Friday, November 14, 2014

Wine Dinner at Brasserie Girolle

Saturday, November 8, 2014


So, Edi and I have discovered this great restaurant, Brasserie Girolle, through our friends Carol and Bill.  Chef Ian is an incredible chef and every dish we have tried has been delicious.  Saturday, November 8 we attended a wine dinner there.  The dinner was five courses, each paired with a different wine. 


There were the four of us, Carol, Bill, Edi and myself in addition to two reps from the winery which is located in Barcelona, two distributors, the chef’s wife and one of his friends.


The food was incredible.  One of the courses included scallops of which I am not a huge fan, however, these scallops were yummy!  There were two appetizers one with salmon and one with bleu cheese.  The salmon course was really good as was the beef entre.  The dessert included poached pears – so good and an added bonus were these little chocolate mousse bites – oh my goodness!





The wine flowed all evening.  We had a cava, a white, and three reds.  One of the reps from the winery actually gave us a little background on each of the wines as it was poured. 




All in all it was a great evening with wonderful company, delectable food, and excellent wine.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Siargao Surfing Competition


Friday, September 26 – Monday, September 29

The weekend of September 26 we went to Siargao for the international surfing competition.  We had no idea that it is one of the top places in the world to surf!  We took Cebu Pacific from Manila to Cebu and had another flight from Cebu to Siargao.  Our ride from the airport was this van which is normal, but I wasn’t sure this van was going to make it.  We were sharing the van with another couple staying at the same place, and the man spoke Filipino.  He kept asking the driver why we couldn’t go a little faster.  At one point we were going so slow, these kids were on the side of the road and they were hanging on the side.  They were having a blast!


We finally made it to where we were staying.  It turns out that it really was a resto bar that had two villas for rent.  The place was really nice with a bar / restaurant, a sitting / hanging out area with a pool table.  We felt like we were in the middle of the jungle because the grounds were lush with vegetation, beautiful flowers and coconut trees.  Being in our villa was like being in a treehouse.  It was quite organic for lack of a better word as the entire bathroom was outside.  It wasn’t like an outhouse; the door from the bedroom opened to the bathroom which was really nice all done in stone and tile, it’s just when we looked up we looked up into the sky!  The evening brought bats and all sorts of outdoor sounds, but it was nicely lit, so even in the middle of the night it was fine.





We ate dinner each evening at the resto bar, and the food was delicious!  We only had breakfast the morning we were leaving because the surfing competition began at 6:00 A.M. each morning, so we got up early and watched the competition opting to eat at the Loka Café during the break.  The one morning we did eat at the resto bar, we had fresh coconut water, and when I say fresh, I mean really fresh.  This guy actually climbed the tree and retrieved the coconuts.  Minutes later we had the coconut water in front of us ready to drink.





The Loka Café was a little café on the beach that had just opened.  A couple from Australia who owns a resort down the beach opened it.  Everything we got was really tasty.  It had tables “inside” nothing is really inside.  It also had beach chairs and a couple of benches right on the beach if that is where diners wanted to enjoy their fare.



The people were really nice in Siargao.  We bought a few things from local crafters and even had a homemade ice cream cone from this older gentleman and young boy on a bicycle ice cream cart.


The surfing competition itself was fun.  The waves were cooperative most of the time and there were surfers from different parts of the world, even the USA.  A local won the competition, so that was nice to see.  Mostly we viewed the competition from the viewing tower which offered shade – it was hot! – but one afternoon we wandered out among the rocks / coral when the tide went out – and it went way out.   It was nice because we could feel the refreshing water between our toes but could still see the surfers out in the surf.








Of course just being able to take a dip in the sea and be a part of beautiful sunsets each evening made the trip totally worthwhile!