Cafe Crawls

I am a coffee person. Some of my favorite activities revolve around coffee: discovering new cafes, hanging out at coffee shops with Inggo after dinner, or doing a drawing session with my friends in a coffee shop. I’ve been thinking of a witty way to call this activity, but all I got is Cafe Crawls. So here are some photos from cafes that didn’t have enough photos to make a separate post.

2016 07 costa coffee

Cafe Mocha at Costa Coffee

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2016 07 costa eastwood

Costa Coffee Eastwood branch. London style.

2016 07 cafe mithi

Alab (Chocolate batirol with sili) from Cafe Mithi , Maginhawa Street.

2016 07 ucc kori kohi

Kori Kohi at UCC Clockwork, Estancia Mall

2016 07 theo's

The second floor of Theo’s Baked + Brewed, Maginhawa Street.

2016 07 equatorial coffee

Cortado at Equatorial Coffee, Katipunan.

2016 07 serenitea wall decor

Wall decor at Serenitea, Tomas Morato.

2016 07 fancy crepes

Shabby Chic vibe at Fancy Crepes, Matalino Street. (I did a review of this place 4 years ago!)

2016 07 fancy crepes bike

Pretty bike ♥.

2016 07 caffe dolce

Caffe Dolce, Banawe.

2016 07 cafe mary grace

I love the hydrangea inspired shell centerpiece at Cafe Mary Grace. ♥ Cutest thing everrrr!

2016 07 cafe bene

Cafe Bene, Eastwood.

Whew! That’s all for now. Most of my posts recently are interiors, but I’m still painting every other day. Just need to compile them all again. Any coffee shops that you’d recommend ?

Cheers.

Papa Diddi’s

Around summer of 2015, we discovered a new dessert place at Maginhawa Street during our usual walks. We thought 3 scoops of unique flavored ice cream for  99php is steal, so we tried it out. And that’s how we became semi-regulars to this place ♥.

2016 07 papa diddis display

Cute display.

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2016 07 papa diddis display 2

Law books turned into lighting fixtures.

Papa Diddi’s is a tribute to the owner’s father. He was a lawyer, hence the law books turned into lighting fixtures. He also loved making ice cream for his family in the province back then. Sigh. I really, really love their story. You should read it when you’re there since I feel I can’t do justice to their story.

2016 07 papa diddis icecream 1

You can either choose the ceramic cup…

2016 07 papa diddis icecream 2

…or choose this Bird’s Nest for your base! This is Inggo’s.

As of July 2016, we could proudly say that we’ve already tried all of their flavors HAHA. My favorites would be: Davao meets Bicol (Chocolate with a spicy kick), Tres Leches (so creamy!), and Roasted Forbidden Rice. You can have a free taste of every available ice cream for the day if you can’t decide.

Recently, they’ve expanded with another Maginhawa branch called Papa Diddi’s et al. This place now has cafe food and a bigger seating capacity.

2016 07 papa diddis et al

2016 07 placemat doodle

Place mat art.

 Papa Diddi’s Facebook page.

Seoul Train

A few weeks ago after work, Inggo & I passed by this newly opened restaurant at Sgt. Esguerra. I love the design of the place! The exterior looks like a train and the interior looks like a train station and train carriage.

2016 07 seoul train

Waiting area. The magazine & posters are hints as to who is The girl of Seoul Train.

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2016 07 seoul train food

Bibimbap & unlimited ban chan!

2016 07 seoul train interiors

Press the red button to call the waiter!

2016 07 seoul train waiting area

Thank you! The food was delicious. I’ll try this again with my office mates next time. ♥

Monologue (May-July)

I’m back! Still can’t transfer my photos from my phone to laptop through USB connection, but I discovered that I can transfer through the ASUS app Sharelink. SO – I’m halfway through my Monologue notebook. Thinking whether I should get another one soon or to upgrade to Stillman & Birn or Strathmore notebook. The reason? Some pages of the Monologue soft sketch book won’t absorb the paint as shown below. (The hair on the left drawing).

2016 07 monologue 10

Argh. I hate the effect! But still, progress is still progress. As usual, the realistic portraits are referenced from Pinterest. The anime-ish ones are mine. My watercolor set is Prang (unless otherwise stated), and I use my Craftdoodle waterbrushes. 🙂

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2016 07 monologue 1

Left: I like the hands / Right: Galaxy hair without the white speckles yet.

2016 07 monologue 1-2

The left drawing doesn’t look the same as the reference HAHA.

2016 07 monologue 2

Left: My Sola ♥ / Right: I don’t like the final render huhu

2016 07 monologue 3

Left: I used my Reeves watercolor pan set here / Right: Loose pencil sketch with loose rendering. 😐

2016 07 monologue 4

Then I tried fashion drawings. Haha.

2016 07 monologue 5

Left: I already posted this on the last Monologue post / Right: I tried blending the skin by adding water on dried paint.

2016 07 monologue 6

Left: I used my officemate’s Simbalion watercolor set. Too powdery for me / Right: Kimono girl sketch.

2016 07 monologue 7

Left: Self portrait with light wash / Right: Sketch of Sona, a League of Legends hero.

2016 07 monologue 8

Left: Progress artwork with wet on wet technique. / Right: I tried to render with more shadows. Doesn’t look like the original though!

2016 07 monologue 9

I’m now into drawing leaves as shown here. HAHAHA.

2016 07 monologue 10

The first & last image are my latest drawings. Not sure if I should finish the left one. I like the wash effect but I was supposed to put more detail on the lanterns. The right one is still unfinished. It needs more leaves in the background.

I’m glad that I can still paint. ♥ Mostly during break times in the office. Speaking of which, I need to do those “requested” portraits soon. Argh.

Until next time?