Destination Discoveries By Nescafe In A Can: Crescent Moon Cafe

I must commend the delish buffet breakfast served that morning – fried rice, scrambled eggs, sausages,  bacon, hash brown and fruits for dessert. Iced coffee were served too.

After our breakfast, we headed to the coaster followed by the cameraman and the videographer. It’s like taping a reality TV show and we’re all instant celebrities. Haha!

Ms. Joanne Ignacio, our host for the day.

Inside the coaster, our first destination was finally revealed by Ms. Joanne through a mini “tweet” contest. And, yes, my guess was right, we’re heading to the “Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines”, Antipolo. Antipolo was named after the “tipolo tree” (breadfruit) which was in abundance in the area. Well, I must admit the coaster ride made me reminisce my younger years when I had educational tours with my classmates.

First stop: Pottery Studio at the Crescent Moon Cafe

We were first welcomed by the owner/ceramicist/potter, Ms. Lanelle Abueva-Fernando, daughter of Philippine National Artist, Napoleon Abueva, inside the Crescent Moon Cafe where she gave brief background about ceramics pottery and the high demand they now have with restaurants here in the Philippines and abroad.

Crescent Moon Cafe is a garden restaurant with a pottery studio where you can find ceramics and pottery sold by the kilo.

Before she toured us in their production area, she made it clear that no one should touch the molded ceramics since it can affect its shape.

Due to the high demand of their ceramic products, they now use molds and oven bake them.

These potters are in deep concentration while working.

Here are some of the things I discovered at the pottery studio:

• A clay forms a cohesive mass and retains its molded shape when wet with the proper amount of water. It is converted to ceramic when heated to higher temperature.
• Glaze covers the clay body of a pot. It is also a ceramic material since it permanently changes during firing.
• Firing transforms clay and glaze  to ceramic through  heating until they both “mature” and reached their optimal level of melting.
• Glazes range from being completely transparent to being completely opaque. You might actually think you’re color-blind when you see it’s before and after look.
• Glazes are of different surface qualities – there are very glossy, shiny surfaces, however, there are also with satiny finish or dry-looking matte finish.
• Hand-made pots are all unique. Some may look the same but they surely have differences.
• Pottery requires solitary concentration.
• Pottery is therapeutic.

Ms. Lanelle also demonstrated how pots were made using the potter’s wheel. With her gentle hands and deep concentration she converted the clay into a pot leaving us all in awe.

Hand-made pottery

Here’s a video of Ms. Lanelle Abueva-Fernando demonstrating how pots are made:

Aside from operating her pottery studio, she also offers pottery classes to students. She even gave us the chance to spin the wheel. Some of our companions tried and we all ran when the clay flew off. (What an exciting experience that was!)

After that, we had to leave right away and proceed to our next destination: The Pinto Art Museum, an art gallery in Antipolo City, where Nescafe revealed their new and exciting product perfect for our weekend discoveries. I will share more of these on my next post. =)

Mom and Tina’s Bakery Cafe (Pasig Branch)
(Mon-Sun 10AM-11PM)
FRDC Building
106 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave.
(C-5), Pasig City
Tel: 914-0833 or 571-1541

Crescent Moon Cafe
(Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM)
Ascencion Road, Barangay Dalig, Antipolo City
Tel.: 658-3866 / 630-5854