Sack Lunch on the Road

 Just like most mothers in the world, I guess it is that I was once a girl scout that makes me naturally prepared for the random needs of my patrol  family . For instance, I would  prepare a sack  lunch whenever we go on a road trip. No matter how early we have to leave home, I would make time to rise earlier to home cook and pack.

Regular/familiar destinations are easy to roll us on the way garden/forest parks as lunch locations, free of charges.

This way I could assure safety for my family against questionable hygiene of the food available from the road. Also  we are able to stop fastfood chains to travel with us since we usually have too much of them in the city. and the most important thing_ I'm able to watch my budget! 

What?. . on the table?

errmh. . . 

v

:

v

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KFC bucket meal.. ??? well, I never said : I'm  perfectly a girl scout mother. I said I would try. . meaning sometimes I succeed and wella most of the time I fail, haha.

One thing is sure thu', MoiMoi doesn't mind at all if the lunch is store-bought or home cooked, haha.

Pueblo's Breakfast

Pueblo por la Playa's complimentary buffet breakfast was served at Cafe Oaxaca (the resorts resto).



The buffet was sufficient. . yah, it was ok, nothing grand.

They served Filipino and American breakfast. Dishes were so-so.

Muffins and brownies were like came from a low quality- local bakery in the town.



 it was free wi-fi area and the girls diverted their disappointments to their lap tops.

Honestly_ I was disappointed with the food. I expected more cos I found the place so awesome but the food (included all other food we availed during our stay there) fell short behind the beauty of the resort. Adding insult to injury was that the guest had no choice but to avail meals inside the resort cos outside bought foods were not allowed.



daughter exiting from the cafe on a rainy morning

.. I better stop here if it was ranting I'm all into, right? Anyway, the foods were free ( complimentary breakfast), enough reason to say thank you;D

*see the rest of the resorts here

Cafe Oaxaca

Ola! It's almost Christmas_ just 10 days to go ! It's a season of dining out almost everyday. With friends coming in to visit the country, my food album is ballooning with photos and the web host where I keep my pictures starts to refuse my uploads. Also I got tons of back log posts. Blogging doesn't come easy now a days with me always out in the real world.
Here's one of my back log posts which was interrupted by uninterrupted invites, but now_already done and ready to serve you_ _ :

Cafe Oaxaca_ reads as wah-hah-kah, is a Mexican resto and bar inside the exclusive Pueblo por la Playa, a country club in Pagbilao Quezon.

The interior was very Mexican except for the use of open kitchen which reminded me of other culinary race. The menu thu' was eclectic and was not limited to Mexican food.



I love quesadillas, tacos, fajitas, empanadas, lengua. . . but I knew I wouldn't get a chance to taste anyone of these Mexican dishes. My family was too hungry ( coming from a 6 hours traffic jam trip from Manila to here) and not in the mood to eat other than old Filipino foods which the resto was offering too.

pork sinigang was good but the soup was not enough for all of us. our request for additional soup was ignored :(



grilled pla-pla

crabs in coco cream. we missed our home style cooking of this dish which we all agreed was still the best.

. . these hands ( cuz' ) said otherwise so. look how the hands enjoyed the crabs.

cupped rice



Those all we had and we were ready for the bed.

On our way out, only then ( cos we were so exhausted from the long trip) that we appreciated the band playing. It was a tequila night.



Getting closer, I saw a familiar face_ a classmate from elementary school. We didn't have a chance to chitchat thu' so I just took a photo of his band.

The toilets were also so Mexican-y pretty.

Ahoritita vengo !!!
*see our room here

Pansit Habhab

Nothing beats the enthusiasm of a first timer, cuzin' Che jumped off from the car when she saw a table in the street selling pansit habhab. It's one of the famous delicacies of the town and many tourists have only got the chance to taste it during Pahiyas Festival. Pansit habhab is the Lucban version of this chinese origin noodle dish. What makes this unique from other numerous pansit versions in the Philippines / Asia is the way it is being served and eaten. The condiment that goes with the dish is also quite different from the usual patis con calamansi.




It was early in the morning and the pot was hot from the stove. Pansit (in any variant) is always delicious when it's freshly cooked. It was only P8 per single order.



Che got her order on a banana leaf. She asked for a fork or a chopstick ! hahaha! Cuzin' watch me do it, okey ! ! !



I drizzled some vinegar mixed with hot chilies and started to slurp the noodles. Hab-hab, I think meant to be gorged. I heard the dish came to know by this name cos of the way it is being eaten.






Cuzin' watched and could no longer hold it to herself , grabbed my leaf of pansit habhab and started to imitate the way I ate it.

Hahaha! ! She loveth and almost finished mine ! ! drizzle. . slurp. .drizzle. .slurp ! ! !

She ordered some more, took a seat and hab-hab the pansit ! ! !

Big Mak

In my province hometown, the closest thing to McDonald's that my girls could get into is this van outlet of Big Mak. A local burger joint brand they definitely ignore in the city with ample favorite choices around.

unpopular brand of softdrink is also being sold here

But here in my quaint town, this one became a favorite hang-out of burger youngsters.








Also becoming my girls' favorite tag along car snacks while on a road trip in this side of the Philippines .

would this pass for a product ad?

When brand is not an option, do you have to be choosy? In fairness, I took a bite of Kyla's footlong cheesedog and it was pretty tasty. Pretty cheap too!