MOTHER'S GARDEN: BAGUIO'S BEST KEPT SECRET
BAGUIO CITY, JANUARY 19, 2011 (MALAYA) BY MARIA ELENA GONZALEZ – A garden restaurant will make you fall in love with the city of Pines again.
Therese Jison was inspired to set up the garden resto as her tribute to the city she has grown to love, silently opening Mother's Garden last year.
"This is my tribute to the city, It is to prove people wrong that Baguio has become ugly," she said.
Fresh Herbs, vegetables and animals fill up the 2,000 square meter lot in Upper Fairview, Quezon Hill Proper, with crafts, arts and dances and chants on the side.
The garden is a product of Jison's green thumb, which is charmed enough to grow tulips.
"My friends wanted to take a look at my tulips; they would go the house and look at my garden," she said.
Now, everyone can marvel her garden's beauty and enjoy her food in an authentic Pompeiian oven.
Jison said: "I did not study horticulture. When I decided to stay in Baguio, I took several seminars at the Bureau of Plant Industry and Department of Agriculture. My course was accounting in college, then I went to Switzerland, and the USA for further studies on Culinary Arts. I have been taking tutorials under Dr. Balaoing since 2001."
Animals in the garden are friendly enough to pet and are named after friends.
There is something for everyone in Mother's Garden. Parents can relax and share their children's delight in petting and feeding the garden's animals or just let the children loose at the play yard within view from the dinning area.
On weekends the garden is filed with activity gongs that are played to tempt visitors to dance along with the Ifugao performing group at the Rose Garden and Igorot Terraces.
A pottery session, carving lesson or a jab at planting one's own herbs, flower plants also come as options to while away time at the garden.
Garden food is priced affordably, with the most expensive dish sold at over P300. Bestsellers include Sicilian Chicken, Thuringen Bratwurst (meat sausage), made the way they do it in Thuringen, Germany, liver pate, sandwiches, pizza and meatloaf. Drinks are all fresh (nothing comes from the can and one can see the staff plucking herbs as one orders) and healthy.
Visitors may dine al fresco in the Herb Garden or at the Café to have a higher vantage point to see the breathtaking view of the city, especially in the evening when the twinkling lights look like fairy lights from a distance.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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