A couple of weeks back as restrictions were lifted, we decided to take a break from our WFH situation and spend a nice and quiet weekend in Tagaytay. We really didn't book/reserve anything in advance aside from our AirBnb because we weren't sure about restrictions so when it came down to where we had to eat, we were doomed. We went to the usuals--Balay Dako, Antonio's but both were booked to the brim. We headed to Sonya's because the place still comes highly recommended online. I'm pretty sure their menu had changed because we weren't as satisfied with the food as we were before. I believe it's their pandemic menu, but the service was terrible :( We left the place feeling full but not satisfied. 

As we were driving home, we thought we'd have coffee. I searched googled and most of the recommended places were again more of the popular ones. But this cafe came up in one of the blogs I was reading. It was a little far from the usual busy district so we thought, hey why not. We're so glad we did because this place is a dream!

Earlier this year I was on a roll with my recipes. I may not have been updating the blog as much as I was updating my other social media sites, and my excuse is Tiktok lol. It's just so easy to consume media on Tiktok for someone who has short attention span. I mean, it's the perfect formula--people stuck at home in the middle of a global pandemic + a mount of useful/useless content lol = a blackhole where you end up spending 3hrs of your time just scrolling through everything. But anywaaaaay, I've been doing a ton of recipes there until I got burn out in May because I have been producing content almost on a daily basis. Took a month off and I'm finally back with a new recipe!

Since we're on another lockdown and most restaurants are closed, I thought I'd recreate another resto favorite--Pepper Lunch's Beef Pepper Rice! I was absolutely obsessed with Pepper Lunch during their earlier days--rice, beef, corn on a sizzling plate with their sumptuous, savor sauce--what more can you ask for?? My last dine-in experience at Pepper Lunch was in 2019 at Ayala the 30th and I wasn't too impressed with the changes. Which is sad because I understand inflation but at the price they're selling, the quality shouldn't have diminished. So, recreating this dish at home perfectly made sense because I have control over the portions. Enough talking, let's get cooking!

800 g very thinly sliced beef

1 white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 large cups cooked rice
1 cup cooked corn kernels
6 tsp butter
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
thinly sliced spring onions, to garnish
oil

Amakuchi
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce

Karakuchi
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp vegetable oil

1. For the sauces, just combine all ingredients in a pan and simmer in low heat. Set aside. 

2. Heat pan over stove top, and cook your beef slices according to your doneness preference. 

3. Add pepper and a little salt. Take the beef odd the pan soon as it's done. 

4. In a sizzling plate/regular plate, position your rice in the middle.

5. Surround with beef, top with buttered corn and drizzle with the sauce.

6. Top  with additional pepper and dried basil and voila, you're ready!

I decided to film "A day in the life" content as some sort of tangible memorabilia so I can have something to remember these days by. I feel like if I don't, it'll casually slip my mind. And in between everything that's happening--a global pandemic, moving to the province, getting engaged and raising a dog for the first time--these are days I want to romanticize, these are days I want to remember forever. I find myself creating content more for myself more than others. If other people enjoy what I put out, great. If not, that's fine too because again--I'm creating all these mostly for myself and I hope others would too. 

I'm so tired of seeing content being dished out only to make us buy something, it's getting tiring. I miss the old days where I'd read blogs about random people I don't know. I want to see the same for Youtube; I want to know what you're up to without you necessarily telling me to buy this, buy that etc. In this day and age where I don't get to see a lot of my friends and family anymore due to the pandemic, I really just want to see content that will resemble the tiniest bit of human connection and that's letting people in. Which is somehow what this vlog is all about too--letting my dear readers and viewers into my life too. Hope you enjoy having a peek. ♡

 I've always had a love-hate relationship with my body. I remember calling Marie France (an aesthetic clinic) when I was 12, asking how much a scar removal would cost because I was a pre-teen who couldn't imagine wearing a bikini because of all my chickenpox scars. I also wanted a boob job and I wanted to have fair skin. I wanted to change so many things and I was never really quite satisfied with my body. A lot of factors come into play--media's portrayal of beauty, how society defines beauty and the environment I grew up in that that really just highlighted these insecurities. From whitening products, to the media's portrayal of what a beautiful woman should look like. I'd see this in magazine, newspapers--everywhere and I wanted that. 

It's been years since that phone call but I ended up taking those insecurities with me going as far as seriously considering surgery and incessant dieting throughout the years. I've always been skinny but when you see a different standard of beauty on the media, you always want to be skinnier. My body before was okay but I would go on crash diets all the time and I feel that it ultimately ruined my metabolism. It became harder and harder for me to lose weight as I ate less--and my last straw at this was when in 2017 while I was on Keto. I was eating solely protein and fat and didn't realize how it was affecting my mental health. I was always hungry and drunk because it was becoming too much. I weighed 39kgs when I finally decided to stop because I realized it wasn't sustainable. I binged hard after that. I wanted all the carbs I lost and overate all the time--this went on for 2yrs which eventually led to my heaviest weight--60kgs. 

The Philippines has one of the longest lockdowns documented during this pandemic, and to be honest, it's getting frustrating. I've spent two birthdays on lockdown, but I'm thankful for the one I had this year because I at least had the chance to connect with nature, breathe fresh air and enjoy some peace and quiet. This trip was one of the best I've had during this pandemic, I mean, not like we've had a lot. But it's definitely one that I needed--physically, mentally and emotionally. 

Even if we brought our own food, we couldn't resist but try some of what they have to offer. Upon arrival, we immediately ordered a Mango shake and Pork BBQ, something light to quench our hunger and thirst. The boyfriend then ordered a meal after even if we were set to grill hotdogs that night lol. He said the food was good. Camp Sandugo also offers local craft beer and other refreshments. Upon arrival, we were also presented with quite a huge cooler which was like our personal mini bar. It has alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. We're good with the alcoholic drinks so we just got a couple of gatorades in the morning which we also had to pay for.