin who would agree to the idea because according to her she suddenly feel an urge for dried tawilis and bulalo. From there, the market list would go on and as the time went on, Tagaytay has become a favorite weekend market of my family.







I see pineapples aeound Tagaytay. Sometimes they are as sweet like the ones from the can. Buy usually they are..








need I say more??? haha, the face!



At this point, there would be little arguments between me and the vendor. Here, the expert vendor is always right. She would insist of the sweetness of the pineapple and would go as far as blaming my toothpaste mint flavor ( even though it had been 5 hours ago since I brushed my teeth last), as culprit of my unacceptable verdict to her pineapple.



But hey manang, don't cha forget, universally_ the customer is always right! So I would go around until I find the right sweet pineapples that match my sweet tooth.



Until then the case is dismissed and I'm happy with my pineapple purchase from Tagaytay market.




There was a period of time that I was frantically into "all must be organic".But just like othe phases of my life, that too had passed. Although, I remain to be interested with organic products, I stop hunting hard. I hust buy whenever available.







my favorite alalay in the market, my older daughter
Usually, we go to Tagaytay on a snap. Sometimes we arrive at lunch time and mostly after market hours which are before 12 nn. So frequent the Mahogany Market. They say that items here are more expensive than the other wet markets here.



Other times we also buy from little market we see on the road like this one..
















And go home to Manila with one week supply of fresh vegies and fruits. With happy smiles on our faces.




Except the tired driver_ my husband :))

Bahay Pastulan, Tagaytay

When you are in Tagaytay, don't forget to get your take home goodies from Bahay Pastulan. This is the Good Sheeperd in Tagaytay. Like its Baguio counterpart, you can buy the famous ube jam here. How convenient! No need to travel 8 hours to savor the yummy ube jam.




There are slight distinctions thu'. Here in Tagaytay the jam is not in a bottled jar, instead in a plastic container. Also, the  queue of buyers here is much shorter than Baguio.
But the thing is I can't find any distinction in taste. They are both the best ube jam makers in the Philippines. Or are they one?
Aside from the ube jam, other Baguio products are also available here_straberry jam, lengua, peanut brittle and the others. One thing that I think is endemic here is the buco pie.

It's my daughter's favorite and wouldn't leave the place without a box of buco pie. She wouldn't consume it thu' not until the following day at home after one day refregeration. She likes it cold and old.
We saw at the front side of the building that they were also selling "halo-halo". There were customers enjoying the halo-halo right at the front of the canteen eating standing. We never got to try it yet, but I'm sure it's delicious as I suppose they are using their own sweets products like ube and macapuno.

Tootsie's, Tagaytay

Tootsie's is very visible if you're driving around Tagaytay. I don't remember an instance that we don't pass by this restaurant when we are in this city.



After a while, we stop ignoring the resto, intrigued by the happy diners inside, seen from the road everytime we passed by, finally we walked in.


Upon entering the entrance of the place, my daughter grabbed a magazine from the rack. Flipping over the pages while walking to the table, she was proud of her "freshly found news", and blurted out_" look this resto is featured in this magazine! It must be good!"

Sold by the idea of the magazine, my daughter had right away fell at home with the place. In fairness, it was really homey. It was like you were just in your own dining room. The sofas have literally injected the ambiance.



The menu said nothing new to us, it was all Filipino dishes and obviously with their own original concoction of each dish.

And since everything seemed familiar, we ordered a family favorite_Karekare.

An expert on this dish, everyone said it was ok, only we didn't like the bagoong.Tasted like it was not sauteed the way we wanted it.




As per suggestion of the waiter we had a must try (according to him) Tadyang ng Baka. Except for me, who was turned off by the obvoust fats, the rest of my family loved this. I tried a little of the lean part, dipped in the condiments, and liked it too.