Nuts for coconuts and YOU

WARNING!- the succeeding photos are just about the same faces 😁

So, we had a "Sun-date" today at View Point Grill and Restaurant and shared the grins and laughs below. 

Flotsam and Getsam- more!

So we finally got to visit Flotsam and Getsam! A fun place it is! I wasn't in the mood for photo taking so pardon ze lazy shots.

Love those lights!

Five- minute drink and Lemon-honey drink of ze son and hubby

Salad delight!

Oh so pizza!

'em chicken wings!

Carbonara zest,

Refreshing water to down it all...

My happy friends

ze hubby n ze son


Special thanks to Karen 😜

Where to Stay In Baguio 001: CityLight Hotel

Welcome to A Series of Hotel Hopping in The City of Pines, Baguio

(The PANAGBENGA/Flower Festival Is All Set There Again so Finding A Great Place to Stay is a Must)

First in this Series is my stay at City Light Hotel, Come Let's Enter!

Date With Myself

A photo posted by thelettersinnovember (@zenskulasa) on Feb 24, 2016 at 12:42am PST

Baked Spaghetti and Carrot Cake- were what accompanied me on my impromptu date today. I guess it was inspired by my BFF's "ME" dates. I can not begin to enumerate how crazily busy I am these days- medical missions, meetings, workshops, aaahhhh sigh.

Sunday Lunch at Gerry's Restaurant and Bar

We're in Baguio now and enjoying the cool summer breeze the place offers. We first visited Mine's View Park and soaked in the beauty of clouds and mountains.



There was a family debate as to where we will eat. The hubby and the first-born won because my male version and I had opposing choices.

I wanted pasta and pizza, the male version wanted chicken. So, the first-born and the hubby got us into a carnivorous indulgence.

Gerry's it was!

Sisig

Laing

Pork chop

Gerry's Vegetable Rice

Bulalo

The boys had a great time! As always though I did not have the privilege of taking photos of my camera shy men, sigh.

Until next foodie time with the fambam!

Wicked Ideas For Running a Successful Restaurant

Running a restaurant is often thought of as a glamorous experience. Television and the movies have certainly heightened the appeal for a lot of people. But, for every restaurant that succeed there are many that fail in it’s place. Running a restaurant is much harder work than a lot of people realise. In fact, it’s a lot more difficult than running, say, a pub. Once you involve food in the process things become much more complicated.

You need to know about the processes involved in the running of a successful restaurant. A lot of these will be similar templates for most business models. But you’ll need to make sure your focus is on the restaurant, and the food side of the business. Here are some awesome ideas for how you can run a successful restaurant.

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Friday- OOTD

I had two goals yesterday.

1. To survive an interview get out of the room alive, no passing out between questions.

2. To drive for two hours straight without panic attacks and any bit of scratch on the car.

I don't have a lot of decent clothes to choose from in my closet and I grabbed a long-sleeved striped polo to give me the look I needed. You know, the nerdy, reliable, respectable effect LOL.

Lunch at Edsa Shangri-La

Norwegian Salmon
Melted Onion Puff
Pastry Tart  & Tomato Confit with Citrus Thyme

Celebrating Our 13th at Cafe By The Ruins

It's a shame I haven't visited Baguio's most unique resto not until yesterday on an unplanned anniversary make-up trip with the hubby to the City of Pines.

02 Nov. 2014 early morning text-message exchange with the hubby

Me: Hi, can I go out on a date with myself?

Him: Can I join? Let's go to Baguio and continue our failed date the other day. 

The next thing I knew I was boarding a mini-bus to meet the hubby.

I must admit I am no whiz when it comes to geography that I even had to google its location. The ruins, I learned from a page on the menu are a stretch of stone wall across the street from Baguio City hall, relic of the house of the last governor general. I once attempted to see the place but to my dismay the taxi driver I asked didn't know where it was! Surprisingly it's just at the back of Eurotel in an area I've been to more than once and right at the entrance of the city proper. The hubby kept texting me fearing I might get lost LOL. I had the unfortunate experience of having ridden a bus whose engine overheated! Ah you bet I had the scare of my life the first instance I realized something was awfully wrong with the engine. Lesson learned, I won't ride one of those mini-buses to Baguio ever again. I am thankful though to have arrived safe and sound to enjoy lunch with the hubby.

So on a lighter note- here's what we had!

I've read several good reviews about their "kamote" bread and fruit jams so I decided to give it a try.

Ernie's Kamote Bread

flour enriched with kamote and honey

Hmmmm  looked tasty to me! I wanted some strawberry jam to go with it but I was offered guava jam instead because strawberries apparently aren't in season. The bread was soft just the way I wanted it with some kind of magical aroma. The hubby and I shared the loaf him choosing the ends while I devoured the middle portions.

The guava jam replacement more than made up for my craving though! Whew, that familiar gritty feel of the guava flesh on my tongue plus that sweet sour taste brought a thousand childhood memories back. The butter mingling with the sweetness actually made me think of those happy times I had with my brother climbing trees at our backyard.

My brain was screaming for strawberry shake too which I haven't had in ages but I settled for a better choice actually, their "Rizal chocolate drink" specialty!

As I expected it was creamy and had that mouth watering native chocolatey goodness perfect for the slightly chilly atmosphere.

Me in a failed selfie attempt to capture the cup while I drank, impossible feat at that moment because shyness overcame me LOL. Believe me I could spend minutes perfecting a "selfie" shot when no one is looking. It's difficult being a blogger and not having a blogger/photographer buddy always around to hang out with.

My date busy candy crushin' toinks! Wonderin' what he ate aside from the bread? He's on a forced vegetarian diet so I ordered salad for him.

Hmmm I think I should have chosen Gado-gado a noted cafe favorite. Next time I'd try it! The sound of crispy tofu cubes, watercress and lettuce dipped in peanut sauce sounds yum to me!

This one's Cafe by the Ruin's La Top Organic Farm Salad.

It's the day's harvest from the Organic Farmers of La-Top, cherry tomatoes, French beans, baby carrots romaine lettuce, etc with shaved Carabao gouda cheese. 

I must admit I had a hard time convincing the hubby to eat "just it" LOL. So he settled for his beloved coffee which was served with flair. 

The hubby and I turned "13" on the 31st and our stay at the Cafe is symbolic of our strong marital bond that stands the test of the time like the Ruins.

The cafe is truly a representation of  the best of Baguio and the Cordillera's culture. I concur that it is a MUST VISIT in The City of Pines. 

Cafe by the RuinsBaguio City

23 Chuntug StBaguio City, Benguet(074) 442-4010

✿Foodie/Travel Letters: Time For Some Tea

Okay, so I finally got to check out the latest craze in town. Yeah I know a bit late but always better late than never eh? I learned that Moonleaf started out as a quaint shop around four years ago offering tea drinks in different concoctions in a relaxing, friendly atmosphere.