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I know that most humans are visual creatures, and that words/descriptions of things only go so far. That is why I decided to post some pictures for your eye catching pleasure, so you can put a “face to a name”, … Continue reading
Hello Everyone,
Well it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for…the Valentine’s menu. Now I know there are many of you out there who aren’t too stoked on the idea of Valentine’s day, me included. It’s been tagged as the holiday thought up of by card and candy companies. Whether that’s true or not, I think we should put the ill feelings about the occasion aside and focus about the real prize of the day. One more opportunity to indulge in those luscious little gems with names like truffles, pralines, bon bons, chocolates, etc. Most chocolate companies throw out all the stops for this holiday especially because in my mind it’s the largest chocolate holiday of the year. Therefore, why not put the bitterness aside and fully embrace the fact that you can choose to eat probably some of the finest confections chocolatiers have to offer during this time of the year.
Now I’ve made some changes that will hopefully help you on your journey to Yeti Chocolates bliss. I’ve altered the look and contents of the order form, hopefully for the better as I know people have struggled with it in the past. I’m also including a way to order from here! At the bottom you will find a form that will allow you place your order and submit it. I will receive it and send you an email letting you know I got it and confirm the order details and total price. That’s why it’s imperative to put your email on the form. Don’t worry, I won’t sell you out to 3rd party companies, because honestly I don’t know how or have the time or even want to do that.
Some other important tidbits to take heed of are as follows:
To the important stuff, the menu and order form!
The link to the menu:
The link to the order form:
| Pricing Structure | ||||
| Box Size |
2-box |
4-box |
6-box |
12-box |
| Price (for all flavors) |
$4.00 |
$8.00 |
$10.00 |
$24.00 |
| Jellie Size |
1-Bag (3oz/bag) |
|
||
| Price |
$3.50 or 2 for $6.00 |
|
||
Let me know what you think about the online form!
Some food for thought*
Though Valentine’s Day can be a particularly lonely day for all those single folk out there, it doesn’t have to ruin your day. Buy a box of chocolates and enjoy the simple pleasure in treating yourself because even if you don’t have a special someone to tell you so, you deserve a nice treat. Or if you’re not particularly chocolate inclined (which makes me question why you’re reading this blog) do something fun as an “Anti-’V’ Day” plan, such as ice skating, going on a trip (which I’m doing!), singing karaoke, trying something new…you get the idea. Make the day yours, in a way that all those love birds cannot take away from you or tarnish.
I don’t know how many of you have ever had a recipe that you needed vanilla beans for, but if you’ve ever gone into the grocery store to buy them, you know that they are stupid expensive. I’ve seen places charge $10 for one or two beans. This is simply outrageous.
When I worked in the industry one of the pastry chefs I worked under keyed me into where you should really purchase vanilla beans if you want to buy in bulk, which of course I do…ebay. I know, it sounds crazy, but ebay is the place for reasonably priced vanilla beans in bulk. I recently purchased 1lb. of Tahitian vanilla beans for $30 and got an extra 1/8lb. bag of Madagascar vanilla beans for free.
Now most of you are probably thinking, “What would I do with that many vanilla beans?” Well, you could give them as gifts to your loved ones for various gift giving holidays, use them in pretty much anything dessert like, cinnamon roll dough, pie crusts, pie fillings, custards, mousses, in your coffee, the list goes on. You can split them and throw them in sugar to make vanilla sugar. Or, you can make your own vanilla extract, which is what I plan on doing with part of mine.
Why buy imitation vanilla extract, when you can make the real deal with little effort? Beats me, but nothing beats real vanilla extract. And with ¼ lb. of beans you can make a quart of extract! That’s a whole lot of extract, which you could then give away as a gift as well, or covet it like its liquid gold, whatever floats your boat.
How does the whole process work you’re now wondering?
Well here’s the nitty gritty:
Get yourself ¼ lb. of vanilla beans (remember, ebay!)
You’ll need a dark glass container, which I just remembered I have a growler I got from a friend that didn’t want it. Sure, filling it with beer is a good option, but some sacrifices must be made 
You want to purchase an inexpensive name brand vodka. Now I know what you’re thinking, because I thought the same thing, that inexpensive and name brand don’t really go together. However, after asking a colleague about it, it means that you want to buy the cheapest name brand vodka there is, such as Smirnoff or Absolut, something like that. Not flavored either, just plan ol’ vodka.
Cut your beans into ½” pieces and toss into the dark glass container. You don’t need to split them either; it’s just a wasted step.
Pour in your vodka.
Tip upside down and shake slightly every day to stir up the beans in the vodka for one month.
Strain out the beans after a month and enjoy your homemade vanilla extract.
Yes it’s really that simple. I would say they need to make a “How to make vanilla extract for Dummies” but there isn’t even enough content to make a book. Why more people don’t do this, I’ll never know.
Hello Everyone!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and are settling into 2012 nicely. I would say that for me, it wasn’t too bad. I spent time with family and friends, only one mild hangover to nurse on New Years, but nothing too exciting to report, on that front that it.
One exciting thing that I do need to report is the best-seller “crown” has been stolen from the beloved Smith ‘n Wesson. This was the first time since I’ve started making chocolates that the title of “best-seller” has gone to another chocolate.
The new title holder you ask? 
Here she be, the Huckleberry Creme. Who could blame this delicious little morsel from wanting to steal the lime light? Smith ‘n Wesson had been too cozy in it’s ranks that it was almost becoming tyrannical. It was time for a fresh new face to hit the scene and dazzle chocolate lovers everywhere. And the Huckleberry Creme is a beauty.
So what’s next for Yeti Chocolates you might be wondering. Well in the lull between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, I will be on the hunt for that elusive commercial kitchen, working on my business plan, and getting ready for the largest chocolate holiday of the year, because honestly what says “I Love You” more than a box of delicious chocolate confections? Diamonds supposedly, but who has the moola for diamonds these days, it seems a bit impractical to me, just sayin’.
In the meantime, I was hoping to get a little feedback for you!
And as always, to those who ordered chocolates over the Christmas holidays, any feedback on what you liked, didn’t, think could be improved would be greatly appreciated.
Here’s to hoping that 2012 is all that we wish for and more!
Looking for that last minute gift for the holidays? What better way to say “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Chanukah”, “Kwanzaa”, or which ever holiday you celebrate than with some chocolate.
Whether you’re naughty or nice, we don’t care, come on down to chocolate town!
I recently got asked the question when responding to a contest for the some schwag from Colette Paperie http://www.etsy.com/shop/colettepaperie, check them out they make the funniest cards, they asked on their contest form on their blog what you wanted from Santa for Christmas. I replied that I wanted a commercial kitchen so I could get Yeti Chocolates up and running for real. If you gotta dream, dream big right?
However, I digress. Today is the last day that you can safely order your hearts desire in chocolate without the worry that there won’t be anything in stock. After today I’ll still allow orders, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll have what you want.
The menu:
The order form:
To all my dedicated patrons who’ve already sent in their orders, I thank you all for your continued faith in my services, and I hope you all have a fantastic holiday season.
And to everyone else, I also hope you season is merry and bright and full of love, because we all could always use more love in our lives!
Happy Holidays and here’s to hoping that the New Year is bountiful, full of joy and prosperity. Here here!!!
Now that the Holiday Bazaar is almost a week past, I’m finally getting around to writing about it. I’ve been knitting up a storm, trying to get a bundle of knitted goods done before Christmas before I need to start major chocolate production. That compounded with a recent bout of a head cold has made me a little behind the blogging times.
However, I didn’t want to keep you all in the dark on how the Holiday Bazaar in Troy, America went.
Overall, it went really well. This being my first show, there were quite a few things I was over-prepared for, and quite a few more things I was under-prepared for. I had plenty of samples, and when I mean plenty, a plethora doesn’t even quite accurately describe the over-abundance of samples I had left over at then end of the day. That being said, one thing I didn’t count on was how many people were interested in buying boxes of chocolates that day, and not ordering them. There were many who appreciated that I wanted to get them the freshest product possible, but most I think felt it was inconvenient that they had to order and pay for the $6 shipping fee.
Most were taken aback when they found out I lived in Wenatchee, I got the “Whoa, you’re a long way from home.” Which I then had to explain that I grew up in the area and my sister was the one who told me about it.
Some other things I was not quite prepared for was the amount of people who wanted to take business cards (this idiot didn’t bring any) or the small menus I had brought along (which I ran out of quite early in the day). I did end up with 2 order forms at the end of the day.
Probably the best quote of the day was:
“These look so pretty that I don’t want to eat them!”
As for the barks and sweet spicy nuts (available only at the bazaar) they sold fairly well, with the sweet spicy nuts being the big seller of the day.
Another interesting thing was that at first I didn’t have a sign that said there were free samples, the samples were just on a tray in little paper cups. However, people just kept walking by and passing up the samples, which I don’t know, who passes up free samples, especially when it’s chocolate? I finally put up a sign that said “Free Samples” and then people started coming over and sampling them. It was like they didn’t understand that little cut up chocolates were to sample, not to sell. Most people were pretty courteous and only took 1 or 2 samples. Though there were definitely the kids who ran by taking probably 20 samples when it was all said and done, but fortunately I grossly overestimated my samples, and it all worked out. And interestingly enough, the Nutty Fluff was the most sampled item of the bunch. The one chocolate I wasn’t sure of it’s popularity, blew me out of the water in the amount of people reaching for it right off the bat. Goes to show you never can tell which one is going to be the favorite.
All in all, it was a really fun day, getting to talk about my chocolates with people, sampling them out and getting feedback, whether good or bad, which most of the negative feedback was because someone didn’t like a particular flavor they tried before I got a chance to explain them, that and people not knowing what molasses is…
Hello Everyone,
So I’ve been hard at work all weekend making chocolates to get ready for the holiday bazaar I will be attending this next weekend in Troy, MT (come check it out if you’re gonna be in town!)
Whilst working on chocolates, I finally nailed down the menu and got pictures of all the chocolates so you have a visual aid to drool at while you make your selections.
The menu can be found and available for download at:
The order form can be found and available for download at:
Let me know if you have trouble accessing either document. I made the word doc 97-03 compatible for those who don’t have access to office 7.
As it says on the order form, please have your order in no later than December 12th. I always have extras usually, but don’t count on it! If you place an order after the 12th there’s no guarantee that I will have all the chocolates in stock.
Order after the 12th at your own risk!
I’m also offering a new pay option to those interested. Instead of dealing with cash or check, I can send you a money request via PayPal to your email address once I ship your product, then you can access it and pay via credit/debit. The best part is you don’t need a PayPal account to use it!
There’s also milk, white, and dark peppermint bark available for purchase, I just couldn’t fit it on the menu, but there is a space on the order form where you can purchase it if you so desire. Perfect “stocking stuffer” for those Christmas celebrating folk 
If you have any questions, please let me know, and I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday season!
