A Memorable Wedding in Tagaytay

Tagaytay is a beautiful city located just about 60 kilometers from Metro Manila that is a popular location for weddings in the Philippines. So when my friend and ex-colleague Pao got married, it isn't a surprise that he and his now-wife Alyssa decided to have their wedding in Tagaytay.

Pao and Alyssa get married

Actually, Pao and Alyssa are already married. They actually got married last year in the US where they now live (Pao moved there early last year). Since a lot of their family is still in the Philippines, they wanted to have a church wedding and a reception in the country so that they can celebrate their union with their family and friends here

Reception venue was Fernwood Gardens Tagaytay

The church ceremony was held in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. While I originally planned to go, I remembered that the last time I attended a destination wedding where the dress code for men was suits, I got soaked in sweat for a prolonged period of time and I ended up getting sick shortly after. Pao told me that the church was not air conditioned so I told him that I would just attend the reception because I couldn't risk getting sick again. (Yes, Tagaytay is cooler than Metro Manila most of the time but during the summer months, it gets pretty hot as well.)

The reception venue was Fernwoods Garden, which is near Breakfast at Antonio's. I didn't know there was a Fernwoods in Tagaytay; I only previously knew of Fernwood Gardens in Quezon City and Fernbrook Gardens in Alabang (and I had attended weddings at both these venues.) All these venues share the same design and style, making any of them a great choice for a wedding. Being in Fernwoods Tagaytay feels like you are in a fantasy, fairy tale forest. It really was lovely.

Fernwoods Garden Tagaytay

The venue was also very stunningly and elegantly decorated. As you enter, you are greeted by a beautiful display of the photos from Pao and Alyssa's wedding in the US.

Photos from Pao and Alyssa's wedding in the US

There was also a selfie op here, with a full-sized mirror enabling guests to take photos of themselves. Naturally, I did.

This wedding also featured one of the coolest ideas I've seen: a LEGO guest book. Instead of having attendees write a dedication along their names in a traditional guest book, we got to pick our own LEGO mini-figure, attach it anywhere on the board, and write our name underneath it. I loved this concept a whole lot!

Super cool LEGO wedding guest book!

The main reception area was absolutely gorgeous. It was grand and resplendent and tasteful and very festive and celebratory.

Reception area

I also loved the food. It was served buffet style and I think I ended up going back for seconds. I also thought the menu was really cute. Their fur-baby Chopper was left behind in the US so if he couldn't be here physically, then maybe by featuring him on the menu card, he could be here in spirit.

Dinner menu card

Pao and Alyssa also hired Bar on the Run to provide drinks that evening and these drinks were served in a really cool car!

Bar on the Run

I knew that Fernwood was also not air-conditioned so I made sure to bring my Jisulife, which I got as a gift for my birthday last year. It really was such a blessing to have. I wasn't the only one with that idea, though. Everyone else in my table had one of these portable electric fans.

Making use of my Jisulife

One of the most poignant moments that evening was the dance of Pao and his mom. It felt quite emotional, probably because Pao's dad passed away a couple of years ago. While his dad wasn't there, you could feel his presence and you could tell how much he is still loved, remembered, and revered by his family. Maybe a bit of the emotion is also because Pao lives in the US now so he doesn't get to spend a lot of time with his mom anymore. Whatever the reason, this dance really tugged at the heartstrings.

Mother and son dance

At some point that evening, everyone in the reception was asked to head out for the fireworks display. It was fantastic! (Also, since it was the evening already, it was very cool. In fact, it was a lot cooler outside the reception area than it was inside!)

Fireworks display

I also have to write about our table, which was a cornucopia of Pao's friends. I was the only one from the team that Pao and I were a part of in my previous company but there were also a couple of other people from that same company but from a different team. Also in our table were Pao's friends from online gaming and some of his roommates in Manila. You'd think that we would all have ended up not talking to each other and maybe just all being on our phones but somehow, everyone was really friendly and we clicked. By the end of the night, we were all talking with each other, sharing stories, and laughing as if we'd all known each other for a long time already. We clearly enjoyed each other's company because we ended up staying even past the end of the program. We were in fact the third to the last table to leave the party.

The party favors also deserve a mention as they were very special. Everyone got to take home two items. I got a jewelry box and a bottle of perfume! It was a pretty good scent too!

Wedding party favors

I'm really honored to have been invited to this wedding and I'm very happy that I attended. I got to see and catch up a bit with Pao, who I haven't seen since he left for the US, and I got to be there for him and his wife for this very special moment in his life.

*****

As is my usual practice, I stayed overnight in Tagaytay after the wedding since I didn't want a long drive late at night. Once again, I stayed at my go-to place: Lee Boutique Hotel.

Lee Boutique Hotel

After checking out very early the next day, my plan was to have breakfast at Charito's but it was Mother's Day so the parking was full! I went instead to my other go-to breakfast/brunch place: Bag of Beans Athena. Thankfully, I arrived when I did - which was around 8am - because shortly after that, all the tables were filled. I was so surprised that there were so many early morning people in Tagaytay that weekend!

Breakfast Sampler at Bag of Beans Athena

I bought some barako coffee and raisin bread from Bag of Beans Athena before leaving. On my way back to Manila, I also got some ube jam and a few bottles of pickled mango from Good Shepherd. And of course buko pie from Cecilia's. It really was such a superb weekend.

Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp.

My family and I watched the Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp. of the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). The main reason: my nephew was part of the Guitar Ensemble. I believe this musical event is staged every two years (except during the pandemic) and this year, it was held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater.

Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp.: Pagdiriwang ng Musikang Pilipino

This was actually a special year because it is the 80th anniversary of the UST Conservatory of Music. The theme: Pagdiriwang ng Musikang Pilipino.

The show included voice faculty, the UST Symphony Orchestra, the UST Wind Orchestra, the UST Jazz Ensemble, the UST Guitar Ensemble (which my nephew was a part of), the UST Rondalla, Coro Tomasino, Liturgikon, the Chorus class, the Music Theatre Ensemble with alumni, and other faculty and students of the UST conservatory of Music.

As always, what I love about Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp. is that it always features a fantastic repertoire. Because this year's theme was Pagdiriwang ng Musikang Pilipino, all the music played was local. One of my favorite segments was "Sa Dating Sinehan" which featured a medley of songs from Filipino movies. I wish there was a recording of it that I could watch again because it was beautiful and the song selection was topnotch.

My nephew was once again a performer at the show. He was also part of the 33rd and 34th shows but this year, he had a bigger role in that he actually performed twice. First, he played guitar together with the UST Guitar Ensemble as they shared the stage with the UST Rondalla to perform a lovely medley of Filipino folk songs. I loved this segment as well, not only because my nephew was performing, but also because I do love Filipino folk songs.

The UST Guitar Ensemble and the UST Rondalla playing Filipino folk songs

He then performed again in the grand finale. Wow! As I had written in past blog posts, he is a member of the Sibol Guitar Octet, which is the core performance group of the UST Conservatory of Music Guitar Ensemble. As such, their group played guitar in the closing segment of the Ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri, atbp. The grand finale - Patriotic Medley - was very inspiring and uplifting as many artists and musicians shared the stage and performed many nationalistic Filipino songs, including the always powerful and evocative Bayan ko.

I managed to find my nephew among the performers on stage both times. It was really such a proud moment for our family! Not only did we get to enjoy incredible performances and beautiful music from the entire event but we got to appreciate the fact that my nephew was on stage, including at the grand finale. Awesome!

Grand finale: Patriotic medley

The show finished quite late in the evening and by then, almost all restaurants in Newport were closed. Thankfully, Brotzeit was still open. I've eaten at Brotzeit several times in the past but I think everyone else in my family hadn't yet. Thankfully, everyone enjoyed the food and my mom even said that it was great that we got to try German cuisine for a chance.

Congratulations to UST and to my nephew for a very successful ika-35 Sampung Mga Daliri!

Talisay The Garden Cafe

My friend Raych was in town so naturally, our group of friends met up for dinner one evening while she was in town. Raych asked us for suggestions of good places to eat in the Quezon city area and our friend Bett suggested that we try Talisay The Garden Cafe, a Filipino restaurant in Maginhawa. I'm glad we met up and ate here because it was the perfect venue to catch up with great friends over great food.

Talisay The Garden Cafe

Before I get to the food, I have to say that I loved the design of the place. Being named Talisay the Garden Cafe meant that there would be an al fresco dining area in the garden which was very lovely.

Al fresco dining in the garden

One side of the restaurant has high glass windows so people dining inside can still see and feel the garden vibe.

The main dining area is very spacious inside, with comfortable seating and a lot of space between tables.

And there is also another dining area at the back that can accommodate large groups. I love how they built this dining section around a tree that they protected with glass rather than cutting the tree down.

A tree at the back of the room

Now on to the food. We ordered on a lot of dishes that evening. The Lumpia Fresca (P280) was unique in that it had sauteed singkamas (or jicama) wrapped in an ube crepe and served peanut sauce. I don't think I've ever had lumpia with an ube-flavored wrap before so this was a first.

Lumpia Fresca

We also ordered the Croquetas (P350). These breaded fried potato croquettes are stuffed Jamon de Talisay.

Croquetas

Their Palabok Negra (P745) is their version of paella version but they replace rice with rice noodles. It is still cooked in squid ink sauce, giving it that black color, and has shrimp, squid, and smoked fish.

Palabok Negra

The Seafood Platter (P1250) had grilled swordfish steak, baked mussels, and Cajun spiced shrimp and having it on our table felt like we were in a fiesta.

Seafood Platter

I only recently got to try Chicken Pianggang (P460) - at Lore - and Talisay also has this Sulu dish on their menu. This grilled chicken cooked in burned spiced coconut sauce is really good!

Chicken Pianggang

Their Malunggay Pasta with Kohol (P420) is like their version of pasta. It is homemade fresh malunggay pasta with native escargot (or simply put, snails) and malunggay coconut cream sauce. It was really good.

Malunggay Pasta with Kohol

As if all that food wasn't enough, we still managed to find room for dessert. I ordered the Orange Cashew Cake. My friend tried this cake before and she said she really liked it although I did think that the orange soda flavor was a bit artificial. It was still enjoyable overall.

Orange Cashew Cake

My friends shared the Dark Chocnut Chocolate Cake...

Dark Chocnut Chocolate Cake

...and the Cassava Cheesecake. (I missed out on taking note of the prices of these cake slices).

Cassava Cheesecake

Talisay The Garden Cafe is a really great find. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a good place to eat in Quezon City, especially in the Maginhawa area. I would certainly love to eat here again.

Talisay The Garden Cafe
https://www.facebook.com/TalisayGardenQC/
Address: UP-Village, 44 Maginhawa, Diliman, Quezon City, 1101 Metro Manila
Phone: (02) 8293 9077

International Dance Day 2026

For the second year in a row, I watched a couple of International Dance Day shows at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati. This year, I saw the Folk Dance gala night on Thursday and the street dance gala night on Friday. (I would have also wanted to watch the ballet performance on Saturday night but I had a conflict.)

I really love the Folk Dance gala. For me, there is something deeply evocative and soul-stirring whenever I see Filipino folk dances, especially when they are performed well. I enjoyed this year's show immensely as I did last year's. This time, I tried to get a program before the show started so I could better appreciate the dances being performed. However, there seemed to have been some printing issue and we were told that the programs would only be available during the intermission. So the moment we got to the intermission, I headed out and checked if the programs were there and indeed they were. I of course got a copy.

Curtain call of all the performers of the Folk Dance Gala

All of the dances were great! The show featured 11 performances from 10 groups (one group performed twice). Check out this next video for the highlights from the Folk Dance Gala:

 

video uploaded in YouTube by CPATOfficial

One of my favorite performances was from Sindaw Philippines Performing Arts Guild. According to the program, "this dance is inspired by the culture of the Subanon people, portraying the journey from planting to a bountiful harvest." The finale of their performance was a spectacular dance that was like tinikling but on a more massive scale. There were multiple sets of dancers jumping skillfully between multiple sets of bamboo poles being clapped together, and these multiple sets of dancers and bamboo-clappers were moving across the stage and changing formations throughout the dance. My description doesn't do this performance any justice and I wish I could find a video of it. It was absolutely sensational dazzling to witness!

Musicians and Philippine instruments at the Folk Dance Gala

Another favorite of mine was the Philippine Normal University Kislap Sining Dance Troupe who performed a Muslim suite dance entitled "Bangsawan" which means nobility. This performance finished with singkil, which I always love seeing because of its drama, its power, and its impact. But the Pang-Apir, or graceful fan movements, was also extremely memorable. This dance had women in brightly colored outfits and vibrant fans dancing with very elegant and undulating movements. It was breathtaking to watch.

The next evening, I made my way to the Samsung Performing Arts Theater again, this time to watch the Street Dance Gala Night.

Curtain call of all the performers of the Street Dance Gala

You can check out the highlights here:

 

video uploaded in YouTube by CPATOfficial

There were a total of 9 groups that performed that evening. Unfortunately, there was no program. However, I did note down the name of every crew. They were, in order of performance: Vpeepz, Upeepz, Eleven 11, Armada, Mixed Nuts, UNRVLD, Femme MNL, Manoeuvres Ignite, and V3. The vibe of the street dance gala is different from the folk dance gala. For instance, cheering and applause during a dance is normal if not encouraged (in most other dances, applause is usually reserved after the performance). Once again, the dances were all fantastic. I loved the song selection that Mixed Nuts used in their number. My favorite performance may actually have been the first one from VPeepz, which had a chef/cooking theme. I loved everything about it! Apparently, this was the same routine they performed at the World of Dance Philippines 2026, for which they won first place. So I guess it makes sense that I loved it because the World of Dance Philippines judges did too. Here is a video of that performance:

 

video uploaded in YouTube by Official World of Dance

I'm really happy that I got to see a couple of gala nights from International Dance Day this year. Hopefully, this becomes an annual thing for me now.

Bonus: Tanaw-Laya Exhibit

While at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater, I passed by an exhibit called Tanaw-Laya, the 2nd National Persons Deprived of Liberty Art Exhibition. All the pieces on display were created by persons deprived of liberty or PDL. (This phrase was coined to avoid the negative stigma attached to terms like prisoners or inmates and to ensure that their human dignity is kept intact.)

This exhibit was made possible by many sponsors and groups, including The Bagong Buhay Group of Artists or BAGA. This collective was founded by former persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and they use arts, such as painting and other crafts, and public exhibitions to help in the rehabilitation of PDLs.

I spent some time admiring the art here. I felt that every piece had a strong point of view. It made me wonder if the people who made them had created art before becoming PDLs or if they found their artist self through this journey of restorative justice. Either way, the paintings on exhibit were amazing.

Hopefully, art can be life-changing and truly rehabilitative for these  PDLs. 

 

Hapag ng Kulay: A Food, Arts, and Crafts Mini-Bazaar

I attended another art exhibit - Hapag ng Kulay - which was staged this April to celebrate Buwan ng Kalutong Pilipino or Philippine National Food Month. Artworks from several artists were on display and because it was Buwan ng Kalutong Pilipino, the theme of every painting was food, making it a really interesting showcase.

Hapag ng Kulay exhibit at LRI Design

I learned about Hapag ng Kulay from watercolor and coffee artist Yeye Calderon. I acquired one of his paintings recently and since then, we have met and become connected on social media. He posted about this exhibit, saying that there would be a special one-day event on April 18 that would include a mini-bazaar with food, an art class by Maryrose Gisbert, and art demo by Yeye himself. Many of the participating artists would also be there that day. I thought it would be a great opportunity to see Yeye Calderon in person again and to see him run a coffee painting demo. It would also give me a chance to meet a lot of other artists and see their work too so I decided to go.

Hapag ng Kulay mini-bazaar on April 18

I initially thought of just passing by but I ended up spending almost the entire day there. I arrived shortly before noon (I had a heavy brunch before I arrived). The pastel art class of Maryrose Gisbert was scheduled at 1pm. I was invited to join the class but I politely declined, saying that I was planning to leave soon. But as it turned out, I didn't leave. So at some point, Maryrose told, "you're still here, why don't you just join us?" but I still declined because there were already so many "students" there and all the tables were already full. Still, it was wonderful getting to see all those people create a pastel still life painting of some fruits.

Artist Maryrose Gisbert giving an art class on the use of pastels

Yeye's coffee painting demo started at around 3pm. He talked about the kind of coffee he uses, saying that he prefers to use instant coffee although he has also worked with brewed coffee in the past. He also told us that ideally, when you work with coffee or watercolor for that matter, you want to wait for the previous layer to dry before painting on top of it. But because this was a demo and we only had a limited time, he couldn't do that and he had to paint new layers even when the previous one was still wet. (I think the final demo painting still looked great despite this.) Someone in the audience asked him how he knows when the painting is done and ready. He said, you just know and feel it when you see it. The painting looked awesome at the end of the 1-hour demo, drawing much applause from the audience, but the next day, he posted a photo of that same painting that he continued to refine after the session.

Yeye Calderon doing a coffee painting demo

I left the exhibit at around 430pm but before I left, I somehow ended up getting something from practically every booth there. I purchased another painting from Mr. Calderon. It was small and relatively inexpensive, considering that it was already framed. Given its size, I felt I could easily slot it in somewhere on my walls at home.

My new painting from Yeye Calderon

I also purchased food from another booth. From yet another, I bought a couple of postcards. These were postcard versions of paintings by one of the artists there. I also got a fridge magnet version of another artist's painting of a bird.

Booths at the Hapag ng Kulay mini-bazaar

I also bought another relatively small painting from Arvin Yanuario. He said that it was a live painting that he made of the docks somewhere along Manila Bay. I had been thinking recently that there was a part of my kitchen wall that would look much better with a painting and efven before I got to this exhibit, I decided I wanted to place a predominantly blue painting there. When I saw this painting of Arvin, it felt like the right one to put at that spot at home. So I got it.

My new painting from Arvin Yanuario

As a gift for my purchase, Arvin gave me a Hapag ng Kulay mug that had his art printed on it. Cool!

My new Hapag ng Kulay mug

Technically, there was one booth that I didn't buy something from immediately. But that was because the painting I wanted, which was from one of the artists of that booth, had already been sold. I did talk to that artist who said I could commission a painting from her. I got her contact details so now I just need to sort things out.

Some of the artists of Hapag ng Kulay

My visit to Hapag ng Kulay turned to be a brilliant decision because I had a lovely and very relaxing time there. It was wonderful getting to meet and talk to so many amazing artists and even purchase some paintings from a couple of them. Art really does make life a lot better.