Abe's Farm* 16:01

Location - Magalang, Pampanga, Philippines.
Photos by - Me

Rewind to October 16th 2009. My birthday, which I celebrated back home in the Philippines last year. My jet setting Uncle loves to entertain us "visitors" and one popular place he likes to bring us to is Abe's Farm. He treated me out for lunch. Only a 30 minute drive from Angeles Pampanga, you reach a huge gated "Farm", beautifully green and fresh in contrast to the busy city outside its walls.

Abe's is a beautifully preserved piece of land, housing vintage hideaway huts, restaurant and also home to a Nurture spa branch. It was an absolute breath of fresh air compared to the dusty hustle in the city. Who knew such a simple and un touched place existed literally 30 minutes away from our house in the city!

The main building is where you can have traditional Filipino meals in such a vintage setting. Old classic furniture's made of bamboo are scattered in and around the restaurant and fine net shutters letting in fresh air and not a glass window in sight. The meal itself was lovely, we had a few selection of Filipino classics like Baboy Sinigang (pork sour soup/stew) and sizzling sisig (finely chopped pork and liver) and to finish we had a refreshing Halo Halo (iced dessert). Everything is fresh and tasty and in such a peaceful setting, I almost forgot where I was and what day it was.

They also have accommodation where you can stay for the weekend or overnight. The simple huts are all air conditioned with en suite bathrooms and amazing views of the Mountain Arayat nearby. They also have old traditional huts made with wood and straw roofs. These huts can actually be booked but they are very antique.

For the spa addicts, there is a fantastic spa on site called Nurture Spa. They have a few branches all over Philippines particularly in Tagaytay. They have beautiful outside Gazebos for exotic foot spas and huts for massage and body treatments. My Uncle treated me to a foot spa and it was so peaceful and relaxing. A perfect lunchtime treat for my birthday.

Unfortunately they have no website but for more information you can call the Abe Restaurant on (02)856-0526.

Back to the Homeland* 13:55

Location - Philippines
Angeles / Subic

Photos by - Me

I love the Philippines. Its my home away from home. It's that certain place that I am always happy. Many of the important people I cherish live out there. And having experienced staying there for a few months really meant alot to me.

Apart from seeing family and friends, the 16 hour journey is always worth it because I look forward to the great home cooking. I have a large family and food is ALWAYS involved when we get together. The love for each other and the love for food always goes hand in hand. The most memorable moments I've had was over food. Its always fun cooking for family out there, using fresh ingredients and different methods of cooking. I actually miss grilling and barbequing food out in the back garden and using odd makeshift utensils, like a can opener made of a small sharpened piece of metal that I could never use properly and odd looking wok pans that ALWAYS sticked to everything you cooked. The tastes and smells are completely out of this world. These are Smells and flavours that you can only get in the Philippines and is probably what keeps us coming back home so often.

If you've been to the Philippines I'm sure that you've encountered one of the most popular dishes called LECHON BABOY! Its a large suckling pig traditionally roasted whole over a hot charcoal spit and normally made for big family events and gatherings. It was my uncles 60th birthday during my stay and my mom sent money to order a whole lechon for her brothers special party. A whole pig ranges from 5000 pesos to 6000 pesos (£60 roughly) depending on size. The suckling pig was the centre piece of the table and was surrounded by other special dishes like fresh veg pancake rolls (lumpiang sariwa) served with a peanut sauce, sticky yellow rice, Fresh dory fish breaded in panko crumbs, Italian tagiatelle in a tomato basil and parmesan sauce and a selection of fresh desserts made with coconut and sticky rice. NOM! Anyways, back to the lechon. Before tucking in, my cousin carved the pig, revealing the moist and tender meat. I admit the best part of the lechon is the crackling, which everyone normally goes for first. This, served with Mang Tomas sauce (spicy brown gravy sauce) on top of fresh fluffy boiled rice is absolute heaven. The food was perfect and I couldn't stop picking at the food on the table even though I was full. And of course the night wouldn't be complete without karaoke and bottles of San Miguel and Red horse beer!

During my stay we also went on a family outing to the Beach in Subic Bay. I thought of maybe eating at the resorts restaurant, but my family insisted on bringing food. So usually you would think a picnic of sandwiches and cold meats and fresh veggie sticks would suffice?..We however, went ALL OUT bringing meat and fresh tilapia fish to grill, tomato salads, egg salad, pickled papaya and lots and lots of boiled rice. Fortunately there was a grilling station on the beach where you can BBQ away from the sun bathers. There was so much food to eat that it distracted us from swimming.

I've had the best meals with my family. I've also learned many kitchen and recipe secrets from them. Home cooking is always the best and its usually its concocted with love...that's wherever home is for you.