What's In the Shop?

I was happy to join this blog to keep it updated but I wish the news were better. As noted in Troubled Water...things right now are not going great. I opened the door for the "fix-it" guy...hopefully, to fix the hot water heater but alas, I don't think he really fixed anything. He put in a new heating element...and then, can't figure out why the damn thing doesn't work! His only other option (after his sage "wait and see if it resets" advice) was to get a new water heater. Oh, and did I mention the water heater is in the ceiling?!

But on a better note, all of our orders and deliveries are showing up. We now have a gazillion pounds of chocolate (just no where to temper it yet) in milk, white, dark, and an extreme dark. We have colored cocoa butters to make the chocolate look "pretty". We have Jelly Bellies in about 12 flavors and some of their other stuff, like lemon drops, sour trout, and swedish fish. We have Jelly Bellies in soda pop flavors...these are soooo cute. They come in a small soda bottle shaped container and are filled with Jelly Bellies in the flavor of the soda pop. We have 7-Up, Grape and Orange Crush, A&W Root Beer, and Dr. Pepper. Yes...Dr. Pepper...minus the caffeine!

We also have several flavors of gourmet popcorn, including Chocolate Rain. We also have the Linda Lollies...a whole assortment of flavors including their dessert flavors. And I just received yesterday, and they're still out in the garage (mostly because each box weighs about 35 pounds!) Asher's organic and sugar-free chocolate bars. These are regular old prepackaged chocolate bars and not for melting down. Apparently, college kids requested organic chocolate which I suppose is better than them requesting "free-range" chocolate. Ha!

We also have a partial order of our gift baskets and containers. We will be making gift baskets by request, special-order, as well as having some already made and ready to go. Some of our ideas for gift basket themes include, The North Country Basket: including maple syrup and local products probably placed in an Amish basket. The College Basket: which may include a college themed item (a mug or keychain) as well as a Potsdam gift certificate. The Wedding/Anniversary Basket: to include champagne glasses filled with chocolate. The Magical Basket: to include special "magic wands" (pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with moons and stars), chocolate frogs, and jelly bellies. The Wild Center Basket: to include Adirondack Bark, and chocolate otters.

We've got lots of ideas and these are only a few. Naturally, all baskets will include an assortment of Saint Lawrence Chocolates. Our line is looking to have 12 flavors of creams in milk and dark, and a few white. Pretzel rods will be popular as will the chocolate covered Oreos which we experimented with this weekend. Yummy! Bark will always be ready to go...Cranberry Lake Bark already is popular with some of our "test" subject. Cranberry Lake Bark is a wash of dark chocolate dotted with cranberries and pine nuts. Frozen Cranberry Lake Bark is the same using white chocolate.

We're also working on a gumdrop recipe to make chocolate covered jellies and on a hot cocoa recipe. I'm working on a powdered hot cocoa mix but we have discovered a "sipping" chocolate that requires you to melt the chocolate and add your milk to that...while whisking...that's the very important part. Me, I'm the lazy cocoa maker and prefer the pop-it-in-the-microwave version, but Ellen assures me that the "sipping" chocolate is simply divine..."like chocolate pudding before it thickens".

So I hope this little temptation answers a few more questions about what we'll be carrying...when we finally get some hot water and some cabinets. When the kitchen is inspected...and I can start making the inventory. And don't be shy about sending some ideas our way...they won't get made right away, since I have about 2,000 pretzel rods ahead of you, but we can file them away for our first "expansion" to the flavor line.

I'm soooo excited.....can you tell???
Ange