Kyya Chocolate

My dear friend Sonia is preparing to be a bride in April! She has been putting together goodie bags, with local products, for guests that are coming in from out of town. When she told me she wanted order Kyya Chocolate bars for everyone, my response was "AWESOME, let's see if we can do a tour!"

Since Kyya Chocolate is a new vendor at the 2015 Bentonville Farmers Market, I had been meaning to get out to their place and check everything out, this granted me the perfect opportunity.

One reason that I fell for Kyya Chocolate is that they produce bean to bar chocolate. They build relationships with farmers across the globe to source cacao beans. Not only does Kyya Chocolate pay the farmers above fair trade prices but they work with the farmers to increase better yields and higher quality cacao.

The first thing that I noticed when I opened the door to Kyya was the smell; the delicious and tempting smell of chocolate. The second thing that I noticed was the bags of cacao beans. Ben, one of the owners, explained that in America we saw cocoa but in the rest of the world they say cacao, pronounced (ka-kow).

Ben explained that at Kyya, they hand grind the beans. They also have a cocoa press so they can manufacture cocoa butter and cocoa powder.  Sonia and I got to taste the cocoa powder and let me say, I can't wait until it is available for purchase. I thought I made some pretty delicious hot chocolate but their cocoa powder isn't even in the same league as my hot chocolate mix.

At  Kyya, they hand mold each bar. Ben explained to us that the chocolate they produce is made out of the same three ingredients but the bars taste differently depending on where the cacao bean was sourced.

After touring the facility, we were ready to taste some chocolate! Since Sonia wanted the Midnight Chocolate, we tasted five different types of Midnight chocolate. Each of the bars had a distinct flavor profile, we tasted a fruity bar with hints of plum, an earthy bar, a bar that was more traditional and several others. The hardest part of the day was deciding what bars Sonia wanted to purchase, she ended up with four different kinds.

 If I had to speculate, I would guess that chocolate is going to be where coffee and beer are now. I have seen the quality and craftsmanship that goes into these bars and I am completely sold. I also see how Kyya is becoming a member of the community and vested in their customers and farmers.

Additionally, 10% of their net profits go to orphan care initiatives around the world. Between the Kyya team, they have 6 adopted children and they believe that they need to be a part of orphan care.

If you haven't experienced the various rich flavors of a Kyya Chocolate bar, I encourage you to pick one up, your taste buds will forever be changed! They are also hosting an Open House on, Saturday, February 21st from 10:00am to 3:00pm. The event is free and not much is better then free chocolate. Find out more details at their Facebook event page.

Shake the Hand that Feeds You

After spending a beautiful weekend in the Ozark National Forest, (another blog post on that later) we arrived home in time to unpack from the weekend, take a much needed shower and get really hungry! Mark is a great outdoor cook; however, after starting a fire, cooking and cleaning, nothing sounded better then a locally sourced meal that we didn't have to prepare. Fortunately, I made reservations at The Farmers Table Cafe for the first Shake the Hand that Feeds You dinner.

I keep several restaurants on rotation and The Farmers Table Cafe is one of them. Earlier in January, I met up with the Fayetteville Farmers Market Manager to plan a Farmers Market Training Workshop. When two market managers meet and eat, you know the place is good.

The Shake the Hand that Feeds You series is a prix fixe dinner, exceptionally priced at $20/person. The January dinner included an appetizer - flat bread with arugula, micro greens and feta; the entree was cabbage rolls (mine was vegetarian with Sweden Creek Farm shiitake mushrooms), honey ginger glazed carrots and roasted potatoes; to finish we were served the best apple cobbler. At least I think it was apple...it was so good and I was so tired that it just seemed like a little piece of heaven.

An awesome part of the dinner series is that you get to chat with the farmers who grew the food. I sat by Mariah from Summer Kitchen Family Farm and by Andrew and Madeleine Schwerin from Sycamore Bend Farm in Eureka Springs. All three farmers were so young and I enjoyed learning about why they chose to farm and learn more about their operation. Each farmer took a few minutes over the course of the meal to introduce their farm and speak about their practices. Patrice Gros from Foundation Farm, came to our table after dinner, shook OUR hand and told us that he is very happy to see young people supporting the locally grown movement.

If you are interested in attending one of the dinners at The Farmers Table Cafe, their are two more dates available, February 22 and March 15 at 6:30. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 479.966.4125 or emailing farmerstablecafe@gmail.com.

While I lay no claims to being a vegan currently, you can check out my blog post about The Farmers Table Cafe and see how they cater to a variety of dietary restrictions while keeping it local. 

It's no longer summer

This weekend it hit me, summer is over. It won't get up to 90 degrees and I won't swim over lunch break but it's the perfect time to go camping.

In my opinion, snowfall, the ocean and fire are three of the most mesmerizing natural occurrences. Furthermore, food cooked over the campfire tastes so much better then food cooked in the oven. We were lucky to have the best campfire cook with us! Mark cooked foil packs of sweet potatoes, onions and squash from the Bentonville Farmers Market. The meat eaters enjoyed chicken from Adams Acres on Clear Creek.

I am pretty sure that the dogs had the best weekend ever! They enjoyed swimming, sleeping in the tent and being around their people. Keema continues to amaze me with her sweet and gentle soul, I know she is here to teach me something. Dogs really make you see what it is like to live in the moment. They weren't depressed by the past or anxious for the future, they just enjoyed.

I hope that you have a chance to go out and connect this fall. Connect with nature, other living beings and your friends; feel what it is like to disconnect from whatever it is that doesn't concern you in that moment. Truly find joy in just being here, now.