Save the date! On September 12, 2018, at 1 P.M., we open our chocolate creation and boutique space in the heart of Portland's West End. We will be open from 1 P.M. to 7 P.M. every Wednesday to Sunday. Back in March, our West End Place landlord selected our proposal, which was among a good half dozen, all made by food makers. Ever since we have been planning the build out. The great team of Ryan and Ryan, under the direction of our fabulous builder Warren O'Shea, has been hard at work for the last 6 weeks. Their tasks went...
Tourism in my world always includes chocolate visits. When the destination is Paris, the experience is of course exquisite and always creates sensory overload. There is only time to visit la crème de la crème among the many chocolatiers of the City of Light, and they aim to stun you with their virtuosity. A chocolate visit is more straightforward in a place like Barcelona, where I was last month. The focus of Barcelona's chocolatiers is clearly more modest and less competitive, making this otherwise world class city feel a bit provincial chocolate-wise. But the Chocolate Museum was superb and a...
The Chocolate Lovers' Fling proved to be everything promised and more. It raised a great deal of money for SARSSM, particularly with the lively and highly convincing auctioneer skills of Eva and Blake from Coast 93.1. And clearly the attendees had a wonderful time! The display of the 100+ Crunchy Salted Caramel Tiny Planets I had arranged before the show got raided within minutes during the first break, which I took as a high compliment. And at the end, Chocolats Passion first received a prize for best specialty confection before claiming the People's Choice award, where audience member cast a...
What is better than supporting a great cause? While swooning over chocolate of course! For the 32nd year, the Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine (SARSSM) is holding its biggest benefit of the year with a grand menu of delicious chocolate goodies. Chocolats Passion, along with a dozen other confectioners, are each contributing about 600 delectable bites to the over 400 chocolate lovers who will make up the audience. Each chocolatier's offering is a closely guarded secret into the big day. Let's say I had fun tweaking classic goodies, and I am hopeful the result will be worthy of...
Serendipity would have it that I crossed paths with a very talented pastry chef looking to expand her chocolate skills. Darcy and I met at my lovely neighbor's Valentine party, where I had brought a few chocolates. I turns out that I had been planning on getting someone to apprentice and help me in our day to day production. But Darcy has taken to the job with a relish and an aptitude that makes any notion of apprenticeship quaint. It is clear that her training and pastry skills are transferring readily to chocolate work, and that I am now so...
Moving from the big city (Boston) to Portland has meant lots of changes for this little chocolate company, and nothing was more apparent last night at my Pop-Up launch at the Fork Food Lab. A strong sense of community is the most obvious, in this small city that is simply obsessed with good ingredients and great food. Taking visitors through the range of my chocolates created a true exchange and connection. I had made the little hearts tiny so one could taste all seven without any guilt. The experience convinced me even more strongly of the necessity of creating widely...
