MARIANNE AND RAM'S WEDDING - TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS

We were in TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS to attend the wedding of Ram to Marianne, the daughter of my officemate/friend, Tita Florie! We were really going to travel to Tagaytay that Sunday to attend the blessed celebration but, my dear friend amped up her generous level once more and treated us to a whole weekend staycation as her birthday gift to me.

YOWZAAA!!!!!!

So after an AWESOME overnight stay at TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS, we scrubbed ourselves and dressed up to attend the wedding of 2 people who are so in love with each other that they literally traveled thousands and thousands of miles to share that to mankind. And of course, I was also very happy for my friend Tita Flory for being blessed with a daughter who will be having her own "happily ever after." Aba! That's a big deal for a parent right??? To know that your daughter is extremely happy and will be taken cared for, for the rest of her life is DEFINITELY every Mom's joy!!

Now let's bask in a night filled with happiness, love, joy, laughs, and of course, DELICIOUS FOOD, in this TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS WEDDING!!!!

Congratulations Ram and Marianne!!!!!!

THE YAPPY BUNCH are all suited up for this TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS WEDDING!

When we arrived in the venue for the wedding ceremony, I immediately fell in love with the lovely set up of silver chairs, elegant flowers, and soft colors around. This is like something we see in an American movie!

Of course, it helps that you got this picturesque view of some volcano as backdrop!

GRINGO (CHICKEN / RIBS / FRIENDS)

The Chinese Dimpol and I just had a date where we had a very heavy dinner.  But when we got home, THIS greeted us!

GRINGO!!!!!!!!!

Wait a minute. I see air holes. I hope it's not a cat or doggie named GRINGO. 

Tee hee!

Whew! Now that's a sigh of relief!

Believe me when I say that...

THIS IS EXCITING!!!

Yes! Other people may be giddy with shopping or subscription deliveries. As for me, I always get so hyped up when there's an "unannounced" food waiting for me at the table.

WOHOO!

MCDONALD'S KIDDIE CREW

Let me start this post with my favorite quote by Bugs Bunny that I always cry out at the end of every school year...

"No more classes! No more books! No more teacher's dirty looks!"

Yes! It's here! The season that children and parents wait for all year....

SUMMER VACATION!!!!

Of course it's understandable that for the kids, the end of school means the start of all things fun. My master Mati would go as far as to shout "FREEDOM! FREEDOM!" with so much damning emotion.

As for me and the Yubhub, we are ALWAYS looking forward to summer vacation because it would also mean that we don't have to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am to get the little lords ready for school. Also, we don't have to rush home to help them with their studies. So yes, no school means we could stay up late (watching dibidis or going out on date nights), AND THE YAPPY BUNCH could now make plans on a weekday.

Oh Yipeeee skip!

Of course, as much as we all are planning to have awesome fun this summer, the Chinese Adonis and I want the little lords to learn something as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for kids being kids during their vacation and I'm not going to lock them up in summer schools just so that they could be "out of the way". But they should also have to do something worthwhile even if it's just for half of the summer. The Chinese Adonis and I were looking for certain activities that would not only get them learning on that thing they call "life" but we also want them to have crazy fun. The little lords would regularly do basketball and football camp, they have already tried musical theatre in Trumpets, PLUS, they would always help out in the family business for a salary. But there is also this one summer thing that they have been doing for 5 years that has given them a lot of fun, food, cool stuff, and discipline ---  the MCDONALD'S KIDDIE CREW.

From a parent's point of view, if there's one word I could describe the MCDONALD'S KIDDIE CREW, it is SULIT. Why? Because for the 5 day activity you only have to pay P650.00 to get the MCDONALD'S t-shirt, bag, apron, chef's hat, crew cap, plus snacks! Not only that, your kiddie will get to experience how it is to have a "job" at a fast food chain.

Now believe me, for your little ones who are raring to grow up, this will be something VERY unforgettable for them!

The age range to be part of the crew is from 6 to 12 years old. There are some chains though that allow younger participants provided that they have somebody look after them during sessions. It's just too bad that Mati is already too tall for the MCDONALD'S KIDDIE CREW and we cannot have Andrei do it alone since we always want them to do summer activities together. So I guess 2015 was their last year doing the crew but it was definitely a great experience for all of us.

Check out the fun that the little lords had being part of the MCDONALD'S KIDDIE CREW and why they did it for 5 years!!! 

MCDONALD'S KIDDIE CREW 2015!!!!!

OUR HOLY WEEK IN CAVITE 2016 (PART TWO)

THE YAPPY BUNCH was in Maragondon, Cavite for Holy Week. And, like how my family has been doing for the past 36 years, we were fulfilling our religious tradition of setting up our "Santos" for the procession for two nights. 

THE YAPPY BUNCH!

It's Friday and my family our "karo" was already finished and participated in the procession the night before. It will be rolled out again tonight along with the other "Santos" from other families.

THE YAPPY BUNCH started the morning with going to different churches, visiting a hanging bridge, then playing basketball at an empty court. It was a VERY hot day so it's only elementary that we'll be going home SO thirsty and hungry.

CALDERON AND GUEVARRA (GOURMET CARINDERIA)

If it is not obvious enough, you could tell how the Chinese Dimpol and I are trying to be VERY "practical" in our date nights. Sure there will be occasional splurges here and there but most of the time, we are saving so that we could have staycations and trippings with the little lords.

That's why when we are faced with a restaurant that would give us bang for our buck, we would sometimes go on our knees and scream "Hallelujah" with so much passion and fury.

Okay fine. We won't really do THAT but we will DEFINITELY be thinking and feeling it.

HOWEVER, after our first bite of the dishes from CALDERON AND GUEVARRA (GOURMET CARINDERIA), we experienced a sort of epiphany: the restaurant may be in a very simple but busy area in Pasig that did not  have air conditioning, but the food was just GLORIOUS. We couldn't fathom how THIS was possible!!!

I was really stopping myself from shrieking, "YES!" like Meg Ryan did in "When Harry Met Sally". But really, you could actually get scrumptious food here that may rival the pricier and more popular establishments here in the Metro.

"WALANG HIMALA!!!!"

CALDERON AND GUEVARRA (GOURMET CARINDERIA) will DEFINITELY give you A WHOLE LOTTA BANG for your peso!!!!!

"HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!"

Sorry. Food ALWAYS do that to me.

CALDERON AND GUEVARRA GOURMET KARINDERIA!

CALDERON AND GUEVARRA is located within the small streets of  Bagong Ilog at Pasig City. You might even wonder how a restaurant could survive in the area. But when you see the facade of the restaurant, you would suddenly feel that you got transported to someplace very familiar, AND homey!

 Please don't confuse it with CALDERON in Barrio Kapitolyo! They totally serve different types of cuisines!

OUR HOLY WEEK IN CAVITE 2016 (PART ONE)

For the past 36 years, my Gatdula family has been spending Holy Week in my Dad's hometown in Maragondon, Cavite. It has already been a tradition for us that we cannot EVER be absent even if we are busy saving the world or something. The main reason we go there is because we fix up our statues of Jesus and Simon for the holy procession. I've been doing so with my family since I was 5 years old and it has already been our religious vow to do so every year.
And SOON, we're going to pass the tradition to the little lords.

For now though, it will be another family bonding for THE YAPPY BUNCH.

Yohooo! 

We're going to Cavite!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were supposed to drive to Cavite on Wednesday night. But I got home late from work so it was Thursday morning travel for us. 

SPANISH INVASION AT THE DIAMOND HOTEL!

In celebration of their MADRID FUSION MANILA 2016, THE CORNICHE at the DIAMOND HOTEL will be serving up "Fiesta de Sabores Espanoles" cooked up by their guest chef Edgard Sanuy Barahona. This mouth-watering festival of hot and colorful Spanish food will only run from April 4 to 10, 2016, and as luck would have it, ERICJAZ FOODIES was invited to bask in its sumptuous glory!

Photo from DIAMOND HOTEL PHILIPPINES Facebook page.

There will DEFINITELY be a festival in my tummy tonight!

Here we are entering the brightly colored archways of THE CORNICHE and anticipating the gastronomic night ahead.

The Chinese Dimpol and I were actually a bit full from munching junk food the whole day but we were raring to dig in to these hot platters of Spanish goodies!

THE HIGHLANDER STEAKHOUSE (TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS)

THE YAPPY BUNCH were having the most "awesomest", "bestest", "funnest", and..... GREATEST (oops now that's a real word.. he he he he!) time at my birthday staycation treat in TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS!

Yes! We had so much fun that redundancy and word invention was in order (well except for "greatest").

So we had an awesome Saturday and we were having uber fun on Sunday. But then we got this GREAT offer by Tita Flory (my officemate who generously gifted us with this birthday staycation) to have lunch in HIGHLANDER STEAKHOUSE, her treat!!!!!

At first I was hesitant because she had given so much already to my family. But she insisted saying how her family had such a delicious dinner the night before. With that we gratefully agreed and happily trooped over to THE HIGHLANDER STEAKHOUSE.

Oh wow! Steak is just "perfectest" every time!!!!!!!

Tee hee!  

THE HIGHLANDER STEAKHOUSE!!!!

Even if we had been going around TAGAYTAY HIGHLANDS the whole morning, we were still pretty full from the buffet breakfast at THE GOLFER'S LOUNGE. Still, we were so curious as to how the much raved about steakhouse in Tagaytay fared that we'll try just a wee bit of its dishes!