Fangirl

“Never underestimate a girl’s love for her favorite band. Never think even for a minute, that she won’t defend them to her death. Because it’s not just the music that makes that band her favorite. It’s the guys, the gals. It’s the fans. People whom of which she has interacted with thanks to the band. That band might [have] saved her life, or just made her smile everyday. That band has never broke her heart and has yet to leave her. No wonder she finds such joy in her music.”

- Alex Gaskarth, All Time Low

Madayaw Davao: Countryside Tour

We woke up early to make the most out of our last day in Davao. As foodies, we searched for breakfast nooks around the city last night. We haven't even finished dinner yet and we were already talking about breakfast. Typical us.

We settled for Taps which is known as the Breakfast Capital of Davao. Luckily, there's one pretty close to our inn. We ordered Tapsilog (duh), Tocilog, Bangsilog, and even a combination of other silogs. I think they have everything you can pair up with silog. The food was okay. Nothing special whatsoever. [ Side note: We ate the macarons we bought from Lachi's last night for dessert. I must say, my favorite was the orange-y chocolatey one which reminded me of Chokies. Soooo nostalgic! ]

After breakfast, we met up with today's driver, Kuya Jimber. Not sure about the spelling but it kind of sounded like that. First stop: Philippine Eagle Center. It was a pretty long drive from the city but it was worth it. Some of the girls slept all the way through while Faye and I sang our hearts out. Even Kuya Jimber couldn't help but belt out a few notes.

The Philippine Eagle Center

Upon arriving at Philippine Eagle Center, we paid the Php 50 entrance fee and started looking around. Honestly, I didn't expect much from this place except to see a few Philippine Eagles from afar. But boy, was I wrong. Not only did we see eagles from afar, we got to see them up close too! And even out of their cages thanks to Kuya Europe (K.E. from now on just because it's easier to type). Yes, you read it right. We found Europe in Davao. Haha

Ariel's 26th at Nomnomnom: Happy Food

My cousin Ariel has a weird way of scheduling trips from Palawan to Manila. He flies all the way to Manila to get haircuts, buy his favorite scent, eat some Krispy Kreme, or get on another plane bound for Coron because it's "cheaper." I don't mind though because he never fails to buy us baked goodies from Baker's Hill every time he comes to visit. But this time, it's different. He came to celebrate his 26th birthday with us!

The birthday boy at Nomnomnom: Happy Food

Aaaand that leaves me in charge of finding the perfect restaurant. Again. As a foodie, I usually don't mind. But this was quite a challenge. You see, Ariel's a vegetarian and obviously, there aren't a lot of vegetarian-friendly restaurants in the QC area. There's Pino/Pipino which we love but we wanted to try something new. Thanks to the internet, I found an interesting restaurant which serves vegan/vegetarian-friendly dishes - Nomnomnom: Happy Food. The SC girls and I have been wanting to try this restaurant out too so I recommended it to the fam and as usual, they just agreed.

The birthday boy and his guests

We arrived around 8PM so there were only 2 tables occupied aside from ours and it looked like they were almost finished with their meals so it felt like we booked the entire place. Pretty cool. The restaurant has a homey/canteen vibe to it. Not bad. I especially love their rainbow wall that says "Something good always happens."

Something good always happens.

See, what did I tell ya? Hihi

For starters, we ordered their Fried Ravioli (stuffed with cheesy Kangkong and mushroom). It didn't taste like Kangkong at all which is good news for us non-vegetarians. The dip complemented the crispness and cheesiness of the dish. We also ordered Nachos just in case but it turns out, we didn't need a fallback after all. For drinks, we ordered pitchers of Dalandan Juice and Strawberry Iced Tea which didn't taste like powder so it's good. For the main dishes, we ordered Nuggets Mo? (veggie nuggets with chili sauce), Crispy Tofu Skin (crispy tofu with shiitake mushroom sauce and nori rice), The Good Sisig (crispy fried tofu with green chili and onions), Lime Chicken with Alfredo Sauce (chicken breast marinated in lime and Rosemary drizzled with Alfredo sauce served with spring onion rice), Chicken Pops Rice Craters (chicken lollipops with pizza sauce served over buttered rice), Enchilada (filled with Kangkong, cream and cheese), and Pizza Margherita.

Clockwise: Fried Ravioli, Nuggets Mo?, Crispy Tofu Skin, Enchilada, The Good Sisig, Lime and Chicken Alfredo

L-R: Strawberry Iced Tea, Chicken Pops Rice Crater, Pizza Margherita

Over all, the food was tasty even though they were tagged as healthy. I was looking forward to dessert though but they didn't have any that night. Boooo~! :( So naturally, we just took pictures of the place instead before heading off to search for a dessert place.

Cousins and sibs ♥

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Oopsie. Sorry Jots, I had to crop your hair off simply because you're too tall. :p

After our mini photo op, we were all ready to go. As in we had our bags in hand when I felt something was not right. Yep, we haven't paid for dinner yet! We forgot to bill out just because we skipped dessert. Oopsie. Muntik na!

With the official photographer this time.

Oh and we asked one of the servers if their "happy food" is similar to Cambodia's happy pizza*. He said they used to serve "happy food" but they no longer have a supplier so they had no choice but to take it off the menu. Aww sayang? Haha

Last hurrah!

A birthday dinner wouldn't be complete without a sweet ending so we headed to Afters Espresso & Desserts for cakes and gelatos. Funny how this lady was all smiles upon seeing us. I thought she was just extra friendly and accommodating. It turns out, she and mom know each other from Tai Chi class. Surprise surprise! She owns the place and she was gracious enough to let us try a couple of their gelatos. We ordered   7 cups of gelato and a slice of Reese's cheesecake. Perfect ending to cap off our Sunday night!

Gelato flavors: Cotton candy, Salted caramel, Cookies 'n cream, Mint chocolate chip, Stracciatella, and plain old Chocolate

Oh and thanks to Ariel, I got patron and lowerbox invites to see Lee Min Ho in November! Weeee~♥

*Happy pizza is just like a regular pizza but has a thin layer of weed sprinkled beneath layers of mozzarella cheese. You can even choose your preferred level of "happy-ness" from mildly happy to extremely happy.

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Nomnomnom Happy FoodTomas MoratoG/F GYY Bldg, 1 Tomas Morato AveKristong Hari, Quezon City(02) 502-2919
Afters Espresso & DessertsQuezon CityLansbergh Place, 20 Tomas Morato Ave cor Scout Castor StSouth Triangle, Quezon City(02) 791-8789