Since we got here in early May I have been looking for a nice large teapot. Nothing fancy. I think the one I have in Vancouver is from the Bay. I just wanted it to be big (like 6 cups) and functional. I drink a lot of tea. We looked everywhere here – Target, Walmart, Pottery Barn, Pier 1, etc. Everywhere! Nothing! It’s as if people don’t drink tea here. That can’t be though – they drink sweet tea! And there’s tea in the supermarkets. So I had all but given up, and figured I’d order a teapot online.
Then the other day we went to a store called “A Southern Season.” It’s similar to Gourmet Warehouse, but a lot bigger and not as expensive. They had a huge loose tea section, so I set off on a search for a teapot. I rounded a corner, and there it was. A whole wall of teapots! Apparently they all live together in one store! So, I am now a proud owner of a large, 6-cup green teapot. I almost bought the orange one, but since my new place is all orange-brown woods, I though it would be too orangy.
Now, I know, buying a teapot generally would not be blog worthy, but think of it as a happy ending to a long and kind of confusing quest. I wonder if everyone here knows to buy their teapot at this store?
A Souther Season also had a HUGE chocolate section. Almost half of the store! They had large cooled cabinets with Godiva, Moonstruck, Neuhaus (yes Suyoko, you don’t have to go all the way to Belgium, you can just come and visit me!), and a few other companies. Then they had countless shelves of different types of chocolates. As we always do when the opportunity presents itself, Greg and I conducted a little industrial espionage. Our friend Kelly is a chocolatier (www.badgirlchocolates.com), and sells yummy truffles, jellies and covered almonds. So whenever we can, we try other companies’ chocolates and scope out their chocolate molds to get new ideas that we then pass on to Kelly. This time we tried Moonstruck chocolate “cones”. These were ice cream cone shaped chocolate shells filled with thick flavored cremes. Greg had a peanut butter cone and I had a razzleberry cone. The tops were dipped in chocolate and then decorated (pics up in the gallery in the NC Food album). So, A Southern Season is my new favorite store!
Pics of the new log cabin apartment are up too!
July 4th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Yeah for industrial espionage!
So how were the cones? I’ve heard about the cones, but haven’t tried them, (I’ve checked out Moonstruck before – I based my pricing on them, actually.) How much did they cost?
You should see some of the stuff I’m developing for Christmas. I told you about the tree orniments (which were fabulous), but I also made a dark chocolate sea shell with a white chocolate truffle in the middle. It was really pretty. I’m not sure if I’ll make it perminant, or even how much I’ll charge yet. Maybe I’ll put it out there in October just to get some reactions from customers. 🙂
(And just as an aside, my website is .com, not .ca.) 🙂
Kelly
July 4th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Fixed the link.
July 4th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Oops! Sorry about the website! It’s fixed now!
The cones were okay. Looked really pretty and were really big (that’s a 4-truffle box that they’re in), but only tasted okay. I think I keep expecting truffles, and then when it’s a creme-type of filling, I get disappointed. I’m not really sure what the centers were – they weren’t creamy like your cremes. More like the centers of Pot of Gold butter rum chocolates. What are those called? Anyways, not my favorite, but the flavor was good. They’d be good with truffle filling. They were supposed to be $2.25 each, but were on sale for $1.80 (the store was having its annual clearance).
The sea shells sound cool!
November 13th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Kat – you should check out 3 Cups, hidden away in the Coutyard on Franklin St behind the Panang restaurant. They carry an excellent selection of loose tea and also have Chatsford teapots (the All-Clad of tea pots).
Cheers!