Day 2: Tagaytay Daytrip and war-time stories

Day 2 was a Sunday, the day after Anoy Bong's birthday. the night before, Lisa went up to bed, poor girl, with her feet all swollen up because of all the standing and gofer-ing she had to do as hostess. i soon followed to shower and dress for bed. the guys were left downstairs with their remaining guest, dale. and when dale left, the guys moved in to the dining table. after yet another 30mins or so, Joben and Anoy Bong came up to the second floor and they still on kept chatting with the DH while he got ready to retire too. 

i think its kinda cute that they all obviously love hanging out with each other. and when they all congregate(4 brothers plus 3 more male cousins)...it can be a riot listening to all the outrageous stuff they talk about! i tell ya, with them around, it's just a matter of time before you get tummy cramps from laughing!

So finally, we all got to bed in the early hours of Sunday. and we all got up to the smell of brunch that Anoy Bong and Lisa prepared for us. Predictably, the guys lingered long after the breakfast dishes were cleared away.

Anoy Bong calling Anoy Bill in Bacolod, who was celebrating his own birthday that day

They still were still at it!

Topic: enumerating all the movie/book villains they can remember :)

I had showered and changed, even chatted with Lisa upstairs while waiting for the guys to come up. I also finished the book that Auntie Jo wrote. I found a copy in the hall and enjoyed reading about Auntie's stories. I loved that it was an anthology, my favorite kind of book nowadays. i don't have the patience to invest so much time in a whole book right now, unless its about a topic i absolutely enjoy (like fantasy or a gripping mystery).

When the boys finally came up, the DH just had to try out the Columbia jacket Anoy Bong had ordered from the states. Nice, huh?


We finally got around to leaving for the short 20 min trip up to Tagaytay. Anoy Bong picked up the 3 ladies from their hotel, while Jaime joined us in the pajero.

That's Anoy Bong black car in front of us when we got to Tagaytay

They settled on Buon Giorno for our lunch, which was part of a complex of restaurants, ice cream parlors and even a hotel that shared a fantastic view of Taal volcano and lake.

The view just drew us all out to the veranda:

the DH, Joben & Jaime

It was an overcast day but the view was still amazing. 

Tita Ning had all given us(nephews/nieces/grandkids) monetary gifts following the sale of a piece of her land...and the manila branch just got theirs!

The canopy was just so dramatic, it seemed perfect to photograph the grand dames under it. :)

Auntie Jo, my MIL, Auntie Cely

Lisa and i joining them

Now with all the boys thrown in

We shared in the tarragon tea that the DH and i ordered. it was a fragrant and cooling beverage that we all enjoyed!

We also shared in the bruschetta that was ordered for appetizer

My mate ordered the New York pizza which was just both filling and flavorful! Much as i wanted more of it, i just managed 1 slice!

But only because i was enjoying my prawn pasta too much!

My go-to dish is always seafood...but if they have surf-and-turf, i'm just as game,lol!

This has got to be my favorite photo of the mate and i. thank you Job!

This was the brothers' take on a possible "album cover" if they were a band, lol!

They also tried the neighborhood-thug look...before they reverted to their usual kooky selves, lol!

My mate is a sweetie, mush, mush.

Before heading back home to Sta Rosa, we made a quick stop here for some pasalubong. i got some ube halaya, which has got to the creamiest and smoothest iv ever tasted! when we got back to Bacolod, i demolished a medium container by my lonesome! the mate got some tamarind sweets while joben got the last pandan-flavored kuchinta, which we shared for dessert later that night.

About a quarter of the way down from Tagaytay, Joben spied a hulk statue by the roadside. of course, we could not let the chance pass up, and he circled back so we could take pix.

But my camera's battery conked out at that moment. once again, it was the camera phone to the rescue!

I crossed over to the other side of the road to get a better perspective, but the camera's poor resolution and the failing light didn't help matters. still it was nice to be able to get photos of the mate's favorite comic character!

we came down to a heavy downpour in Sta Rosa but the mate and i had to make a quick stop at the grocery before heading to the church nearby. we had to get buy some liver spread for the sisig that the DH was to make for dinner. but they didn't have that in stock so we got some fois gras instead...which made his sisig a hands-down success! Lisa even wanted to bring some to work to eat for lunch the next day. you did a great job, honey! while the DH tirelessly snipped the left-over lechon head for his specialty, the rest of us chatted and tried to digest all the food we had eaten that day in time for a late dinner!

but it was the story-telling that took place after dinner that we enjoyed so much. the 3 sisters regaled us with stories of their childhoods during wartime in Mindanao. while you would expect horror stories from that period, they told us heart-warming and funny tales instead! we were amazed to hear how LBI was promised a trip to market, but how when they got to the top of the mountain, her mother told her to return home! we couldnt wrap our minds around sending a 3-year-girl down a mountain-side by herself! she remembered crying the whole way home, only stopping when she found a bugnay tree heavy with fruit! 

auntie jo who is much older than LBI or aunt cely remembered more stories and more details. she told us about manning their sari-sari store and how they sold sea salt and sugar they made themselves. on the rare occasions that the men in their household were able to sneak past the japanese patrols, they would go down to the seashore and boil seawater to make rock salt, a precious commodity that was passed not only among family members, but even among neighbors!! and then she told us about the home-made press they used for sugarcane, which involved a lot of sitting and bouncing on to extract the juice for sugar!

and while auntie jo was earning money...auntie cely remembers giving away pad-paper to people, and even giving away a handful of dried dilis to this local guy who would munch a finger chili for each tiny fish he ate! then she had this story about giving up her pet chicken in exchange for a huge bibingka! after which, she went into their house and rolled herself into 1 of the woven mats used for sleeping. while she was sleeping the day away, her family was getting frantic looking for her as it was getting dark out. she was found only when somebody walked into the bedroom and tripped over the rolled up mat on the floor!

but what cracked us all up was what the mate called the story of "industrial espionage". the DH's maternal grandmother was a very hard-working and ingenious woman who would think up all sorts of schemes to earn money for her family of 5 daughters and 1 son while her husband who was a surveyor was often away for months on end. helping her tend to her family in her husband's absence was a younger brother of hers. now in their village, there was a family who sold puto, or rice cakes, and at that time Lola Poping could not figure out the proportions to the puto no matter how she practised. so, she sent her brother, cente, to court the daughter of the puto-makers! in those days of war, it was considered standard practice to offer hospitality to all visitors who still happened to be at one's home when darkness fell. so cente managed to stay the night at the puto-makers house...and naturally he saw how they made the cakes. some versions of the story had him even helping out! so by the time dawn broke, and he was on his way home, he already got the recipe and the procedure down pat. and that was how lola poping got into the lucrative puto-business!!

another story about lola poping was about how she started a beauty parlor in their own kitchen. she managed to convince some tribeswomen from the neighboring mountain to get "perms". she would wrap their long hair around slender bamboo sticks and thread both hair and stick into the hollow stalks of papaya...and then literally IRON them!! and her "customers" would kneel on the floor with their heads level with the ironing board while lola poping "curled" their hair with her trusty iron! gives new meaning to the phrase "curling iron" alright!! and the tribeswomen would ride home with their bouncing curls and more of them would come down to patronize lola poping's beauty parlor. what an ingenious and innovative woman, we are in awe!

oh, im just so sori i didn't think to record or take notes while the sisters were talking about their childhoods...they were precious memories after all. i will just have to remember to secret a recorder the next time they are together since they feed and build on each other's reminisces so well!

we were chatting until around 11 when they finally peeled themselves away to their hotel, and also because anoy bong and lisa had work the next day. joben was taking the next day off to be with us, so we could just sleep in, the three of us.

altogether it was a great day to be with family. will have to make a return trip so we can visit The Grove, a picnic grounds with a zipline and a view deck overlooking Taal lake and volcano. and of course to visit the other restaurants offering organic fare!

this turned out to be much longer than i anticipated, hehe.

will need to stop for now...talk to you again tomorrow. A bientot!