Weeping sakura and Dancing Maikos at the Heian Jingu shrine in Kyoto

After seeing sakura in Ninna-ji -- Chieko san had another surprise up her sleeve -- the next stop was the Heian Jingu shrine where she said that more sakura could be viewed.

Given that almost everything in Kyoto seems to be many many centuries old,  Heian Jingu can be called a "baby" as it was only built  in the late 1800s to commemorate Kyoto's 1100th anniversary. 

Despite its relative "youth" the vermillion lacquered Otenmon, the main gate is very imposing and impressive and quite a sight to see.

This is the Daigoku-den or main hall.  Chieko san said that today was our lucky day -- not only would we see more sakura, but there was a festival in the shrine's grounds and we would get a chance to watch some traditional performances.

Behind the main building of the shrine are several connected gardens which showcase the flowers of Kyoto through the different seasons.  While visiting the grounds are free, like Ninna-ji there is a fee to enter the gardens.  

This is  Chieko san and I as we are about to start our stroll through the gardens of Heian Jingu.

Shidare sakura or weeping cherry blossoms grow plentifully in Heian Jingu's gardens.  

The row upon row of  clusters of drooping light pink and white sakura is so pretty and fetching.  

In Ninna-ji, I thought shidare sakura felt slightly melancholy but given the profuse blooms in Heian Jingu, I changed my  mind -- they no longer seemed sad at all.

There are less crowds in these gardens.  The gardens are bigger and the sakura are planted further apart. Trellises have been built to support the blossom laden branches.  As we walked through the path, a slight breeze showered sakura petals on us.  Completely delightful!

Aside from the shidare sakura, other varieties are still in the last stage of their bloom.

I am  captivated by this young couple in traditional dress albeit pushing a modern trolley between them.  They have come out in costume to view the sakura and I surmise that the trolley holds their "normal" clothes, to change back into after this brief interlude.

This little pond is strewn with the fallen petals of the shidare sakura that grow around it.  It may look imperfect with a slight air of decay but it is a charming aesthetic nonetheless.

The pond winds through the gardens and there are ducks rooting about in the water.

As we walked through the gardens, I looked up to see this tangle of sakura -- with three colours, white, pink and light green.

These are the ukon sakura -- in shades of light yellow to green.  I think it's my favourite of all.

This bright pink variety is called the kanzan sakura.  If the yama sakura has only five petals, the kanzan sakura can have as many as 30 to 50 petals per blossom.

We ended our walk through the gardens to come upon this peaceful and lovely scene -- a tea house at the edge of the pond with ladies in Japanese kimono having tea right under the weeping sakura.

 Just as we exited the gardens, a dance performance of maiko or geishas-in-training had just started at the grounds.  The brightly hued Otenmon gate in the background made for a very striking and dramatic effect.

I was completely enthralled watching these two young girls dance so expressively and exquisitely. Accompanied by musicians playing traditional string instruments,  it was a performance that we were  privileged to have seen.

 It was mid afternoon when we left Heian Jingu.  We walked past this massive vermillion torii that  marks the entrance to shrine  -- replete with sakura and the remarkable beauty of Kyoto.

Sakura viewing at Ninna-ji Temple

We were back in Kyoto for a brief vacation in mid April and my fingers were crossed that we would catch the beautiful but short lived sakura season which only runs from end March to early April.

Chieko san, one of our favourite Tours by Locals guides had said "no promises" but that she would try as best as she could to make the sakura "wait" for us.

Thankfully, Chieko san's powers worked!  Sakura waited for us.  Our sakura viewing morning started at Ninna-ji Temple, one of the more important temples in Kyoto and a World Heritage site.  

Ninna-ji has a garden of locally grown omuro cherry trees which are lower and closer to the ground and most importantly,  they are late blooming sakura.   

 This map of the temple complex shows the garden devoted to the omuro sakura.

 I got so excited when I saw this tree right at the entrance of the temple grounds and was about to run right over and fling myself on it.
Chieko san had to restrain me as she said "you ain't seen nothing yet" -- in more polite language, of course.

This is one of the many varieties of sakura called called ukon sakura.  The colour ranges from a light yellow to green.  Too bad there were only a few ukon sakura trees -- a cluster would have been breathtaking.

 Ninna-ji has built a  wooden pathway all around the sakura garden.  You can walk through and just overdose on all the loveliness.  The faint sweet smell of sakura was also very attractive -- specially to the bees that kept buzzing about.

Everyone had their cameras out, trying to capture the fleeting beauty of so much sakura.

Even if Ninna-ji's omuro sakura were late blooming, the petals had also started to fall.  Chieko san said that a windy or rainy day would hasten the end of the season.

The sakura season is dazzlingly, impossibly  beautiful but lasts for just a brief moment.  It is said to be a metaphor for life -- can we make our lives as beautiful and meaningful as the sakura?

This is yama sakura or the most common type of sakura in Japan.  You can see that the five petal  blossoms have fallen and the leaves have started to sprout.  At its peak, the sakura tree is completely covered in blossoms, without any leaves at all.  Such a gorgeous sight!

At the tail end of sakura season, the azalea season kicks in.  Here is an azalea bush with its showy pink blossoms, competing for attention with the sakura tree behind it.

We leave the garden and walk over to the belfry, which is framed by this shidare sakura or weeping cherry tree.  Much like the weeping willow, the branches and blossoms droop to the ground.  I find it gives off a delicate, fragile and slightly melancholy air.

I am overwhelmed by the entrancing beauty of Ninna-ji's omuro sakura garden.
Just before leaving, I  take this shot of the temple's five storied pagoda framed by sakura.
This is the priceless gift that Kyoto bestowed on me today.

A Long, Leisurely Luxe Lunch at Antonio's Tagaytay

If a budding chef wants to know how to get diners to drive to a rather out of the way destination just to eat his food -- he should take lessons from Chef Tonyboy Escalante who with his namesake restaurant Antonio's, has been one of the pioneers in what I like to call "destination dining".  

In the early 2000s, before food became such a serious trend, Chef Tonyboy opened up his own fine dining restaurant hidden in (at that time) far away Tagaytay.  

Nowadays, "foodies" (shudder) think nothing of driving for 2 or 3 hours just to eat in a trendy or popular place but at the time that Antonio's opened -- it was quite a novelty and also a risk.

For one thing -- it wasn't even along the main road of Tagaytay, you had to drive  through a narrow country road just to get to it.  For another thing, and this to my mind was the biggest risk -- you couldn't just drop in and dine.  

Antonio's was one of the first exclusive places where you had to call for a reservation.  

This caused quite a stir in the business -- there were talks of well known people being turned away from the gate because their names were not listed in the reservation book -- stories of fights and tantrums.  It all made for such good press and heightened the curiosity even more.

I first dined at Antonio's right in the middle of the buzz about it.  I had to wait for a couple of months before I could get a reservation.  Was it worth it?  It was certainly a lovely little place -- it looked elegant and refined and seemed very much like the chef's own home.  

But ambience aside, the food that Antonio's served me was quite stellar.  

It was far from "fancy" even if the prices could be called that.  

The food was surprisingly hearty and not at all pretentious.  Dishes were of very high quality and certainly without any airs.

After that first experience at Antonio's, I came back a few more times -- with friends, with family, with visiting balikbayans who I wanted to offer a different dining experience from the usual "kamayan" at the mall.  

I stopped going many years ago although I did note that the restaurant still rated very highly and consistently among various reviews.  The Miele Guide for Asia ranks it as the country's best restaurant.

A few days ago, my friends and I decided to have a mid week lunch at Antonio's.  

I didn't realise how much the place has grown -- from a simple country home setting, it has now evolved as a major wedding and event venue.  

This beautiful outdoor garden that they call the "Lounge" has a bar that serves cocktails  -- there are small tables scattered about and a really charming love seat with a candelabra hanging right over it.  

I can just imagine how enchanting this must look at dusk.

There are white wooden lawn furniture made comfortable with green cushions -- perfect for lounging around and having a glass or two of wine (or in my case, a bottle of ice cold beer)

Near the "Lounge" is another pavilion for events and weddings.  A bit smaller than the main dining area, it nestles amidst trees and shrubbery -- perfect for a small and intimate wedding party.

Inside the pavilion, the floor is laid with classic black and white patterned tiles and wide open doors lead to a veranda where more guests can be accommodated.

I loved this huge "wood art" piece -- I can imagine the gorgeous photos you can take, posed within its frames -- an elegant and unique "photo booth"  if there ever was one.

There are cocktail tables in the veranda -- an ideal way to while away the minutes before dinner.

The veranda is festooned with all kinds of climbing vines and delightful flowers -- their subtle fragrance wafts through the air.

We were interrupted in our exploration of the new delights of Antonio's by our waitstaff telling us our table was ready.  On the way up, we passed by this delightful al fresco spot -- where you can sit and dine while a giant blooming bougainvillea bush looms over you.  

But it's summer and too hot so we escape to cooler interiors.

Service at Antonio's is efficient but unobtrusive and moves along with the pace that you set.  

We were four ladies who were there for a lot of conversation and laughter and we were definitely not going to rush through our meal.  

Specially since we took so much time enjoying the warm fresh baked rolls given out as soon as we sat down at our table.

Aside from the main entree (which comes with salad, soup and dessert) we ordered appetisers to start up our lunch.  This golden crusty raclette with pickled onions and cornichons was just classic -- a delicious way to prepare our taste buds for what was yet to come.

Not content with one appetiser, we had to order the portobello mushrooms in balsamic vinegar.  The balance of tart and sweet was perfect.

I have always enjoyed the house salad, a tower of mixed greens -- I suppose sourced from the restaurant's own farms -- with caramelised walnuts, crumbly goat cheese and an appetising raspberry vinaigrette.

The soup for the day was a simple tomato and basil broth with a seafood puree but for vegetarians, the kitchen served it sans seafood.

Chef Tonyboy came out to chat with us mid meal and sent out his famous ginger sorbet -- so divinely delicious.  Could I have a bigger scoop?  Preferably on top of a sugar cone?

While there are no vegetarian entrees on the menu, all you have to do is ask.  Our server Anthony gave me the choice of a mushroom or tomato risotto.  I opted for the mushroom dish which was quite filling -- perhaps I shouldn't have had that extra roll?

My betsubara (second stomach, as the Japanese call it) was crying out for dessert -- never mind that I wasn't able to finish my risotto.  But dessert comes with the meal so I chose a chocolate terrine that came in a puddle of cream sauce with toasted pistachios for garnish.

We each had a different dessert so we could taste from each other's choice.  While the chocolate terrine was good I still found the soufflé more to my liking.

We were not at all surprised when we ended the meal at 3 p.m.
 It was a lovely long lunch among good friends -- made even more special by the remarkably distinctive experience that only Antonio's in Tagaytay can deliver.

Long Ago and Far Away -- Revisiting Malabon

On my way to Malabon last week, somewhere between Monumento and Sangandaan, I found myself discomfited and dismayed.
By the time I was passing through what I knew to be Letre, where hectares and hectares of fish ponds once existed -- I was utterly depressed.  

What happened the the Malabon that I knew -- where I was born, grew up and lived in for over 20 years?  

It had transformed itself into the poster child for urban blight.  

It made me unbearably sad as Malabon used to be such a clean and picturesquely pretty town.  With its old Spanish era houses, sprawling fish ponds lined with mangroves and rather elegant and genteel ways -- it seemed to belong to another time.
Even during Spanish times,  Malabon was quite a prominent place -- it merited a mention in Rizal's Noli Me Tangere -- it was the birthplace of Capitan Tiago, the "father" of Maria Clara.

I was in Malabon to visit friends from high school.  I had invited myself for dinner since we had not seen each other for so many years.  My friend's house is almost at the end of Hulong Duhat, one of Malabon's many barangays.  After we passed through the gate and walked behind his house -- this is the scene that greeted me.  

This was the Malabon that I knew --  preserved, guarded and kept hidden like a precious jewel.

My friend had built a small terrace right at the side of his fishpond -- tables and chairs were set up so that guests could relax, eat, talk -- and yes even try to catch a bangus or two.

I arrived just before sunset -- a perfect time to enjoy the mild breeze on this hot summer day.  I took the opportunity to walk around the entire pond -- balancing carefully on the pilapil to make sure I wouldn't fall in.  I'm sure the bangus would not have liked that.

This is a nipa tree or sasa which grows along the sides of the fishpond.  See the fruit?  The sap from that is made into vinegar, specifically sukang Paombong.

There are various types of trees all around the perimeter -- they form mangrove pockets that are very useful in reducing erosion.

After that walk -- it was time for old style typical Malabon hospitality.  

This is my friend Chiki in the foreground and his mother who along with another high school classmate of mine had a feast ready for us!  

Freshly caught bangus, grilled to perfection, my favourite pancit Malabon and sapin sapin from Dolor's -- plus a side of great conversation and a lot of nostalgia.  I couldn't have asked for more.

Except for one thing -- bottles of our favourite beer.
Cheers to Chiki and Boyet -- friends I have known and loved for more than forty years.
Cheers to Malabon -- I was so happy to find her, unchanged and untouched in this hidden corner of the past.

I took this lovely memory with me on my way back home -- shutting my eyes tight against what Malabon is today.  In my mind and in my heart, this is what it will look like always.
Thank you Chiki for keeping this lovely place alive.

Vegetarian at the Burger Bar

Can a vegetarian find love in a burger joint?

I found out that I could when I finally got to eat at the much talked about Burger Bar in Greenbelt 2.
I was initially resigned to have fries and a beer but surprise, surprise -- there was a falafel burger on the menu.
The falafel, formed into a square patty instead of the traditional balls, was moist and well seasoned -- I love the nutty taste of ground chickpeas!   A generous slather of a yoghurt based spread and chopped fresh tomatoes added to the familiar falafel taste.
I only wish they had harissa sauce to complete the deal.