Life, Day by Day

Finally after years of hoping and waiting, my favorite doughnut brand Krispy Kreme is coming to town just in time for Christmas!  Now I don't have to ask friends or family coming back to Bacolod from Manila to bring me my favorite glazed doughnut. The Bacolod shop will be their 60th store in the country and will open on December 6 at SM City Bacolod North Wing Expansion. The shop will be a hotlight store which means that once you see the hotlight sign come on, you’re sure that you will get that melt in your mouth doughnut freshness that Krispy Kreme is known for! 

Quan Delicacies has been my source of Ilonggo and other native Filipino food for the last twenty years or so. I can still remember the excitement I felt when they opened their first self-service restaurant besides the Bacolod Doctor's Hospital.  When I was taking my graduate studies in La Salle, I would take lunch there and later, they opened another restaurant in La Salle Avenue which was even more convenient because of the bigger parking space. And so when the Negrense Blogging Society, Inc was invited for food tasting of their newer products, I was happy to go.  

Finally, after months of waiting, the SM City Northwing expansion and SMX Convention Center are now open and with them, comes a new and improved SM Foodcourt .  As expected, the north wing expansion is huge, making the mall the biggest and largest of all SM Malls in the Visayas and Mindanao and the first SMX outside Metro Manila. Last Friday, October 17, just before Masskara weekend, members of the Negrense Blogging Society, Inc and Skyscraper City Bacolod were invited to view, taste and experience what the new foodcourt has to offer the people of Negros.

(Before I begin, a disclosure: the owner and I share a common ancestor, making her a cousin of sorts, although we were made aware of this only about 2 or 3 years ago)  The newest kid in the food market is Ceres Pasalubong . I first saw their outlet at their old north terminal several months ago, and I was very surprised...I mean the name Ceres is always equated with the bus line and never with food. So, out of curiosity and because someone told me that their hopia was really good (my family is hopia crazy), one day driving home to Silay, instead of going up the flyover, I went under it to pass by the Ceres north terminal and parked where their pasalubong tent was. I of course headed straight for the hopia. Wow...their hopia was triple the size of those in other stores! Unfortunately, they had no mongo (my personal favorite) at that time so I settled for the onion filling.  I also bought their other goodies like the caramel tart which looked just the right color (...

Two weeks ago, the Negros Bloggers got an invitation to see the operations of Merci , which not so long ago was a bakeshop but has now evolved into other businesses like a pasalubong center, a fast food restaurant, among others.  Unfortunately due to classes I can no longer reschedule, I was not able to go with the group.  However to my surprise, I got a small box of their pasalubong treats, which of course made my kids' sweet-tooth very happy.     To be honest, this is the first time I have tasted Merci's Mango Tarts, Cheese Tart and Butterscotch. My relationship with Merci is purely about loaf breads and pastries/cakes (their cake rolls are good).  Now, my family loves butterscotch but I usually buy the other brand since their outlet is near my home...so what was the final verdict?  The mango and cheese tarts were good but... The Butterscotch was really special! It was chewy, soft, with just the right sweetness. It is the best I have ever tasted ...