A View from Bow Street: What is Better than Chocolate?
According to my sweet tooth, there is little better consumable product than chocolate. Naturally my interest was piqued when I learned about this year’s holiday promotion partnering chocolate with Sea Bags. But when it was clear that Kate Shaffer, recently named one of North America’s Top Ten chocolatiers by Dessert Professional Magazine, authored the book being sold with a special designed bucket bag, I knew it was a delicious homerun for me as well as all avid chocolate lovers.
Two Stars of Maine. Let me explain.
One of the Stars refers to the gold metallic star design on our bucketbag. Note that this is different than the silver starred bucket bag listed separately among our holiday products. A closer look at the gold metallic design reveals that the stitching around the star looks like chocolate- at least it does to me. We used a natural thread with a brown hue. It looks yummy with the gold; think chocolate covered caramel.
Our bucket bag size is a nice alternative to the wine bag for small gift giving. I have seen women use it as a purse carrying essentials and with enough space for hat and gloves. And, of course, it is the right size to give a book or gourmet chocolates which brings me to…
The second Star in this partnering is Kate’s new book, Desserted: Recipes and Tales from an Island Chocolatier (Down East). Imagine a collection of over 30 delicious recipes - lavishly illustrated with 50 full color photographs- for chocolates and other popular items from their seasonal café on Isle au Haut, Maine. My only suggestion for the book’s next printing would be to revisit the “literary” technology and include scratch-and-sniff patches.
My family and I have visited the island café where Kate and her husband produce Black Dinah Chocolates. Their kitchen combines amazing natural ingredients to create exotic chocolate flavors. Kate’s recipes offer useful tips and detailed instructions not only for making chocolates, but for incorporating chocolate into a variety of sweet and savory dishes.
You are invited.
Kate will be signing copies of her book on Friday, November 25 in our Portland location, 25 Custom House Wharf from 2-4pm. Another opportunity to meet Kate is at Sea Bags at 6 Bow Street in Freeport on Sunday, November 27 from 11am-1pm. Her chocolates will be available at both locations, too.
If you cannot attend, please check out Two Stars from Maine (book and bucket) on our website. What is better than chocolate anyway?
A View from Bow Street: What is better than chocolate?
November 16, 2011 1:32:20 PM EST
What’s your dream job?
June 16, 2010 7:54:54 PM EDT
Oprah recently did a show on dream jobs. We want to know what your dream job is? I was lucky to spend the day with a French film crew doing a documentary on Maine. They clearly were doing their dream jobs–the quite famous host, Girard Klein was full of personality showing their viewers in France cool things about Our State. Every angle and shot was thought provoking. We shot my friend Kate, who owns Black Dinah Chocolatiers. Kate and her husband, Steve have built a great gourmet chocolate business living on the island they love to call home. We shot the Inn at Isle au Haut2 where Diana has used her amazing decorating and culinary talent to create a quaint Inn. I left a great Corporate Career to do Sea Bags with my business partner, Hannah. I was inspired by my sister, Linda whose dream job is to swordfish. I’m lucky to get to create a company where we work with amazing talent and we recycle beautiful sails into great, functional and sometimes funky totes. We give back to causes we believe in. I live in a gorgeous place, get to travel to great places, and love the people I work with from our team, to our customers and our vendors. Yep, its a dream job. What’s yours?
Beth Shissler, co-owner, Sea Bags, Inc.
