April Showers Bring Narra Flowers

I know...Narra overload in this blog.  But in the past posts they came in March

http://lagunagingerlily.blogspot.com/2011/03/mmm-
smell-that-its-narra-tree.html

, a day after a rainshower too.

These bloomed on April 19.

  Oh here is my pineapple in a pot...I do appreciate pineapples more now...never knew they took long to grow...

I woke up to the narra's fragrance, and looked at them in golden sunlight just after sunrise.

Bye-bye Narra tree, after 8 exactly years!

They do bloom at the same time...like these on Inchican Road...and further up, in St. Scholastica's Westgrove campus...

So have you seen/smelled any lately?  How about in the UP Diliman campus? 

Easter and the Mindanao Gum Tree

I've always said I think I'd like to live in Hacienda Sta. Elena...

Today I found a big reason I need (ha ha need, seriously, not just want) that space! 

You see, I am obssessed with the Mindanao Gum Tree/Rainbow Gum Tree/Eucalyptus. And today I saw it on the Fun Farm.  I have been to the Fun Farm several times yet never really noticed this until now.  I later saw it on the perimeter of the Golf course as well.

It is true, the bark gives off a woodsy scent...I sniffed it. But in my hands the loose strips of bark gave me one scented whiff and then the fragrance was gone.

I am moving, yes, but not to a place where I can plant my very own Mindanao Gum Tree, unfortunately.  Hopefully, will have my farm someday.  I am realistic and no longer romanticize farming at all.  But a plot of land is all I need. Or maybe, I could adopt one, or plant some seedlings in a forest conservation area. Can somebody let me know?

Happy Easter!

Xtremely Xpresso at Vista Mall

     The stress level of building, packing and moving has gotten so that I cannot even recall if I already posted this about our newest regular dining habit:

Uh, no, sorry I did not mean the beer as a regular habit at all...

Just that this is the only photo I have taken showing the place's pretty, cozy interior.  

Xtremely Xpresso has been open in Vista Mall a year.  Ever since it opened we had been passing it on random errands, its staff handing out the menu placemats.  I remember wondering if the food was good, considering the variety of dishes on the menu.  I remember looking at it and thinking it would make a good place for mothers to have brunch together...

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Until we finally started eating here this first quarter.  I guess the reason it became a habit is the frequent trips to All Home for the build.  This mall is quite close to home and has ample parking.  The other places there, like the big American diner, are just not very pleasing to dine in.  Food there is inconsistent, too.  But of course more than anything, we return to Xtremely Xpresso almost weekly just because we like the food. And my child loves her beverage. And everything remains consistent, satisfying, comforting, comes in good-sized portions, at very reasonable prices!  

Theirs soups alone give us good reason to return.  And if we finally come with a bigger group we shall definitely have the Big Ben's pizza.  

Pictured below on the upper left corner is my child's usual Peanut Butter Caramel Frappe.

I too, enjoy the drinks, the Vienna Coffee, Raspberry Avalanche, their bestseller the Eskimocha...  Of course! espresso is in its name.

Sigh, I am there way too often, yet have not taken better photos. I am breaking a rule here and cropping one (I remain anonymous), leaving my child's arm with thumbs up.  On the foreground, my Filipino breakfast with tapa, tocino and longganisa...

And guess what, they now have a weekend BREAKFAST BUFFET, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays!

Our move was (I thought) imminent back in the beginning of this year, and now that we are finally really nearing the move for real, we have been eating out a lot more for convenience.  And this place has given us the most simple pleasure so far. 

Being from Santa Rosa, we never really knew of Xtremely Xpresso Subic  nor Clark. Well, it did sound familiar, so maybe.  The last time we were in Clark was around three years ago, and Subic well, almost a decade.  That was when my mother-in-law was still living...she is actually from Zambales. (A shame my husband's siblings do not now "have" Zambales, and we have not been there since, either.)

Back to Xtremely, so they have been successful in the north and now, here they are in Sta. Rosa, soon in Tagaytay too.  They've got their formula down pat, and I hope they hang in there, in here down South...surely Vista Mall will see more diners in the near future. (of course,, something I've always railed against....but well...)