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Eve Last days before opening

The sign painter was still working on the windows at 8 last night. I guess he didn't go to the fireworks either. Tom and I were making lists.

The soft opening date is now Wednesday. The city signed off Thursday afternoon, thank goodness. We started moving the packaging and shipping… Continue

Added by Eve on July 5, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Artisan Are French chocolates (apart from a few) terribly overrated?

I was in the South West of France for a few days and of course paid a visit to the local chocolate shops. All of them a great disapointment selling same things as 10 years ago (mostly pralines)and regional or house specialties bought in from Francois Doucet (potatoes, quail eggs, chocolate in shape of beans, olives etc etc). Most people used Barry Callebaut which did not help. Quality of the bonbons was poor and marshmallows were like bike tyres. Makes me wonder if French chocolates (apart from… Continue

Added by Artisan on July 5, 2009 at 9:53am — 2 Comments

P B Marshall *** TROPICAL CHOCOLATE CO. *** New chocolate store in San Luis Obispo, CA

" It's indeed an art to create a handmade chocolate. The Chocolatier who creates Tropical Chocolates devotes personal attention to the design by beautifully decorating the chocolates. Impeccable ingredients originating with 100% Hawaiian grown cacao beans are paired with exotic flavors to present a fresh, new twist on chocolate. " Come visit us at our site: www.tropicalchocolateco.com Continue

Added by P B Marshall on July 3, 2009 at 5:15pm — No Comments

Robert Shea AoC: The Conclussion

For those of you that have been following my dramas with the AoC (your numbers are stunning! I had no idea!)... it is time for me to wrap it all up. After requesting once again that they forward me their alleged evaluations and once again receiving no reply... how long does it take to compile notes? I wrote them a rather less polite letter. This time I stated that I wished for my money to be returned as they had failed to fulfill their end of our agreement. I told them that I did not believe an… Continue

Added by Robert Shea on July 3, 2009 at 4:51am — 1 Comment

Tom Neuhaus A Visit to Some Javan Cocoa Farms

Friday afternoon I still had a few hours to kill. So I paid $30 for a tour company to supply me with a driver who spoke minimal English. Fortunately, Iva and Dani (president of the company that hosted my talks) came along, so communication was not an issue. We drove around in the Yogyakarta area, where there are mostly smallholders growing a variety of crops: vanilla, cloves, cocoa, rice, and bananas.… Continue

Added by Tom Neuhaus on June 26, 2009 at 12:39am — No Comments

Tom Neuhaus A morning at Monggo Chocolates

THURSDAY, JUNE 18 I had an entire morning ahead of me with no responsibilities! I ate an early breakfast, then visited the gifts store on the first floor. There, among other things, I found some local chocolates. I took the chocolate bars to the hotel front desk and asked them where the factory was. Within 10 minutes I was off across Yogjakarta in search of Monggo Chocolates. I found it in the old part of town, in the silver district known as Kotagede.… Continue

Added by Tom Neuhaus on June 25, 2009 at 1:13am — No Comments

Clay Gordon BREAK RANKS! EUROCHOCOLATE IN PERUGIA FROM 16 THROUGH 25 OCTOBER 2009

A hammer and a modernly designed ruler are the protagonists of the sixteenth edition of the chocolate event, which will be one day longer than previous events. Break ranks! The military order that has been chosen as the slogan of the sixteenth edition of Eurochocolate Perugia is a clear invitation to think outside the box, to give free rein to one’s individuality, to go beyond the usual habits to be able to enjoy the food of the gods in a new way and in all its complexity. The boundaries with… Continue

Added by Clay Gordon on June 24, 2009 at 10:59am — No Comments

Eve A set of pictures of Sweet Earth before opening

We're still hoping for a soft opening on July 6 - that's very soon! And the invitations for the Grand Opening, July 11, are going out Friday. No turning back now. Here's what's been going on lately. Continue

Added by Eve on June 23, 2009 at 9:07pm — No Comments

Eve Progress

Here's Frank Zika installing the door today:

And here's some of the furniture stacked up in the shop - and out of our house at last!

… Continue

Added by Eve on June 19, 2009 at 11:13pm — 2 Comments

Eve Trying tweets

slochocolate I'm finding lots of interesting twitter to follow, but what's the trick to getting followers? Continue

Added by Eve on June 17, 2009 at 12:23pm — 2 Comments

Eve Press release

This press release took me all day to write, but in the late afternoon it went out to over 60 local media outlets. I got two responses right off: an automated response from a reporter who's in Morocco for a month (sounds nice!) and a call from another who wondered if we might hire her nephew. I think we'll get some buzz out of it though. Press release:

… Continue

Added by Eve on June 16, 2009 at 11:00pm — 4 Comments

Susie Norris COCOA CHEESE DECISION

Rambling through the cheese section of the new Whole Foods market in Pasadena is an excerise in delerium. Should I get the sharp farmhouse cheddar I know? Should I try the oozy sheep’s milk raw I’ve never heard of? Blue with veins or white with orange rind??? Then, the… Continue

Added by Susie Norris on June 16, 2009 at 10:07am — 3 Comments

Eve Last weeks at home

Lately I've been spending a good portion of my time accumulating an eclectic assortment of chocolate things for the shop. Most of the stock is here now, and I've stopped looking for more for the time being.

… Continue

Added by Eve on June 15, 2009 at 12:05am — No Comments

Rajarajeshwari Kainthaje Scooping Cacoa seeds.

We Indian Cacoa growers scoop the Cacoa seeds from the pod manually. Is there any simple machine or trick to do the job? Please share the knowledge, if any. Rajarajeshwari. Continue

Added by Rajarajeshwari Kainthaje on June 10, 2009 at 12:49pm — 1 Comment

Maria Valente The Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America...and me!

All I can say is...WOW! Last night I was lucky enough to attend a party at ICE--the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, honoring the 10 best pastry chefs in America. It was an amazing experience for a chocolatier and dessert freak like me. We were first allowed to roam through the building where these talented and amazing chefs were setting up and would answer our questions and just basically allow us to gawk at their creations. Then there was the ceremony where each of the 10 were int… Continue

Added by Maria Valente on June 9, 2009 at 10:20am — 1 Comment

Artisan Chocolateria menu

Here is the menu for our new Artisan du chocolat chocolateria at 81 Westbourne Grove in London, Notting Hill. We were lucky that one of our long term customer, Nick Strangeway, is also one of the best cocktail makers in the world and he really helped us to make some fresh cocktails that are fabulous and have one compoment of chocolate (pulp or infusion or creamy cold drink) The ice cream is made with our Costa Rica conched cocoa mass. The salted caramel tart is simple but very very good. So far… Continue

Added by Artisan on June 8, 2009 at 1:06pm — No Comments

Artisan Photos from artisan du chocolat shop Notting hill

We managed a successful press opening and everyone love the s… Continue

Added by Artisan on June 8, 2009 at 4:08am — 3 Comments

Eve Trying out the new door

Frank brought the new door over today so we could see it in place and choose between several inserts. He does amazing work!

We chose this pattern but in a light azure blue. This is California, after all.

… Continue

Added by Eve on June 4, 2009 at 5:19pm — No Comments

Andre Costa Chocolate Training Shopping Spree

After ruminating over and over on what to do next - I have not done much, so any step I take will be a step forward - I decided to take more classes; although I am taking a class at the moment, the nature of it being online does not keep me motivated enough. I need to be there, working the chocolate, networking with other people, in a more conducive atmosphere. The whole online thing is actually a little boring! I am from another era, albeit computer savvy! Anyway, so today I visited the ICE (I… Continue

Added by Andre Costa on June 2, 2009 at 11:24pm — No Comments

Susie Norris MAKE MINE MARBLE

Imagine your very own chocolate workshop - shelf space for all your molds, spatulas, pots, pans and junk; room for all your machines which nobody loves but you; boxes and boxes of your fine couvertures from around the world. What is the one thing you need to make your vision com… Continue

Added by Susie Norris on June 1, 2009 at 8:30pm — 2 Comments

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