The New Centerpiece Wednesday

I am so excited for the new Centerpiece Wednesday. I like the idea of not having to come up with a whole table setting, although I do love doing that too but sometimes I seem to run out of time to do it very well. Hope every one jumps in!!

I WON THE COOKIES and ....The Trials of Developing a CHOCOLATE BUSINESS

I was the very lucky lady that won
this Sweet Cheeks Bakery giveaway! on Nancy's Daily Dish.

Thank you - Thank you - Thank you!
You just can't imagine how delicious these

cookies from Sweet Cheeks Bakery are!!
They are oatmeal with almonds, cranberries and white chocolate and

Oh MY GOODNESS they are sensational. They absolutley melt in your mouth.

And they shipped beautifully too.

I can't wait to try some of the other cookies they offer.

You need to order some right away.

Just click on Sweet Cheeks Bakery and order up.

We get together on Monday nights with a group to study the
Scriptures and then we have a little snack afterwards.
Some of those that come are diabetic so we have to be
certain we provide something they can enjoy too.

So we offered fresh pears and yogurt
with berries and home made granola.

But of course I always have to provide a little chocolate from

Continental Chocolatier.

These are the Petite Tortoise (turtles in the vernacular of the public)

and Tortoise Shells - Dark or Milk Chocolate w/dried fruit and nuts.

Oh so very yummy!Check every now and then at our website http://www.eatlotsachocolate.com/ to order your favorites.

Each year I harvest enough grapes

from our yard to bottle 50 or 60 quarts of juice. Some times I add

a little Sparkling Juice for more interest. Tonight it is Sparkling Pear.

I love the beautiful pink color of the juice. It really is delcious.

Trials in Developing a Chocolate Business

We found a fabulous Chocolaier in Los Angeles and we were ready to give it a go. It seemed like there were several hotels interested in my ideas for their guests but none had ordered as yet. I had called on about 25 hotels (it seemed like thousands) but none had ordered and I was beginning to think I was mistaken about the interest I thought I had created. I came home one night ready to call it quits and look for a job selling wigs or something. (I had done that before and it was the one of the worst experiences of my life....and that is another chapter in my book)


There was a message on the answer phone from one of the upper class hotels in NewportBeach. He WANTED 500 boxes of our chocolates. I could hardly believe my ears. I met with him the next day and he gave me the order. I only had about 2 weeks to put the order together. Now this could present a serious problem. He wanted a specific box that was not readily available and I had to get it fast. I had to look for a space where we could package the product.


Can you believe I would start a business and not have a work place? Well I did, and it caused me great tribulation. To the rescue came my daughter Karin, (The Style Sisters,) and her boss offered us space in his building. Yeah! Of course we had no employees at this time so what does one do in that event, call on family. My darling children Tiffany, (The Childrens Nest), my darling son Tim and his wife Liz, all came to my rescue.



We ordered the chocolate from our chocolatier and received the boxes one day before we had to deliver them. Our chocolatier had shorted us on the chocolates and we had to buy 1/4 pound from Sees to finish the boxes. That was great. After I had convinced our client that European chocolate was extremely superior to American chocolate (which it is) I added Sees?

Don't get me wrong, I like Sees product a lot, but I love and adore European chocolate. There is no comparison. Fortunately for us they never noticed and reordered many times after that. We never had to resort to our former subtrufuge.


We were now getting serious about this chocolate business and knew we needed a space where we could have a legitimate kitchen with refrigerators, sinks and stainless steel tables , etc., and an office. We were really uptown now.


We were offering an assortment of bon-bons and truffles that were exquite and we could hardly keep up with the orders. I should say our Chocolatier could hardly keep up. We really needed a space of our own. He made them, we sold and delivered them. Pretty slick.


One day as my husband was waiting at the Chocolatier's place of business to place an order he happend to notice that inside one of the large commercial refrigerators that had a glass door, a live cat sitting inside on one of the shelves. He left without ordering and returned to our place of business to inform me that from now on we would be making our own products.
WHAT?!!!!! We had an order for about 5,000 golfball truffles for the Dinah Shore Open in Palm Springs.

What in the world was he thinking?

We had taken a course in chocolate making but we had not done anything with it, as of yet. I had always loved to cook and experiment with chocolate but..........


Stay tuned for the next frightening episode.

I am participating in Thursday Tablescape

Hands dripping in chocolate and Lost Phone

No time to take pics this week, lots of orders to fill and much to do, but thought I would share a little humor with you.

Do any of you ever lose something? As the years go by it seems to happen to me all too often. Yesterday was the ultimate challenge. Our chocolate factory is in a building behind our house which most times is very convenient because it allows me to to do what we women do best and that is multi-tasking. I was in the middle of working with a new tempering machine and it was giving me fits when my husband arrived home in the middle of the day with either the flu or food poisoning or perhaps maybe just eating too much of a good thing. Anyhow he went to bed.

After a short time after his arrival I thought perhaps I should check on him but in the meantime his boss called and asked if he might talk with him if he were able. Men do commiserate with one another. I left the chocolate shop to give him the message and check on him and found him sound (really sound and making sounds) asleep. I started back to the chocolate factory and realized I didn't have the phone with me so back I went to find the missing instrument. I searched the entire house but it was no where to be found. Back to the chocolate shop to search for the silly thing. After looking in every nook and corner and even in the bowls of chocolate I was certain an alien had entered the building while I was away and stole my phone.

But then, being the wise woman that I am, a thought came to me. Call the missing phone from the company phone. I was in the office at the time (a very small office that needs a little TLC) when I heard the phone ring. It sounded as if it were behind me, I turned and looked for it but no phone, and then when it rang again it was behind me, again. Each time it rang it came from behind. How could this be, it was ringing so it had to be in the office somewhere but never could I find from whence the ringing came. I was literally moving from one end of the office to the other. This little dance I was doing continued for some time until the answer phone came on. So, I dialed me up again and again it rang from behind me and so the dance continued.

The Lord watches over fools and idiots. The realization finally hit. When I am working in the yard, the house or the chocolate factory I clip the phone on my back pocket because of the many phone calls that come in from those in need. You Got it! It was right there all the time. So now it all made sense; of course when it rang it would be behind me, and each time I turned around to find it, it continued to ring behind me. You might say I have a numb behind, didn't feel a thing. Too bad someone wasn't taking pics for the show "Funniest Home Movies".

Now don't you feel good about yourselves knowing you have it all together and that there are some really challenged women out there living and breathing and convincing the world that they are all right. Most days go much better for me, how about you? It's good to laugh at oneself. I laugh a lot!!

And The Winner IS.....

The winner of the 1 lb box of Continental Chocolatiers Chocolates is Yvonne at Stone Gable! Congratulations! Have a happy Chocolate day. Please email me at joan@eatlotsachocolate.com with your address so I can ship them off to you the first of next week.

Chocolate in Brazil

Blue, white and yellow always capture my eye.

I found this dome at a garage sale in Colorado

It was one of three that were part of a table base.

Go figure.

I found these wonderful French looking napkins
at a store in Durango, CO. Dietz Market
The napkins remind me of Piere Deux fabric.

These little dishes for baking apples were my moms.

You just cut off the ends of the apples fill them with

brown sugar, or syrup, cinnamon and a little butter

and stick them in the oven to bake. Delicious.



I love these dishes that my daughters found for me
at Target in St. George, UT. They gave me a set of four and I loved
them so much I had my daughter-in-law look in California
to see if she could find more......long story short, between
my daughters and daughter-in-law I now have 24!



My daughter, The Style Sisters, gave me these plates "Cafe du Soleil"

and I adore them. They are so summery and I am so ready

for summer. It is freezing here in Utah.

Where has all the Sunshine gone?

I thought this would be a great setting for a little brunch of
baked apples, Swedish pancakes and eggs.

Each place setting has their own pitcher of syrup

and I think the other pitchers would be great for

powdered sugar, and other flavors of syrup.

One of our granddaughters gave us these cute

rooster salt and pepper shakers.

I found these glasses at a thrift shop for .50 ea.

And under the dome sits my wee little pot of tiny

lemons on top of a gorgeous blue bowl my daughter gave me.

Lemon juice is also great on those Swedish pancakes.


NOW .....On to Brazil

One morning, or should I say early afternoon, after my husband left to work with the Brazilians I decided that I would like very much to have breakfast brought to my room. I called down to the front desk and ordered what I thought was croissants, fruit and one of their silver pots of hot chocolate. To my dismay that is not what I got. Since it has been eons ago I can't really remember exactly what I received but it was not what I had envisioned. I called them again and carefully told them my desire. Again, it was not what I had ordered. By the third time I was not sure that they would even consider sending me anything let alone what my taste buds were relishing. So, I just got myself together and went down to dine alone with all the scrumptious goodies. It was lovely but I truly had wanted to lounge in my own room reveling in my delicious breakfast.



We did meet some lovely people, several who showed us where to buy semi-precious stones, a number of great places to dine and some of the local shops that were similar to our outdoor art shows. One evening while dining I thought I would like to try their national dish, Feijoada. One gentleman came to my rescue by informing me that the dish would make me quite ill. When I questioned him about it he said they put everything into this recipe, the pigs snout, his feet (that part didn't bother me because as a child I loved pickled pigs feet...now I would tell you yuck!) hair, entrails, the entire creature. It's good to be watched over. He did tell me however, that he would make it for me and it would be made with only the finest of meat and whatever else goes into it. Never did get to try his dish.


We were there in their spring time and when the trees blossomed it was magnificent! One thing that really impressed me was the upkeep of their cars. Even if their cars were old they were clean and well cared for. Amazing feat because they did not stop at intersections they just honked and went on through. They had lovely shops in large malls and their prices were very reasonable, I might even say cheap. The area that we were to live in was gated and their were armed men, armed? they carried bazookas. They provided a wee bit of concern on my part.
We would have had the luxury of a maid and chauffeur, but BAZOOKAS? NO! NO!

When we finally determined that Brazil was not the place for us, for a myriad of reasons, we returned to the states, kissed the ground and I began my quest for a new and exciting business.

I was inspired to investigate the chocolate industry. I spent one entire year researching the hotel chains and their needs. If you ever endeavor to start a business I would highly recommend this approach. You really need to know what your customer bank needs or wants. Some of us, just go out into the world of alligators thinking we know what everyone is seeking and assume they all need what we have to offer. Get it straight from the horses mouth, best to know first hand what is needed.



Those that I called on were delighted to tell me their concerns, wants and needs. Now saying that, you need to know that some of them took off on other roads that had nothing to do with what I was selling. I do believe that at one point I was more of a councilor than a saleswoman.


But all in all it gave me a wider spectrum of products and services that I should consider. I had a business consultant that told me once, "Joan you need to take someone that is highly successful in their business, buy them a very expensive dinner and pick their brain." I didn't have to do that though because he was a "quasi" friend and he was free and did not expect me to wine and dine him and besides his wife was my dearest friend in the world. That was a stroke of luck.

After one year of researching I was ready to hit the street selling. But what would I sell?
I went to the offices of the European Consulates in Los Angeles hoping to find a great company that wanted to export their chocolates. I found an exceptional one in Belgium.
The French Consulate also gave me several companies in France to contact.
All of a sudden I had samples arriving daily. They were all very generous and I ate




every little or large sample they sent. I think perhaps that could be why I gained 45 pounds.
Fortunately I have lost most of my chocolate fat.

It is now time to place this chapter on my blog.



P.S. Don't forget to enter our give-away.
You have two more days to enter.




I am participating in Tablescape Thursday

Chocolate, the continuing saga and yummy giveaway

Wouldn't you just LOVE one pound of these gorgeous delectible things?

Well this is our giveaway....One pound of Continental Chocolatier's Desert Tortoises.

1 Entry- Leave a comment

2 Entries -blog about it and use my pictures

3 Entries- Facebook or twitter about this

Winner will be announced May 1st!

They come packaged in this box and wouldn't they make


a great gift? Gift my foot, I think every blogger deserves


at least one chocolate tortoise a day, don't you? I have to


have my daily dose.

All this past talk about lovely breakfasts in Brazil has me wanting
omelets. I adore setting things up where everyone can

choose what they want in their omelet.

My kitchen is full of silly chef items, most given to me from
my dear and wonderful family and friends. Do you see my beautiful

eggs in their chicken basket? They come from my very own dear little

chickens, but my favorite are the pastel colored ones from

the Aracana chickens.

I'm hoping my tomatoes, peppers an onions will look this

good. They are from Costco and they are as good as they look.

I love my Bon Appetit sign and I utilize in lots
of different ways. It added a little "French" feel

to this buffet.

I used 3 tea towels that have wonderful

colors for a table cover. I just wanted something

simple with bright colors and casual

Love this fat little chef, he just tickles me every time I look at him
The cheeses are a Wensleydale with apricots
and Goat cheese with fig. Yumalicious!


And now .....the continuing saga

This marriage was my second and I came into it with great hopes for a happy life for me and for my 12 year old daughter. My other two children , a daughter 24 and a son 22 had married at the same time I did, all within 3 months of each other. Three marriages in a row! Was I insane or what? Yes I was and maybe still am, but just a little.

So just 6 months or so after I married, off we went to Brazil.

We were forwarned by our Brazilian tutor before we arrived in Brazil that the only difficult thing he thought we would encounter would be the smell. They burn fuel for their cars and homes that is produced from corn or something like that. Our tutor was so right, it was breath taking for it took my breath away and not in a good way, but the time spent there was exciting.

Their Chocolate is so very different from ours but I loved it! Each morning I would rush to the hotels lovely breakfast buffet that was at least 75 feet long and loaded with delectible pastries, eggs, meat and fresh fruit and always a beautiful silver pot of hot chocolate. Oh Heaven!!

My husband was there to nationalize their computer security systems. He was to meet with these people each morning (we thought morning) but it always seemed to be early afternoon before they arrived to pick him up. (You see when you have a two or three hour siesta in the middle of the day then you must work till all hours of the night to accomplish anything and so therefore morning does not come early for them.) Sometimes I was included. Note: Neither of us spoke Portugese and they spoke very little English. Interesting meetings. They were trying to develop a catalog and my husband thought that I could help them with the wording.

Not so. We had several confrontations or should I say differences of oppinion. The gentleman I worked with was certain that his description of the security system made sense but he was way wrong. He used terms and descriptions of products that did not compute. I would ask " Is this what you want to tell them?" and he would agree, "yes, that is what I want it to say" soooooo .......I would write it the way we Americans can understand it. NO that was not what he wanted and that's how the days went. Of course many times throughout the day they would bring demitasse cups of the strongest coffee brew ever imagined, that would get them going, WOW, did it ever. That brew really put them on a nervous, tense plateau. Maybe if we would have joined in and had a few cups we could have better delt with their explosive personalities. After several of these meeting I elected to remain in the hotel, much safer there I might add, no confrontations.

During my alone time I had much opportunity to contemplate what else I wanted to do with my life. I had had several businesses throughout the years, I was a manicurist, had a plant business, jewelry business, an antique store in Laguna Beach, CA to name a few and even though I loved being a wife and a mother more than anything, I so desired to have a really successful business.

Oh, oh it's time to cook again and erase the chocolate from around my mouth before my true love arrives. We will meet again in Brazil so please stay tuned.

Don't forget to enter our CHOCOLATE giveaway !

P.S. Did you know that chocolate makes your breath sweet? Really, it does.

I am participating in Tablescape Thursday

Tea Party Table Scape

I will have to seriously consider the time it takes

to post table scapes in the future. I love doing them

but I am not too sure that is where I need to spend

my time. However, I will continue to offer giveaways

in the coming days so stay tuned.

It's time for a teeny tiny tea party with my grandchildren

This is one of my collection of tiny

tea sets that I have had for many years

I don't know if you can tell how small the

silverware is but it is only about 4 inches long.


My grandchildren love the colored sugar to put in
their "pretend" tea.


The paper napkins were a gift from a friend
cause she knows how I love tea parties.

I have just finished watching the movie -"Julie and Julia" for the third time, and "Chocolat" for the 20th time. Both movies get me moving and striving to just DO IT!

First: Julia Child did not receive her claim to fame till she was nearly past her prime. What hope that gives me.

Second: She continued with strong determination, though it took 8 years, to accomplish
her dream; to publish her cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".

Third: She capitalized on what she loved to do.......Cook!

In "Chocolat", our heroine overcomes difficult situations, nasty people who would throw her out of their town and through perseverance does finally realize her dream.

I, at the marvelous age of 70, will continue to develop my love for CHOCOLATE by developing my business "Continental Chocolatier" regardless of the many set backs I have experienced.

I hope that through this blog I might encourage those in the autumn of their years to work at those things that they really love, and develop the business they've dreamed about. What is there to lose? A few bucks, and maybe a few hair pulling days, but it will be worth it, guaranteed.

To begin my story.......

I married in Oct. of 1984 and a few months later was whisked off to Brazil where I thought I was going to live for several years, make gazillions of dollars and come home to just relax, cook, garden and live happily ever after. HA! So much for foolish dreams.

However, being in Brazil for a few short weeks I had the opportunity to try lots of wonderful types of food, most especially CHOCOLATE. And there my friends is where my story begins.

But today I must return to the requirements of the day....housework, taking care of my responsibilites in my church calling (which I might add are gigantic) and of course food for the king of the house, my true love.

Story to be continued.................

I am participating in Tea Party Tuesday

Table scape Thursday