Category: Food (Page 1 of 165)

Yesterday we left our hotel in Baybay at 4:30am so we could drive to Ormoc for the ferry to Cebu.

The trip went fast. We were in business class, so the seats were more comfortable.

In Cebu, Iday’s son Ian and his wife came to pick us up. We made a quick stop at Iday’s house, then hit the road for a resort near Tabuelan that Iday had heard about and wanted to check out.

On the way, we stopped at Iday’s resort to stretch our legs.

We drank some coconut water, then scraped out the flesh and ate it. It was refreshing.

There was a cat there that was super friendly.

We got back in the car and drove for a while. I dozed a little. When I woke up, we were stopping for lunch. We stopped at a Place called Duko Duko, which means “point point”, because you point at what you want, and they put it on a plate for you.

They served all kinds of Filipino food, or as they call it here: food. Ha! I love that joke!

I had something I think I haven’t had before: something that was served like rice, but was made of corn. I really liked it. In the picture below, it’s at the top of the plate.

For dessert, we had bud bud (pronounced bood bood). It’s a sweet, squishy substance made of rice and sugar, and wrapped in a banana leaf. It was really good.

Back to the car, and another hour or so of driving, and we arrived at our destination: Durhan Beach Resort.

It’s a beautiful location – right on a white sand beach. We stayed in a room facing the ocean.

This was how close our room was to the beach:

We sat in their restaurant area and talked and had cool drinks. I had something called an Eclipse. It tasted like lemonade.

I walked on the beach a little. For dinnner, I had an exotic food called “pizza”:

We chatted til sunset…

…and headed back to our rooms. Mine was being guarded by a crab. I had to shoo it away with a broom.

This morning started with breakfast by the ocean.

We’re heading back to Cebu City today, and will check in to a place we’ll be at for a few days. I’m glad. My suitcase is a mess, and I need some time to re-pack it.

This post is a little mixed because of the time difference. But I have to mention having my first lechon. It happened the day before yesterday. Mmm… it was so good..

The hanging pouches had rice in them. It was steamed like that. I also had coconut water right out of a coconut. So fresh!

Yesterday morning after breakfast we headed to the port so we could take a ferry to Denis’ home island of Leyte. It was fun to people-watch in the terminal. We’re traveling with a group, including Alvie, Iday, and a friend of Iday.

The boat ride itself was laid back. I looked at the ocean, I looked at my phone, I read a book. Pretty soon, we were there.

The ferry lands in the city of Ormoc. We got picked up by the daughter of an old friend of Denis. She took us outside of town to a place for lunch called Ormoc Herbs. It had tables tucked in to garden areas. The front door made me laugh with delight! It’s a hobbit door!

We sat in an enclosed area with air conditioning and a view of the jungle.

The food was delicious. I especially liked my salad.

As I write this post, we’re traveling back through Ormoc and on our way to Baybay, Denis’ home town. Traffic and driving are so different here. I’m glad we haven’t had any collisions.

Yesterday we decided to see the imperial palace. It was a short subway ride away. It was really hot yesterday, and I didn’t wear a hat, so we tried to find a convenience store to get an umbrella. People use them for shade here.

The area near the palace seems to be very upscale. Our phone map brought us into a big office building, but the convenience store was closed. The air conditioning was nice though. And it was interesting to be in a big empty office building.

We did finally find a Lawson’s, which is a place like 7-11. When we got back to the imperial palace, the new umbrella was very welcome. There was a paved area that was beautiful, but hot.

The palace itself is behind a bunch of trees, so it’s hard to get a picture.

The closest you can get is a gate area. There was a guard on each side of it. They must’ve been hot.

There are tours you can do, but not on Sundays, so there wasn’t much else to see there. We headed back to Shinjuku.

Before going back to the hotel, we decided to go back to that department store and the wonderful selection of foods they had. One of the places was selling slices of wagyu beef in little bento boxes. We got some! It was so good!

We also got a selection of desserts. They were good too.

And I was most excited to see some peaches in the grocery area. They were huge! I can’t bite fruit very well, because I’m missing some bottom teeth right now, but I made do. They were so good!

Yesterday morning I got up early to exercise. The sunrise was beautiful!

The exercise was hard, especially because I had stayed up too late the night before. After exercise, I tried to read a little, but dozed a little. Then it was time to shower and get ready for lunch in the square. I was saying goodbye to Tara and Daniel, since they were going out of town and won’t be back until I’m gone.

Then I went with Beth on some errands to Lincoln.

For dinner, we decided to go to Garland, to the Outlaw Steakhouse.

Nebraska steak! Yum!

I also had a salad with Dorothy Lynch salad dressing. Mmm… Dorothy…
It was all soooo delicious….