Spending Quiet Moments in Tagaytay

My husband and I have been spending a lot of quiet moments in Tagaytay.

Because of the monsoon and typhoons, it’s been rainy and foggy in Tagaytay. It’s dangerous to drive when there’s thick fog…

…and super dangerous to cross the street too.

For three consecutive weekends we stayed at the Lake View Hotel along Aguinaldo Highway.

Buffet breakfast is included in the discounted room rate. The hot sopas is always a welcome treat although the taste could still be improved.

I requested the waiter to reheat the tawilis. He wholeheartedly did but the tawilis was not tasty. I think a simple frying without any need for flour coating is better. It just needs a sprinkle of tiny salt, fry or grill it.

There’s a swimming pool adjacent to the breakfast area so watching those guests swimming while shivering from the cold is good entertainment. Most of them don’t wear swimsuits. A good number wear long sleeve shirts baka kasi nagiginaw. I’ve seen one guy wearing a vest maybe to protect his likod and dibdib para hindi sya mapulmonya. Some women wear sexy bikini for photo op only.

Early supper at Santi’s in Cavite.

Edmund found a small store selling the original Jacobina biscuits. It’s actually a store selling livestock feeds. He bought some for emergency food while we were in the farm under heavy rain.

We went to the Mahogany market to buy fruits. I bought two kilos of lanzones from this stall. The one piece of lanzones she gave me for tasting was sweet and delicious. But when I bought two kilos, the ones she gave me were all crap. Walang lasa at masama ang lasa, I wanted to go back to complain but we were already two kilometers away and there was heavy downpour.

We’ve been buying small plants and flowers to grow while it’s still rainy season hoping that before summer comes the trees and plants would be stable already and would be able to withstand lesser water during the summer months.

We don’t have a landscaper. Basta we just buy whatever we like and see, pakonti-konti lang kasi ang mahal din ng mga halaman. It’s going to take maybe two more years to make the place look like a real garden. I want to have a small greenhouse so I could have herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, spring onions, etc. It would be nice to pick veggies from your own garden. I don’t know how to set it up. I want to get someone from UP Los Banos to help me and to teach our caretaker the right way of growing herbs.

Very early dinner at Buon Giorno. Edmund wasn’t able to finish this osso buco, lucky dogs, they had delicious dinner.

Next night dinner, in Edmund’s favorite resto, Balay Dako.

I think we are reaching our sawa point, one of this days we’ll stop coming to this restaurant, medyo nasasawa na ako.

We didn’t touch the beef steak Tagalog so our dogs were happy again the next day.

Edmund skipped having coffee and ordered ginumis instead.

Not to be outdone, I ordered halo halo which I regretted. It made me so full and unload everything I had eaten after an hour.

I hate going to the toilets in Balay Dako. Because the restaurant is very popular, of course there are many who go to the toilets. I hear such queer sounds from women using the toilets. I hear the weirdest sound effects. You know old people make sounds when they pee. Some say “ish ish ish ish”, “shhhshhhhhshhhh”. What’s that for? Some let out some sounds I couldn’t tell if they’re coming or going. Minsan hindi ko alam kung uminom ba sila ng Diatabs or Dulcolax?

Pan de coco is our favorite comfort food when we are in Tagaytay. We buy from the Petron gas station. It only tastes good when the bread is still warm and newly baked, but when it’s cold na, hindi na masarap, matigas na, patuka na lang sa manok.

The trellis I had built for a cost of 9,000 pesos several years ago is now anay-full and needs to be demolished. We intend to replace it with a concrete one para contra-termites but the quotations we got were super mahal. Nung araw you can buy a brand new car for P75,000 ngayon kulang pa pampagawa ng trellis. Nung araw buong bahay na yung P75,000.

I had flu two weeks ago and I still don’t feel super well. There are still moments when I feel dizzy and short of breath. I always feel anxious about something. Staying at the farm even for a few hours doing nothing but stare at the trees relaxes me. I like to inhale and exhale hoping my lungs would like the oxygenated air, rather than the carbon monoxides in Manila.

Pasta dinner for me at the Bag of Beans

Edmund’s order

I’ve seen the transformation of this place from a simple and quaint store to one of Tagaytay’s successful restaurants and chains.
I am in love with the faux wall designed by Joel of Lucina Furniture. Joel is very talented but I wish he knows how to return calls, emails and messages. I wanted him to help me decorate my cottage house but he never cared to return my calls. He has stopped accepting design projects according to his partner Paul. It’s fine.

Our two dogs, sisters Cali and Jersey now live in our mini farm and they are coping well. We always bring some treats for them. Edmund spoils them by giving them bony Batangas beef.

This is Cali, smart but her sister Jersey is smarter.

Tart tila walang hands ang dogs.

It’s hard to say goodbye to this two. They run and follow our car, parang baby ko naiiyak pa ako sa awa. Every time we arrive naman, nakakatuwa, they run and follow our car. And amazingly, even the chickens, bibe and pato follow. Sayang I wasn’t able to capture that moment when the chickens were all following our vehicle. They knew there would be food.

I bought this bench for P3,500 from a furniture store along the Santa Rosa – Tagaytay Highway several years ago. Ang unang presyo nila sa akin when I first inquired was P4,500. I haggled for a lower price. Wala nabulok na. The prices there are now very high, presyong turista. Nagigimbal ako sa presyo nila libu-libo. Meron pang lamesa daang libo. Minsan gusto kong pumunta pero parang natatakot akong magtanong ng presyo, dahil sobrang taas ang mga turing. Napapagod ako pag ganyan.

Our chickens haven’t increased in number despite the hens laying eggs on a regular basis. Tuwi na lang meron daw namatay. Five baby chicks were allegedly killed by our dogs. How sad.

There are two turkeys we don’t own. Kesyo according to our caretaker, the neighbor asked if they could leave them here, hati daw sa itlog. I am not interested in the itlogs, this turkeys eat our chicken food. Natutuwa lang ako makita gagala-gala dito.

We took home a dozen native eggs. In the past we never harvested the eggs in our desire to let our chickens multiply but it’s been a few years yet the number of chickens don’t increase so we might as well get the eggs. The native and organic eggs tasted more delicious than the white layer eggs.
I felt some guilt while eating the eggs, feeling ko I was eating those cute baby chicks.

I feel relax just staring at the leaves and chickens, inhaling fresh pine scent air. You will feel bored here but I don’t. I like the sound of the winds rustling thru the pines and the chirping of birds, crowing of chickens. It uplifts my spirit. Staring at the trees makes me feel like my soul is floating around the trees. It could be boring but depends on how you look at this things, it could be magical most especially when sunset comes. maybe I am only getting older that’s why I feel this way. I could stay here all day just looking at the greenery surrounding me. It’s a lazy thing to do but it’s very calming. I think of nothing but dogs, trees, and feeding the chickens. Moments like this are wonderful privileges from nature.