Our Story

Mama Tars, Tarcela Cabunilas (-Perales) came to the USA from the Philippines to care for me and my family. She was my second mom and the queen bee of our home, who filled our hearts & bellies with love.

Mama Tars was the energizer bunny incarnate. Her curiosity and sense of adventure was inspirational & contagious. She traveled as often as she was able, and when she was home, she never stopped puttering around, always learning, teaching & crafting. Since I was little, I can recall her jotting down recipes from memory in a handy little notebook she kept by her bedside. Later, I noticed she’d stash little index card recipes in the waffle iron and cookie jars. When her handwriting became slower, she’d urge me, ‘Can your computer find that recipe I saw them cook on The View?!’. I’m still unearthing those sauce-stained printouts, many moons later now, stuffed somewhere in the bottom of the sewing kit in the closet.

In 1967, my parents, Norma & Charlie Powell opened East of Suez, a pan-Asian restaurant in the summer resort town of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Dad had grown up in a military family in China & Japan ahead of WWII, and my Mom & Mama Tars both immigrated from the Philippines to the US in the early 60’s. Stateside, the three expats bonded daily over their bowls of rice, or lack thereof, especially in the tiny town of Wolfeboro, NH, where my Great-Grands had a cottage on the Lake, and so decided to open a restaurant up there, if for no other reason, to feed family & friends. They held court in the kitchen at East of Suez from the late 60’s, and ultimately helped bring to that area of New England, indeed of the USA, some of the first pan-Asian food folks had ever experienced.

When my parents passed on too young, and I took over the restaurant operation, Mama Tars continued by my side, helping me and my husband raise our Japanese-Filipino-American children as their de facto maternal grandma. Living 50/50 between her own family home in TX, and her second family home with us in NY, and enthusiastically supporting our summer restaurant operations in NH, most recently, concentrating on desserts.

In addition to her savory tamarind bone broth, “Sinigang”, and her pricelessly aromatic garlic & vinegar “Adobo”, Mama Tars had a real penchant for sweets. Her Philippines’ egg custard, “Leche Flan” was a velvety caramel O, (gasp!) and her delicately crisp Snowflake cookies, festooned the buffet table each Christmas. “Koo kees!”, she would exclaim excitedly, in anticipation of making (& eating) the next batch. But her ‘pièce de résistance’ bake-stravaganza confection, and one that she rarely made in her later years, was. her Philippine Ensaymada, the Spanish-influenced, sweet-savory-cheesy brioche.

To our great loss, my Mama Tars passed away on my birthday in 2021. She was 97 years young. Mama Tars lived a storied, glorious life ~ one that deserves much more detail and tapestry than this little excerpt can provide. Mama Tars was gracious & divine, humble & selfless, cuddly & joyful. She touched many lives, and left us a legacy that lives and breathes still.

“Mama T” is a love letter to our dearly beloved Mama Tars in the form of an unassuming, homestyle cafe snack bar, featuring some of the fondest food memories we created together, the legacy recipes she left in our care, & the inventive little concoctions she inspired, now coming out of our kitchen:)

We hope you can taste a little bit of the love she shared with us, here.
~ Bettina
Elizabeth Powell Gorai & family

“And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love, you make”
~ Lennon/McCartney