Saturday.
The
continuation of our 3-day weekend adventures.
After some brainstorming with my kids, we finally agreed
to continue with the relaxed pace of the previous day. At the suggestion of my son, we booked a
suite at Seven Suites Hotel in Antipolo for our overnight “stay-cation”. A quick check on the internet confirmed that
it had everything we were looking for: free wifi, air conditioning and a pool. Plus
we were intrigued to check out the hotel’s claim of being the only hotel that
had a powerful Sky-Watcher telescope and their very own in-house
astronomer.
Like yesterday, it was a late morning start. The drinks we had the night before sure
helped to ensure a restful night.
Beep, Beep.
I’ll
be there in 30 minutes to pick you up.
It was a text message from my son.
Hurriedly my daughter and I threw some clothes and toiletries into individual bags while getting
ready for the day’s adventure. We even
had time to have a light breakfast. Nothing like the thrill of the unknown to
get the blood pumping.
We rushed down the stairs as soon as we heard my son
pull into the side of my daughter’s apartment.
I noticed there were big, fat cumulus clouds and silently wondered if
our evening star gazing program would be hampered. But that was a long way off
and there were more important things to focus on.
Like getting a bite to eat.
Again, my son suggested we head over to Gino’s —a
small resto just across the Ateneo de Manila University in Katipunan. It was along the way and we had been
craving for some cheesy treat.
And cheesy treat it was. We had the Burrata Caprese , a very delicious brick oven baked pizza and a Carbonara Pasta with salted duck egg (interesting texture).
To round off the experience, we got two donuts from
Cello’s Doughnuts and Dips-- owned by the same young entrepreneurs of Gino’s. I liked the cheese- flavored doughnut (more cheese).
As we got closer to our destination, we stopped at one
of a convenience store to stock up on junk food. What is a stay-cation without
the chips and cookies and nuts to happily stuff our faces with?!? I know it’s not healthy but once in a while,
I give in and hold my lecturing tongue.
Traffic was light and in no time, we were climbing the
hills of Antipolo. By 2PM, we were
checked in at Seven Suites Hotel. We
soon found out that we were one of two occupants of the entire quirky resort
hotel.
Rooms were assigned names
alluding to space and stars and planets and heavenly beings. Celestial was the name of our room.
Nothing fancy but clean—which is how we want
it. There was a sliding door on the side
of the room that opened to a terrace.
From here we could see the skyline of Metro Manila—from Makati to Quezon
City.
Much as it was tempting to stay inside our perfectly
chilled room, my daughter had other ideas.
I reluctantly got out of bed and we were back on the road again. This time to a near-by museum.
Just like the hotel, Pinto Art Museum is on the quirky side as well but on a grander scale. You will possibly need two days at least (I
am not exaggerating—it’s that huge) to savor each art piece. I soon found out a simple turn of the head would reveal many intriguing
work. One just cannot breeze through—it
would be a wasted opportunity.
So my kids and I went our separate ways and meandered
through the massive art estate for the next three hours. Every now and then we would bump into each
other and exchanged opinions on how we understood the artist’s work.
At one point, I saw my son intently looking at a
sculpture of a sad Leonor Rivera. As he
passed me by, I asked, “What did you say to her to make her so sad?”
He answered, “Good-bye.”
We busted out into laughter. That’s our sense of humor—quirky.
Not only a place for art lovers, nature lovers will just be as happy to wonder from one plant to the next in the artfully and impressive gardens.
A strong gust of wind suddenly blew through the
museum’s many opened windows and doors.
Each of us had to take cover in separate buildings as the long awaited
rain poured with a vengeance.
This made looking at the art work more personal as we moved alone along the art covered walls.
The rain stopped a good 30 minutes after and the sun
came back to claim the last hours of the day.
The wet grounds and the diamond like drops on the tips of the museum’s
foliage made for an enchanting photographic opportunity. My daughter and I quickly went into artsy mode and made a contest of
who could take the better pictures. I lost happily to her composition.
It was very muggy when we left Pinto.
As we drove back to the hotel, images of cool dips in the hotel’s pool moved
inside our heads.
And dip we did as we witness the last rays of the sun
slowly dimming it’s brilliance and bidding the day good-bye.
But there was still the night to look forward to.
After drying off, we changed and drove off to a near-by restaurant.
Padi’s Point is best known for their barbeques and
Filipino cuisine. In Antipolo, Padi’s
location was THE selling point. Located
on a ridge with a view of the metropolis, it was a good place to hang out and
continue conversations on plans and schemes of things to come-- over beer and
grilled food.
But the best part of the day was yet to come. A check with the time and we knew we had to
hurry back to the hotel if we were to catch any star gazing activities.
The astronomer, Ramon, was all by himself on the
viewing deck. By our good fortune, it
would seem the heavens arranged for us to have a private viewing of the
universe. The sky was clear of any clouds.
Ramon expertly pointed out the many
star formations. My children and I were
awe-inspired as we viewed for the first time Saturn and Jupiter. I admit that
the telescope did not bring the planets so close that I could see the gaseous atmosphere
and rings. But I saw the four moons of Jupiter and that in itself was awesome.
And being able to view the craters on the earth’s moon
was just astounding. The telescope also
brought close to view a nearby star twinkling like a 100 carat diamond. And the lines from a church hymn came to mind:
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
In the whole order of things, I realized that my adult
children and I were but tiny dots— wide-eyed and marveling at the grand-ness of
the universe.
It was getting late and there was a chill in the
air. We conveyed our gratitude to Ramon
and returned to our room. I was giddy
with happiness and gratitude. And no thanks to the beer I had with dinner.
As I listened to the conversations of my children as
it trickled to a final end, I could not thank my lucky stars enough. We were not able to visit Camaroan in
Bicol. But the alternative turned out to
be more than I could ask the universe for.
Dare I say, we all got a better view of each other?
Now that’s cool.
xoxoxoxoxox
As my three-part story winds up, I leave you with my
version of pork (belly) barbeque. I
remember growing up where Saturday dinners with cousins always called for
barbeque and macaroni salad. The
evenings also included looking up at the sky to catch a falling star.
There were also the week-end barbeque meals with my
children as they were growing up. But I left the cooking to their knowledgeable
yaya.
My present go-to barbeque recipe is an adaptation from
a recipe that a dear high school classmate, RGC, so graciously shared. One bite and you’re in celestial barbeque
heaven.
CC’s
Barbeque Marinade for 1 kilo of Meat
2
T each of vinegar, calamansi juice, soy sauce, brown sugar
½
to 1 T salt and lots of pepper
10
peppercorns, crushed (or leave whole if you so desire)
Dash
each of: cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper (more or less if you desire)
2-3
petals of star anise (not the whole star)
1
head of garlic, crushed
Procedure:
Marinate your meat (slices of pork belly or pork chops
or chicken pieces) and leave in the fridge overnight.
The next day, pour everything into a casserole and
bring to a boil before lowering the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer. This
can be for 20-30 minutes. This will cut
the time you will spend standing and slaving over a hot charcoal grill. Use the resulting liquid as your basting sauce.
Your grill should be ready as you arrange your meat on
it. As the meat is partial or cooked
through already, you want to get that smoky flavor and pretty grill marks on
your meat. This will not take long. As the marinade had sugar, your meat will
burn easily so turn it from time to time. Don't forget to baste the meat.
It’s ready to serve when the aroma is so deliciously
tempting.
Serve with your favorite salad and don’t forget to
pass the steamed rice around.
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