Christmas is a very special occasion for families and it's the best time to reunite with friends as well. Looking for a place to accommodate a big group of people for a reasonable price is quite a challenge. Luckily I found Club Balai Isabel, (compliments to my bestfriend for recommending) this resort is located in Talisay, Batangas. The location is quite accessible but since we are travelling with the family, it's smart to use private transportation.
Tip1: For reference and more information about Club Balai Isabel, please see the link.
http://www.balaiisabel.com/
Club Balai Isabel is a vast land of resthouses and vacation rooms with the view of Taal Volcano.
Tip2: For family outing/gatherings, Orchard Lane caters for big group of people.
The rooms are with kitchen( complete with cooking utensils ), dining
table, toilet and bath, balcony, one room with two queen sized beds, and two
pull-out single beds.
This means that the family can cook and dine
comfortably, but if you want to cook some special dishes it's better to
bring more kitchen stuffs.
Though the resort provides complimentary bottled waters, it is not enough but no worries because there are nearby stores where the guests can buy purified water.
Tip3: The resort has two swimming pools, the bigger one is located near the shore and Taal volcano is just few steps away.
Tip4: Literally you can jog, walk, jump around the resort because it's vast. Though a lot of people are accomodated it is not crowded.
Tip5: During Christmas, the church inside the resort holds Christmas Anticipated Mass.
Tip6: It's nice to watch the sunset at the resort's "Pantalan" ( pier ).
Tip7: Bring food and water since it is allowed to cook inside the resort, Talisay flea market is just nearby. Fresh vegetables and fishes are available, who knows if you are early you can buy the first catch of the day.
I tried to be adventurous with my cooking when we were in Club Balai Isabel. We just want to have a not so indulging vacation, my father wants to have fruits, veggies and fish most of the time. But I also want some grilling, TJ hotdogs and salad for myself.
We had a lot of fruits like grapes, sweet melon, ponkans, bananas and kiat-kiat ( small sweet ponkan ). We also brought lettuce, brocolli, cucumbers and tomatoes.
I made a veggie platter, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and diced cucumber.
Also, I cooked chicken tocino ( sweetened chicken meat ) and sliced it plus steamed brocolli.
To complete the meal is the traditional fried rice with spring onion.
TJ hotdogs are available plus chicken meat loaf for breakfast, I also tried cooking eggplant omelet with lots of tomatoes,onions and spring onion.
For afternoon teatime, I prepared my macaroni salad with cheese, carrots, cucumber, celery and pineapple. I'm glad my friends liked it too!
My father cooked Bicol's picadillo, fish with coconut milk and veggies.
With the yummy fish, I cooked stir-fried cabbage and carrots as a side dish.
I also prepared fruit platter including sweet melon and grapes.
Plus my tropical salad, shredded lettuce, chopped chicken ham and kiat-kiat.
Everything goes well with cooked white rice.
For noche buena, we thought of having pasta, grilled food and sweets.
My sister and her husband cooked her pasta carbonara and shanghai lumpia.
We bought rellenong bangus ( stuffed milkfish ), it's a Filipino dish and mini-cake.
Hubby did the steamed fish.
Me and my friend did the grilling, barbeques and hotdogs!
Again I want something refreshing so I prepared another fruit platter for noche buena. Grapes, sweet melon and cucumber are perfect to match with the other goodies.
Christmas is indeed wonderful!
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