LITTLE DID BARBARA Gonzalez, “Tweetums” to most, realize that her home, Lily Pad, in the shadows of Mt. Makiling in Calamba, would become the smashing success it’s turning out to be.

Having put up the 1,400-sq m property for sale for several years without much success, the former advertising executive and creative writing mentor met Tina Tan, sister of Ramon of Carica Herbal Products, a colleague in the Legaspi Sunday Market.

Tina says, “I fell in love with the place.” She proposed to turn the place into a weekend restaurant. That was in May. Tina started to put in repairs, replacing the nipa roofing completely and by July was ready for business, starting with close friends until complete strangers started calling for reservations.

Tina, who partners with her brother in Carica, regards the restaurant as a hobby. She takes care of maintenance, hired a stay-in all-around maintenance man and one housekeeper, and whips up a mean menu every weekend. Reservations for the chosen menu and a minimum of eight are booked in advance. We had tried to book our visit for three weeks but there were so many other reservations we couldn’t get in. That’s how successful the place has become.

It takes two hours from Manila to Calamba through the traffic on the repair job on the South Luzon Expressway, but once in Calamba, a shortcut will soon take you to the gated community called Makiling Greenheights where Lily Pad is. At the threshold, one instantly feels a different kind of calm and peace enveloping the area.

Quiet

“I loved staying here,” Gonzales says. “I love the quiet. I’m an introvert. I like being alone. It never showed before because I worked in advertising where I had to turn into a functional extrovert. We have fireflies here. When I lived here I remember I had a firefly in my room, and every night I would see it. The birds come early in the morning, all kinds of birds. I don’t know their names but I see them all. I see the blue kingfishers come and scoop into the ponds to eat the little molly fish, then fly out again. Gustong gusto ko dito (I love it here).”

At the urging of her mom who loved the place, Tweetums bought the property in 1994 then began building in 1999. ” After I bought it, one day she got angry and said, ‘I’m not gonna live there, what do you think? ‘Yun pala she already had Alzheimer’s,” says Tweetums, who has become an unofficial source of advice on the illness.

Tweetums stayed in the house for two years but had a stroke and was taken back to civilization, where her children could watch over her. The house went into disarray. But today, it is back to what it was, a house sometimes called the origami house that is hidden from street view, but inside is wide open to nature.

The house was designed by Jorge Yulo, with the very creative Shoko Matsumoto doing the light design. Everything else was designed by Tweetums, from the color combination of the walls and the bathrooms with sunken tubs that lookout to greenery, shielded from the outside world. Everywhere are ponds with big yellow carp and the molly fishes for the kingfishers. Everywhere too are bushes and plants of every color that seem to grow and bloom without much difficulty.

There are two rooms—a small one downstairs in the living room area, which is the favorite of everyone who has come to visit. It has the usual sunken tub and windows with a view of the garden and ponds just next to the bed. On the second floor is Tweetums’ watercolor gallery as well as pieces from other artists. The master’s bedroom has an old-fashioned four-poster bed with drapes around it.

The dining room and kitchen are across the living room, floating in the midst of ponds connected by a walkway. It is air-conditioned for hot months, but its sliding doors can be opened wide on cool days and nights, plentiful in this area.

We walked around the village and were astounded by the beautifully designed homes, all with names posted in the front yard, like “Secret Nook” and “Country Corner.” Yoling Pimentel owns a huge house with the pool, and the Mapuas live here.

Weekend retreats

Otherwise, most of the 35 homes are weekend retreats. None of the houses has numbers, just names since the development started as a medium-range subdivision with small cuts.

But as time went on, the place began to appeal to the more artistically affluent. “At times, I used to think the community had been stolen from Makati because of some of the people who live here,” says Tweetums.

“So people began buying multiple lots, some with 20, 30, or 15. Lily Pad is [comprised of] eight lots and eight titles,” says Tweetums. ” It became apparent that there would be a problem with house numbering so we got together and decided to simply name the houses.”

Today Tweetums’ days are filled with her painting, the writing classes she gives to individuals and groups, the weekly Legaspi Sunday market and Lily Pad. It’s a far cry from her days at J. Romero and advertising. It’s less stressful, if less profitable. “Now all I want is for the restaurant to become successful. We have no great ambitions,” she gives out her usual hearty laughter.

Yet, this early, those who find themselves at Lily Pad for lunch (favorite menus are Crispy Dried Tapa as appetizer, Duck, Roast Beef Tenderloin, Kare-kare, Glazed Banana dessert of Apple/Pecan Pie) are one in declaring that the P1,000 meal charge is worth the two-and-a-half-hour drive, not only for the food but for the incomparable ambiance and conversation.

Some already see it as a future stop in one of those Laguna artist tours like Viajes del Sol of Patis Tesoro, Ugu Bigyan and Carlito Ortega.

E-mail author at bibsycarballo@yahoo.com. Contact Lily Pad for reservations at 4013558, 0918-3624176, 09178452902.

LILY PAD RECIPE

FRIED DUCK FROM OSCAR’S FARM

Clean duck.
Rub with salt and pepper.
Steam for 1 hour.
Refrigerate.
Heat cooking oil (about 1 liter) in deep frying pan
Fry duck until golden brown.
Serve.

Plum Sauce:

Plum - about ½ kg
Slice, remove pit
Put slices in a pot; add ½ cup sugar, cloves, cinnamon bark, black pepper, bay leaf.
Cook for 20 minutes.