Nakapag-BK din!

Pop and his exec eam at TOPIC

Our lucky charm, Andre, with Argean

Kuya Herbert and Ate



Tonio and Ate Faye

Mommy, working on her laptop

JD and friend

Our favorite coffee table books

Nice...

BK!

BK yeah!

Rhodas!

Crikey!

Welcome to the Family!

Yesterday was the first day of Tonio's OJT at Cafe Antonio. He was my classmate back in elementary for a year and he was introduced to the cafe by Joyce's friend who turns out to be his girlfriend.


He will be with us until Thursday next week, helping us clean in the afternoon and then assisting us until closing time. It was a good day yesterday, and Tonio got a workout from it!


We played charades last night, Padeys did great job acting out impossible words like "Buloy" or "Jenny" or "Pilandok". He is definitely a world class act-tresss... hehe. Tonight he will be joining us at the cafe to have a Gilmore Girls marathon right after closing.


Sherwin and his friends also brought along their own game to play.
(http://sjcf.multiply.com/links/item/23)

The Navs were also there. They reserved the couch area.


We didn't do that well the past few days, thank God for yesterday, it was all worth it.


Pop's exec team reserved the couch area today at 4pm. I have to go now. See yah at the cafe!

Late Late Post

Customer of the Week (May 20 -24) - Kuya Soc

Majals, Krista, and Ters


Surprise guests, Mimi and Joyce

Corkage!

Musical...

Our first customers who requested a candle for their friend's birthday muffin.

David Cook Wins!

Jabez and Ebe

Jimmy and the gang

SIKAP

Vanilla Sky (Php 100) - Blue White Mocha Milkshake

On the way to Max's

Dig in!

Great day, gujab!!!

Retz and I woke up late, it was raining hard...sleeping was a good a idea...we cleaned at 1 pm..

We never ran out of customers today..

The day was very slow... it's like two days in one...


Joyce was not feeling well...she has a cold...


Yell brought Krispy Kreme...


Beni and I sang my new composition...


I'm watching The Office right now...


Good day, good day...


Thanks for the support once again guys...


Continue to support our cafe and white mocha frothiccino...

Some Like It Hot

Yesterday, Retz and I finished cleaning early. Then Joyce came in at 2 pm. She brought along food which she got from a package her mom sent from the US. I already prepared the frothiccino mix so we had nothing left to do. We decided to take a siesta before Neil arrives at 3 pm to run errands.

We finished our errands in 20 minutes. We noticed that we were quite fast that day or maybe time was just slow. It seemed like a perfect day. We opened on time, well-rested and everything. The weather was cool and the conditions were perfect for good ‘ol relaxation. I drank 2 espressos while reading a book about psychics and mystics. I said, “Nothing can go wrong today.” I guess I spoke too soon.

We noticed that it was getting warm, and customers were piling up at the café and asking us if we had the AC turned on. Retz and I went home to get an electric fan. We had 3 fans out at the dining area and none for us inside the kitchen. So we were sweating like hell. Joyce restarted the AC and it cooled for a while. The café was full of people. Neil, Retz, and I went out to get some air. It was still a little warm inside.

I had to go home at 9 pm to take out the trash. I took out the trash and then rode my bike to the café. Then I notice my wallet wasn’t in my back pocket. I retraced my steps and didn’t find it. Then I remembered that I left my wallet inside the house! My sister and Kuya Herbert wouldn’t be home until tonight so I really had to get in to change clothes and take a bath. We were the only unit in the compound that do not have a duplicate with the landlord, making the situation worse.

So Retz and I spent 2 freakin’ hours applying all we learned in Mystery Case Files, Mission Impossible, MacGyver, and Mr. Bean to get my wallet, which was lying on the dining table.

While we were gone, the staff told us that an army of customers stormed the café. It’s a good thing that the PowerPuff Girls (Joyce, Nica, and Yell) and Mojo Jojo (Neil) was there to get things under control. Thanks guys. Sorry for the hassle.

Everything went well after that. Zadl came and gave us chicharon. Thanks!

We closed the day still victorious despite all the hurdles and challenges that confronted us that day. Good job team!

Earthquakes and Cake

I’m not feeling very well right now. I just came from 2 fiestas, one in Anos and one in Calauan. I think I had too much chicken and fruit cocktail…

The streets of Los Baños looked like the music video of “The Shadow of the Day” yesterday as smoke filled the air and rumors of an earthquake spread through text. We were already picking out spots to hide; I chose to hide under the espresso machine so that I would die instantly when it falls on me, haha! Just kidding.

Of course the earthquake rumor wasn’t true, we went on with our lives and lived through the day. But it was a nice moment to talk about weird stuff like the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, etc. What would happen if the Philippines just sank in the ocean… Hmm…

Yell wasn’t feeling well yesterday so I made her warm calamansi juice. I guess it didn’t work, she just fell asleep and went home early.

We had this group of students who asked if they can shoot a video for their class. So I said ok, it’s good publicity. We played boring Spanish-era music in the background while they were shooting, we thought it suited their theme. After that Retz and the students took a group picture at the front of the café.

Victor’s mom stopped by to order him a latte Good job dude, even though you can’t come here, you sent someone to represent you. Yeah!

Edsam also dropped by. He looked like a Pinoy action star/hit man. And because of that, the collective genius of our batch improvised an action movie sequence based on cliché Pinoy movie scenes. We were laughing our heads off!

It was also Brandon’s birthday. Watts baked him a cake and we put 22 sparkling candles on it. His family was also there to celebrate. They were the last customers of the day. The cake was great.

I have to go now, my tummy is still aching…

We're a Month Old! Yeah!

I was late for work yesterday because I was making stickers for our glass windows. We have a new look for the cafe. The glass windows and sliding doors has orange, black, and grey racing stripes and we made a new open/closed sign and operating hours sign. We removed the "no solicitation", "no outside food allowed", and "self-service" signs as suggested by Kuya Bert aka Mr. Papu's. He said that those signs give the customers too many rules to follow...it's not very welcoming for a service business.

We we're full of people the whole day. There was no lull hour. No time for basketball, ping-pong, crossword, or Skribage. It was a busy day.

Our batchmates helped us cut the stickers. Mahalia used the paper cutter I borrowed from Koinonia (thanks Kuya Rodel). Benny, Fidel, Chino, Retz, and I painstakingly arranged the stickers on the glass. Al also helped.

When midnight came, we celebrated our first month with a massacred muffin topped with caramel sauce, whipped cream, and honey. We also lit a candle hat Joyce bought. It was supposed to light up a bunch of little sparks, but it failed to do so, drat...

It was also Padeys' last day at the cafe. We will miss you dude, God bless on your acting career, make some waves!

2nd month, here we come!

Mothers' Day. It was 11 pm, Retz and I were already at the cafe to start our defrosting marathon slash general cleaning. We cleaned and cleaned until 5:34 in the morning! The place was spotless.


Fidel opened the roll-up door and woke us up at 9 am. Then I went home at 11 to take a bath.

It wasn't raining that day, which was unusual because it was a Monday. Then it rained hard, reeeally

Retz and I wanted the cafe to be blameless and pure. But when you over-prepare, everything goes wrong. We wanted Joyce to see how clean the cafe was but when she opened the refrigerator door, there was spilled milk all over the place. Dang!


We had Bible study at 2pm, Pop was there to lead. Neil was also with us. We had a great time and we finished at 3. Dan and his mom, Tita Reggie was also there. Pop bought us food. Thanks!


We had our first two walk-in customers. One ordered a white mocha frothiccino. She asked us if it was meant to be salty. We wondered if she was referring to the pasta or the drink. Then she let us taste the frothiccino, it was so salty it made sea water bland!


Then I realized that I put SALT instead of SUGAR on the sugar syrup and frothiccino mix! I did the mixes at 4 am so that Nica and Joyce wouldn't have to worry about anything. But when you over-prepare, everything goes wrong! Hassle, hassle, hassle!!!!! Hrrr!!!! GArr!!! WAAHHH!!!!


We made her a new one and gave her a "sorry po" cookie, which she appreciated.


It was raining hard, and the weather was cool. Then we lost power. For an hour. We sang songs to pass the time and we did a wrong version of Top of the World. We played with the candle, believing we have supernatural powers to make the flame disappear without blowing or touching it. We also sang some Dashboard songs and some boy band songs. We were ready to close at nine, but the power came back. So the show must go on!!!


We played basketball inside the cafe. Then we did some ping-pong using the trays and the massage ball.


Then a group of guys came and ordered a lot of stuff. That helped a lot in our sales.


Kuya Bert aka Papu's, was there with his family and ordered one black forest, rocky road, cookies and cream, and choco-macadamia frothiccino. He gave us advice about our signs and we took it to heart. We removed all of the stuff on our door and right now, as we SPEAK, we're making new ones. So bye-bye, we're late.





hard. Yes!

Surprise!

It was almost 5 pm and there were still no customers. We wanted to tell everybody that, "Hey y'all we're open, you can come in now!" Yell and Padeys weren't able to come yesterday but Ged, Neil, and Zadl came early to accompany us.

Pop dropped by to bring the water dispenser, it's still broken, I don't know why. He also brought us cake and dinner--chicken teriyaki and ampalaya, thanks! Dan was also there.

It was a slow day. At 9 pm people came in droves. We were filled up to the entrance of the comfort room! The sink was clogged and I had to pump the drain using my hand, which is hurting right now. I made frothiccinos non-stop for an hour, good thing Joyce was there to fill the shoes of my apprentice, Yell.

It was amazing, we all missed that kind of pressure. It was 11 pm and still we were full of people.

Neil would be celebrating his 22nd birthday in a few minutes and so Zadl and I bought a huge candle. When we got back to the cafe someone ordered and I had to make a few drinks. After that I forgot where I put the candle. I found out when we closed that I put the candle in the freezer, haha!

Jimmy B.'s friend was also celebrating his birthday. So for the first time we had two birthday celebrants! We gave them a piece of Pop's cake and put some whipped cream and caramel drizzle.

Happy birthday again guys! Here's to another great day at the cafe!

A Little Scuffle

Everybody was excited yesterday. Retz and I finished cleaning early. Roy stopped by, and so did Majals and Vinci. And it was only 3 o’clock! I even had a siesta.

There’s always something new at Café Antonio everyday. To start things off, we concocted a new frothiccino flavor called Caramel Cream (Php 120), try it…it tastes like the White Rabbit candy.

Nica and the guys played some Skribage. Retz, Joyce, and I finished the Star crossword. We’re getting better everyday.

And oh yeah, before that our friends and batchmates found “something” on the Internet. Haha…

But none of the action happened ‘til closing time. A group of drunken students went to the café. Our batchmate, Julius, and his cousins were also there. I think the two groups had a little misunderstanding that pissed Julius’ cousins. They went outside they café and had a staring contest with the group inside, and it was already past our closing time! The drunken group couldn’t get out and they waited for their other friends to pick them up. Too bad, the Julius group was still parked outside and went after them when they got out. Julius’ cousin only wanted to make a statement.

Anyway, it was pretty tense. It’s a good thing a lot of batchmates were there and no one was hurt. Whew, thank God! None of that anymore!

Fidel stayed at the café for the night with Retz and me because their fuse box at home was broken. We had a great time eating graham crackers. Haha!

Skribage then Crossword

Days at the cafe are getting faster. Maybe because we virtually "live" in the cafe and don't do anything else except clean and clean... at least for Retz and I. But we're enjoying it, the food too. We have a loot of food from the batch outing.

What's interesting about working at the cafe, aside from making drinks and food, is that we have time to play games with our friends. Mahalia brought her Skribage and we played all night..we even forgot to eat dinner. We only ate Sugo, Muncher, and Boy Bawang --> Brain Power Food! It didn't matter! We had fun. Joyce was very good at it, she almost won every round, kudos. It's like she has eight eyes looking at different directions. Retz got dizzy and took a break.

After playing countless rounds. We still had enough neurons to play crossword. There were only 4 of us, low_ballZ 24. Frajelli-Ska-Avenger, Dutchess of Doomz, and Alejandro. Our team captain, La Toro Tora the Explorer was reading a book. In spite of that, we finished the puzzle in a few minutes...bam!

We closed 5 minutes before 1 Am. Retz and I went to my apartment to get a mattress and a dinner of nachos, shredded cabbage, and salsa. Padeys and his orgmates were at HotShots and stopped by the cafe to get some food. I ate a ton of Sugo hot and spicy nuts, then finished the Gardenia and chicken spread, ate a chocolate cookie, and some Toblerone. I drank Dalandan Soda. Gujab.

Retz and I are finished cleaning and we'll be having our usual lunch of Spanish sardines and rice. See you later!

Rocky Road

Majals stayed with us until 1 AM! Gujab batchmate! Thanks!

Zadl and his "friend" enjoying a Choco-Macadamia Frothiccino (Php 120).

I was in hyper-state yesterday and I tried to make a Rocky Road Frothiccino. It came out great, the staff liked it except for my cheap toppings. They didn't approve of my Mayfair Dutch Treat chocolate shavings, crushed salted nuts that I just washed, and huge marshmallows that looked liked real rocks on top of the whipped cream. Zadl ordered one, but I put Toblerone on his because he's a special customer. Haha! Go bro!

Polphin

This was the day before our annual batch outing and we were really excited to go. Joyce and I opened the cafe because Nica had some errands to run and Padeys and Yell had other commitments.

My mom came and brought us a full dinner of adobo, lumpia, and red rice. We had a little buffet at the kitchen. Thanks Mommy!

We played with Polphin all night and then we sang some oldskool baduy songs to pass the time. The X-Wurd varsity was not complete that night so we did not play.

It's 4:11pm and Retz and I are still at Koinonia. We have to go, wala na kong maisip. Ayun pala, masaya yung batch outing! Yey!

Beauty Perks Day

There's this parlor near the cafe called Beauty Perks, we get ourselves pampered over there every first day of the month. Unfortunately, we went there on May 2 not May 1, tsk...


Padeys, Yell, and Ate Manell was also there with the three of us.


Yesterday was a slow but steady day. There weren't that much customers, Elbi is still a ghost town, but we still managed to reach our quota at the end of the day.


My high school band, Spoonbridge, was there and we jammed for a while. Good memories, remember K.A. guys? Good times, good times. Benny was using the toothpick dispenser as a shaker. Padeys was line-readinw with Joyce then they joined in with the singing when we played Dashboard Confessional songs. The jamming got wild when Fidel started dancing to the acoustic version of Pasan by the cafe's "favorite" band, Callalily (hanep! grabeh!).


The X-Wurd team didn't finish the crossword/s for the night. Too bad. HotMOves was absent again.


We ended the day by dancing to DJ Fidel's techno-house music then we did the Unwritten action song before we had or closing prayer.


Retz and I spent the night at the cafe once again, only this time, I slept on the couch. I watched 3 episodes of Entourage before I slept.


Batch outing na mamaya sa LAIA!!! Hintayin niyo kami!!!

Movie Night!

Elbi was a ghost town yesterday, it's a good thing the "Nica Clan" came to start our frothiccino-making day. It was Labor Day, and most Elbinizens decided to stay home and sleep and/or watch TV.

Slooow day... BUT the Cafe Antonio Gang never runs out of things to do. We watched Step Up 2, haha! Then we bought our usual hotdogs and isaw, then Yell and I brought pizza! A very big pizza.

We also have a new toy, it's called a Polphin (penguin na dolphin aka Arnel aka Padeys). We played with it all day, it was very fun indeed, we treated it like a real batchmate.

We turned Natasha Bedingfield's song, Unwritten, into an action song. We performed it before we closed... with Ate Marisse and Ate ManellZZz.

The Star crossword was conquered once again by the X-Wurd team, thanks to the presence of long lost member, HOTMOVES!

Retz and I stayed at the cafe for the night, just to see if we can survive, it's kinda like camping.