To be continued…in the meantime, check these photos (click to enlarge).

No, it’s not called a spa. It’s also not called a rehabilitation center or a medical tourism clinic. It’s called a cocoon.

And that’s the inspiration of the Cocoon Boutique Hotel. According to Cocoon, it’s a “nesting place where you can safely let nature take its course and you come out renewed and invigorated.”

Cocoon’s philosophy sounds like a great reason to go against the grain during holy week exodus from Metro Manila. Too much time is wasted on the road during the holiday rush and too many people are crowded in vacation spots outside the metro. Better to stay in Metro Manila during holy week, where zombies would have wide, deserted roads to roam freely.

It’s ironic that Metro Manila offers a lot of hotels and venues to choose from, but the choice is not exactly easy. There’s only so little time to spend in similar hotels so the challenge is to pick out something different. The Cocoon Boutique Hotel, with its eco-friendly approach to secluded relaxation in the heart of the bustling Metro, is a perfect choice.

Choosing the features of the venue revolves around one important fact — kids. For the huge segment of the traveling population with kids, including ourselves, there are a number of minimum amenities that a hotel or venue must have to keep the kids occupied during vacations.

To be continued…in the meantime, check these photos (click photo to enlarge).

See also Swimming Pool of Cocoon Boutique Hotel and Abuela’s Coffeeshop.

The usual treat when inside UP campus, at least for us, is the fish ball. The stationary carts are ubiquitous, located in designated places, with the food peddled by accredited vendors that must pass health and other regulations. Go around and explore because no two fish ball stands are the same — the sauce makes all the difference.

In other times, just to bring variety to the mix, we’d go for isaw or the barbecue. Yum! Yum! Yum!

Or we’d drop by Cafe Via Mare. It may be difficult to spot this restaurant. It’s facing Katipunan inside the compound of GT Toyota-Asian Center, that boring-looking concrete structure beside the UP College of Law. Opposite to Cafe Via Mare, at the other side of Katipunan, is the Maynilad Water. If you still don’t know how to find Cafe Via Mare (perhaps be contented with the pisbol?), ask for directions (use the College of Law as marker).

In happier days, those days when everyone in the group was free from health challenges like diabetes, we would have ordered the mouthwatering Guinataang Halo-halo, the puto bumbong, palitaw and bibingka, complete with Laguna cheese and salted duck egg. We’ve downed Dinuguan at Puto, the Crispy Pata, Kare-Kare, Inasal na Manok and Crisp Adobo Flakes.

And how can we forget the Filipino Dessert Shooters? That’s three favorite Filipino dessert in small servings, shotglass-size servings: halo-halo, mais con hielo, and guinomis. Do NOT forget to order the dessert shooter next time you visit the Cafe Via Mare, even if you don’t see this food item in online menus.

Say that again, “I will NOT forget to order the Filipino dessert shooters when I visit Cafe Via Mare in UP Diliman.” Don’t be shy, say it again. Good! And good for you. At least you still get to enjoy it and we can’t. Health reasons. Sad. Really sad.

But all is not lost. The rest of the menu offerings are just as great. Of course, there’s the fresh Lumpia Ubod (“spring roll of hearts of palm with pork and shrimps”). There’s the thick Arroz Caldo (“savory rice porridge” with choice of chicken or goto), the Monggo Soup (“favorite comfort food of mung bean with ampalaya leaves served with shrimps and chicharon”) and the Tiyan ng Bangus Asado (“milkfish bellies with onion rings”). Somehow healthy, but very delicious, food servings.

The food at Cafe Via Mare tastes really good. Consistently very, very good. It’s like the chefs and cooks are scared that the unsatisfied eating public might stage a lighting rally, this being UP territory. So be scared, be very scared, dear chefs (and keep up the great job of churning delicious plates of food, day in and day out).

To be continued…in the meantime, check these photos (click to enlarge). See also the Crispy Dinuguan of Kanin Club.

To be continued…in the meantime, check these photos (click to enlarge).

See also Cocoon Boutique Hotel (Quezon City) and Swimming Pool of Cocoon Boutique Hotel.

But first, let’s set the right level of expectation. The Musical Fountain Show at Manila Ocean Park is not as complex as, say, the Songs of the Sea in Singapore’s Sentosa island (skip this paragraph if you haven’t watched shows like the Songs of the Sea). We were expecting the Musical Fountain Show to be at par, the reason why we took a separate trip to MOP solely for the reason of watching the lights and sound show.

Still, the Manila Ocean Park’s Musical Fountain Show is worth watching.

The 45-minute show elicited a few “wooohhh” and “wow” from the crowd (including us, of course). And the entrance fee? Spare one serving of your favorite mocha frap and you can pay for the P150 entrance fee (or, you could head out to the free Lights and Sound Show at the adjacent at the Luneta/Rizal Park).

Plus, the Manila Ocean Park, home of the Musical Fountain Show, is located in the heart of an entertainment pocket in Metro Manila. As we said above, in Manila Ocean Park, there’s the original attraction, there’s the newer Birds of Prey, the Penguin Exhibit, the Snow Village, and the Trick Art Museum. It’s a walking distance from the Museo Pambata, the Luneta (Rizal Park) and the Intramuros. It’s practically a hop away from the historic Manila Hotel and the Kilometer Zero.

To be continued…in the meantime, check these photos (click to enlarge).

To be continued…in the meantime, check these photos (click to enlarge).

We’re tempted to spill the beans on Barrel Man‘s special power. Yes, Jose, Barrel Man has a secret weapon. But we won’t tell you. If you already know, good for you. If not yet, we won’t spoil the fun. Let’s just say it’s like “sproingggg”. Go ahead, pull out and remove the barrel once you encounter the Barrel Man. Give it as a gift to someone who is very, very conservative. Sproing! Just for fun.

Midas Hotel is a good choice for staycation, well, sort of. According to good ‘ol wikipedia: “A staycation is a period in which an individual or family stays home and participates in leisure activities within driving distance, sleeping in their own beds at night.” It’s not exactly a staycation because we didn’t stay in our beds at night. But it’s not out-of-town so it’s staycation in our book.

To be continued…in the meantime, check these photos (click to enlarge).

A can of Campita’s Broas landed in our home one fine, sweltering hot summer day. A pasalubong from someone (salamat po). We Pinoys love pasalubongs. The receiver feels important that someone is actually thinking of him/her and took time to pick up something as a gift. The giver feels pressured, uhm, happy to give something to someone. It’s weird that people feel important when others actually expect and ask for pasalubong when going out of town.

The Campita’s Broas we received is not your little can. It’s a huge can of broas (large enough that when eaten in one sitting, like downing popcorn while watching a movie, the overload of broas will probably kill anyone with complications from diabetes).

Come to think of it, the recipe for broas is pretty much straightforward. The ingredients include a couple of eggs, teaspoons of sugar and a cup of flour. Separately beat the egg whites and the egg yolks, adding sugar. Fold the egg yolk mixture and the eggwhite mixture, then gradually add the flour. Bake. Voila! Lady fingers.

Add peanuts to the mix and you have peanut broas, one of the things that Bohol is famous for.

But why bake broas when you can get a huge can of Lucban’s finest? Crunchy-on-the-first-bite-and-melts-on-the-next-bite broa goodness. Make someone feel important by, ahem, asking him/her to grab a can of Campita’s Broas the next time he/she happens to be in Lucban.