HAPPINESS is spelled T.U.X.T.E.A.M

Shoutout to Jam, one of the Cosplay Mania organizers that took the picture! She's very nice!

I know I still have a TON of blogposts due publishing but this had to come up on my priority list. I've been a fan of Jin and the Tux Team for over six years now and at last weekend's Cosplay Mania 2015, I've finally got the chance to meet them in person.

This moment reminds me of how I felt when the seventeen-year-old me finally got the guts to comment on one of Jin's facebook posts (not such a big deal to everybody else, but at that moment, I remember my heart beting so fast and doing and re-doing my message haha). I even made a blogpost about it feeling just as ecstatic as I write this one (abeit a bit better in the writing department haha).

I'm just going to go all fangirl on this blogpost now, if you'd excuse me. 

I found Jin as I was reading through one of Otakuzine's 2009 volumes, the same magazine I have up on my shelf back in Bohol. I remember her cosplaying as Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Ai Enma from Hell Girl in that feature. I instantly fell in love with her work. It was an instant appeal to me that her gender was such a mystery. Even now, newer fans still have the fun of guessing it despite her increasing popularity and it's all part of being a behindinfinity fan! It took me two years to finally figure out the answer and once I did, I fell in love with what she did even more. 

I made new friends! She was in front of me in the line :)

I followed her deviant art blog for years after that. The genuine joy she gets when cosplaying and creating costumes, the whole process being broken down blow-by-blow in each blogpost, you could feel that enthusiasm in her writing and it made me grin so much every time. The fact that she puts up really funny pictures and comments from her group of friends made it even better. 

I remember skipping all the other notifications on deviantart to be able to read her newly updated blog. It was hilarious, as I look back now, at how invested I was with another person's passion but then I realize, as I'm writing this and revisiting those old links that I love so much, that it made me put a lot of things into perspective and just helped me have a generally happy outlook growing up, much like how they were in those blogposts.

That interest in Jin and the Tux Team's work, I realized, exposed me to a lot of other passions that I've grown to love today. This skin care post Jin wrote a while back really made me think about taking better care of myself, it started with just skin care but then blew up to exercise and just general wellness. I was also quite partial to yaoi back then, but after seeing their photoshoots to make Charmie happy and that fated link to Junjou Romantica, well, let's just say I'm a very happy fujoshi. Being a part of that community really earned me a lot of meaningful memories and friendships (and so much more) despite the stereotype being painted for us. The yaoi is strong within us. And get this: even just as much as helping me help my sister with her painting project was from a deviantart update by Miguel about watercolor paper. A thing I didn't know that existed before then. That update was a life saver, lemme tell ya.

Thinking about all these instances made me realize that the Tux Team has been such a positive influence in my life that I don't even think I'd be me if it weren't for that following. A dramatic statement? Yes probably, as a lot of other logical factors come into play; but nevertheless, my memories about reading, listening, and a lot of good-natured lurking around their pages were nothing but positive and happy and I wouldn't trade those feelings for anything in the world :)

I knew they were going to be at Cosplay Mania 2015 and, now that I'm employed with my own cash and time and whatnot, I took the opportunity and booked a hotel and tickets two (or three?) months before the actual event. It was my first time in Manila and my first Cosplay Mania!

I was expecting to see them at their booth as announced (2-5pm) that day and I planned to see them then, but as I was on a food run, I passed by their booth and THERE THEY WERE. Jin and Miguel. In all their beatiful HD glory. I hyperventilated, talked a lot to myself, and breathed really loudly, forgoing that hotdog I planned on getting and ran across the hall to get my camera and cash just so I could meet them. And I did :)

I honestly don't remember what I rambled on back there. I felt my face heat up, my pulse racing, I could hear my own heartbeat, taste the air, everything. It was glorious. (and kinda embarrassing now that I think about it. sorry for being weird, guys ;_;)

Our flight back to Cebu the morning after Cosplay Mania's second day was at, like, 5am, so I couldn't stay at the convention any longer. I decided to stop by their booth one more time before leaving after the Awarding ceremony and lucky me, they were there! Despite being able to see (and talk teehee) with both Miguel and Jin on the first day, my mind blanked out when I found Cat, Chase, and Charmie and at their booth there as well. My mind raced when Chase took my order for more prints, and that Charmie noticed me staring at her and I got to talk to her about yaoi, Cat smiling at me after signing her print, Jin saying "Hi, Ashley!", remembering my name, and UGHHH omg *gross sobbing*. I blanked out and wasn't able to take a picture with any of them despite that five minute lull as they signed my prints, so I'll just settle with these amateur paparazzi photos. It's the memories that count.

And this was a long stalker-ish blogpost haha. Honestly, I can go on and on about this particular obsession in my life but in summary, this group of people just make me really really really happy :D

Thanks, Tux Team. It was awesome being able to finally meet you :) And thank you Cosplay Mania 2015 for this opportunity!! ♥

(I have never used this many smileys on a blogpost. The feels are too stronggg. >u<)

And if anyone's interested, here's the link to a snippet from my Cosplay Mania 2015 vlog. This snippet is when I first saw Jin and Miguel while I was out to get lunch. It's very shaky and very amateur as this was for my sister's eyes only so... watch. If you dare.

designubec2015: Support local artists

designubec is a coalition of artists and art enthusiasts that aim to promote local talent and their work; from artists to musicians. What usually happens in a designubec event is alot of art, music, people, beer, people, art, music and did I say ART?!

The event was held at The HeadquarterZ, a bar that promotes music and art on a regular basis so I found it quite fitting. 

I was invited to the event by my friend, Edzel Rubite; an awesome artist himself and an all-around great guy that has really come a long way when in comes to promoting the local art scene.

No they aren't dealing drugs despite the way how I took the picture. They're selling miniature prints of each artwork displayed in the gallery. I bought one of each. Yeaaaaaaa...

A big shoutout to the organizers though for letting me promote Startup Weekend Cebu 5 at the event! They let me put up a small poster and hand out some promo codes while I was there. Thanks a bunch, guys. I owe you one.

An Adventure Through Kingdoms And Realms

I'm a techie. Sure. Always have and always will be. But I also do art; most of the time my work forces me to marry the strangely different yet undoubtedly inseparable concepts, which is both strange and thrilling for me as a practitioner of both principles.

Needless to say it is that fascination with creativity and technology that lead me to pursue the dreams I have to day and it is also the very reason I am where I am in the first place. Along with that fascination, the interest in business and finance came to me in a rush. With my involvement in the startup community, it was inevitable that I came up with the craziest ideas, surrounded by some of the country's craziest people _{(I mean that in the best ways)}.

So, here I am, with a co-worker and her boyfriend running a crafts startup together. I know. I didn't expect it either. I mean, who would have thought I was the one that was the third wheel all this time I'm just kidding, I love you guys and I totally ship you with each other.

In all seriousness though, the fact that I am helping run a business at this time, with these people, and in this industry is still a pleasant surprise for me and was completely unexpected. I am enjoying the whole process, mind you, and wouldn't trade these experiences and relationships for the world but WOW a crafts startup, who would've thought!

Anyways, with that said, I bet you're wondering what this "crafts startup" really is. Well, to put it simply, it's suw(h)at.

We sell handmade notebooks, to put it frankly. At the moment, the brand is catering to the needs of individuals that would like to express themselves better through the different pop culture trends they relate the most with. Every month is a new theme for the brand. For instance, this month is Game of Thrones. Promos and discounts come and go that relate to this theme. Next month will be a different set of designs and so on and so forth.

As the brand developed, we continued to notice a peculiar thing from our customers. An observation that will be shared in a future post from me that will also tackle the many other lessons I have come across working as the brand's marketing and public relations lead.

Everything is handmade from the binding to the covers. At the moment we're only doing Cebu City meetups as the whole process is still fairly new to us and we wanted to get the basics down pat before we reach out to our national market. Considering it's been around three weeks of operation still, and we're all beginners, I think the decision was called for. We're not staying this way for long though as we have big plans in the upcoming months.

Other than the fandom-based notebooks, we're looking to further specifying our main product to those found in the first photo. But that explanation and big reveal can come with that future post I was talking about earlier.

We've been doing good so far but we'll never know what next month holds, or the next, and the next, and the month after that; you get my drift. All that to say though is that after all the businesses I thought I'd be helping run this whole time, a crafts startup wasn't even on my list. But here I am and here we are. Life really is an adventure through kingdoms and realms and I am loving every step of it.

Behance Portfolio Review Cebu 2015

I still can't get over the fact that the venue had such grandiose Buddhist statues. It felt like I was desecrating the place the whole time. They even had an idol on a pedestal behind the bar inside. Awkward.

Behance Portfolio Reviews are volunteer-run events that highlight the local art scene. They invite established speakers and panelists to facilitate the reviews that are usually done by freelancers or students. A notable artist I recognized in the panel was !nodoro, whose work I first saw at GraphiCon Davao 3. Speakers included reputable companies like Happy Garaje who is responsible for branding Geeks On A Beach.

Portfolio reviews are put into divisions: Illustration, Photography and Graphic Design. Each have their own set of panelists as they have their own set of participants. Submissions are shortlisted down to thirty participants in total. These participants are then required to prepare a presentation of their best (or worst) works to show to the judges for their feedback. 

What I love most about this is that it isn't a competition; just a pure give-and-take learning session between the pros and soon-to-be pros, which is great!

My most favorite part of the whole event was that they had an Art Market!

I literally artgasmed with all the stuff for sale and spent over a thousand on everything that I bought; which isn't much at all for hand-made art.

The first stall I popped over to was by Idiosyncratic Crafts. They specialize in cross-stitch, calligraphy and a whimsy style that i really like. Their notebooks were pretty cute too! Especially with the witty and sassy quotes stitched on them.

The next stall I checked out was from Thimblecap. She specialized in custom pouches and wallets with screen printed designs on them which was really cute. I bought a clutch from her collection.

And the last one was by Bad Blood Collective an all-girl art group based in Cebu. They have beautiful illustrations and OMG MY OTP - ahem. Sorry my inner weeaboo just slipped. They have really cool stuff.

All in all I really enjoyed myself at the event. It went on for two days with half of the portfolio reviews happening in day one and the other half on day two. I honestly didn't stay long during the review sessions and opted to hang around the art market and surround myself with good company and buy myself some good art pieces. It was a day well spent. Literally.

Can't wait for the next one!

Baji Art Exhibit 2015: "Ang Pangutana ni Inday"

The Baji Art Collective is an all-Boholana, all-genre, multi-arts alliance. *

All of it's members are Boholanas who are either based in Bohol or have lived in Bohol for a certain amount of time. I was fortunate enough to have been friends with Dalareich  as she was invited by one of the Baji members, Atty. Alma Aparece, to see the exhibit so I got to tag along.

(photo © Dal)

My first thought as I entered the exhibit area was that Bohol really needs a gallery because the lighting in the space does not do the art displayed justice. On a better note, the exhibit organizers did a great job with curating the works displayed and stepped the experience up a notch by having someone walk with you as you view the works to explain the artist's intention and feelings as they made the artwork. I was fortunate enough to be paired with Rain Calimbayan, whose photographic works were also featured in the exhibit.

The works on display range from traditional paintings, digital paintings, photographs, collages, prints, sculptures and much more. It was an interesting experience for me as I was able to delve into the mind of an artist through their medium of choice and the intention they wanted to portray through their work. I do consider myself as somewhat of an artist, but I have yet to seriously explore other mediums than digital art which made the experience all the more thrilling considering my sister will soon be in the ranks of these talents in the near future.

One of the more thought-provoking pieces for me was the painting in the far right of the picture above entitled "Pretty Flowers" by Vide Tirol de Juan. Why, can one wonder, is it that the woman's reproductive organ is often described as a "flower" in most literary works? Why, of all things, a flower? Is because of how precious it is? Of how beautiful it becomes as it blossoms? You tell me.

These works are best experienced in person as seen below. I've also included a brief description for each to tickle your fancy.

A painting that describes the capabilities of a woman today.

Sculpted by the artist to portray her life so far and her dreams for the future.

Artwork painted and embellished by hand on to this reused shirt.

Individual style holds such importance in all industries today and creativity plays a critical role in that. As art is treated as an "extra" in the Filipino culture today, and most especially Bohol, I urge young artists, art enthusiasts and even those that need a push of color into their weekly routines to come and visit the exhibit at the University of Bohol and witness the grandeur and stories of these works face-to-face. It will be open for as long as the school is and it will be ongoing until the 20th of March. _{(Men are welcome to view, of course haha)}

All Boholanas are welcome to join Baji. You can submit your artwork, meet the members and attend their events for free and all you have to do is to commit your time and talent to these lively group of empowered women. Click here to visit their Facebook Page for more information.

A Friend's Viral Fame: Justin Bieber of Bohol

I honestly have no recollection about how I met Alexis but I know it was through her partner, Cyril, who was an old classmate of mine. She was already mildly popular at my college when she performed a few numbers in some events featuring her signature Justin Bieber voice with Cyril's badass acoustics so when she was performing live at a booth near where my friend Clint and I were lounging about, we just had to take a video of her knowing of the possibility of it going viral.

True enough, two years later, she's on national TV and getting a bunch of offers to perform at JB fan events in other cities. Her talent, partnered with Cyril's skill and support, got a lot of traction in the city and she's made quite a name for herself as the "Justin Bieber of Bohol". We shot a music video of her with the help of my videographer friend, Ray-an, a year after the hit of the first video, which in turn, was also featured, abeit really quickly, on her feature on TV.

The pair eventually took on the name JAM-C and are looking for more opportunities to show their talents. 

It was really heart warming to see a lot of positive feedback from local supporters in both her videos, the best thing being most of them from the Visayas. I wouldn't really say the video has gone "viral" enough, views currently being only 300k, but it made me happy to see local media, viewers and freelancers jump at the chance to help promote local talent. I know JAM-C still has a long hard path to stardom, identifying their uniqueness in the industry being the most important and difficult challenge, but it makes me proud to see them work hard so far to get to this point. To see more of their videos, drop by their YouTube channel and leave a like to show some love.

Bohol's Cosplay Scene: It's Getting Better!

Cosplay brings out the best in everyone

To be fair, I'm not an active cosplayer, as much as I would've liked to be but I've been a fan of anime and a supporter of Bohol's anime community for years now so seeing the improvements and changes along the years has been heart-warming.

Only a friend and I cosplayed at school back in 2011

Cosplay was such a far-off term three years ago. People were pretty tolerant with it, though. A few looked at cosplayers either strangely or wanted to take a picture with them, most were indifferent. Sure there was the typical back-stabbing but no reports of assault or anything of the sort from what I heard. Which was good.

Anime fans in Bohol already existed but a lot of us were pretty "in the closet" about it, not really acting out or dressing up for our passions. As the years went by, I saw more and more people go out of their shell and opened their minds. BisCUIT was then formed, probably the oldest cosplay group ever established in the province. Eventually events like Komikaze pop up with various artists that previously have never touched the subject matter, now dabbled in cosplay photography and armor-creation. And before you know it, schools themselves were hosting cosplay competitions for the students.

The largest mall in the province so far had then started to host an annual cosplay competition. The costumes and acts were pretty mediocre at first with flimsy costumes and horribly-made props but as the years went on, the acts, cosplayers and props improved year after year and attracted everyone from all walks of life to either participate or spectate, producing gems like these:

Parents have started getting their kids to participate in either competitive or casual cosplay and a sight that would've been strange to see three years ago is now a pretty normal occurrence which makes me really happy. Hopefully, the art of cosplay will be even better represented and appreciated in the future. Sure, not everyone likes it and a lot of people have misconceptions about it but with the passion and raw love of the people I've met during these experiences, I just couldn't help but appreciate the Boholano's open-mindedness about this form of self-expression.

TEDx University of San Carlos 2014

It being my first time inside my university's sister school and possibly my younger sister's future college got me excited. The property was bigger than I expected, the USC Talamban campus, and it was a surprise that the shuttle had to cross a few hills to get to the TEDx Venue.

Outside the CAFA Theatre with the very pretty mural

The event was a USC student-only event so I considered myself very lucky to have been able to attend at all. Dalareich, a good friend from Bohol, in all her famousness and glory, got an invite from one of the speakers at the event to be one of her guests. Unfortunately, she had an important meeting to attend to so she declined the offer. Me, being the nosy no-shame friend, jumped at the opportunity when she mentioned me in their conversation. _{(Thank you, Dal, I love you haha)}

Dalareich is a ☆

The registration table outside the CAFA theatre was very lively with free donuts and sodas for the student attendees of the TEDx event. I was honestly very nervous about going there, the only communication between me and ma'am Jenny being the Facebook comments so the possibility of my attendance being counted for sure was very slim. But luckily, Ms. Jenny was as nice as I imagined her to be and prepared an envelope with my name and another guest's containing our tickets. One of the nice organizers, Shedwin, handed me the envelope and entrance to the event was hassle-free.

My TEDxUSanCarlos ID and Guest Ticket

Entrance to the theatre vie the "Guest Lane"

The "Student Lane" was next to us since the Guests and Students were made to form separate lines. I assumed we would get to enter the event first since we were "Guests" and therefore "Special" but we were instead made to enter last after the long line of students. That's what we get for being freeloaders.

The TEDxUSanCarlos stage

The organizers did very well on this, the stage looked awesome, after two years of watching TED videos, I practically fangirled seeing the 3D TED statue-thing in the backdrop and not to mention the media coverage with livestreams and actual HD video cameras like what. _{(The concept of the Butterfly effect was genius, too. Red more about it in their website)}

Gordon Allan Joseph

Overall, the event was an amazing first TED event for me and I'm sure everyone in the room learned a little bit about everything that afternoon. I'd attend one again _{(or organize one myself)} in a heartbeat so hats off to the University of San Carlos people who made this all happen!

Met these two amazing people at #TEDxUSanCarlos from @SparkPhils. Wish you were there @dalareich! They send their ♥ pic.twitter.com/aIY9pmy0sP
— Ashley Uy (@mashleyuy) August 20, 2014

Reviews of some talks and my opinions:

The Truth in a world of Lies

Little things you can do to live a more Sustainable Life

Success doesn't choose a gender

Proud to be Bisaya: There is still Hope

Well this week's events were pretty consecutive. Wednesday was TEDx University of San Carlos and Thursday and Friday was Geeks on A Beach, which I was privileged enough to attend. I'll be posting about said events separately in different posts so we'll get to the details later. What I really felt like writing immediately about though was the urgency Kaloy Uypuanco, one of the GOAB speakers, and Insoy Niñyal, one of the TEDx speakers, talked about regarding the Visayan youth's lack of faith and respect of their own language. 

Daghan kaayo kog gihunahuna lately, until ganihang kadlawon it dawned on me.

— Sinugbang Sugbo (@SinugbangSugbo) August 17, 2014

"I've been thinking of a lot of things lately, until dawn came, it dawned on me."

  Insoy Niñyal's Sinugbang Sugbo is a Twitter account for his many witty and refreshing Visayan jokes

Although true that many of the youth today find our native tongue, which in this case is Bisaya, not the most appealing language to listen to perhaps due to our radical Westernization. I personally had the same prejudiced mindset until quite recently. But, it is also true that lately many of the youth have started realizing this paradox of "finding one's language baduy" as an error.

Many of you following this blog may have recalled us, my classmates and I, shooting films for our multimedia projects a year ago. The most popular one, which was our rendition of the Papictura ko nimu, Gwapo music video reached 35,651 views as of August 24, 2014 and a lot of comments from the Visayan youth complimenting the song and the film itself that was made in the modest island of Bohol.

I understand that number doesn't qualify the video to be "viral" but, to be fair, I personally hadn't expected such a response especially from our kabayan youth. I get at least 3 notifications a day, as of now, whether it be a comment or a share, from our youth praising the song's lyrics, quite specifically how endearing it was, and the artistry that was put into the work _{(especially Hannah, the leading lady's cuteness haha)}.

What I found funny was, while we were splitting up into groups before shooting began, all the teams decided, completely by coincidence, to work on purely Visayan songs for our music video project. We only realized it when we all stopped to compare our works mid-way. We all got so hyped up about it that we brought that excitement to our second project, the short film, and all groups still did them in Visayan.

Music Videos:

Balay ni Mayang

Chinita

Short Films:

Ikaw na ang Gitakna

The Short Film Project

After shooting and airing our works, we felt so proud that we did our stories justice. And it actually helped that we did them in Visayan because we could freely and fully express ourselves in our films without the fear of pronouncing anything wrong because the Visayan language made us feel at home. 

So there is a change. The youth will understand that your efforts, to those who strive for this cause, are not in vain. My suggestion, as proven by our Papiktura ko nimu, Gwapo music video, airing quality music videos that show a clear story about the Visayan song written will enormously help the understanding and relation the youth feel about the song. Because face it, we don't really understand all the Visayan words out there and a little shove would be great for us to be able to relate with it.

Oh, and for those curious to know which short film won over ours, it was Love, Alora. The language used was Tagalog.

And I encourage you, young Filipino artists, to please please please make homage to your home country and language. Do not accept that our culture is dying and that we have to do something to keep it alive. I have a few plans myself on how I can contribute to this and you should start thinking about your master plan too. As a parody to Aomine's catchphrase, 

"No one can save us but us."

Cafe Hopping in (a small area of) Cebu

Coffee hasn't always been one of my favorite drinks and I suppose it never will be but cafes have always piqued my interest. I've been to my fair share of the more popular ones such as Starbucks and Bo's but it was the smaller, more quaint shops that made me want to explore and experience every coffee house that ever existed. So, I made it my mission to visit as many cafes as I can while I finish my internship here in Cebu City. I made it a point to visit a different one each week but I haven't been as regular as I would've liked so updates to this post will come and go. If anyone has a favorite coffee shop worth visiting, leave a comment and let me know.

Tomo Cafe: A Maid and Butler Cafe 
86 Gov. M. Cuenco Ave., Nasipit, Talamban

The view from my little corner of the cafe

This cafe was definitely number one on my to-go list _{(I mean helooo? Maid and buter cafe??)} so I jumped at the timing and went straight to the cafe that weekend. It was cute, especially the way how the maid or butler on duty would rush to open the door for you before you entered/left. They'd greet you and thank you in Japanese which I thought was a nice subtle touch. I was expecting them to fawn and fuss over you like the many depictions of cafes of this genre on TV and in some anime so I was relieved that they'd more or less leave you to your devices unless you requested otherwise. 

I'm not much of a food photographer but I couldn't help taking a picture of the Omu Rice _{(the specialty of the house)} message Hitomi, the maid assigned to me, wrote with ketchup.

1st at ♥Tomo

I enjoyed myself in my little corner eating my meal, drinking my chocolate shake and reading my Startup Weekend Book. But if you're not into the whole "alone time" gig, they have an assortment of board games you can play, manga and anime magazines you can read and a flat screen playing anime series to movies all day so you have a lot to keep you occupied _{(free wifi too)}. So overall it was a great first visit.

The Brown Cup

Skyrise 1, Cebu IT Park, Lahug

The view from my little corner of the cafe

The Brown Cup was a sort of impromptu visit since it was the cafe closest to my workplace and I had to eat a quick lunch there. It was pretty cozy like most cafes but I relatively do not want to dine-in if given a choice. Their food is good and so is their coffee so I usually do take-outs from them.

The tables that I've sat in mostly are wobbly and make you spill you coffee as you eat, it occasionally has flies around and, it was a one-time thing so far but, their staff weren't that accommodating. One thing that I found endearing about the cafe though was that their chairs had cute ass-molds on them.

Ass-molds on chairs

Bo's Coffee

inside Fully Booked, Ayala Fairview Terraces

The view from my little corner of the cafe

I swore to myself that I wouldn't visit the more well-known cafes because that would just be boring but the moment I smelled coffee inside a bookstore _{(in this case it was Fully Booked)}

I just had to know where the smell was coming from. I went up a floor and realized that there was a Bo's Coffee stall build inside Fully Booked, which I thought was awesome. You could take a book on the shelf, bring it to your table as you drink your coffee and enjoy the smell of paper and coffee mixing in the air _{(I know . Sounds gross but don't judge me, I like the smell)}. 

I came with my own book, which was The Lean Startup, ordered a marble cake and a mug of cafe latte and spent a relaxing two hours before I had to to go to mass. The stool I sat in wasn't the most comfortable though since I had to flex my shoulders a bit after an hour _{(but that was because most of the other seats were taken)}

. I was giddy and thanked the genius who thought of this glorious mix up and, even though it's against my personal rule of "different cafes every week", I might just spend an afternoon there again a few more times just to enjoy the fusion.

Topokki Man

ground floor of a building next to University of San Carlos and Donya Rita Village, Talamban 

The view from my little corner of the cafe restaurant

So technically this isn't a cafe but it was a fun experience and it was something new so I decided to add this experience to my list _{(As long as it's a good experience where I can eat and relax, I think I'll include it to this list)}. Topokki Man is aKorean restaurant not far from USC-TC and my first Korean cuisine experience. The menu made no sense to me except for a few titles like "Rice" and "Drinks". I was super hungry so I didn't feel that adventurous and settled with an ordinary spicy chicken rice topping. Topokki, which was the restaurant's main dish, is a Korean snack that consists of a rice cake, some vegetables and chilli sauce based on this food blog. 

Along with the spicy chicken rice topping I ordered, which shockingly smelled and tasted great by the way, I think they served something along with it as a side dish. I had no idea what it was, it looked like a bunch of leafy vegetables piled up and then dunked with chili sauce. I assumed it was kimchi so then I thought "how do we eat kimchi?". In the end, I didn't touch the side dish and I never found out what dish that was. The meal and feel of the place was great and, if I ever want to eat healthy, I definitely see myself ordering from them again. 

Cafe Talk

Gaisano Country Mall, Talamban 

The view from my little corner of the cafe

It seems like this week's theme is "Korean". Cafe Talk is an actual cafe this time with a more human menu like "Javachip" and "Vanilla" in their list. The cafe caught my attention last week as I passed by it while grocery shopping since I didn't see it have any tables from the outside and it said "cafe" in its sign. I decided to check it out this week and man was my expectations met. It was a clean, cozy place with two sets of small alcoves, the bottom ones having monitors available for customer's use _{(you were able to watch movies I heard)}. 

The alcove I chose

I chose the quieter alcove at the back in the upper floor so I could eat my chicken salad and continue to read  The Lean Startup in peace. My only pointers if you decide to stay here for more than an hour is to wear cozy pants and choose a not-too-warm-but-not-too-cold alcove _{(in my case, it got too cold for me after an hour and thirty minutes)}.

Coffee Cat

JP Morgan and Chase Co, Cebu IT Park, Lahug

Unfortunately I didn't get to take pictures since I had lunch with my father there and he finds it weird.

I've noticed a lot of university students hang around there and study. The cafe itself is pretty quiet which is I guess the best place to cram for finals. The coffee was quite bland when I first tried it but the food, cakes and shakes were awesome. I ordered a Red Velvet Cheesecake for dessert and it was the creamiest most heavenly thing, you might get too bored with it though if you have too much.

I recommend going with a friend or two when visiting Coffee Cat, just to help you enjoy the food.

Tambahayan

Ma. Clara St. Tagbilaran City

Entrance is near University of Bohol by a convenience store

The view from my little corner of the cafe

You might notice that I'm completely biased with this specific cafe since I obviously have more than the usual one photo of it. The reason is mostly because it was this cafe that inspired me to go cafe hopping around Cebu.

Acoustic structure and bookshelf

A few months ago we decided to shoot a music video for our friends Alexis and Cyril to help kickstart their musical career. We needed a place to shoot it, a music lounge most preferably. Aphet, one of the volunteers at StartupWeekend Bohol, owns a local music lounge in my home city, Tagbilaran, Bohol. Unfortunately it was unavailable due to equipment upgrades so he directed us to a place he was helping construct, Tambahayan Cafe. 

Small stage full of art and music

The cafe and music school right beside it is owned by Mrs and Mr de Juan, respectively. Kids from the music school often relax or perform inside the cafe. It's cozy and has a very relaxed ambiance, not to mention good food and coffee. They host art exhibits, karaoke and movie nights for everyone to enjoy. It's something fresh and new in our little island and is definitely worth a visit if you ever find yourself in town.

As much fun as I'm having visiting these cafes I feel they won't get the credit they deserve if I just post about them here in my run-of-the-mill blog post, so give the banner above some love and visit an introvert's cafe review blog. Unlike other food blog or cafe review blogs that cater the Bohol-Cebu area, Introvert's Dessert specifically targets a cafe's ability to house those that belong to the meager 40% of our population: the introverts. If you empathize with them or have a friend that is one, this blog is the one for you. Any suggestions on which cafe they should visit next, feel free to leave them a comment. Hail the introverts!