Life, Day by Day

(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 ...