Date: April 2nd 2010

Hello dear subscribers,

Wow. Do you SEE how nice this weather is? I mean…wow. Just…wow.

Ahem. Anyway, we do apologize for the lack of communication lately – but, you see, we’ve been working our little tuckuses off making and shipping out candy! As you’ll find in the newsletter, our friends in the media have a lot to do with why we’ve been so busy lately. Lots of exciting stuff coming up, so let’s get to it!

IN THIS ISSUE:

-Market Dates – Movin’ on back outside (sort of); **NO FLEA April 17, June 19/20**

-News: Serious Eats’ new not-so-serious blogger; NEW locations!

-Sweets: Bourbon, coffee, and…yup, bacon

-Events: Formaggio Kitchen (MA) tasting 4/17; BK Kitchen Class

-Press: DailyCandy, UrbanDaddy, Uncrate & some television excitement!

MARKET DATES

The Flea is moving back outside NEXT WEEKEND (April 10/11)! Saturdays will be at the original location at Bishop Laughlin Memorial HS in Fort Greene; but Sundays we’ll be back at One Hanson.

What does this mean for you? Well, we’ll be on the main floor instead of down in the vault, so we’ll actually get some sunshine (hooray!); and our Flea dates will extend through the season, since One Hanson is air-conditioned! Once it gets really hot we’ll only be doing Sundays; but fret not – we’ll certainly let you know when that happens.

Also note that we will NOT be at the Flea on Saturday, April 17th (see the reason why in Events); or for the weekend of June 19/20. That’s it for the foreseeable future – but stay updated by following us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/Liddabit), and/or becoming a fan of ours on Facebook.

NEWS

It seems as though someone’s been paying attention to the blog and this very newsletter (however neglected they may be…ahem) – and thought yours truly would be a good fit to write about chocolate for a James-Beard-Award-nominated food blog! So it is with great pride that I announce my bloggership with the one, the only, Serious Eats. I’m truly humbled and thankful for the experience, and hope to learn a lot from it – as well as teach a little along the way. You can find my latest post (on drugstore Easter candy) here: http://bit.ly/cfwDC3 - previous posts included a hot-fudge recipe, a bean-to-bar tutorial, and a how-to on chocolate tempering. Got something you think I should blog about? Send it on over to liz@liddabitsweets.com - I’m always looking for ideas!

We’re also thrilled to announce that we’re at several new locations! Blue Apron Foods, Bklyn Larder, Get Fresh Table & Market (all Park Slope) and Kill Devil Hill (Greenpoint) now carry our delicious sweets! Just make sure to check in with them before you stop by, if you’re looking for something in particular – not all stores stock the same things. Links can be found on our Locations page: http://www.liddabitsweets.com/locations/

SWEETS

Okay. So when we started the business, we swore up and down that we would never do certain things: enforce good work habits with a bullwhip, climb our way to the top of the corrupt capitalist system over the backs of the proletariat, make a candy with bacon in it. But then Jen came up with this amazing recipe, and we couldn’t stop eating it – and decided we just had to share it with you guys.

To that end, we’ve made some caramel corn with –yes – bacon. But here’s the thing: it’s FREAKING AWESOME. We wouldn’t sell it if it wasn’t. The caramel is made with bourbon and a little bit of coffee; then we add the cooked bits of bacon, which immediately crisp up and candy in the syrup. All that is poured over air-popped organic popcorn and mixed to crunchy, salty, smoky boozy perfection.

Damn…now I want some.

You can usually find it (we call it the Breakfast of Heroes) at the Flea, but we just so happen to be out this weekend. Sorry! You can check out Marlow & Daughters, Northern Spy or Bedford Cheese shop to see if they still have any this weekend; or if you can’t wait for next weekend’s Flea, you can order it at our online store here: http://bit.ly/cPJLPT

EVENTS

-On Saturday, April 17th, we’re going to Massachussetts! We’ll be joining some of our BK Flea buddies (McClure’s, Nunu, Fine + Raw) and Brooklyn Brewery at Formaggio Kitchen to chat with folks and give out some samples! If you’re in the area, definitely come on down and say hello. Details here: http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/huronave/classes

-We’re teaching another class at the Brooklyn Kitchen Labs! Mark your calendar for May 25th; we’ll be cooking up some jelly candies, and discussing the challenges and rewards of making them with fresh greenmarket produce.

PRESS

As mentioned above, a spate of recent press has been keeping us mighty busy! Here’s the scoop:

-The NY Times T Magazine blog called our Beer & Pretzel Caramels “the sure thing”: http://nyti.ms/cT2SSG

-A Tasting Table featuring both our joint Valentine efforts with Red Hook Lobster Pound and Kumquat Cupcakes: http://bit.ly/b2L8UP

-The Times’ The Local blog on our special V-day sweets: http://bit.ly/cYWbCN

-Breakfast of Heroes as one of DailyCandy's excuses for a coffee break: http://bit.ly/9nUING

-Beer & Pretzel on Uncrate (mmm, PBR float): http://bit.ly/bsJ00w

-A cameo in an LA Times article about pop-up stores, also heavily featuring AsiaDog and the fantastic Dorie Greenspan: http://bit.ly/a0HwJA

-an awesome feature in UrbanDaddy on the good old Beer & Pretzel: http://bit.ly/910MAn

...In addition to this, we just shot a promo for The Cooking Channel, the Food Network's companion network that's launching on Memorial Day. So keep an eye peeled - you might just see us waxing poetic about candy in between commercials!

And, oh, did you know that Food Curated was nominated for a James Beard Award? Round of applause for our lady of awesomeness Liza de Guia! You can find her video on us, as well as a ton of other amazing producers, here: http://bit.ly/8zf8aN

As mentioned above, Serious Eats was also nominated – and I’d like to submit that I technically started writing for them before the nominations were announced. So if they win I’d better get a medallion or something. (…okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch.)

…phew! That’s it for now. Apologies for the length – we’ll be better about updating in the future. Hopefully. In the meantime, enjoy this gorgeous weather – hope to see you at the Flea this weekend, and we’ll write again soon!

Heart,

Liz & Jen