For years, I have always been unconcerned about my health since even though I’m overweight, I have never once felt anything out of the ordinary. Until I decided to have an actual full physical exam. The results were all marked in red—my body, it turns out, was in terrible shape. And that got me to start my fitness journey—I calorie-counted, removed red meat as much as I could from my diet, added more greens on my plate, and exercised daily.

After a year, my health started to normalize. My blood sugar, uric acid, and cholesterol count went down, and I lost weight. However, I’m still unsatisfied with my current weight—a little over the BMI standard—so, I still exercise daily.

I usually alternate between doing static step-up exercise inside the house and walking 10,000 steps outside. With all these, I usually just use my phone to count my steps and the calories I burn. Pretty limited, since it can’t really read my body stats like heart rate and all that.

That was until I was given a chance to use the Samsung Galaxy Fit3. It just might be the perfect smartwatch that can help me achieve my desired body weight. I received the Galaxy Fit3 just right before BG, Kid A, and I embarked on an eleven-day trip to Baguio City—the perfect place to test it out since it’s gonna be one heck of a walkathon for us.

Right after our pancit batil patong Tagaytay lunch and finishing our business at Tagaytay City Hall, we quickly went back to the Tagaytay Ridge for our much-delayed dessert. It’s actually a bit cold in Tagaytay when we went, but still, we were on the lookout for an ice-cold glass of halo-halo, and not just any halo-halo though, the place has to have a good view of the Taal Volcano. I mean, why eat anywhere else when you’re in Tagaytay?

We were on our annual daytrip to Tagaytay with my parents, and as usual, we were unprepared on where we would eat. I’ve tried bringing them to the Mahogany Market bulaluhan the year before, but they don’t seem to fancy the food being hawked there.

With a couple of hours to spare en route, I Googled for some of the most interesting places to eat in Tagaytay—there are a lot, but I’m particularly looking for a somewhat inexpensive one. What I found was a pancit batil patong place in Tagaytay, with prices that seemed friendly enough.

So, before heading to the Tagaytay City Hall, which is what we really came to the city for, we stopped at MASINGngo Restaurant first for lunch.

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It has been a while since I last ate at Susie’s Cuisine—seven years ago, to be exact. The problem lies in its location, most branches being around the Pampanga area. There is, however, a quick and easy way to quench my cravings—apparently Susie’s Cuisine has a branch in Metro Manila. And they have not one, but two—one in Las Piñas and another much closer to our place, Quezon City.

But what’s the fuss about Susie’s? Well, it is one of the go-to restaurants in Pampanga, serving Filipino and Kapampangan delicacies and comfort food since the early seventies. It was at Susie’s Cuisine San Fernando branch where I first tried their dishes and haven’t forgotten about it since.

Craving for a home-cooked pork binagoongan and a plateful of pancit malabon? How about a classic afternoon merienda of lugaw and lumpia? If you happen to pass by Quezon City, I have just the place for you. Neatly tucked in a quiet street, an eatery called Lola Idang’s Bahay Pancitan.

The place is not that big, with only about ten tables set on a 35-square meter eating space. The restaurant is so unassuming that you’ll hardly take a second look at it; plain white tiles flooring, simple decors, plastic Orocan chairs, and tables laid with generic plaid table clothes. What distinguishes this small diner from the throngs of eating places in Quezon City though is their food.