Date: January 18th 2010

Hey there friends,

Man oh man…what a year 2009 was, eh? We didn’t even manage to get a newsletter out in December (sorry!) The good news is that it was because we were so busy – cranking out candy, putting together gift baskets and shipments, and seeing all your bright shining faces at the Gifted market . Luckily, things are a little (tiny) bit settled down now, so here you go – enjoy!

IN THIS ISSUE:
-Market Dates – Full Weekends at One Hanson Place -News: Haiti Donations
-Sweets: Peanut Butter and whaaaa?
-Events: Looking ahead
-Press: Edible Brooklyn, NYMag and the New York Freakin’ Times

MARKET DATES

Saturday was our debut at the stunning Flea at One Hanson Place, in the old clocktower building near the Atlantic terminal on Flatbush. Whattaday! In case you haven’t been, the main floor is a gorgeous, vaulted-ceiling wonder with all kinds of windows and a massive mosaic on the far wall. Vendors are spread out on the main floor and throughout the teller windows and mezzanine, creating a really cool labyrinthine effect.

So where are the foodies, you ask? In the safest (and awesomest) place of all – the vault. That’s right – walk downstairs and through the giant, 3-foot-thick metal door, and that’s where you’ll find us! We’re joined by our buddies at Early Bird Granola, Kumquat Cupcakery, McClure’s Pickles and more; as well as the Red Hook pupusa vendors, Asia Dog, Red Hook Lobster Pound, and all kinds of other nom-ables.

The best part? We’ll be there FULL WEEKENDS (Saturday and Sunday!) starting this weekend, January 23/24! That’s two whole days of awesome candy available to you for a last-minute hostess gift, afternoon pick-me-up, or pre- or post-brunch nosh. All the info you need can be found on the website here: http://bit.ly/6VebmI

NEWS

Not a ton going on at the moment on our end, so we’ll keep it short. The people of Haiti need whatever aid we can afford to give right now. In that spirit , we’re donating 10% of all our online sales through Friday 1/22 to Heart To Heart International for their relief efforts. Find out more about their mission here: http://bit.ly/6YVOMC

SWEETS

If you visited us at the last New Amsterdam Market (kudos to you if you did!), you snagged some of our amazing caramel corn. We were bombarded with requests for it after that; and since we can’t resist your wiles, we put it on our regular menu. Look for big, sharable, snackable bags of caramel corn with honeycomb crumbs and dark chocolate drizzle for sale at the Flea every weekend! Perfect to sneak into a movie or bring home for some couch-potato time.

We’ll have all kinds of other new stuff coming up; but the newest is truly, totally retro. It’s a fluffernutter bar. A perfect combination of crunchy/crumbly, sweet/salty, and fluffy/tender, it’s arguably the most comfort-food-y of our bars so far. If you like it half as much as we do (which is a lot), we’ve done our job.

Also debuting this weekend is a new caramel flavor. Liz’s obsessive love of anything involving preserved lemons, combined with Jen’s genius for pairing flavors, gave rise to the new Preserved Lemon/Olive Oil caramel. Tangy, citrusy and smooth, we promise you’ve never tasted anything like it. Pick some up at One Hanson next weekend! (They’ll be up on the website shortly.)

EVENTS

We’ve got some really cool stuff lined up for the spring and summer – tastings, anniversary celebrations and more! We’ll let you know as the dates approach, but think Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and some out-of-state fun…

PRESS

We got a lot of amazing press in November/December, which is partly why we had such an incredible season. Here’s a quick recap:

-Edible Brooklyn featured us in their Notable Edibles for December (all hail The King, indeed!): http://bit.ly/91P7DT

-we did a fun interview with Serious Eats about our favorite places to go and things to nosh: http://bit.ly/52TyiR

-OH MY FREAKING GOD THE NEW YORK TIMES MENTIONED US IN THE DINING CALENDAR: http://bit.ly/6sGi4b

-UrbanDaddy helped us get rid of all our Slurtles with their last-minute gift guide: http://bit.ly/4UeCAL

-we fared well as the rookies in NYMag/Grub Street’s roundup of chocolate gifts (we love you, Michael Laiskonis!): http://bit.ly/5xzqZe

-and finally, Food Curated’s Liza de Guia shot a lovely video starring our candy (and yours truly): http://bit.ly/8zf8aN

Well, that about does ‘er for now! Hope you enjoyed this edition, and we’re really looking forward to 2010. As always, all comments, questions, suggestions or flattery can be sent to us anytime at info (at) liddabitsweets (dot) com. Have a healthy and prosperous new year -- and happy (symbolic) birthday, Dr. King!

Cheers,
Liz and Jen