Fleurir Chocolates

Holy Guacamole!

2012-01-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hello all! What a wonderfully busy few months it has been! The best part of those past couple months was Robert's and my super sweet trip to Barbados (we just got back two days ago, and I am still sooo tan woot!... although my face did just start peeling because it refused to do anything but burn for two weeks. gross.)

But before this little adventure we were navigating our way through our first Christmas season with a brick and mortar store, and boy was that an adventure of a completely different sort. I may have miscalculated demand and run out of chocolates at 2pm on the Friday before Christmas (Not to worry, I was restocked by 10am on Saturday). We may have miscalculated our production capabilities and had to swing seven all nighters over the course of two weeks (Also, I am now addicted to coffee which I never really drank before). And I may have miscalculated (repeatedly) how long I could microwave the hot cocoa without it boiling over. Overall, I would say Christmas was a succes!

Also, we were featured in Food and Wine Magazine's January issue in the Trendspotting section! Lots of screaming and jumping for joy ensued.

Furthermore, look at this cool photo Christina Bernales took of our Christmas Bar!

And this mediocre photo of the super awesome window display Brit Carlson did for the shop!

Robert's Birthday: An Excuse to List Embarrassing Anecdotes

2011-08-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

As the mouthpiece for Team Fleurir, I have been presented with many opportunities to humiliate Robert. Interviews, blog posts, Facebook posts, tweets and talking to customers are all prime public outlets to tell embarrassing tales or let slip curious habits, but I always pass up the opportunity in favor of tact and grace. Well, in honor of Robert’s upcoming birthday, homeboy is turning 27 on September 1(say what?!?!), I have decided to break my vow of silence (also, I got Robert the best birthday present ever, so he can’t get too mad).

What to tell, what to tell. Hmmmmm...

Let’s just do this laundry list style, shall we? Perhaps, in escalating levels of embarrassment? Yes.

You know that “Rhythm of Love” song by The Plain White T’s? Well, Robert likes to play it on loop in the car, in the kitchen, in the bathroom all the while singing right along. Here is a sampling of the lyrics: We may only have tonight; But ‘til the morning sun, you’re mine, all mine; Play the music low; and sway to the rhythm of love.
Hugh Grant. When Robert and I first moved in together I came equipped with an enviably well-stocked library of DVDs (a good chunk of my nearly nonexistent 17-20 year old income went toward purchasing movies and earrings because I like to invest in my future, clearly). There was, what I thought at the time, a healthy sampling of Hugh Grant rom coms in the mix; little did I know that my amour for the bumbling Brit was to pale in comparison to the deep fondness Robert had for the man; he owned a copy of nearly every one of his films and two copies of “About a Boy,” just in cases. Granted (ha!), as Hugh ages and appears in fewer films, Robert has begun to view Ryan Reynolds as an acceptable substitute.
To this day, Robert remains a rather trim gent, but, compared to his teenage, self he is downright Hulk-ish. At 15 years old, Robert was an impressive 6’ 3” yet weighed-in at a mere 135 pounds; understandably, Robert was desperate to gain weight (seeing as how he was on his high school hockey team, bulking up was more than a matter of mere vanity). Having little taste for lifting weights, protein shakes or roid rage, Robert decided to change his eating habits. For almost all of his sophomore year of high school, his after-school snack comprised of a dozen Krispy Creme donuts, a can of whipped cream, and a couple tall glasses of whole milk to wash it all down. He only gained 5 pounds.
Around this same time, Robert decided that the best way to attract the ladies was with a gimmick and what tired cliche is more successful than the guy with the guitar who can really only kind of play one song (I never went for the guitar guy, I was more impressed by the piano)? Rather than take the time to learn how to play even one song with barely passable proficiency, Robert’s guitar was simply for show. Whenever a lady asked him to play for her he would make up some nonsense about it taking forever to tune and this that and the other thing and hey want to watch a movie?
Between the two of us, Robert and I have an embarrassing amount of stuff. So much stuff that our basement is filled with items we can’t find the space for in our house (granted, our house is uber tiny/cozy, so we don’t really have a whole lot of room to work with in the first place), but even if we lived in a fancy pants mansion with ample room to display our (short) lives’ collection of curios I would still not unpack one dusty suitcase filled to the brim with Marvel comics collectors cards. These little treasures were collected while Robert was in elementary school, yet, to this day, he refuses to part with them because he “has the entire set of 1990-93 plus all of the holograms.” Duh.
Finally, a new source of embarrassment has started to plague Robert since opening the shop only a few months ago- grey hairs. Four months ago, his beautiful mane of dark, silky locks was salt and pepper free, but the stresses of the shop have seeped into his scalp and pushed out multiple, no, numerous, no, LEGIONS! of silver strands. You can, of course, help to alleviate this source of shame by coming into the shop and buying loads and loads of delicious chocolatey goodness (like what I did there?).

I could go on for days, but I don’t want to outweigh the awesomeness of my gift for him with the not so awesomeness of these private revelations and consequently tumble into murky waters of possible retaliation; therefore, I shall end here.

P.S.

My awesome gift to Robert is a long weekend at the beach in Charleston with a couple of his old college buddies; thus, over Labor Day weekend Robert’s parents will be manning the shop, so come in and say hi- who knows, they may have some embarrassing stories of their own to share!

O Hai Fudgesicles! Goodbye Bad Attitude!

2011-06-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

It has been unnecessarily hot out lately, like whoa. This is a big problem for one half of Team Fleurir because the other half can only handle temperatures between 67 and 75 degrees and gets uber cranky when the thermometer ventures past that eight degree window (or when she has to wake up before... well, waking up generally isn't my strong suit) . Unfortunately, DC went from -5 degrees (roughly) to 105 degrees (again, roughly) with no in-between this year. What is a person to do when his life/business/cribbage/gift wrapping partner becomes an unreasonable bundle of weather-rage?

Bribe her/him with this:

This is one of our scrumptious new fudgesicles that we launched last weekend. They are delicious. You should buy some if you are cranky or if someone you know is cranky and you want to make them more bearable (eating a fudgesicle while dealing with a cranky person makes the experience 63% better, it's science).

BEFORE AND AFTER!!!

2011-05-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

You will all be happy to hear that I really have nothing to say in this post. The pictures (thanks Christina!) all capture how incredibly, crazy awesome Team Fleurir and the new retail space are much better than my words ever could (oh, hello modesty; I don't believe we've ever met before. My name is Ashley.)

THE BEFORES (courtesy of Robert's madre, Janet):

We have keys!!!

We have ladders!

Red wall, meet primer.

Post primer

Hey, you know what's fun for the whole family? Patching and taping walls.

Nicole-My vision includes this branch.

Us- Branch, yes, BRILLIANT!!

THE AFTERS (courtesy of Christina Bernales)

Team Fleurir and a flower pot made out of moss? MFEO= made for each other

Nicole Bourgea is a champ.

A masterpiece out of tennis balls and golf tees!

DIY all over the place!

Fun fact, that big piece in the middle was initially bright blue.

In your face!!!!

That mantle was sooo heavy!!

Remember those pieces of wood Shana was beating up a few posts back? Here they are!

Come on in; buy some chocolates!

Cheers folks!

Retail Space Opens!

2011-05-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Friends, I have marvelous news (I know it’s not really “news” but I haven’t posted in a while, so humor me). FLEURIR’S RETAIL SPACE IS OPEN THUS PUTTING THE FIRST STEP OF OUR PLAN FOR WORLD DOMINATION INTO MOTION!!!! We haven’t yet established what steps two through seventeen are, but we do know that step eighteen concludes our journey with world domination via chocolate.

Currently, Team Fleurir exists as a combination of excitement, exhaustion, and more excitement. These 450 square feet have been two years in the making, and, certainly, some days/weeks/months it didn’t look like we were going to make it. The temptation to throw in the towel and flee to a land without chocolate (like Idaho, maybe) followed us around like our separation anxiety ridden dog, Teak (and there was no puppy prozac that could magically help the situation- well, there was human prozac, I suppose, but things never got quite THAT bad).

I promise (kind of) that I will post next week with the before and after shots. For now, just know that you should come visit me often at 3235 P ST NW, Washington DC 20007 (except on Mondays, on Mondays we keep the doors locked and roll around in all of the cash money we made the previous week). Hope to see you soon, Team Fleurir.

An Update, an Update... A What, What? An Update

2011-03-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Way to go Leah (exasperated sigh); way to out-post me on Team Fleurir's retail progress.

Before I move on to the pictures (all of which are still from my phone- Team Fleurir would not be opposed to a digital camera for a Christmas present, or Surprise We Love You present, or Happy Wednesday present), I shall treat *cough*bore*cough* you with a simple numerical timeline of events leading to today.

1. Robert and I tell Leah all sorts of crazy/incoherent design ideas for the shop

2. Leah presents her version of our frantic suggestions via sketches

3. Robert and I go shopping with Leah and purchase everything with the caveat "don't worry Robert, it'll look really good once we paint/sand/distress/patina/mask/rebuild it"

4. Robert spends all day, every day painting/sanding/distressing/patina-ing/masking/rebuilding 97% of our purchases (granted, I handle most of the projects he has the least faith in and, therefore, refuses to even touch)

5. We paint the ceiling the wrong color which makes our original wall color look pink

6. Robert and I disagree on the new wall color (I still hold that it wouldn't have taken THAT long to treat the walls with 4 different shades of white washes)

7. Nicole starts to deliver painted branches, cans of beans, tennis balls, clothes pins, and golf tees to construct our large-scale wall installation

8. Travis, Shana, Lil, Sean, and Robert's parents provide manual labor

9. A slight permitting snafu derails our opening for a week (which works out beautifully since delivery of our new packaging is delayed over a week)

10. Christina Bernales takes some strategic photos of our work in progress

11. Robert and Travis have to move all of our hanging lights 3 or 4 times

12. Leah brings her absurdly adorable and well-behaved girls to the shop where Robert and I try to win their affections with loads of chocolate (I think we may have succeeded judging by their gifts of treasure rocks and acorns)

13. Robert and Travis roll their eyes as Leah and I say "You know what we could do..." or "You know what might look kind of cool..."

14. We all eat takeout or delivery all day everyday (thank god wide-leg pants are back in style!)

15. "Don't worry, we'll fix it later" becomes the team's motto

16. Nicole finishes her absolutely stunning sculpture, and Robert and I immediately neglect our one sculpture related duty and glue/sealant stuff drips all over the floor

17. Team Fleurir heads back into the kitchen to make more bars, honeycomb, and caramel bunnies for the opening (we possibly ate one or two too many samples during the build out process)

18. I belatedly post an update on our blog

And without further ado (though, I do feel strange ending my list with the number 18- it seems awkward and unfinished-I really should have persevered to 20 or 25 or, let's get real, cut it down to 10), the pictures!!!!!!

A Retail Space You Say?

2011-03-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Well. Have I got news for you. News that I have already posted on twitter and Facebook weeks ago. News that might blow your mind after my countless sob stories on this particular issue. News that Team Fleurir has a home- a real home.

This is the place we get to call our own.

We picked up the keys March 2 (sooo many photos I want to post but they are all on a camera three hours away; thus, we shall all make do with the shots from my phone).

We have three weeks to transform this little gem into the best darn chocolate shop in THE WORLD.

Therefore, we recruited friends and feasted on pizza and beer to pump us up for the massive undertaking.

Actually, before the pizza and beer we recruited (and by recruited I mean begged and pleaded) the fantastically BRILLIANT designer Leah Moss to help us turn our exceptionally inspired and always original design ideas into reality. Did I mention she's due in April? And I do not mean due in court to plead her case in a triple homicide in which she claims to have been setup! By aliens! In disguise! With an impressive grasp on the English language and perfectly matched DNA! Tricksy aliens. No, I mean due to give birth to a human child. What a champ.

Not only did she streamline our vision into an obtainable goal, she also came to our home to preform manual labor, on her birthday. No joke. She even brought her sister-in-law to toil out of doors on a Saturday.

Shana came too- mostly because Robert promised her burgers and the chance to let out all of her anger under the guise of distressing wood.

What more could we ask for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing would be the appropriate answer. And even without asking for it; even without thinking it a possibility... Leah's sister and DC-based artist Nicole Bourgea OFFERED to create an installation for our shop. One can only conclude that Robert's and my sharp wit and easy laugh attract awesome people.

Other awesome people credits include Robert's folks who have assisted in an impressive amount of manual labor AND paperwork. Robert's sister, Sarah Ludlow McCurry, who aids in all of our legal woes. My parents and brother who constantly call to offer long distance support and fantastic business ideas that I tend to present to Robert as my own. And Shana, who even without the burgers, pizza, beer, and girlscout cookies (the girl has clearly drawn priorities) would have spent her entire weekend days and nights helping us paint, paper, and distress.

Thank you all.

I forgot my password- that's how long it's been

2011-02-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

The title is a truth fact- it has been so long since my last post that I forgot my password and had to reset it. Usually, this type of technical difficulty would have meant 3 more months of procrastination because resetting passwords is such an unmanageable burden, and there are so many other things to do on the internet like search for a new dog to adopt, watch videos on how to make your own letterpress, or enter epic bidding wars on ebay over things you don't want but refuse to lose- I don't care if your prom is in 2 weeks, and these are the perfect shoes for your dress, and you've been hunting for shoes for months, and this is the most important night of your life, and the shoes aren't actually my size, and I already have a pair kind of like them. I. Will. Win. It's a wonder, really, we ever have time to make such delicious chocolates.

So what has happened since July 21? I don't want this to turn into a laundry list, but it's either that or a thirty-two page post that will inevitably begin to describe, in intimate detail, the most mundane aspects of Team Fleurir's last 6 months. Therefore, que the list!

1. Robert and I abandoned our life of sin and made our seven year relationship legitimate.

2. Team Fleurir developed a line of regionally based chocolate bars. We received box samples the other day, and our minds were blown by how spectaular, spectacular they were; consequently, we ordered thousands of them! Once the boxes arrive in a few weeks, we will toss them on the internets and let the frenzy begin. Probably they will land us on the cover of Bon Appetit before launching us onto a feature in Fortune. The boxes were created by Chris and Lauren Weems (I will insert their contact info later... when I find it). Enjoy some teaser art to get you excited (this is the art for our Christmas bar, Peppermint Crunch- you will just have to wait and see how we graphically capture your region later!):

3. We entered negotiations for several retail spaces, and had our hearts broken every time- most recently was this past week. I may or may not expand on that little misadventure in my next post.

4. We had our busiest December EVER!!!!!!!!!!! Granted, we may have only been around for two Decembers. And granted, last December was snowpocalypse. But it was still awesome! Thank you to everyone who gave us their money!!!

5. We were written about in some places, like here and here.

6. And we started wholesaling to some new retailers like Eco Fab in Little Rock, AK.

And that, folks, is mostly what we have been up to. There is more, but it's generally boring, and this post was starting to go downhill real fast near the end there.

Cheers!

Hot Weather Shipping

2010-07-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

People tend to assume that we don't ship chocolates during the summer, or that we don't ship them to states that are too hot to handle- but we do! We have invested in some pretty fancy warm weather packaging from the future that keeps our chocolates cool on their cross country adventure. We use Polar Tech's Thermo Chill Insulated Shippers plus loads of gel packs while the temperatures soar over seventy degrees. Granted, we do recommend 2 day shipping, though, but generally we can work with ground shipping restrictions.

Guest Blogger with Video

2010-07-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

I have a real treat for you guys, today! Robert's mom was kind enough to not only write a blog for us, but to also create a corresponding video! And without further ado...

Yes, Virginia, there is a chocolate plant!

Having reaped the numerous rewards of having a son who is an extraordinary chocolatier, I decided the entire world should share with me the delight of having that one chocolate that makes you smile. Wow. They are that good. Raspberry, lemon honey, peanut butter banana, lavender shiraz...... There are eighteen flavors in total and my favorite is always the last one I just tasted.

I have to thank my entire family for indulging me on this project. At the end of this totally wonderful day, my daughter leaned over to clean the chocolate out of my grandson’s ear. That had to be a sign all was well.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Janet Ludlow

See the video here

Over Half Way to Christmas?!?

2010-06-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

My, oh, my. How is it already June 27th? What, might you ask, has Team Fleurir been up to for the past six weeks that has prevented them from blogging? Well, let me tell you. We have been pounding the pavement throughout DC and Northern VA scouring for a suitable retail space. Any luck? you may follow up by asking. No, no luck. BUT we have not given up hope! Though we visited a space with "beautiful original floors" that contained more than a dozen holes into the basement, though we toured a property with an unknown and unexpected tenant (squatter?) in the attic, though we fell in love with a property that ended up being 350 square feet smaller than listed and therefore wildly overpriced (good thing we brought our own measuring tape and calculator!), and though we viewed a space in the perfect location that was so infested with mold and mildew one needed to bathe after leaving, our hunt prevails! We will not be deterred! Some nights we may cry ourselves to sleep and other nights we may eat a day's worth of work in chocolates, but we will never give up! Goonies never say die!!!!

Finally, Heart's Delight!

2010-05-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

Well, enough time has passed for me to decompress after the whirlwind that was Heart's Delight Wine Auction so that I may now write about it objectively-ish.

In general, the whole event was quite satisfying. Robert and I pumped out over 2,500 chocolates in 4 days for this little get together- which is saying something considering our kitchen is roughly 190 square feet (actually, that's not roughly at all, that's pretty exact... we measured it the other day for science!) We used stickered 4pc boxes for the event, but the cool bit was that we had custom transfers made with the Heart's Delight logo on it- we put it on the 85% Dark... because dark chocolate is good for your heart, clearly. Thus, every box had one of these custom puppies and looked legit! and professional (we are nothing if not professional).

Robert and I were under the impression that dropping off the 650 little labors of love would be the anti-climactic end to our Heart's Delight venture, but, ho! We were incorrect! We were invited to one of the Thursday dinners.

Having to choose among six different dinners, Robert and I opted for the dinner at Bourbon Steak featuring L'Aventure Winery. Our thinking was that this would be the safest option for me- seeing as how I don't eat anything from water, we figured that red wine and red meat would abound at the steakhouse. The menu was nothing either of us expected!

First Course- Hamachi Sashimi with compressed pineapple and jalapeno glaze
Second Course- Woodfire grilled octopus with other things
Third Course- Grilled onions with cheese fondu
Fourth Course- Chicken stuffed morels with sweetbreads and rooster comb (red thing on top of a rooster's head)
Fifth Course- Lamb cheek confit with roasted lamb and lamb tongue
Sixth Course- Duck egg creme brulee with stuffed kumquats

Some of it was great some of it was not so great, but the wine was ridiculously delicious and abundant, and the whole concept was pretty cool- Robert and I felt so rich and glamorous!

I took several photos of the whole process, but they aren't loading properly. I will figure it out later...

A Culinary Tour of Fleurir!

2010-04-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

Did you hear? Team Fleurir has decided that Christina's pictures are too pretty not to share IMMEDIATELY with all of you, so we're going on a culinary tour of all of our chocolates! You can follow our tour on Twitter, but we also wanted to share on our blog, because I know you all religiously check each day to see if we've stopped making chocolate long enough to post!

We'll highlight one of our 18 chocolates each day and at the end of the tour you'll be rewarded...with a FREE chocolate tasting at Biagio on May 20th!

TWITTER!!!!!!

2010-04-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

Follow Team Fleurir on Twittttttterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

@fleurir_choc!

Fair Weather Vendors

2010-04-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Oh Farmers' Market, my fickle friend. What can I say? There is nothing better than spending three hours out in the fresh air on a beautiful Saturday morning- talking with customers, munching on homemade apple turnovers, and showing off our chocolates. But, no one is ever so lucky as to have such a day, week after week, all season long. Some days, when the thermometer barely crests over 40 degrees, or when the wind is so strong we have to weigh down our tent and chase flying little paper cups full of samples all over market square, we are not so enthusiastic. Still other days, when the thermometer ticks above the sacred 75 degrees and our electric coolers are chugging away trying to prevent melty man from coming and our display chocolates and samples slowly lose their structure, we are not so enthusiastic. And finally, when no one comes- when we spend the morning stuffing our faces with what is essentially apple pie and resort to road trip games and staring contests to stem the boredom, we are not so enthusiastic.

But market, oh market, when you treat us like a lady- mild mannered, captivatingly conversational, and ready to shop- oh how we love thee.

I love good reviews!

2010-04-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Feel free to take a gander at this little nugget of praise-

CHOCOLATE RATINGS

Our Photos Have Arrived!

2010-04-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sweet Nancy! Our photos just arrived, and they are spectacular! Christina Bernales is legit, and everyone should hire her- I'm thinking about inducting her into Team Fleurir just to follow me around with a camera and make my life look more glamorous and artsy than it really is; then I'd post all my pictures on Facebook and make you jealous!

Currently, I am making my way through the roughly 800 shots she took to see if there are any extras I want post production on for the website- that is, besides the heap of shots she already pulled for us. Therefore, I plan to send all the new website photos to our tech guy by Saturday, so they can be posted by early next week.

Check out our facebook page for a peak of the photos to come!

Chocolate Haiku

2010-03-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

A little something to entertain me at 1:30AM when I should be returning emails...

First Attempt:

more chocolates to make

dark, milk, white and semisweet

brandy and nutmeg

(mostly that was just an ingredient list)

Second Attempt:

Please buy our chocolates

They are really, really, good

Can purchase online

(mostly that was just desperate)

Third Attempt:

... I've got nothing.

New Transfer/Flavor Pictures!

2010-02-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

Our new transfers arrived last week! Don't they look snazzy on our new (or improved) flavors?!

Left to right we have 85% Dark, Brandy Alexander, and Wattleseed Toffee (my favorite new transfer) on the top row, and Spumoni, Lemon Honey, and Pink Peppercorn (Robert's new favorite flavor) are on the bottom row.

And here are some close ups for your viewing pleasure!

Some Light Reading for the Metro

2010-02-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

For all of you DC folks, pick up a copy of today's Express at the metro... we're in it! For everyone else, you can read the article here!

Limited Time Heart's Delight Box

2010-01-31T18:01:00.000-08:00

Support the American Heart Association when you order a limited time Heart's Delight Box. This nine piece, all dark box is available online February 1 through February 14, and 40% of the proceeds go to the American Heart Association and their efforts to fight heart disease and stroke.

New FLavors!!!

2010-01-26T09:11:00.001-08:00

Robert and I are working hard this week perfecting the recipes for four new flavors that we are launching the first week of February. " HOLY SMOKES!! NEW FLAVORS!!" I am sure was your response. Yes, new flavors. We are releasing Pink Peppercorn in rich dark chocolate; Brandy Alexander, a delicious cocktail turned chocolate that features brandy, creme de cacao, and nutmeg; a lip puckering yet refreshing Lemon Honey in white chocolate; and, finally, Spumoni! We turned the delicious ice cream flavor into a chocolate by layering a pistachio marzipan with a tart cherry ganache and dipping it all in smooth milk chocolate.

Again, these flavors are to be released the first week of February which means you'll have plenty of time to surprise your sweetheart with a box (we thought of everything!).

Great Review!

2010-01-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

Also, check out this wonderful review on foodgal.com-

Fleurir Chocolates

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-06T07:43:00.000-08:00

Well, what a rush Christmas is! We are certainly glad to have survived our first holiday season with Fleurir and are now gearing up for the new year. We would like to thank everyone who ordered from us and helped to make our first Christmas a success; we sincerely hope you and your guests enjoyed our chocolates!

Lots of things are underfoot for the new year. New flavors are being developed, and new products are being created (including a delicious line of bars)! We will keep you updated on our progress and welcome any feedback you may have.

Happy New Year... eat lots of chocolate!

Hurray!

2009-11-25T10:34:00.001-08:00

What a busy couple of months at Fleurir Hand Grown Chocolates! Within the last two months we received our custom packaging; launched our shopping cart; began selling at Biagio Fine Chocolate and La Fromagerie; were written up in Flavor Magazine and Daily Candy; and found a wedding dress!

First and foremost, we want to thank everyone for all the hard work they have put in to make Fleurir Hand Grown Chocolates a reality. Thank you, also, to everyone who has purchased our chocolates and spread the word about us to friends and family. Finally, thank you to all you early Mesoamerican people who saw the initial culinary potential of the cacao bean which has become our livelihood.

Happy Thanksgiving!