Under the Pseudo-Tuscan Sun

I attended a lovely event for the launch of a high-end Italian mattress, now available in the country. We stayed overnight at Discovery Country Suites, where we each got to sleep on a different kind of mattress (I got a firm, eco-friendly one made with bamboo fiber).

Over dinner, I was assigned to sit beside the owner of the mattress company, an Italian gentleman from Tuscany. Towards the end of the meal--possibly because I kept giving him all the wine that was being poured for me--he told the local mattress distributor that he would like to give my baby one of their sumptuous mattresses. To which I replied, "But what about the parents?" Har. I was also seated across superstar designer Kenneth Cobonpue, and I was utterly starstruck (and giddy when he congratulated me and wished me a good pregnancy when we said goodbye). Unfortunately, I was too shy to ask for a photo with him.

After our overnight stay, we got massages at the spa at Sonya's Garden, then had a long, leisurely lunch at a place I had been wanting to visit for a while now: Marcia Adams Restaurant.

Other blogs have described Marcia Adams as looking very Tuscan, and since the only part of Tuscany I've visited is Florence, I'll just take their word for it! The restaurant is made of stone, with rustic wooden furniture, a mix of crystal and wrought-iron light fixtures, and lots of fresh flowers.

The food, as described on their Facebook page, is a mix of Italian and Greek dishes. I would describe it as hearty and comforting.

(From top) A filling clear broth soup, very flavorful aromatic pork with pineapple chutney, and (my favorite) grilled orange with vanilla ice cream--I actually took the placemat out because I wanted a rustic-looking photo. That's what this job does to me.

Mr. Italian Mattress-maker wasn't able to join us but he probably would have felt right at home.

So I Didn't End Up Going to CDO...

...but I did end up here.

View from the entrance


Living area at our villa (yup, "our"--Hamil came with me, yay!). Not shown: 42-inch flat-screen TV.


Dining area. Not shown: Kitchen.


Bedroom with four-poster bed. Not shown: Another 42-inch flat-screen TV!


Bathroom


His and hers sinks in the bathroom. Check out the reflection--yet another flat-screen TV at the foot of the tub! I quite enjoyed watching 30 Rock while soaking in a bubble bath!


And a private plunge pool for good measure

All these were taken at the Crimson Resort and Spa in Mactan, Cebu.

Tomorrow: Back to reality.

How was your weekend?

The Great Escape

Hamil and I got to test-drive a sweet ride one weekend, one of the perks of my job. Yay!

Shirt from Amanda's Place, shorts from Bayo, shades from Forever 21

Can you guess what he's driving? Hint: Check the title.;)

We headed south, to T House in Tagaytay, where we had a free overnight stay waiting for us. (Another job perk! Yay!)

The driveway leading to the facilities

Clean-lined, Zen-inspired (this photo taken during our first visit nearly three years ago)

The daybed where I wanted to while away the morning reading

Not to sound ungrateful, but it's kind of ironic how the "T" in T House is supposed to stand for tranquility. During our stay, it could very well have stood for tumult! There was an event--a very loud one--at their in-house pavilion, and neither the rooms nor the spa were spared from the noise. The receptionist did warn us right off the bat that there was a party going on, so it's not like we were caught off-guard. But thank goodness we didn't have to pay for our stay!

We were given a fairly spacious Earth room, which sported the modern Asian look of the rest of the boutique hotel, with some subtle Japanese touches like a low bed.

Since the restaurant staff seemed busy at the event, we decided to have dinner in our room. I ordered the saffron cream fish fillet, while Hamil had the salmon wrapped in nori, served atop some wasabi mashed potatoes. If I remember right, we ordered this on our first visit too.

He then treated me to a nice massage at T Spa. Ahhhh.

The massage bed covered in batik

The outdoor treatment area (photo taken the next morning)

Would have been much more pleasant if we couldn't hear the muzak coming from the pavilion though! Anyhoo, after we had the knots rubbed and pummeled out of us, we headed back to our room to turn in. A little treat was waiting for us...

Hot tea and a couple of cookies! Sweet. I nibbled around the raisins though. (Tishie Tishie fact: I generally don't like raisins, and I especially don't like raisins in meat dishes! I can eat chocolate-covered ones though.)

The next morning, we headed to the restaurant, which finally had someone on hand. For my complimentary brekkie, I chose the tapa.

The rice was shaped like a slice of cake. Novel.

It was a nice, quick getaway, made especially enjoyable by the fact that we only had to pay for dinner and our massages! Sadly, we had to return the vehicle when we got back to Manila. It was fun while it lasted.

My Happy Place

I did the whole blog roulette thing, clicking on the "Next Blog" button in the hopes of being surprised by something interesting. This particular entry made me pause and think, "Wouldn't it be nice if we had something like this here?"

Photo from Fiberbliss

And then I realized that we do!

Early this year, Hamil and I went on our first camping trip together on Valentine weekend. We went to gorgeous Nagsasa Cove, a neighbor to the more famous Anawangin in Zambales. There, we pitched a tent, lounged on a hammock by the beach, explored a mini-forest bordering a stream, walked through six-foot-tall grass to get to a trickling waterfall, and jumped into the little swimming hole.

The beach is made up of sand and lahar from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

The hours stretched on, moving in slow motion, in stark contrast to the frenetic pace of the lives we left behind in Manila. There was no signal (between the two of us, we cover all three major networks, and still nothing!), no WiFi. We read, we napped, we talked, we ate roasted marshmallows, we shivered in our tent as a howling wind blew relentlessly that night. We hugged and rubbed our feet together to help us keep warm. (Now that I think of it, it's a lot like that chapter in Eclipse. Except Hamil was both Edward and Jacob--my fire and ice! My best of both worlds.)

My man, a roasted marshmallow, the cool wind in our, er, my hair--aside from a working bathroom, what more could I possibly ask for?

I think I was drawn to that random blog post because right now, I am longing for the feeling I had in the two days we were at Nagsasa. Right after the trip, I wrote that I would always look back at it with fondness. Today, I look back at it with yearning. There's just a tad too much Crazy in my life now, and I just want to get away. To go back to the place where I was completely, utterly at peace.