Rustan’s Supermarket has an organic produce section with vegetables priced at 30%-50% more than their non-organic counterparts. Rustan’s also carries Seventh Generation recycled tissue paper, trash bags, and household cleansers.

Cash & Carry and Makati Supermarket carry Nature’s Path Organic Granola and Muesli at very reasonable prices. Try the Hemp Plus Granola, a crunchy, combination of toasted oats, rice crisps, and nutritionally rich shelled hemp seeds that add omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as extra protein and fiber.

Weekend markets like the Saturday Market in Salcedo Park (Makati), and Manila Seedling (Quezon City) feature several organic farmers and free range poultry products. Mara also serves organic dishes at P180 per dish. Her famous organic tofu cheese has gained loyal fans in the past decade.

Weekend markets are a great place to find interesting items such as the Citrocello, an alcoholic drink made from organic lemos.

Not all food and products in these markets are 100% organic however. It is still best to exercise your right as a customer and ask about the ingredients.

Every country has its idiosyncrasies and the Philippines is no exception. In fact, these quirks are what make our people and the culture even interesting. Here, we bring you strange, entertaining, and humorous bits of trivia to make you fall in love with the islands.

For Filipinos, there’s always a reason to celebrate, whether it’s a saint’s feast day or a bountiful harvest. And yet, there’s also room for honoring a fruit with concerts, street dancing, a regatta and even a 4×4 offroad challenge — in this case the sweet pineapple at Pinyasan sa Daet or Pineapple Festival, which takes place every June in Daet, Camarines Norte.

As if that weren’t enough, there is also the Banana Festival in La Castellana, Negros Occidental in January, and the seasonal Kesong Puti or White Cheese Festival in Santa Cruz, Laguna, where the tasty white goat’s cheese is made.

Want a little more variety? Why not join the Mudpack Festival in Mambukal Mountain Resort, Negros Occidental every third week of June? Participants use colored clay for body painting, making sculptures and mixed media competitions, and then trip the light fantastic with lots of tribal dancing.

Filipinos love nicknames, and that’s why just about every city or province has a moniker that describes its specialty. Think of it as a tagline that markets the district’s top industry, source of livelihood, tourist attraction or main draw. Just fill in the blank in the following phrase, “the _____________ capital of the Philippines.” Here are a few examples: Surigao uses “surfing”; Baguio, “summer”; General Santos, “tuna”; and Puerto Princesa, “ecotourism.”

Want more? The list goes on! Marikina is for “shoes”, Pateros is for “balut” or duck egg, Bukidnon for “pineapple”, Negros Occidental for “sugar”, Roxas City in Capiz is for “seafood”, Dipolog is for “orchid” and Abra is for “natural dye.”

On the other hand, when an area seems to possess certain characteristics of the world’s greatest cities, we use it to sell the city. Lipa in Batangas is sometimes called the “Rome of the Philippines” due to its numerous religious establishments like seminaries, retreat houses and convents. The Day-Asan Floating Village in Surigao has been called the Little Venice of the area.

A very unique tagline, which also draws in visitors, is that of Cagayan de Oro City, which is also called “the city of golden friendship.”

Here are some interesting record-breaking statistics about the Philippines:

• The people of Bacolod City drew even more attention to their love for food, when they built what should be the longest barbecue grill in the world last May 2009. The grill measured 3.985 km in length, on which they cooked their famous chicken inasal during the first Chicken Inasal Festival. The behemoth oven needed 800 sacks of charcoal to fire it up for the task at hand.
• Two teams of high school athletes from Iloilo played 19 games of marathon soccer for over 35 hours (the last Guinness World Record was less than 33, in Australia).
• If there was a “largest sticker wrap in the world,” you can bet we’d get it. Sure enough, Focal Point Advertising and Golden Touch Imaging was awarded by the Guinness Book of Records for their Levi’s wrap-around building billboard along EDSA, which was 200ft long, 235 ft wide, and covered a staggering 47,000 ft2. It took 15,120 hours, 130 liters of ink, and a digital file of 2.36 terabytes to complete.

Food

• The people of La Trinidad in Benguet, on the other hand, seem to have a penchant for baking huge cakes — there’s the sponge cake that weighed 1.2 tons in 2002; the two strawberry cakes that were 6 ft long and 6 ft high in 2003; and the strawberry butter cake in 2005 which had them landing in the Guinness Book of Records for having the largest fruit shortcake.
• In 2002, the people of Baguio City made the world’s largest salad with almost three tons worth of veggies in a 20 ft long bowl.

Super Stats

• UNESCO has included five of our cultural and natural wonders in its World Heritage List: four Baroque churches (Immaculate Conception in Intramuros,  Nuestra Senora in Ilocos Sur, San Agustin in Ilocos Norte and Sto Tomas in Iloilo), Vigan, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, the Rice Terraces, and the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.
• We have two Miss Universe and three Miss International winners, making us the first country in Asia to have five major beauty pageant queens.
• According to the World Records Academy, the 1,588 inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center strutted their way to the record of “most inmates dancing simultaneously in the same place,” and “the most number of individuals dancing to Thriller at one time and location.”
• Around 4,000 Pinoy moms broke the 1,135 record set by California moms for most number to simultaneously breastfeed.
• According to the National Statistics Office, the country’s projected population for 2009 is 92.23 million; next year, it will be 94.01 million.
• We may not be the richest in the world, but The Happy Planet Index slots the Philippines in 14th place in terms of high life expectancy, high life satisfaction and low ecological footprint in their 2009 study.

Thanks to Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, we now have the antibiotic erythromycin. The product was named Ilosone (after Iloilo, where Aguilar’s samples came from) by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly when it was launched in 1952. Also from Iloilo is Alexis Belonio, an associate professor at Central Philippines University, who created the environmentally friendly and award-winning rice-husk powered stove.

Pisidum, the world’s smallest shell, is found in the Philippines; so is the smallest volcano, said to be Taal. Th four- to five-inch tarsier from Bohol is one of the world’s smallest primates.

Cebu City is said to be the first Spanish settlement of the Philippines with the oldest street, Colon — believed to have existed since the time of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

The Philippines is a scuba diving country. There are a dozen scuba diving operators offering diving trips on 10 Japanese wrecks sunk during World War II.

Half an hour by banga to the east of Coron are the limestone cliffs of Coron Island. Nearby are Makinit hot springs and a volcanic lake. Dive Link makes the perfect base. It offers a three-day tour package for P7,000 per person (minimum of 2 persons) including a day of island hopping in Coron Bay, roundtrip land and boat transfers to and from the resort, two-night accommodation with meals, use of resort facilities, and activities like snorkeling, swimming, trekking and mangroves expedition. With the same tour inclusions is a five-day package for P21,000 per person (minimum of 4) but with two-night full board stay at Dive Link Resort and two nights at Kalipayan in Popototan Island. And there’s standard massage-wellness services.

Rooms are in a detached thatched roof native hut furnished with aircon, foam mattress beds, clean ensuite toilet and shower, a veranda looking out to the channel that is part of Coron Bay, bamboo chair and table, a big hot-water flask, cups and saucers, coffee, teaspoons, and sugar sachets. Being able to make your own coffee first thing in the morning at the privacy of your room is a luxury.

There is cellphone signal and internet is available.

Vegans are guaranteed a field day in Dive Link Resort. But even carnivores won’t be disappointed by the resort’s fresh and affordable sea food. Steamed, deep fried, or kilawin, fresh seafood at Dive Link range from Php 300 to Php 500 per meal, complete with fruit in season for dessert.

Divers can enjoy wreck dives in various sites. A wreck dive includes passing an underwater caldera which is the breeding ground of barracudas. For experienced divers, try the group of seven rocky outcrops Siete Pecados. It shelters narrow coral reef corridors between them where coral seems to be thriving.

For non-divers, off-the-beaten-path island hops are offered. The first is Twin Lagoons on Coron Island, a pair of exotic, roughly symmetrical coves accessible through several entrances at high tide and features a rock pedestal which, at a certain time in the afternoon, allows a single beam of sunlight to fall on it. Behind this rock pedestal is a narrow passage — that submerges at high tide — leading to yet another hidden lake. Still on Coron Island is Kayangan Lake, a fresh water jewel of a pond that, through a crack on its side, allows at high tide salt water to seep in and mix with the freshwater, giving it a sweet, brackish taste that nurtures a unique ecology. Coron Island all the way to Calice Point is a tiny paradise island blessed with five white-sand beaches.

Dive Link is a must visit in Busuanga for divers and their family. Non diving activities including a day at the resort pool and massage treatments are available.

The no-frills resort is also a good first stop-over point for a night or two for those who want to explore Coron and its surroundings and later on move on to other remote island resorts.

The head of Dive Link’s scuba instruction and exploration arm, John Hardcastle, is certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and has a qualification and experience rating higher than a dive master.

Home to the Puerto Prinsesa Subterranean River National Park, the world’s longest navigable underground river and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Puerto Prinsesa is the province of Palawan’s center of trade, commerce, education, communication, culture and arts. It is also the gateway to the Tubattaha Marine Park, another World Heritage Site. Its ecological biodiversity prompted a visitor to exclaim, “Nature has run amuck in this part of the world.”

Inhabited by a disciplined, progressive and environment-friendly people, Puerto Prinsesa is a provincial city whose citizens delight in its rural ambience, backstopped by modern facilities like a sanitary landfill, new slaughterhouse, an 8000-seater coliseum, hotels, banks, and restaurants. Its land area of 253, 892 hectars makes it the biggest city in the Philippines.

Grateful and appreciative of their rich natural endowment, the people of the city, personified by their mayor Edward Hagedorn, have legislated, “Environmental security is the highest form of national security. The supply and quality of the Sources of Life — the Land, the Air and the Waters (LAW) – are the essential elements of a people and of a country, and the base of all economic activity. The availability of these life-sources and services are hereby placed in the highest order of importance and as the main cornerstone of our political priority.” (Section 2, known as the “Code of Conduct for the Conservation, Protection and Restoration (CPR) of the Sources of Life of Puerto Prinsesa City”).

Puerto Prinsesa has a Hall of Fame Award for being “the cleanest and greenest;” it is a recipient of the Peace Award for being “the most peaceful, with the lowest crime rate;” it has become the most-awarded LGU in the country, and has been cited by the Asian Institute of Management as one of the Philippines’ “most competitive cities.”

Likewise, Puerto Prinsesa is a city of many “firsts:”

It is the first city to have made environmental protection as the centerpiece of local governance in line with its sustainable developmental objectives, thus earning the honor of being the first local government unit in the country to receive the United Nations Global 500 Roll of Honor Award from UNEP executive director Elizabeth Dowdeswell in Seoul, Korea during the World Environment Day celebration.

It is the first city to receive the Grand Macli-ling Dulag Environmental Achievement Awards given by the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and the Rotary Club of Makati. Puerto Prinsesa city was chosen as the most environmentally-conscious and active LGU at the time.

It is the first component city to receive the Award of Excellence As The Cleanest and Greenest Component City In The Philippines (1994) and The National Hall Of Fame Award (1996) for winning the “Cleanest and Greenes Component City Award” for three consecutive years (1994 to 1996). The city’s innovative approach under is Clean and Green program has since been emulated by other local government units.

It is the first LGU to receive the prestigious Development Management Award Of Asia by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in cooperation with the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Management Association of the Philippines.

It is the first LGU to be given management control and authority over a national park — the Saint Paul Subterranean River National Park (the world’s longest underground river) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). After six years local government management and control, the national park was renamed Puerto Prinsesa City Subterranean River National Park was named by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

It is the first LGU outside of Metro Manila to establish and maintain a Cyanide Detection Test laboratory to prevent cyanide fishing, which permanently destroys precious coral reefs. It supports marine life and ensures that no fish or marine products caught through the illegal use of sodium cyanide is sold to the public. This facility has enabled the city to stop the once rampant and organized illegal trade of live tropical fishes.

It is the first LGU to have a “Public Access Defibrillation” program.

Lastly, it is the first LGU to develop and implement a comprehensive and intensive reforestation program within all watersheds in its jurisdiction. To date, the city has replanted a total of 1.7 million trees, and has protected and significantly expanded hectares of its threatened and diminishing mangrove plantations through the years.

Indeed, in Puerto Prinsesa, you will see real co-existence between man and nature. Nowhere else in this part of the globe will you see monkeys and large monitor lizards posing for your cameras. Even their dolphins have been known to save people from distress. Come now, visit Puerto Princesa, and swim with the fish, sing with the birds, and cavort with the butterflies.

source: La Isla

La Esquina Spanish Restaurant

La Esquina is Spanish for “the corner”. The restaurant took its name from its strategic location in one corner of the golf clubhouse that provides patrons with a scenic view of the 9th green that stretches in the distance.

The restaurant comfortably seats 60 diners at a time in air-conditioned comfort, with an unparalleled view of the outlying golf course through panoramic floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The restaurant’s menu is an enticing selection of traditional Spanish dishes. For appetizers, La Esquina recommends the Tigres, fresh mussels stuffed with sauteed Spanish chorizo, aligue and shrimps topped with cheese and baked with a dash of paprika to give it that distinctive Spanish flavor; the Batido de Sardinas or whipped cream and sardines blended into a pate and creatively served on an upturned globlet with melba toast; and the Alchachofas Infanta Leonor — heart of artichokes sauteed in butter with garlic and Spanish chorizo.

No self-respecting Spanish restaurant will be without its paella, and La Esquina boasts of three: the Paella a la Christina named after JAKA Chairperson Madame Cristina Ponce Enrile, the spicy Paella Negra made with squid and squid ink, nd the Paella de Mariscos or seafood paella. The paellas at La Esquina follows the traditional recipes from Valencia that requires the paella to be cooked slowly over low heat to produce a glutinous rice dish. The perfect accompaniment to any paella dish would be the Pollo Iberico, whole chicken, roasted with caramelized garlic and potatoes.

Ladera Golfer’s Lounge

The Ladera Golfer’s Lounge has a relaxed atmosphere suites for golfers winding down after a round of play. Even here, the Spanish-Mediterranean character of the clubhouse is apparent with its high wooden ceilings and wrought iron chandeliers. Ladera, which is “hillside” in Spanish, is lcoated atop a small hill, hence its name.

The door panels surrounding Ladera are left opened in good weather to allow the cool Tagaytay breeze to waft through the dining area. Patrons can take a stroll outside the restaurant to the adjoining veranda for dessert and coffee al fresco. The restaurant seats 120 persons inside its main dining area, and up to 150 persons including the veranda area.

The menu offerings at Ladera is internation in scope — Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, or a fusion between east and west, modern and traditional. One may partake of Tagaytay’s signature dish Bulalo, which is a pot of braised bone-in beef shanks served with vegetables, or some fusion dish such as Peking Duck Mami, Chorizo Carbonara or Philly Steak Pizza.

Desserts at Splendido Taal

Among the desserts created for Splendido, one favorite is the Tropical Splendido, which is essentially meringue generously filled with pastry cream and topped with a delicious combination of tropical fruits and native suman, macerated in calamansi juice and brown sugar. Chocoholics will love the Decadent Chocolate and the Chocolate Pizza. Citrus lovers will appreciate the subtle flavors of the Tarta de Limon and Biscocho de Naranja.

Le Esquina Spanish Restaurant is open from 10:30AM to 9:00PM, an the Ladera Golfer’s Lounge from 6:00AM to 9:00PM.

For reservations, call Splendido Taal at 0918-967-0800.