I had dinner two weeks ago with the high school girlfriend at the new Tierra Cafe. It's this new  restaurant that serves theTierra Alta clubhouse, the new residential resort located 15 minutes from where I live. I made a short post about their now famous lighthouse here. The developers have been busy lately, adding more improvements such as the swimming pool, the clubhouse and the restaurant. All are done with a Greek theme in mind, hence the white buildings. During the day, the entire place easily reminds me of Mariduque's Bella Roca. We were scheduled for a 7pm dinner, however, so there wasn't that much to see except the pavilion awash in lights, and the entrance to the restaurant to the left when we arrived. The restaurant is quite small, but it is cleverly divided into a booth area on the left and the tables on the right. A door at the opposite side of the entrance leads outside to a pathway that leads to the lighthouse. There's a sport's bar outside, where guests can play pool. 

The night was spent catching up. It was a windy Saturday and a three-day cold almost persuaded me not to come. But I'm glad I did. The food was delicious, and it felt good eating somewhere a little bit far from the center of the city. 

Food

I loved my yellow fin papillote. It made a grand entrance, since the waitress first served me with the orange chicken. The quick trip to the kitchen solved the problem. My papillote came in two plates, one with the fish wrapped in tin foil, still piping hot, and my cup of rice with its side of colorful fresh vegetable garnish. The others  had baked chicken l'orange, while some had the baby back ribs, which according to Darwiza was pretty popular. The back ribs were exceptionally soft and buttery, so soft that you could cut through the meat with a spoon. Serlyn had the honey glazed chicken pork  belly. All looked sumptious, and the presentation was professionally done. Everything is affordable by Dumaguete standards. If you are used to eating at any of the restaurants that line the Boulevard, you will feel right at home with the prices here. 

They had a pretty good team of kitchen staff, since our food came just minutes after we arrived. Of course, I think it helped that Darwiza made reservations for us ahead of time, so for those who want to go in and sit down to your meals a few minutes after arriving, phoning in ahead of time would be the way to go.

I first went looking for organic replacements for my moisturizes a year ago after reading about the harmful effects of preservatives that are often present in moisturizers, shampoos, conditioners, and almost any other thing that has a shelf life past one year. Most organic products are expensive, and it can be hard finding affordable ones from trusted brands, especially since a lot of big name brands in cosmetics and body care are showing no hints that they are planning on coming out with organic lines soon. So it was a good thing that I stumbled upon Human Nature.  Human Nature is brand under the Gandang Kalikasan, a personal care company that offers all-organic hand, body, hair, and facial care products.  Aside from these, HN also has a great line of organic baby stuff. A quick look at their  website will also tell you that they also now have a line of organic coffee.

However, I only got to buy my first HN products while serving as a Gawad Kalinga volunteer in Amlan in the early part of 2012. Human Nature had set up a booth there, manned by Ate Minnie and Kuya Oliver, and that's where I came face to face with the moisturizers, lip balms, and sunflower oil that I now truly love. Other personal favorites include the sunflower beauty oil, which is great as an evening moisturizer, and the citronella bug spray, which I also use as an excellent  aromatherapy essential oil. 

The good thing about HN products is that they do not contain preservatives, and those products that should contain at least some form of preservative contains the tiniest amount, just enough to keep the product from spoiling for a shelf life of one year.This is good news for everyone, since most preservatives are chemicals that could accumulate in the body over the years the longer we use the products that contain them. The least amount of chemicals and preservatives you apply on your body, the better. 

Aside from being an affordable source of organic beauty loot for me, I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Human Nature is closely linked to Gawad Kalinga and works in partnership with the AIDFI or The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc. In fact, the raw ingredients used in HN products are taken from the GK communities where livelihood  programs have been set up. Every time you are buying from HN, you are basically helping these livelihood programs and these communities thrive! Kewl eh? (*insert victorious fist pump here*) Social enterprise is fast becoming an attractive option for  a lot of entrepreneurs,  and for a good reason. It's really good that business people are now becoming less profit-oriented but instead are now thinking of ways to use business as a way to grow and improve communities. Gawad Kalinga and Human Nature are excellent examples of this, and frankly, we need more of these programs in the Philippines. This is perhaps the reason why Human Nature products are less expensive compared to your typical branded organic products. The focus is more on getting people to use products that are healthier for them, and this means making these products more affordable. However, these manufacturers are also working with local and independent farmers, so the trade is supporting our local growers as well. Consumers get more affordable organic products while supporting the livelihood of local farmers, and everyone benefits.