Chocolate Scouting at Dose Market

Chocolate Scouting at Dose Market

Let there be balloons: festive Dose Market at the Chicago Cultural Center
Let there be balloons: festive Dose Market at the Chicago Cultural Center

Picture chocolate, pastry, fashion, jewelry, and more, under one roof.

Picture that roof over my favorite building in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center (which was the main branch of the Chicago Public Library when I was a little girl).

That was the scene for the April edition of Dose Market, a dynamic marketplace that showcases chefs, designers, and makers of all stripes. The market was co-sponsored in April 2015 by the Lake FX conference for artists and entrepreneurs, which added an extra touch of excitement.

At Dose Market: salted chocolate cranberry orange toffee by Terry's Toffee, a longtime favorite
At Dose Market: salted chocolate cranberry orange toffee by Terry’s Toffee, a longtime favorite

Add the fact that among the makers showcased were longtime chocolate friends, and soon-to-be-made chocolate friends, and of course I attended. I attended, I chocolate scouted, and I enjoyed.

What exactly is chocolate scouting? That’s my term for exploring the world and finding delicious chocolate and pastry. It’s something I’ve always done: on any trip to a new city, even as a child, I always wanted to find the best chocolate. That hasn’t changed, and I chocolate scout where I live and where I travel, for business and for pleasure.

Dose Market at the Chicago Cultural Center featured some exquisite and creative chocolate and pastry offerings from old friends…

Rare Bird Preserves, including chocolate blueberry
Rare Bird Preserves, including chocolate blueberry, owned by dear Elizabeth Madden, a French Pastry School grad
With dear Terry of Terry's Toffee
With dear Terry Opalek of Terry’s Toffee

And from new friends…

Deeply impressive chocolate raspberry tart and macarons by newcomer Verzenay Patisserie, a delightful husband-and-wife team
Deeply impressive chocolate raspberry tart and macarons by newcomer Verzenay Patisserie, owned by delightful husband-and-wife team Aqeel and Arshiya Farheen. Arshiya is the chef, and she graduated from Ferrandi culinary school in Paris.
Gingerbread cookies year round from Dough Dough Bird
Gingerbread cookies year round from delicious Dough Dough Bird, owned by new friend Julie Goding, a French Pastry School grad
Intriguing mole bread by Zapps Grains, with cacao and chipotle
Intriguing low-glycemic mole bread with cacao and chipotle by Zapp’s Dancing Grains

I look forward to chocolate scouting at the next Dose Market!

Sweet home Chicago
Sweet home Chicago

Your friend in chocolate,

Valerie

Valerie Beck

Chocolate Expert, Speaker, Consultant

www.valeriebeckchocolateuplift.com

Join my Instagram party

“Uplift Through Chocolate!”

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s