Our Christmas Break 2011 Series includes :
- En Route To Pinas
- Day 2 : Ulingan, Tondo
- Day 5 : Malacanang Palace
- Day 8 : Bisperas Ng Pasko Sa Ulingan
- Day 11 : Our Students’ Wedding
- Day 14 : Our Celestial Weekend at Hotel Celeste
- Day 19 : Our Big Binondo Food Wok
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28 December 2011, Wednesday. To be honest, I extremely enjoyed our trip to my in-law’s farm! Our entire day spent there was definitely a breather from the common mall ratting and absolutely far from our usual work-home-routine. Inhaling fresh air and savoring cool mountain breeze was definitely a fantastic treat for all of us.
The whopping 4.6 hectares of farm of various crops owned by my brother-in-law and his family is located at Boso-Boso, Antipolo Rizal. A roughly an hour and a half drive from Pasig City and Ortigas took us to this beautiful respite from the hustle and bustle of the urban life.
Meet one of their farm caretakers….
who lives in this paradise…
The place reminded me of my maternal grandmother’s hometown, Barangay Halayhay, Tanza, Cavite where we used to visit every Summer of our growing up years; where houses were built separately from their toilets (the ones that require you to walk before you pee or poop) and where life is incredibly simple.
Aren’t these puppies, despite the lack of breed (or so called, askal aspin or asong pinoy) and a dumalaga so fit for Tinola, too cute for words? 🙂
The farm has a family house too where toilet is much comfortable. (There’s our Tita/Ninang sa Kasal on the photo).
Seeing a white cow grazing in grass doesn’t happen on a daily basis –definitely another treat! 🙂
Next photo reveals how my father-in-law who came home for the holidays from Missouri attempted to enjoy fishing.
And our Tito/Ninong sa Kasal became too busy too snapping his camera at this nature’s best. BTW, this is the bahay-kubo where we ate our sumptuous lunch. Very Nice! Cool eh?!
Another shot of that beautiful bahay-kubo…
One of the abundant crops are coconuts. Photo below exhibits Gabby’s amazement on how Kuya Boyet, one of the farm caretakers climbed and tried his best to get us freshest coconuts.
Coke and distilled water were rivaled by delicious coconut juice and pulp. Thirst-quenching!
Sarap ng buco, lalo na libre! 🙂
Other than coconuts, rice, some mangoes, there are also grapefruit trees. I’m not sure but it tastes and looks like grapefruit and tastes like pomelo as well.
Abot-kamay ang mga prutas! 🙂
Meet Gabby’s cousin, Raphael (left), the heir to this farm. 😀
Look what’s cooking…
Preparation always comes before success. And my sister in law prepared and cooked on the spot a very tasteful Sinigang na buto-buto! The tender meat almost effortlessly fall off from its bones. The sour broth and the veggies were just perfect! Sarap! Success! 😀
Here she is, doc bibsy, a.k.a. my former classmate in med school and Tina’s sister; that makes her my sister-in-law who happens to be the haciendera of this vast farm. Sarap ng buco, bibsy! 😀
Tina and Gabby obviously enjoyed it too…
Jun, my brother-in-law and owner of this farm provided one of the best tasting barbecued liempo (pork belly). His recipe –a marinade of mustard, rosemary, salt and pepper. Imagine, it was my first time to eat liempo sans soy sauce and vinegar. Ang sarap!!!
While the adults were busy cooking, the kiddos were having their own business.
Another addition to our feast that afternoon was 2 kilo-takeaway/takeout by my dad-in-law enroute to the farm; its packaging says, Malutong. Masarap. Masaya! 😀
tadaaaaa…. (nagsebo na kasi malamig sa farm!)
More artery-clogging delights : Crab fat, bagoong, salted eggs. Extra rice, please! 🙂
Tina must have her favorite green mangoes that she personally sliced into pieces.
It was Gabby’s first time to eat on banana leaves and it has been a while for me.
The lunch at the farm was surreal.
Shameless display of my plate, err, leaf. 🙂
Burp!
Gabby : “Daddy, how do we use this cable car?”
Me. : “CABLE CAR?!!? What cable car?” Then I looked around and found an old swing. 😀 Kids loved it!
To Jun, Bibs and Raphael, Papa Chito, Tito Mars and Tita Emma, thank you so much for that fun afternoon at the farm! Wonderful! 😀
Despite we spent a day WITHOUT mobile signal, NO WIFI, no cable TV because the farm is located uphill the barangay in Antipolo City, the experience was still memorable. Food. Family Bonding. Nature. Surreal!
The 4.6 hectare private farm is on the planning stage of progress, either to keep it as crop-producing farm and/or part of it will be converted to a resort. Regardless, it’s a clear gem from Mother Nature. 😀
beyond toxicity @ docgelo.com 
the real farmville. hahaha… and one of the collest spot to eat next to eating by the beach is eating from a cottage with a farm view.
dom, i know you’re one of those travel bloggers who are abreast with nature. bundok kung bundok sa’yo so you’re an authority when it comes to savoring mother nature. glad you appreciated the view.
your first photo reminded me of batanes. sarap dyan pang tanggal ng stress. sarap ng buko lalo na pag malamig.
i personally bought a pack of tube ice from 711 and put it in my in-laws cooler.
the buco juice was absolutely thirst-quenching! di ko nabilang kung ilang baso ako! haha!
natawa ako sa toilet na malayo sa main house.:p i grew up in that setting—even when the old house was renovated when i was high school, my grandparents preferred the toilet to be constructed away from the house.:p there was no electricity then, when one had to go at night, isang platoon kami ng mga pinsan ko kasi takot pumunta sa tolet mag-isa. LOL
this is my kind of place and lunch! nakaka miss ang fresh buko juice! ang sarap din ng pomelo. my former boss has a similar property in the mountains of Tanay, ganito rin ang scenery. having a farm in Rizal is perfect, malapit lang. a great weekend getaway.
thanks for sharing, luna!
…sarap nga ng buco juice.
.. artery-clogging delights nga!
.. paminsan-minsan ang sarap magbuhay probinsya ano.
i agree, rob. SOMETIMES, it’s nice to live far from the city but i don’t think i will thrive in a farm, worst in a forest; siguro bisita lang, or bakasyon for few weeks. mahalaga sa akin ang may wifi, mobile signal at cable. hehe! 😀
dapat talaga kasama yang bukid outing sa bakasyon, very reenergizing.
ang daming pagkain, nag enjoy tiyak si gabby, ay ikaw din doc.
punong puno ng activity tong vacation nyo.
balik penang na ba kayo?
we had one restful and rejuvenating afternoon in that farm. i mean, it was so comforting just to see greens around you and all nature; it made me forget all my worries, stress and anxieties even for a day.
going there was indeed a remarkable blessing to us. sarap! salamat sa bayaw at hipag ko sa imbitasyon.
yes, maria, our 3-week-holiday break was so packed but despite that, we even crave for longer. oh well, we’re just can’t be thankful enough. we’re back in penang.
stay tuned as there will be a few more fascinating posts about our simple vacation in pinas. salamat! 😀
Naku pagkakita ko ng inihaw na liempo, naglaway ako so I took out from the fridge my smoked pork jowls (Italian guanciale) warmed it up in a turbo cooker, cut up some tomatoes, and ate it with steamed jasmin rice. SARAP!
hi ms. thelma, welcome to my blog; glad you took time to comment. how did you find my site, maam? enjoy browsing! anyway, sarap po talaga liempo+rice, panalo di po ba? 😀
ganda! wendy’s dad has a farm too. kaya sa school, when she is asked what her dad does for a living, she shouts, “he’s a farmer!” 🙂
we eat on banana leaves too. ganyan kami pag asa ilog or asa “outing.” lahat ng pagkain asa banana leaves….kanya kanyang kuha na lang!
i hope the farm will be maintained. we need more “greens” now that a lot of areas are being urbanized!
wow, may farm din pala kayo. actually, i’m not surprised, grace.
makes me wonder how great it is to have one. but to maintain and keep it going is another story. it must take tons of efforts, right?
i remember my grandparent’s farm house back in my hometown, which we been planned to visit soon. nature at its best!
btw, those puppies were not askal 😦 pls call them aspins (asong pinoy) 🙂
oh my! sorry for being clueless that those dogs should be aptly called aspins (asong pinoy) which is, in my opinion too, more proper than askal (asong kalye). thank you for correcting me, ms. elna. you know better with bea (what’s her breed?).
happy 2012!
damn this is awesome! gusto ko din ng lechon! pag oks na ko sa weekend kakain ako nyan! ibang klaseng inspirasyon to para magpagaling haha
why pm? may sakit ka ba? i’m still nursing a bad productive cough. 😦
get well soon if you’re not feeling better.
productive cough din 8 days na 😦 uso yata pareho pa tayo. get well din.
I experienced brief vacations in similar locale when I was still a college student and I enjoyed every minute of my stay except when I need to go to the outhouse. Btw, did you father-in-law catch any fish in that pond?
lady luck wasn’t on his side when he tried fishing.
Beautiful reposeful place indeed. Being surrounded by farms where I am at right now, I can see myself retiring to some place like that in the Philippines someday. Or even today. I don’t like the rat-race city living anymore. Your pictures captured the essence of that serene place. Good post, as always.
You sure had a full and worthwhile Christmas break back home! I always enjoy reading about all your adventures.