I was sorta kinda good last weekend in Siargao. I was!

On Saturday, I biked 9 km. And, on Sunday, I did five sets of 20 kettlebell swings, as well as a few other kettlebell exercises.

At the wedding reception, my biggest transgression only involved breading and cheese. (They served chicken cordon bleu.) I didn’t even drink.

Then I got invited to lunch at the soon-to-open, Dedon Island Resort* (- this is the new incarnation of Pansukian Tropical Resort, which Nicolas and I used to own and manage until we sold it to Dedon, the furniture company, in July 2010). They had pirated a young German chef from a $12,000-a-night resort in the Fiji Islands so, of course, I was eager to try out his food. Plus the resort’s transformation and the new chef totally fell under the “new restaurant” exception in my diet so I could freely partake without any guilt.

But I stuck to the diet anyway.

Until they brought out the pumpkin puree. It supposedly went very well with the bread. And they did bring in the bread all the way from Cebu so I couldn’t very well just ignore it.

And then they brought out the fish curry. Hmmm… Can one really, properly appreciate a curry without rice?

I didn’t think so.

Three servings later…

I think I enjoyed that curry a little bit too much.

But I did skip dessert! It was the buko (coconut) salad that we used to serve at Pansukian so I didn’t bother.

Seriously though, the new chef, Daniel Rudolf, was only in Siargao for a week and he’s already put what the island has to offer to good use. I heard he served a very good sayote(chayote) soup the night before. I’ve lived in this country all my life and I’ve never had sayote soup. Ever. I don’t think anyone has.

His crab cakes were excellent. Paired with a spicy salsa, it was even better. And he made some sort of kinilaw na lato(vinegared seaweed) in coconut milk that was absolutely inspired.

That same evening, the other Frenchies (Pierre Zappavigna and Fred De Backer) invited our lunch crowd over to their place (Kalinaw Resort) for dinner and, by the time food was put on the table, I was completely soused and in need of nourishment. While I had some bruschetta, a bit of couscous (with lamb) and some pasta (with prosciutto), I didn’t eat too much. Really. Okay, well, not “too much” for me, at least. I didn’t finish any of my servings.

But when I found out that Kalinaw now featured panna cotta on its menu, I had to try it. I’m a panna cotta snob and Pierre assured me it didn’t have any gelatin in it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a coffee panna cotta. I’m not big on flavored panna cottas. I’m a purist and believe that the cream should be able to stand on its own. Literally and figuratively. But the texture and consistency were okay so, in the absence of anything else on the island, it will have to do whenever I’m in need of a panna cotta fix.

Which is – ahem – NEVER, now that I’m supposed to be a cave woman.

Groan.

I must remember to ask Pierre to make an unflavored one for me.

*I will write more about Dedon Island Resort after it is formally launched in March and the first photos come out in the New York Times and Vogue. Remember, the resort is a collaboration between Dedon and Jean Marie Massaud, so design hounds all over the world are frothing at the mouth for a sneak peek at the new resort and the new furniture that was designed exclusively for it. I can assure you though that it is all quite lovely and the whole Dedon-Siargao experience will be well worth the $800 to $1200 per person per night price tag it comes along with.