Kalikaf

After church every Sunday afternoon, my mother and I grab dinner at one of the restaurants in the city before we go grocery shopping. It's like a bonding ritual for us, and I'm always looking forward to it, as I love checking out restaurants... and of course, j'adore grocery shopping.

Last Friday, a new restaurant opened at Robinsons Place Dumaguete--a new branch of Cebu's famous Hukad sa Golden Cowrie. They specialize in Filipino dishes, and even though I'm not a very big fan of Filipino cuisine (except lechon!), I immediately wanted to try the place out.

As expected on its opening weekend, the place was packed. Even if we arrived early for dinner, all tables were already occupied. We had no choice but to look elsewhere. Enter Kalikaf.

Kalikaf, short for Kalikasan Cafe, is just two doors from Hukad. It's also a fairly new restaurant at Robinsons. In fact, they're still in the "soft opening" phase. They specialize in healthy cuisine using all-natural ingredients. I've eaten there with friends and family before. My first experience there was superb, but my second one was a bit blah, I think due to a different chef. This time, they did not disappoint.

Every Sunday they have a 199-peso lunch and dinner buffet. It was my first time to avail of this offer, and it was well worth the money! We started out with Kalikaf Soup, and it was just heavenly. One of the best-tasting soups I've had, I can say. They also had Garden Salad, Fish Teriyaki, which was really good, too, and Orange Blossom Chicken, along with Spaghetti Bolonnaise. Not bad for less than 200 pesos, especially with the added treat of homemade ice cream for dessert! My mom had the Turmeric flavor, and I had Buko-Pandan. Hers was amazing!

Kalikaf tries to pattern itself after Bohol Bee Farm, which is great because I've always wished they would come to Dumaguete. Now the next best thing is here. Soon, Kalikaf will also be offering one of Bohol Bee Farm's specialties: the Flower Salad. The restaurant even already offers another Bee Farm trademark: Malunggay ice cream.

To make the long story short, I love the concept of Kalikaf. I'm already excited to try out something really interesting in their menu the next time I go there: Veggie Cheesecake! Vegetables and cheese--yum! Tell me, how can you go wrong?

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The Church Wedding

Last year, I made an entry about getting hitched in a civil wedding ceremony. I also mentioned the need for a church wedding to appease my parents and conform to society. On June 30, 2012, it finally happened. After almost one year of preparation and stressing out, the day finally came.

The theme of the wedding was rustic. The colors were light pink and matte gold with touches of chocolate brown. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

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Back to SPUD

Last March, I was asked to give an inspirational message to the high school honor students of my alma mater of 12 years (kindergarten to high school), St. Paul University Dumaguete, during their Recognition Day. I was honored by the request, and going back was such a homecoming. It was surprisingly also a very humbling experience.

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Prayer to St. Jude

O most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honoureth and invoketh thee universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, and of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, who am so miserable.

Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of. Come to mine assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity.

I promise thee, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favour, to always honour thee as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to thee. Amen.

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Farewell, Whitney

Today (February 11 in the United States), one of the greatest singers of all time, Whitney Houston, died. My heart is aching. I grew up listening to her music and I loved her songs very much. She had the most wonderful voice and she made the most beautiful songs. She truly was my idol.

But she didn't find happiness in this life, despite her beautiful voice that made so many people happy. With her passing, heaven has gained another angel and her soul can now finally be happy.

Rest in peace, Whitney. You will always be remembered.

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After the Quake

It feels like the island of Negros is being re-shaped. We've been having aftershock after aftershock since the earthquake the other day, which was apparently caused by a blind fault--a fault that no one knew existed. As of 6:00 pm yesterday, there have already been over 1,500 aftershocks. They've gotten even worse today: stronger and more frequent.

My mom is devastated because the hardest-hit area is the area of her hometown, some two hours from Dumaguete. La Libertad is where she grew up and it has been battered, along with the town where she spent her high school, Guihulngan, which has been hit the worst. Our relatives in La Libertad are left without access to food, electricity, and fuel. The house that my parents built for my grandparents is partially damaged, with the comfort room having collapsed. We've sent my uncle to bring them food, and thank goodness there's a spring near where they live that they can get water from.

Pictures have now surfaced and the damage is just unbelievable! Roads have cracked, buildings have crumbled, and bridges have been broken. They're images we've only seen on TV before, as news from faraway places and even scenes from fictional doomsday movies. I can't believe they're happening here, on my beautiful sock-shaped island, and just a few hours away from me. It makes me realize that when nature exposes its wrath, there is truly very little we can actually do to help ourselves.

A road in Guihulngan. How will this ever be fixed?
© Florence Baesa

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Earthquake!

Today, at 11:49 am, Dumaguete experienced an Intensity 7 earthquake. I was at work at the time, and the quake was really strong! After the tremors subsided, we thought all was okay, but suddenly, some of our students mentioned receiving text messages of receding waters in the shorelines of the towns nearby. I immediately came home and told my mom to get ready in case we needed to evacuate. The husband of our housekeeper came, and he started telling us that we needed to get to higher ground. I don't know where he got the information, but we gathered our important belongings and documents and decided to head up to the adjacent town of Valencia in the mountains.

While we were on the road, they starting broadcasting on the radio that a level 2 tsunami alert was being raised in our province. Good thing we had an early start, because around 30 minutes after we started moving, people in our city apparently started to panic and were making a mad dash for the hills. The roads leading up to the mountains were full of cars and people! By this time, my mom and I were already safely tucked away in my uncle's house in an elevated part of Valencia.

Thankfully, there was no tsunami. Frankly, it's probably not likely that we will have a huge tsunami in this area because we are in between islands, but at that time, I don't think we were thinking. Fortunately, there was no major damage in Dumaguete. The earthquake, with an epicenter off the shores of the town of Tayasan, some 72 km north of Dumaguete, was still considered "inland". Although the center was in the sea, it was still close to land, so there was no tsunami. It was devastating in some towns north of the city though. Thirteen people have been declared dead in the province, with over 20 more missing.

The earthquake certainly shook us up, and now, less than 12 hours after it happened, there has apparently been over 150 aftershocks. We felt a handful of them, and we're all a teeny bit paranoid. We're hoping and praying, though, that there will be no more tremors.

Here are some photos from all over Negros Oriental, taken from Facebook, on this extremely stressful day.

Debris at Robinsons Place Dumaguete

Starting to panic, at the city center

In Guihulngan, the worst-hit town

In Tayasan, near the epicenter

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The (Dreaded?) High School Reunion

A lot of people dread their ten-year high school reunion. I didn't, because I was part--if not leader--of the organizing committee. So when ours came along during the last weekend of October, I was (forced to be?) in the midst of it all.

Our t-shirt design

It was funny, because months before, we had such grandiose plans of how we would celebrate the thing. But of course, as expected, a lot of people did not cooperate. Instead of a cocktail event at some posh resort, we had to come up with humbler plans.

We joined the school parade to celebrate its 107th anniversary, to an Angry Birds theme

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Hong Kong Honeymoon

My husband and I don't exactly have all the time in the world to spend with each other because of our current living arrangements, but we wanted to squeeze in a honeymoon after our civil wedding. We decided on Hong Kong because it was close to the Philippines thus we'd need less travel time, it had a Disneyland, and we thought it would be, well... cheap. It wasn't. Hong Kong is about as expensive the West, or Japan; at least the Japan of seven years ago. But it's beautiful. And clean. Yup, it's the cleanest and most beautiful city I've visited so far.

Their airport was lovely. And it was huge! Just imagine having to take a train from the arrival area to other parts of the airport. That's how big it was. And the shops--they were awesome! That is one airport I wouldn't mind being stuck in. It's divided into two terminals, but both are connected. We found this restaurant called Hung's Delicacies at one of the terminals and had our first taste of Hong Kong food. We had roasted chicken with garlic, and roasted pork with goose meat. My husband hated his chicken, and even though I am very adventurous when it comes to food, I can't say I enjoyed my pork and goose meal, either. They were just sort of, icky. They seemed to have this weird-tasting seasoning we've never tried before. The funny thing is, we were forced to eat the same kind of food the next day, and the day after that, in Disneyland and Ocean Park! It seemed to be the only food widely available. Whereabouts were the world-famous dim sum?!?

We checked in at the Regal Riverside Hotel in Sha Tin, New Territories. My husband and I go by the motto, "The most stars for the least price" when picking a hotel. We chose Regal Riverside because it was the best one we could get for its price. We knew it was a little out of the way, but we opted for comfort over location. And we weren't disappointed. The hotel was located in a quiet area relatively close to a train station and it had a number of restaurants. The staff were friendly and room service was good. It didn't have free WiFi, though. (Which should not be a surprise, as free WiFi in Hong Kong was hard to come by.)

I was in my element when we were going around Hong Kong! We took my most favored form of transportation--the trains--their MTR or Mass Transit Railway system. It was like Japan all over again, but even better, because for every Chinese instruction or announcement, there was an English counterpart. It was such a relief! The entire city of Hong Kong is connected by trains, so it's fairly cheap and really easy to go everywhere.

Of course, you can't visit Hong Kong without going to Disneyland and Ocean Park. Disneyland was so-so. If you've been to another Disneyland park before, I'll have to warn you that you'll be disappointed with the one they have in Hong Kong. Kids, of course, will still have fun, but adults might find it boring, like we did. It didn't help that Space Mountain was closed when we were there. Ocean Park was great, though. We loved the Raging River log ride and the Grand Rapids. We really got wet! The best experience of all was the cable car ride. It's something you should definitely not miss if you find yourself in Hong Kong!

The highlight of our Hong Kong trip was Victoria Peak. Known locally as The Peak, it's a popular tourist attraction of a mountain that offers great views of the the city and Victoria Harbour. At the summit is the Peak Tower, a building that has shops, restaurants, the Madame Tussauds wax museum, and an observatory. Getting there was extremely fun: we took the Peak Tram, an old train that goes at an incline up the mountain.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Pearl of the Peak at The Peak Tower. We were seated overlooking the city and harbor. The view was amazing, but the dinner was ridiculously expensive! We charged it to a once-in-a-lifetime experience, though. In all fairness, it was an extremely lovely experience and we had the best food that night. Ever. And I'm not exaggerating.

We only had a weekend to spend in Hong Kong, and that was very short. There were other spots we wanted to visit, such as the Tian Tin Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, but we just didn't have the time. We wanted to go to Macau, too, but that was impossible. Still, our Hong Kong trip, albeit short, was a lovely experience. It's one that we will cherish for a lifetime.

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Hitched

A close friend of mine told me last year that I would get married in 2011. I laughed at him. I did not even have a boyfriend at that time, how could I get married this year? Little did I know, my friend's prediction would come true.

I got married in a civil ceremony last month. Of course, as the Philippines--and my mother--are highly religious, a church wedding will have to follow. Not much has changed because my husband is still away from me in the meantime, but it still feels surreal. I have a new last name?! I still need to get used to it.

I guess that's how life is. It's full of surprises. You never know what's coming around the corner. Your best bet is to go with the flow. And when something feels right, there's no reason to hold back. So that's what I've done: jumped in! And I look forward to beautiful things ahead.

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