LA VIEN ROSE: 2015

The workshop was both exhilarating and tasteful. It was held at the CBTL, Alabang Town Center branch on the 11th of December. The workshop was successful because they procure their goal to enlighten the crowd with enough knowledge about the different process on making a certain beverage- and they did prove to the people that the ingredients the cafe use are indeed authentic and high class. And not only that, but we were all given the change to create our own signature drinks. Spoiler Alert- Andee and I won.

These were all the drinks produces by each who took part of the said event. (credits to @cbtlph on ig for this artistic shot)

Me and my best friend, Andee teamed up with Ate Cams (girl in stripes) She was really nice, patient and helpful, not only to us but also towards the other teams. The other baristas were accommodating too- and knowing about their job made me realize that there's more to it than just mixing and blending our favorite drinks. Being a barista requires precise skills and knowledge. So, kudos to all the baristas out there!!

Before we were told to create our own beverages- We were first taught about the different kinds of coffee and tea and how well different it is to make each kind of beverages from the said cafe.

Everyone who participated were given a sufficient work space, each with all the needed ingredients and machines to produce our own signature drinks. All that includes a CBTL 'single serve beverage machine', a milk frother, an individual pitchers of both milk and water, a bucket of ice, different extracts, a plentiful of various beverage capsule, measuring spoons, a whisk, vanilla/cinnamon/chocolate powdered mixtures and edible decors like marshmallows, pinipig crunch, chocolate syrup and lots and lots of CBTL paper cups for tasting.

These are the 'capsules' I've mentioned above we were taught that each color represents a certain flavor. Black for brewed espressos such as Intenso Espresso and Premium Decaf Espresso. Silver for teas like Moroccan Mint Tea or Chaii Tea. And of course Brown is for brewed- coffee. The machine works automatically. I say: it is real easy to operate the machines since it only involves buttons and pressing. Insert your capsule inside the machine, click the desired amount of shot needed and viola! you have your brewed beverage.

You can actually buy these capsules from any CBTL branches. (Check out all other capsules HERE)

Do you know that that it only takes 10 seconds before an espresso becomes a 'bad shot'? This is why baristas works quick when mixing up your espressos, we wouldn't want our espresso go to waste, right?

Anyways.. when we were creating our signature beverage and we had few conflicts upon making it since it was really our first time in doing this. Good thing we have help on our side.

So at first we wanted to make a peppermint coffee drink with a little vanilla. Don't get us wrong because it tasted good, but that was it. It has nothing special about it. 4 made up beverages and 23 cbtl paper cups later; the host announced that time is up and we don't even have the right drink to submit.

We were like "Screw it" Andee is a coffee enthusiast, while I'm a tea lover myself- so quickly mixed up both home brewed coffee and chaii tea to have a balanced taste, added almond milk and vanilla for a little twist and presto! Yes, we did it for like 5 minutes and submitted the drink without even having a final taste.

We were so shocked when we were announced as winners, we kept laughing because it was totally unexpected. Who would have thought that the product of our indecisiveness and procrastination can result to something award worthy?

I went up front for the team to explain our the contains of our signature drink. We call it "The Ultimate Crammers Drink" hence the name, we were cramming like hell while creating it. You see- it doesn't really look appealing compared to all other drink entrees (see top photo for reference) but I guess it's all about the taste and flavor.

We did a little interview after taking pictures and receiving our prize. The questions were mainly about the workshop and our signature drink, like how we came up with it and such. We were really happy to own the milk frother because we know we'd have fun making our beverages with it. Thank you CBTL for the fun-filled experience and for the neat award.

The best part is- we get to bond over this workshop. We had real fun and we owe it to CBTL.

Cafe

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Workshop

The workshop was both exhilarating and tasteful. It was held at the CBTL, Alabang Town Center branch on the 11th of December. The worksho...

The only thing better than being in Los Angeles was having the chance to admire whole of the city itself from above. But then again- I won't lie; the part that made it more exciting was to have given the fortuity to drive the helicopter 'per se.

It left me in a reverie. It was the best 1 hour of my life. I'm not trying to be bumptious but life did felt a hundred percent best after the astonishing experience. I've always liked being at high places -this is not fact anew about me since I've often mentioned this on my other blog posts- Anyways here is how I ended up flying a helicopter myself.

We drove to Van Nuys Airport. The original plan was to have a helicopter tour over Los Angeles only. But then my fam -slash- tempo parents in LA (hi guys if you're ever reading this) asked if I wanted to learn to fly the helicopter. I was like "Hell yeah, why not?" Seriously, what could go wrong? Worse case scenarios: Either we crash and our bodies becomes unidentified due to the fire from the impact- or we crash down to the bottom of the sea and get gnawed by sea monsters. Just kidding, those visions didn't even entered my thoughts that day. I trust those guys working there and tbh, I admire them for their jobs. They got me inspired to be a pilot one day. It would be an honor to take this as a career. Someday.

Okay so my dad was too nervous to ride and insisted to stay on the base. (Can't find photos of in the helicopter sorry). We convinced him to come because -why would someone even pass up this amazing chance?- He said I was really brave. I thought; the only thing frightening about it is if we actually DON'T get to have the tour. Never in my life have I thought I'd get to ride a helicopter, yet alone actually fly one.

The tallest building in Los Angeles- the US BANK-
We circled around it twice, I had to take a shot so I let my co-pilot take charge of the flying first. I swear it's really amazing to be up there. (It's free to use my shots, just make sure to credit my blog or else don't go stealing my photos sorry)

Yeah this right here is the Marina Del Ray. Obviously it is a port with a beautiful waterfront. We just passed by Venice beach and Santa Monica which sadly, I didn't get a chance to take a photo of.

Here's one from above of the Dodger's stadium. Yup, I got a selfie with LA's famous stadium. There weren't any game at that moment so clearly it looked empty.

Ah yes, we can't say we had an LA tour without the infamous Hollywood sign. We circled around the sign three times. Don't get me wrong, we hiked up there and I'll say; I'd rather have a helicopter take me up there.

Meet the Rotor F/X's R44 RAVEN II or as I prefer to call it 'The Bumblebee'. It can be occupied by 4 persons, passengers at the back and the Pilot with their Co-Pilot up front. There were lots of other helicopters like the mono type heli -not sure what it's called, but it can only accommodate the pilot himself- and like this huge black beaut below which they all call the "Limo"

I believe the company had won lots of award for being efficient. Their copters are often used for film-making and such. I can't provide false information here so I'd have to ask people from there and update my blog soon.

It's one of the highlights of my US trip and I'm really thankful that it happened. She and Steve are one of the persons I'm grateful for so I figured to include her in my post and because we look really cute here lol. Anyways, this helicopter experience placed a tick on my bucket list, but then again it added a new one. Try to guess what.

Travel

The time I flew a helicopter over the city of Los Angeles

The only thing better than being in Los Angeles was having the chance to admire whole of the city itself from above. But then again- I w...

It's beguiling to be in the core of the city surrounded by city lights. Busy streets and busy lives will make you feel as if you are in a different place. It's really dreamy to live in big, hard-pressed cities. I guess one feature that makes it delightful is- then again- the city lights.

Two photos above were taken on a different day and location. I just thought it would look nice if I were to include it here.

Kai and I were aimlessly walking around Ayala- trying restaurants and cafes as we take pictures of the night soul.

We got to the point where we don't even try doing photography and utterly press the shutters of our camera.

We were everywhere by the sidewalk arbitrarily taking shots of each other. We could sense people inside their cars judging. All of the photos included were all impromptus.

Who thought that the product of our foolishness will turn out to be something good? I manually adjusted the ISO of my camera to the proper settings in accord with the atmosphere and take shots as I swiftly move around.

We had fun walking around in the city and we're really happy with the outcomes of each other's shots.

City Lights

It's beguiling to be in the core of the city surrounded by city lights. Busy streets and busy lives will make you feel as if you a...

Dumbfounded as we stand at the center of the Light show. Left in a trance as we call to mind how our day went by. To be honest, we're mostly tired and maybe a little bit craving for more sushi.

A Great job on a successful event indeed.

A LOT of people were present at the fun-filled event. Some were collecting stamps for their 'passport'. Each need to fill their passport with 7 stamps to earn a certain prize, one can earn a stamp by participating in activities at certain booths. While the artistic ones cannot be bothered as they're too focused doodling on the event's graffiti wall. We didn't get to doodle anymore, but we did won the prize for collecting enough stamps.

Anyways me and my good friend Kaila had an amusing time vlogging as we go booth hopping. The Hyundai booth even asked us for an interview and it was a first for me to be on TV (spot us on TLC lol). We got to the main event center just when Erwan Heussaff was about to leave. We were body guards away from him, I swear we were that close from asking a photo with him. Then The Fabulous Baker Brothers went on stage and they fried donuts and burgers (Yes, donuts)

Anyways, we got hungry and went to the food fair (my favorite part) I'm sad because I didn't get to taste all the food they sell. We grabbed a quick snack at Wasabi Warriors. Kaila got the California Maki Roll and I got the Spicy Chicken in brown rice Roll. Then we took a quick break at Bo's Coffee where I bought my Artisinal Chocolate drink.

Booths in reference to TLC shows were set. The Beadlady, Say Yes to the dress, Cake boss and many more! Of' course there were sponsor booths too (too many to mention).

The replica of the Eiffel Tower can't be missed as it stood still at the middle of the event. In honor of the Paris attack, people are allowed to write their prayers and insights on the replica. It's a great replica so make sure to check it out before it's gone.

AYALA LIGHT SHOW

It's that time of the year where people gather around to enjoy the magical light show. Really, the show made me forget about school for a second. The luminescence is very uplifting and it left a huge mark on our faces, and that mark is our smiles cause by too much happiness. Okay, I'll admit that I felt like a kid while as I stand there enjoying the various illumination.

We got hungry for sushi so we had dinner at Omakase. Salmon skin roll. Yum! We went for another round of the light show. Yes it was that good that we stayed for a 2nd. Before parting ways we roamed around the mall (greenbelt) to window shop.

Okay, I need to include this in my blog because CAR GOALS. We went car window shopping and it made me really sad. This Bentley was staring at me like "TAKE ME HOME" and I'm just like "YOU DON'T DESERVE ME" It's sad okay but someday..