Off The Eaten Track PH Blog

This blog post may not be about food, but it's still about going off the (b)eaten track, right? I know that my province, Rizal, is beautiful -- located between the lakes and the hills -- but I don't have much time nor the energy to explore it. But I am glad that I did, just recently! Sunflowers are favorite flowers of most people. They connote happiness, cheerfulness, and positivity. While I have seen a sunflower, I had never been to a real sunflower farm or garden before... right until that moment when I visited Sunflora Farm in the municipality of Jala-jala! Sunflora Farm is a nine-hectare farm that is the home of not just sunflowers, but of other flowers and plants as well, although it highlights the beauty of this popular bloom. It also has a vegetable garden, as well as a budding sanctuary for organic farm chickens. We live in the Binangonan-Angono border, so I thought that a trip to Sunflora Farm would take us a little over an hour. But we were surprised...

I love to discover cafes and restaurants that are usually under the famous bloggers' and influencers' radars. It is an ultimate gratification whenever I encounter some place that I and others have never seen and heard before, much less been to. Plus, there's always a charm in discovering those relatively unknown places, which have the potential of becoming the next darling of most foodies. While Hatch Coffee has become a rising star in Baguio City, only a few outside of it has known this place, which makes it more appealing to me. As of this writing, Hatch Coffee has been open in only a few months, yet it has already drawn loyal patrons and curious vacationers alike. It is located in a residential area, so thank goodness for the signs that led to it. If it weren't for them, we would have spent longer hours going around Manzanillo village on Eastern Road looking for it. We encountered a closed black gate, surrounded by the tall shrubs and climbing vines....

The list of the food hubs in Metro Manila is growing, and so is my curiosity to know more about them. I live in the outskirts, and the places that I'm interested to visit lie far away from my comfort zone. But no matter how far it would take me, I want to satisfy this curiosity as much as possible. :) Before my visit to Wild Indigo Kitchen & Cafe, I had never been to Banawe. In fact, I am not really a North person. To me, Quezon City will always be a network of labyrinthine streets and alleys, a dense and convoluted urban jungle that whoever's uninitiated sets foot upon it is guaranteed to get lost and perplexed. But that won't even stop me from indulging my love for eating and my penchant for discovering (potentially) great places to have a grub and a drink. Oh yes, I would still let my guard up whenever I am in Quezon City (for instance, whenever there's a blogger event I am invited to), but I won't let this paranoia spoil the fun in discovering resta...