sweetriot blog - cacao | culture | cool!

Warren Brown & my sugar rush.

When in DC, I always visit my friend Warren Brown who owns CakeLove and LoveCafe in DC and who also happens to be a very cool entrepreneur & human being.  :)  (He also has a sugary show on the Food Network called Sugar Rush).

Our first stop included a visit to his lovely Love Cafe where you can see Lea, one of my great summer interns, and me lazing around with Warren.  It has a cool laidback atmosphere and is a perfect spot for meeting friends.

This time around Warren was also having a house warming party and had some amazing treats there -- I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries, so you can imagine my excitement when he pulled out the strawberries with special toppings -- everything from Cookies and Cream to Pina Colada. 

Warren, are you sure you don't want to sell these in your stores?  :)  I had a sugar rush! 

Rioting at Air & Space in Washington

While in Washington, there was actually a riot at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.  Check out these cool photos!

I'm not into the idea of personal space travel, but I love flying. If you do too, this should be on your list of places to go.  I haven't been here since I was a little girl.

After our visit to the museum, the riot continued with a cacao happy hour.  Happy rioters can be seen above.  Where have you been rioting lately?

sweetriot goes to Washington.

Yes, it's true.  sweetriot was at the White House this past week. 

I went down to DC for a conference and had a chance to see some amazing things such as the White House, the Library of Congress, the National Building Museum, and my college friend, Zeff, who is doing a very special program right now at the White House.  At the conference, rioters even included the President of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Mayor of DC (pictured above.)   

Ah, the places we go.  Do you have photos of sweetriot on your travels and/or with landmarks?  Send em our way.  :) 

sweetriot for Dessert!

It's June 21st -- summer is officially here and sweetriot cacao tastes delicious on, with, or as your main dessert.  I've snapped some photos of my recent favorites....

(1) Vanilla ice cream with sweetriot sprinkled on top - it's simple and delicious.  Find your favorite vanilla and pour sweetriot cacao right on top.  You decide your own cacao/vanilla ratio.  Yum!

(2) Sandcastle cake with sweetriot on the sides - Find your local sandcastle bundt pan store and bake away.  When your cake is finished, you can garnish it with sweetriot cacao and other yummy morsels of your choosing.

(3) Fresh Pineapple with fresh mint and melted sweetriot cacao - someone spoiled me the other night with this concoction.  Cut up fresh pineapple, add some mint and sweetriot cacao on top.  Heat just long enough to melt the chocolate.  Definitely add this to your list.  Sooo yummy.

Have you used sweetriot Cacao in your recipe -- please send your ideas my way....

Chicago stores...check them out.

Chicago unsurprisingly also has stores which should be on the national radar screen.  We held our first riots in the Chicago this past weekend.  sweetriot can now be found in Fox & Obel, Whole Foods, and The Goddess & the Grocer in the regentrified Wicker Park neighborhood to name a few of our stores.

We met wonderful people along the way including Rich & Peter in Lincoln Park, Anne in the Gold Coast, Daniel and Emily in Wicker Park.  It's always great to meet more people who are open to rioting.  The pictures above should reconfirm their ability to riot with us.  :)  Do you know of other places we should riot in Chicago?  Please let us know.

Chicago....my kind of town

Frank Sinatra called Chicago 'my kind of town' and he was a smart man.  sweetriot happily visited Chicago this past weekend for our first ever weekend of rioting there.

I like to call Chicago one of those 'unrated' parts of the US - it's not underrated as that would assume it is rated in some way; it is simply not rated in many instances.  People (especially international tourists) forget about this unique city on Lake Michigan.  The architecture and downtown presence of Chicago deserves its old saying of "Paris of the Prairie" derived from its wide boulevards and parks.   There is endless information on Chicago's many landmarks here.

Chicago is also a city of endless summer festivals, so I would encourage you to stop by before the Winter winds arrive again.

Full disclaimer - I am from the Midwest (MIchigan) and do have a certain bias for Chicago.  Having said that what I said above is 100% true.   I even brought the Parisian rioter, Julie, with me on my trip, and she fell in love over just one weekend.  :)  Have you been to Chicago?  Please send your stories...

Always looking for feedback...

sweetriot hosted focus groups this week.  These are times when we sit around with our friends and customers to discuss how to make things even better at sweetriot.  Our participants were great! 

 

They had endless feedback and were committed to helping us make sweetriot better.   Thank you to Lea (& Julie B) for organizing and to everyone for attending (Liz, Karen, Paula, Sara, Par, Hillary, Mauro, Meredith, Kate, and more!) 

Do you have ideas for us -- we are always open to feedback.  Are there products you want to see from sweetriot?  Let us know.

GenArt, Cacao, & Fashion.

sweetriot had 2 great events this week -- the 2nd was GenArt's emerging designer event.  This is held at least twice a year and brings out a great group of young designers and cool companies.  We were of course there sharing cacao  We even had a rioter (pictured above) approach us who had taken sweetriot to India and learned that sweetriot Cacao is loved even on the other side of the world!

If you don't know GenArt, you should check them out.  They do a number of great events to promoting emerging artists.  GenArt was started by Ian Gerard (pictured above center with the rioters).  They truly are the leading advocate for young and emerging artists across film, fashion, art, and more.  We love working with them on their fun and hip events.

The other benefit of the event was the Puck Building - a great place in NYC right on the corner of Houston and Lafayette.  This is one of the best indoor settings for a large event in NYC especially due to its old and beautiful architecture.   

Taste of the Nation Brooklyn!

A month ago, sweetriot was featured at the Taste of the Nation Manhattan.  Last night Brooklyn held their annual event, and we were again on hand to dish out cacao.

The Brooklyn event in DUMBO was totally different than Manhattan. The venue was an old Tobacco warehouse - very cool.  (This was were U2 and Bono played an inpromptu concert a few months back.)  They also had artwork for sale and a fashion show.

We saw some old friends including Matt Lewis from Baked and of course we always tend to run into security at these type of events - they are drawn to rioters, there is no doubt about it.

I tried to take some photos but they don't do it justice - the setting was spectacular with views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge at twilight and sunset.   In addition to the setting, there was cacao, food, rioters, and fun everywhere.  Thanks again to the great crew at Taste of the Nation for inviting us once again.

The Hamptons, Nina, Craigs List, and more!

Sometimes I get so behind on posting, I don't know where to start.  This happens to be one of those times.  There is always lots to talk about at sweetriot. 

This past weekend sweetriot arrived in the Hamptons for the very first time!  We had sweetriot at a wedding event for my lovely friend, Alissa and Jeremy.  sweetriot is great as a wedding favor (notice it sitting above by the candlelight) and in the summer time it tastes great too.  The only sad part of my Hamptons visit - it was chilly and windy and there was no visit to the beach (and, I love the beach!) :( 

This past weekend was also our fair Nina's birthday celebration (her real birthday was June 2).  Of course birthdays at sweetriot turn into something we call 'World Day' and Nina had a great party on Friday....shhh don't tell anyone but many of us arrived home after 4 a.m. 

Lastly, sweetriot was featured at the first ever cacao and coffee break at the Craig's List Foundation NYC conference (hosted by Darian Heyman and Liza pictured above).  I've seen attendees since the event, and they said it was great!  So that's the weekend report...of course there is more but we'll start with that.