They are alive!

We have lately been working on choosing fonts for Cuca. This seems an easy enterprise but get into it and you will start seeing a new world of possibilities… and with each of them unique complications.

The first step was to choose a corporate font for our business cards, flyers, advertisements, etc. It was obviously important that this font agreed with our logo so there was much debate to select the best one and define its scope (shall we use it only for titles? Or for our tagline? And what about using it in the menu for our signature dishes?). There are so many fonts available… Reading about their description is overwhelming: warm, cool, comforting, approachable, artistic, intellectual, effective, modern, clean, trustworthy… After a while you see life in these fonts!!! But then they eventually become all blurred and you just want to give up and simply use Arial…

If this wasn’t difficult enough, we then had to choose a font for online platforms: web, blog, etc. There is then a new set of factors to take into consideration. First of all, we had to bear in mind that our target audience would use different screen sizes, Operating Systems, browsers… so the font had to be available and easy to read in all type of computers. Shall we then stick to a Sans font even if we had chosen to print on a Serif one? And what about the size? And for the headlines and titles?

Well, the hundred decisions have been made and we are crossing our fingers hoping that you love our choices as much as we do. The mystery will be revealed soon… stay tuned!

Say Cheese....

Kevin had always wanted to have a small photo studio where he could take and log photos of his creations as he develops them and thus keep them organized and easily accessible. As we will need our own photos to market Cuca, we decided to get the studio done as soon as possible and we sought the advice of Raymond, the amazing photographer who is also helping us with our documentary. We bought the equipment we needed and we put it together. We absolutely love the light tent Raymond recommended, it is very easy to assemble and functions very well. It comes with several backgrounds so you can play with different colors as a contrast to the food in front. Raymond and Suyanto have been testing it and Kevin enjoyed sharing his creativity and food styling skills. Will show you the results soon!

Assembling the light tent

Testing the light

Testing Kevin's food styling skills

A morning to remember

Our morning yesterday was quite an unusual one…

First fishmonger at 5am

We woke up at 3.30am to be among the first ones to welcome the fish at Jimbaran Bay. As we approached the beach everything seemed very quiet but amidst the dark we were greeted now and then by several “Selamat pagi!” (good mornings) that revealed the fishermen already waiting. They were having a coffee (a super “manis” one… very, very sweet!) and chatting among themselves so we joined in and later followed them as they make their way to the sea shore.

Waiting time

Some fishmongers beat us there and were already displaying their fish from their evening’s catch but most took positions squatting and looking fixedly at the sea. The water was spattered with bobbing boats and we were wondering what would happen next as none of the boats seemed to be approaching us.

Boats at Jimbaran Bay

After an hour or so, when the sun had already risen, the fishermen came back to life and started to gather empty baskets that were soon loaded into small wooden boats. Men jumped in the boats and went out to sea while the women remained on the shore. Quietness returned to the beach for another hour and we were starting to grow impatient when suddenly the whole beach went crazy with activity. The small boats were returning and women and children started to run towards the water. Not wanting to miss whatever was coming next, we imitated them and had a privilege view of what was happening: the fishermen unloaded the baskets full of fresh fish on the heads of the waiting women while the children stealthily snatched small fish from the baskets ignoring reprimands from the adults and putting away their loot in small plastic bags.

Innocent looking children wandering around :)

Our cameraman filming the women carrying the fish

This scene took place every time one of the boats reached the shore and kept on happening for a couple of hours, every single time with the same excitement. Slowly the beach filled up with fish baskets and an equally mysterious activity developed… some people started to check the fish and shout prices while others were taking notes. Although the scene was mesmerizing, we realized that the children were nearby holding their own little auction and selling the few fishes they had managed to grab from the grown-ups.


When the commotion died down, we looked at our watch. It was already 9am! We had spent the last 5 hours captivated by a glimpse at the everyday lives of the fishermen at Jimbaran Bay.