gourmet chocolate

Sweet Sugar Maple! It’s A Syrup Festival!

Divani Chocolatier April 11, 2012 0 Comments Area Activity Updates black tea, chai latte, chocolate covered almond, chocolate covered strawberries, coffee, easter candy, frappes, gourmet chocolate, green tea, herbal tea, milk shakes, smoothies, valentine's day chocolate

In just a couple of short weeks, the town of Foxburg will be holding it’s first Maple Syrup Festival. Which promises to be a truly sweet event.
Businesses around town will each be hosting some sort of unique and tasty manifestation originating from the majestic maples that so heavily populate our beloved Allegheny Clarion Valley!
Along with our current maple inspired confections here at “the sweet shop on the block”, we will be filling our delicious Belgian chocolate “Maple Sap Buckets” with maple cream as well as serving special maple drinks, including Maple Latte and Maple Milkshakes! Yum!
Additionally, one of our very own local maple syrup men, David Yeany, will be demonstrating the art of creating the delectable maple cream that will be in our chocolate buckets!
On a side not, in case you’re a sucker for history like myself, did you know that Native Americans living in the northeastern part of North America were the first groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar? According to aboriginal oral traditions, as well as archaeological evidence, maple tree sap was being processed into syrup long before Europeans arrived in the region! Don’t take my word for it… there’s a great Wikipedia article which highlights more about maple syrup, if you’re interested!

Festivities begin in the morning of Saturday, April 28th, , and will last throughout the day. Hope to see you all at the Maple Syrup Festival!

Featured Artist of the Month: Sonya Porter Weaver

Divani Chocolatier April 5, 2012 0 Comments Area Activity Updates black tea, chai latte, chocolate covered almond, chocolate covered strawberries, coffee, easter candy, frappes, gourmet chocolate, green tea, herbal tea, milk shakes, smoothies, valentine's day chocolate

Sonya Porter Weaver

To welcome the grace and beauty of spring with an emphasis of the newest of new begins, this month’s Featured Artist is one who finds inspiration in our youth. Children, captured through the lens of Sonya Porter Weaver’s camera, are artfully conveyed in their day to day liveliness. In her own words she says, “As a photographer and artist, I believe that capturing the simplicity of our future is essential. Earning a child’s trust and learning their personality helps me to embrace their glory and wonder.

Photography began for me as a child. For whatever reason, it always lingered within. When I entered high school the mystery began to unfold. I could explore with a camera the most mundane of objects and the various personalities of subjects. I could set the mood however I wanted with lighting and composition. I could bring forth the endless idiosyncrasies of our world. As time went on and I worked my way through college, photography was not only an outlet but became a second language. I find inspiration for portraiture in my childhood memories, my daily life, and most of all I find it in my children.”

Come check out Sonya’s some of work at Divani throughout the month of April. Also check out her website at www.sonyaporterphotography.com

Why do we eat Easter Chocolate?

Divani Chocolatier April 1, 2012 0 Comments Area Activity Updates black tea, chai latte, chocolate covered almond, chocolate covered strawberries, coffee, easter candy, frappes, gourmet chocolate, green tea, herbal tea, milk shakes, smoothies, valentine's day chocolate

So many people have asked this question before that when I finally asked, and pursued an answer, I found a plethora of interesting facts, stories, a myth! So what is the question? Why do we eat chocolate bunnies and eggs at Easter time?

The short of it is that the tradition of exchanging chocolates and other sweets at Easter began to flourish in France and Germany during the 19th century. Symbols associated with springtime, such as the ever popular egg, date back to pagan times and were considered universal symbols of rebirth, rejuvenation and immortality. Another “famous” symbol is the Easter Bunny. The earliest mention of the mythical humanoid rabbit who brings baskets of colored eggs and goodies to children, dates to the 1600s in Alsace and southwestern Germany. Like the history of the Easter egg, the concept of rabbits and hares as symbols of springtime, rebirth and fertility goes back to pagan times. Germans also were those responsible for starting the tradition of hiding Easter eggs, and were the first to create edible Easter Bunnies in the early 1800s.

Hmmm, interesting. Now let’s change the emphasis here just a tad… So, why do we eat chocolate at Easter time? I don’t know about you all, but I myself sure do have a lot of German ancestry, for a start. (Maybe that’s also why I make chocolate!)Yet the most basic and forthright answer just might be that we love it so much!

Oh, and if you’re looking for something fun to do the day before Easter, we will be hosting a good old fashioned Easter egg hunt in the garden behind Divani Chocolatier and Barista, our chocolate shop in Foxburg. Kids 10 years old and younger are invited. Toddlers of walking age may be accompanied by a parent. The hunt will begin at 11 am and end when all the eggs are found! There will be prizes inside the eggs, so be sure to find them all!

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