Ilocos Adventure: Food Trip

Celine, her high school best friends Deci and Lik, and I went to Ilocos from May 17 to 19 for a weekend trip. She had always wanted to visit the Spanish era-style of Vigan and try the authentic Vigan empanada. They chose Explore Island Philippines Travel and Tours' packaged Ilocos tour. Here are some of the places where we ate while in Ilocos. I'll be posting another blog entry about the places we visited.

Cafe Uno (Vigan City, Ilocos Sur)
We had breakfast here. Celine ordered longganisa and hot choco while I had the beef tapa and coffee that wasn't hot.

Sikat-Tuna Inihaw & Restaurant (Batac, Ilocos Norte)
Our stop-over for lunch on Friday. Most of their food are grilled seafood. Their restrooms even had sea-related designs, like shells as faucet switch and tissue holder. We tried their tuna lumpia and tuna tapa.

Dap-Ayan Ti Ilocos Norte (Laoag City, Ilocos Norte)
We went here to try the empanada and find out it is different from the Vigan empanada. There were different stalls there too. They had a special empanda that has hotdog and other meat. We ordered that special empanada, some isaw and C2.

Saramsam Ylocano Restaurant & Bar (Laoag City, Ilocos Norte)
We ordered Pinakbet Pizza and Poque-Poque (an Ilocano eggplant dish) Pizza to take out as our dinner on Friday. While waiting for our pizzas, we had dessert (yes, dessert first before dinner). We ordered Kalti, an Ilocano fondue. By the way, according to the waitress, Saramsam came from Sarap na Inaasam-asam

Jun & Carol Beach Cottages (Pagudpod, Ilocos Norte)
This was where we also stayed during Saturday night. We checked in at lunch time of Saturday and had pinakbet with bagnet, chicken adobo, and sugpo.

Villa del Mar (Pagudpod, Ilocos Norte)
On Saturday night, we found out that the restaurants close at nine o'clock in the evening. Thankfully, the restaurant in Villa del Mar accommodated us. We had boneless bangus and chopseuy because there are not much left to order.

Apo Idon Beach Hotel (Pagudpod, Ilocos Norte)
This is another nearby hotel where we had breakfast on Sunday morning. Celine ordered bread, bacon, potato wedges, and eggs while I ordered the Vigan Longganisa meal with coffee.

Vigan Empanadaan (Vigan City, Ilocos Sur)
There were different stalls selling empanadas. We were able to try the authentic Vigan empanada and okay. The Vigan empanada really tastes good and the ones they sell in night markets was nothing compared to it.

Tummy Talk (Vigan City, Ilocos Sur)
After eating Vigan empanada, we went to Calle Crisologo to eat. The other restaurants are already full of people. We ordered Bagnet Rice and Vigan Longganisa. Too bad the waiter wasn't able to list our order of Kare-Kare Bagnet so we weren't able to try it.

Note: All the pictures above were taken from Celine's foursquare account.

Android at Google I/O 2013

Google I/O is an annual developer conference by Google where they showcase their products and innovations. This year's event was from May 15 to 17. Aside from keynotes, there are also sessions about Google and open technologies, including Android.

As an Android developer, I was looking forward to updates about the Android operating system and ecosystem and the Android sessions. Here are some of the highlights related to Android during the Google I/O 2013 Keynote:

• In 2013, there is now over 900 million Android device activations.
• Over 48 billion apps have been downloaded from Google Play to date, with over 2.5 billion app downloads in the last month alone.
• Samsung Galaxy S4, with Google's latest software and services, will be available on Google Play starting June 26.
• The announcement of Android Studio, a free IDE for Android which is based from IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition. It will simplify Android apps development.
• Google Play Services; Games Services, Locations API, GCM Enhancements
• Google Play Developer Console Updates: Optimization Tips, App Translation, Revenue Graphs, Analytics, Referral Tracking

For details, check this blog post from the Android Developers Blog.

There were different sessions related to Android and the videos have now been uploaded to the Android Developers Youtube Channel. There are more than 30 videos and they made a Youtube Playlist that contains all the Android Sessions. Aside from this playlist, they also grouped the videos into four different playlists: Android Design, Android Development, Android Distribution, and Google Play services for Android.

Android Development - All the design sessions from the Android track at Google I/O 2013.

Android Design - All the design sessions from the Android track at Google I/O 2013.

Android Distribution - All the Google Play, distribution, and monetizations sessions from Google I/O 2013.

Google Play Services for Android - All the Google Play services sessions from the Android track at Google I/O, including games, location-based services, and Google Cloud Messaging.

Aside from these videos, they're also making the sessions available for listening via the Android Developers Live podcast.

Google I/O 2013 Extended

Can't go to San Francisco for Google I/O 2013? Get the I/O experience by attending Google I/O Extended events being organized by Google Developers Group worldwide. In the Philippines, there are seven (7) Google I/O Extended events: Manila, Baguio, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and Sagada.

We'll be at the GDG Philippines' Manila I/O Extended at Center Stage Family KTV & Resto Bar (Jupiter Street, Makati City) from 8:00 PM of May 15 to 03:00 AM of May 16. Aside from viewing the keynote and other sessions, there will also have a show-and-tell of apps.

If you can't attend any of the I/O Extended events, you can still watch Google I/O at http://developers.google.com/io or follow the Google Developers Google+ Page.

Below is a live blogging gadget from Google Developers. If you want to add one to your own site, create your own here.