Archive by Author

Timothy McSweeney’s Sweeth Tooth is Insatiable

November 30, 2012 by

It seems like just the other day that we were telling you about our collaboration with 826 Valencia, a non-profit writing center founded in San Francisco that offers, among other things, free tutoring and writing workshops to students ages 6-18.

Now we’re excited to tell you about a new collaboration—this time, with McSweeney’s Publishing. McSweeney’s is an independent publishing house that was founded by author Dave Eggers, who is also the co-founder of 826 Valencia. (You can listen to Dave Eggers talk about 826 Valencia, their mission, and their connection to McSweeney’s in his 2008 TED talk.) Just like 826 Valencia, McSweeney’s is one of our neighbors in the Mission, and when they asked us to contribute to their annual holiday party, we were happy to oblige!

 

 

In celebration of new December publications by McSweeney’s, which include Lucky Peach issue 5 (a journal dedicated to food and writing), Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern issue 42 (an award-winning literary journal) and Beck’s Song Reader (Beck’s newest music album), McSweeney’s is hosting a holiday bash on Thursday, December 6 from 7-10 pm, at the Makeout Room in San Francisco.

They’ll have a live reading by author Paul Legault, whose newest collection, The Emily Dickinson Reader, was recently published by McSweeney’s. The reading will be followed by karaoke and dancing. There will be free holiday treats to enjoy, including our chocolate!

 

 

McSweeney’s has been kind enough to provide us with a limited number of complimentary tickets to the event, as well as gratis subscriptions to Lucky Peach magazine. We’ll be giving these away at our retail space with the purchase of $40 worth of chocolate starting this Friday, November 30.

Here’s the catch: You’ll get first dibs on your choice of either option (a pair of tickets or a year-long subscription to Lucky Peach) if you (1), include a copy of our 826 bundle in your purchase, or (2), casually mention to us how much you enjoy karaoke.

So whether you’re a McSweeney’s enthusiast, a Lucky Peach reader, or just a chocolate lover looking for a good time, please consider stopping by our space to get some holiday shopping done and receive some McSweeney’s goodies while you’re at it!

You can find a link to the McSweeney’s holiday party here.

In addition to our free ticket giveaway, tickets to the event can be purchased here.

For more information on all things McSweeney’s-related, please click here.

Pirates, Poems, Sea Salt & Chocolate

November 20, 2012 by

Back in June, Alice and I led a workshop called “Chock-full O’ Chocolate” at our friendly neighborhood pirate supply store, also known as 826 Valencia. Founded ten years ago in San Francisco, 826 Valencia offers a variety of free programs for primary and secondary school students to support their writing skills, foster creativity and inspire confidence through writing and the literary arts.

We met a group of really great, talented students (all between the ages 12-15) who came to learn about chocolate, the chocolate-making process, and to further hone their creative writing skills. By the end of the four-week session, each student had produced numerous short stories, poems, and drawings inspired by chocolate. They personally selected their best pieces, which were published in a chapbook entitled If I Were A Wizard Chocolatier.

We’re thrilled to announce that this chapbook can now be found at our chocolate factory as well as 826 Valencia! To commemorate this super-special collaboration with our neighbors, If I Were A Wizard Chocolatier comes with its own limited-edition chocolate bar, developed especially for 826. It’s called the High Seas bar, complete with sea salt and an intriguing back-story. In honor of the partnership, we’ve made a total of 826 bars.

You can pick up both as a bundle at our space; alternatively, you can purchase the chapbook at 826 Valencia’s Pirate Supply Store, where you’ll also receive a golden ticket that can be redeemed for the accompanying High Seas bar at our location one block away.

 

 

María and Lauren, two of the fantastic designers at 826, are responsible for creating the look of the chapbook, as well as the packaging for the High Seas bar. They did an absolutely amazing job, and we can’t wait for you to dive right in and enjoy both!

A portion of the proceeds from If I Were A Wizard Chocolatier and the High Seas bar will go to 826 Valencia, so they can continue to fund free student programming for elementary-, middle- and high-schoolers. We had a great time working with everyone at 826, and especially with our workshop participants: Nathan, Miriam, Cecily, Janelle, Bryan, Troy, Anja, Zora, Anthony, Alexis and Myles.

Now that our factory and retail space on Valencia is open to the public, please feel free to stop by and thumb through the chapbook: maybe it’ll inspire you to pen a paean to chocolate as well!

Please click on the links to learn more about 826 Valencia and 826 National, which coordinates its sister chapters located around the country.

Through the Looking-Glass

July 5, 2012 by

Now that construction is in full swing and the dust is (literally) flying everywhere, the new factory space is attracting a lot more attention from pedestrians. We didn’t have any signs up for a while, meaning that people have had to content themselves with speculating wildly on all of the commotion.

Well, now they don’t have to wonder any more—thanks to the creative energy and hard work of Sarah Henry! Sarah is a recently graduated high school senior from the Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia. She was out in San Francisco doing a senior internship project with Creativity Explored, a local organization in the Mission that provides artists with developmental disabilities the means and assistance necessary to express and support themselves through their art.

We took advantage of Sarah’s artistic sensibilities while she was in SF to help us with our new storefront windows. Sarah created four beautiful window designs based around our current and future packaging patterns. She did an absolutely amazing job, and we’re thrilled that she was able to find time in her schedule to work with us!

 

Preliminary sketches

 

Playing around with color

 

Works-in-Progress

 

Seeing Sarah (Thanks, Sarah!)

 

Looking good enough to eat

 

Caitlin approves!

 

Sarah will be starting university in the fall at the College of William & Mary, and we wish her the best in all of her future endeavors. You can see more of her artwork here. To learn more about Creativity Explored, please visit their website.

Chock-full o’ Chocolate

May 30, 2012 by

We are extremely excited to announce a collaboration with our soon-to-be Valencia St. neighbors, 826 Valencia! As stated on their website, 826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization that provides writing and tutoring assistance to students aged 6-18, with the belief that strong writing skills are crucial to future success. Their offerings include evening and weekend workshops designed to sharpen writing skills and foster creativity — which is where we come in!

 

All throughout the month of June at 826 Valencia, Alice and I will be leading a free writing workshop based around the theme of — what else? — chocolate. We’ll be teaching students all about the chocolate-making process, and using that as a springboard for them to come up with their own chocolate-inspired literary or artistic creations, be they in haiku, short story, poem or pictorial form. These student writings will be collected and published in a chapbook, which will be available at our factory space as well as the Pirate Store.

 

 

If you know of any young writers or chocolate enthusiasts who would like to participate in our workshop, they can sign up here. It’s a 4-week workshop, with each session held from 6-8 pm on Wednesday evenings. The first one starts next week, June 6. It is free to sign up and participate; the only stipulation is that you have to be between the ages of 12 and 15. Oh, and you have to love chocolate. It would be wonderful to see you there!

Please stay tuned for other exciting collaboration news between Dandelion Chocolate and 826 Valencia! (Hint: You know who else loves chocolate? Pirates. Pirates adore chocolate. Entire pirate nations have been lost on account of chocolate.)

 

 

All images credited to 826 Valencia.

 

To sign up for our writing workshop at 826 Valencia, please click here.

For more about 826 Valencia, please click here.

To find out if there is a local 826 chapter close to you, please click here.

Chocolate Dreams

May 20, 2012 by

One of the fun things about being at farmers’ markets is entering into serendipitous conversations with curious passers-by.  A couple weeks ago at the Noe Valley Farmer’s Market, Cam and I met a very nice man named Carlos who, intrigued by our signboard, came over for a closer look.  He tasted some of our chocolate, and then proceeded to recite (from memory!) a poem by Arnold Adoff.  The poem is included in a book of poetry dedicated to chocolate.  Called Chocolate Dreams, the collection is ostensibly meant for children, but I think it can (and should) be appreciated by anyone who enjoys chocolate, poetry, humor, or any combination of these things.

Mr. Arnold Adoff was kind enough to grant us permission to share the poem with you in its entirety.  A big thank-you to Carlos for bringing it to our attention, and an even bigger thank-you to Mr. Adoff for writing such lovely poems in the first place!

 

Her
She
Bar
 

Far
Star
I
See
You
Shining
Brown
In
My
Dark
And
Hungry
Sky

I
Wink
Back
Once
And
Fly
To
Meet
Your
Melt

 

Reproduced with permission from Arnold Adoff’s Chocolate Dreams.  New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1989.  Please visit Arnold Adoff’s website for more information about the poet.

Come by and impress us with your artistic, musical or literary love for chocolate!  Alternatively, just come by to say hello.  You can find us at the Mission Community Market every Thursday from 4-8pm, and at the Noe Valley Farmers’ Market every Saturday from 8am-1pm.