Sizzlin Pepper Steak

Let me start with....I love beef. Caldereta is one of my favorites. I also love food on sizzling plates. Its hot and it sizzles.hehe. That's probably the reason why I love Sizzlin Pepper Steak.


Straight from Pangasinan, you can view my Pangasinan adventure here, I went to Glorietta to have dinner with high school friends (a promise is a promise). The master mind of the eat out-movie date was not there (Kevin) so there's only the three of us Madel, Ken and I.

Sizzlin Pepper Steak Glorietta5

Ken

Madel

 On thing about Sizzling Pepper Steak is that if you need the waiters, you just need to turn this thing to moooove...and turn it to stop after.

 

  

Beef Pepper Steak P230 w/ iced tea

my favorite=)

yogurt P155

It was a nice dinner indeed. Nice food, good friends and old stories. I miss my high school friends and I'm so glad were still like this after the years.

Hundred Islands

Ive been all over the country for the past year but its a surprise, I realized this is my first time to hundred islands, in Alaminos Pangasinan.

Its was never planned, out of the blue the boyfriend, asked me to go with him and his friends at 3:00am. Yeah. I'm still at the office taking calls. I just said that ill take the first bus to Pangasinan after log out.

I guess i didn't know what I was thinking (5 hour bus ride alone, damn it) ahahhaha

I took a bus to Dagupan from Victory Liner at Pasay (P275)

Victory Liner Bus

Dagupan, here I come!

It was a long...long...and uhm well, long drive. Since I'm not a fan of road trips (if-you-can take-it-by-plane-then-take-it-by-plane motto) I was so bored and I wasn't able to sleep. The bus left the terminal at 10:20am and I arrived at SM Rosales by 4:00pm where they picked me up to go to his friend's place.

Just ate late lunch real quick, and off we go to Alaminos (which is ANOTHER 2 hour drive) which means I spent my whole day on the road!

We passed by some fish vendors by the road and bought dinner, the fish were cheaper here (I think). We got a kilo of tuna for P120, a small pale full of oyster P120.00 and half a kilo of squids. 

whats for dinner?

Since its already late, we decided to get one of the transient homes near the road  and will go island hoping early the next day. We got a place for P2000, has 2 bedrooms (with one matrimonial and 2 single beds for each room) with a/c, 2 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen w/ref and a dining area, quite cheap actually cause the place is huge complete with kitchen utensils and all.

Boyfriend cooked dinner and we had a few drinks after. I was sooo tired since I came from work  plus, lets not forget the 5hour bus ride!

Early morning I woke up, cooked breakfast and off we go=)

a morning is not a morning without caffeine

fried eggs

pandesal

                                     

There are a lot of transient homes available there that ranges from P2000-P2500. We decided to get a more spacious place near the road vs just one room near the shore for the same price.

transient homes available

souvenirs

boat parking

boat P1200

 Its just a half day island hopping since we have to go back to Manila before 8pm. It was a 20minute boat ride from dock to the islands.

a few of the 100 islands

 We decided to stay on a buoy in the middle of the water to swim and snorkel (snorkels available for P100 each, and life vests P50 each)

snorkeling

in the boat

buoy where we stayed

penguin nagdidive.lol

john may phobia sa water

he did it!



nice view @Lopez Island



out of the 100 islands, I got to visit...2! ahahha.. it was a quick trip cause we need to head back to Manila after lunch. Going home, the trip took 4 hours by car via sctex.

Afrique's Pizza Ilo-Ilo

Afriques Pizza, located in Ilo-Ilo, is one of the best pizzas Ive ever tasted. Branches are only located in Ilo-Ilo (sadly), I just hope they would open a branch in Manila cause the food is really good, so good that I wouldn't mind going back to Ilo-Ilo just to satisfy my pizza craving=)

LOCATIONS:

• Jaro:
  Address: 107 Castilla St. Jaro, Iloilo
  Telephone No.: +63 33 3200554
• Hotel Del Rio:
  Address: MH del Pilar St, Hotel del Rio
  Telephone No.: +63 33 3381270
• Robinsons Place:
  Address: Ledesma Wing, Iloilo City
  Telephone No.:
• Smallville:
  Address: Red Square Bldg., Iloilo City
  Telephone No.: +63 33 5094900
• Valeria:
  Address: No. 3 Valeria Street, Iloilo City
  (Besides Atrium Mall; in front of PNB)
  Telephone No.: +63 33 5096092



Carbonara P130.00

  

Spicy Sausage Ragu P145.00

   

Afriques Special P245.00

 



Pepperoni P260.00



happy me with the pepperoni

 Aside from their famous pizza's and pastas, the restaurant also serves steaks, salads and burgers.

Another thing that caught our attention is when the waiter offered to give us "extra hot" hotsauce, he gave us a small plate with a drop of red sauce. He warned us to just use the tip of our forks and spread some on our food.

EXTRA HOT!

 And so, I obliged. With the tip of my fork, I dabbed a dot of the hotsauce on my pizza and....he's not kidding! It is really extra hot.The good thing about it is that its spicy, but it doesn't linger on your mouth, that after a few seconds you will want some more!

Filled with curiosity, we asked the brand name cause Ill definitely buy that in Manila. Then the waiter showed us the bottle.



It is really BEYOND INSANITY



Battle of the sauces

Marlon beyond insanity.lol

The Verdict:
Best pizza ever! The crust is super thin and crunchy. I think they are using different kinds of cheeses because the peperroni pizza tasted so good. I'm thinking to go back to Ilo-Ilo just to eat their pizza.hahaha
You can visit the restaurant's website here. And to the management and owners of Afriques, please, please, please..open up a resto here in Manila cause I miss Afriques Pizza!

PS. preferably in Makati, Taguig or Paranaque. Thanks!..lol

Mindanao Chronicles: CDO-Camiguin

Cagayan de Oro, the city of Golden friendship. My first trip in Mindanao, i expected lots of trees, greens, houses and uhmm..no electricity.ahahha (just kidding!)


We landed at the airport like 10:30am and looked for a ride to the city. There are cabs available outside for P350.00 or vans for P500.00


We checked in at Wills Place, I opted to look for a budget room because were just staying in CDO to try white water rafting and will be leaving early the next day. Here are their rates:

We just changed clothes real quick because the driver from the RED RAFTS is already waiting outside to pick us up. Our package for rafting is P1200 for advanced course (22 rapids) and free lunch. They also have their basic course for P900 with free lunch. You can visit theredrafts or text kuya Rex at 09178556983.


We headed first to the end point to have lunch. Includes rice, chicken bbq, buttered shrimp and fried fish.


After loading up on food, were ready to go!:)

waiting for the gears with CDO river at the background

hindi nakikinig sa briefing



here comes the rapids!



paddle!



high five!

 Rafting was such a rush and I really wanted our raft to overturn.ahhaha. Too bad it didnt happen so they let me ride the kayak, (thats what the photographers are using) let me quote: *isakay mo nga dyan si maam kasi ang gusto nya yung wild!* ahhahah The kayak was really hard to balance so it overturned twice when we passed by tha rapids.ahahha but that so much fun!


After rafting they dropped us back to the hotel. We had dinner at the restaurant downstairs.

Early morning, at about 3am our contact, Kuya Jugs (09058819568) picked us up at the hotel to bring us to Balingoan Port where we will take the first roro trip at 5am to Camiguin. Travel time to port is 1.5 hrs, they have ferry schedules every 30 minutes.


Van to Port = P2000
Ferry          = P170 each
terminal fee = P2.25 each


The ferry from Balingoan port to Benoni port (Camiguin) is could take up to 45mins to 1hr.



they have fixed rates for everything which is good=)

Lanzones Festival yey!

Main transporatation in the island are multicabs. We rented one through Kuya Chris (09215637788)
Whole day tour is for P1500. Since were staying in Camiguin overnight, we decided to go to white island first then after lunch we can go on with the half day tour.


We went directly to Katibawasan Falls first and then he dropped us to the resort to leave our things and have lunch.



Katibawasan Falls

 

Alf and Dennis enjoying the very cold water

We checked in at Sabacajan Cottages ( Ate Josa, 09287225757). Nothing fancy, we just need a room to leave our things and a bed during the night, since we will just stay there for one day and most of our time will be spent outdoors.



   

             P1800, one room with 5 single beds, a/c and own bathroom



A 2-minute walk from the resort, you can find places to eat like this. We had lunch at Kainan sa Tulay, just a typical carinderia, what's odd is that they serve the viand per piece.ahaha (I had adobo, P20 per piece of meat)

cheap and fast lunch

 After lunch, we headed to the terminal of bangka's going to White Island. 

 Boat               = P400 per boat max 6pax
Terminal fee = P20 per head
Umbrella       = P150
Snorkel          = P100



15 minute boat ride to white island




the water is soooo clear!



White Island really serves true to its name. Fine, white sand, crystal clear blue calm waters. Haaay

There was a man in the island selling fresh (and still moving!) sea urchins. He said its known as an aphrodisiac, and so we decided to give it a try.



sea urchins P10, small and P20 for the big ones


Make sure to get an umbrella because you will really need it. The island doesn't have trees and cottages so the umbrellas will be your only source for shade.

We just stayed at the island for an hour or two since we need to get back to resort by 12:00PM. Kuya Genel, our driver will pick us up there to tour the island.


First stop of our tour is the famous Sunken Cementery. BTW, if your planning to buy souvenirs,its cheaper if you buy it here.



souvernirs, ref magnet P10 each

   We just took pictures at the Sunken Cementery, bought some souvenirs and went to our next stop, The Soda Swimming Pool.

They call it Soda swimming pool because they say that the water has bubbles just like soda. The water was so refreshing here. We just stayed there a bit, then went to the Sto Nino Cold Spring.

Water here is indeed really cold! There are also fishes swimming in the water. Outside the restort, there are paluto's available. They have native chicken, pork and beef. You can request to have it grilled (they call it sugba), tinola or adobo. Chicken is 280/KL. You can also order fresh buko juice for P20.00 each and they will just serve it there at your table. 


Our last stop was the Hotspring (sorry for not taking pictures). We just took a peak inside, took a quick dip and left since were already over the 8 hour limit for our multicab.


The next day, we had breakfast at Terasse, they are open 8am- 10pm.

The food was good! they serve pastas, pizza and sizzlers among others. They also serve beer and cocktails here.

 

After breakfast we prepared to go to the port since were planning to tour CDO city for a bit since we have a few hours to kill (flight back to Manila, 5pm)

On our way to the port, we stopped at Vjandep's Bakery to buy some pasalubongs, the famous (at the office) Pastel.ahahah It was so good!

Tin shopping for pastel

 Pastel is a bun with sweet (yema) fillings. Yum! Prices are P130.00 for a dozen and P70.00 half dozen. 


Since we passed by the store for pasalubongs, we missed the ferry that just left at 10:15am, the next ferry leaves at 12:00 (darn!)..but the most irritating part..THE FERRY LEFT AT 2:00PM. Unbelievable! Ooops i almost forgot, i will text the number of the ferry company just to vent out! ahahha


And because of the delay, we were running to hire a van from Balingoan Airport (3pm)because it would take 2 hours or so to reach the airport and we could miss our flight!


We got a van for P1800, that will bring us to the airport. It was slow, and there's traffic...and then traffic...were still in the road...its 4:40PM. Our only hope? Delayed flight.


When the van stopped, with the ticket at hand, I ran to the check in counter (yeah just like in amazing race) ahha...and....

counter is still open! high five!

The counter is still open! unbelievable! ahahha Thanks Bro! The flight was delayed for an hour and so, let me quote: my friend said "hindi lahat ng delayed bad news" ahhaha