CocoaNymph celebrated the opening of their second store location on Saturday, September 22 with live music, tours, demos and even a Willy Wonka-type Golden Ticket contest in the days leading up to this day! With the success of CocoaNymph West, they decided they needed to upgrade to a bigger production facility and this location was perfect. It even had a kitchen included so made it possible to add a cafe to sell soups and sandwiches as well as chocolate!










They buy chocolate by the metric tonne!


Visitors could participate in a wine and chocolate pairing for only $5. Sumac Ridge Merlot and Illa.


Rachel Sawatzky, the CocoaNymph herself gave visitors a little tour of the production facility.



Dipping a strip of paper into the chocolate and timing it for 3 minutes. They look for colour, streaks, and how long it takes to set. Only perfect chocolate allowed!


Lemon ganache already cut into cubes, ready for enrobing.


She dips each cube into the chocolate, then transfers the covered chocolate lemon ganache onto another  tray.



Mmmmmm. If you want to be more hands-on, you can sign up for one of CocoaNymph's workshops to learn how to do this yourself!


Before I left, I tried the french drinking chocolate ($4) with orange marshmallows on the side ($0.50). They ran out of ceramic cups so I was given a paper one. Everyone wanted some drinking chocolate it seems! The delicious chocolate drink was made with rosemary, lavender and almond milk. Because of the almond milk, it wasn't too rich, which I liked, and the marshmallows add a lot of sweetness to this yummy drink. So good!


Owner and Chocolatiere Rachel Sawatzky with her business partner, Eric. Congratulations on a successful grand opening! CocoaNymph East is located at 4 West 7th Avenue. Go pay them a visit!

Vancouver based company, Patch officially launched on Saturday, September 22 and held its launch party at the Walrus on Cambie Street.





Three types of Patch planters available: Grey Ombre, Icon Jumble and Classic White for purchase.




Each planter is certified to be 100% approved EPIC edition. =D


Because a launch party isn't a launch party without food, Patch organized a little tea party inside the Walrus for visitors!



Crustless sandwiches from Railtown Cafe & Catering. So yummy!



 Cookies from Seeds of Plenty. Mmm.


Spot Tea's finest. Blush: organic cranberry and orange, and I think a rooibos tea. I only tried the Blush. Very fruity tea, great served cold!


Planters on display in the window.


Look at all these things you can grow!


Kent Houston, CEO and Founder of Patch, with Samantha Lefort, creative director and growing enthusiast of Patch! Congratulations on your successful launch!


Yup. I'm now a proud owner of a limited edition, Icon Jumble Patch planter. Purchased Saturday with soil and lettuce seeds to get me started. I think I'm going to transplant my moulding basil in it first!

Visit http://letspatch.com/ for more information on these planters and purchase one yourself! Proceeds from each sale to support community based volunteer organizations like Growing Chefs. Food for you, and food for them. Win-win.

Owner of Maeman Restaurant, Chef Angus An cooked up a delicious batch of Mussaman Chicken Curry at the Trout Lake's Farmers Market Saturday morning. Ingredients that came fresh from the farmers market included carrots, sungold tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, Walla Walla onions, shallots, and chicken.





Chef An showing the audience how to "crack" cream, which involves simmering the coconut cream until the water evaporates and the oil separates from the solids.

 That's a lot of curry paste.


Mix, mix, mix. Let it caramelize.


Chef An explaining how a good mortar and pestle is an essential for any kitchen. He is also a professional user. His wife says you can tell a lot about a man by the way he uses a mortar and pestle.


Showing us the spice paste.



Showing the audience how to shred chicken. Don't be afraid to use your hands!


Add some fried shallots to cook for flavour but save some to sprinkle on top of your curry later!


Adding the potatoes. You can add any starchy vegetables or roots that you want, it doesn't have to be just potatoes.


Finally it's time to serve. That's a lot of curry! Chef An says you eat rice and have curry on the side. Most Asian cultures serve rice and have meat as a side dish while it is the opposite in Western cultures.



Rice (on the bottom) served with delicious Mussaman chicken curry. Mmmm.

Chef Angus An

Walking around the market:


Walla Walla onions from Klippers Organics that Chef An used in his curry. He likes them because they are sweeter than regular onions.


Fingerling potatoes from Helmers' Organic.




The Farmers Market at Trout Lake is going on every Saturday from 9:00am - 2:00pm until Oct 20th. The next Farmers Market Kitchen is on October 20th featuring Chef Quang Dang, Executive Chef of West Restaurant.