No Sleep 'Til Artisanal LA (Our Breakdown of the Weekend's Festivities)

BELATED POST.  Obviously.  But thanks to all the participants, attendees, and AWESOME Artisanal LA crew for making our 2nd show - THE BEST!!

We knew it was a sign of good things to come when we saw this:  (Check out the segment at the 2:30 mark.  And something that made us dance a jig at 3:30.)

View more videos at: http://www.nbclosangeles.com.

YEAH.  I KNOW. :)  So much love for and thanks to Shawna Dawson, the femme fatale founder, who produced and cultivated the show for the mention.

And now for the rundown...

Friday, we arrived a little early to load-in and set-up.  Santa Monica Place had created a great show room out of the empty space that was the 3rd floor of Bloomingdales.  We had most of our gear from our Farmers' Market booth to build our space, but added a few little product photos for the new friends we hoped to make over the weekend.  Short two hours later, we were set-up and off to bake for the weekend.

We returned later that evening for the media preview and met a few of the awesome food writers & food tweeps that we follow on Twitter!!  It was great to put the face to the blog and give some hugs out too. :)   Some were even generous to give us a shout on their write up!  (Check out the end of the post.)   2 hours later, SG and I were dunzo and ready to get some shut eye (aka stay up and finish prepping.)

Early the next morning, we met with our dear friends and family that not only volunteered their time and energy to support our business, but were also largely responsible for our success at the show due to their hustlin' and slangin' skills.  We heard the announcement that the show was starting and looked up to see a line o' food lovers waiting for the doors to open, open, open.

We cut up the bread pudding and spooned out the crème caramel for samples and by the look of the empty boxes at the end of the day, we dished up hundreds that first day.  Our desserts were available for immediate eats, as well as take home, but if you ask what was more satisfying, we'd say watching people walk around eating from our white little paper cups as they enjoyed the show.

We had little temporary tattoos of our lil' "I'm Not a Cupcake" guy (Dapper to us internally) and we were giddy that the attendees wanted to put them on.

New friend, @labui09, and her friends get tatted!

Before we knew it, it was end of our first day and we SOLD OUT of both Caramelized Bacon & Chocolate Bread Puddings & Original Crème Caramel!  YAY to sold out, but cripes that means staying up all night baking.  Good problem.

Next day, the sun was shining and we were back in Santa Monica ready to start off running.  And running, we did!  We were selling those sample like they were free.  Which made it easy because they were free, but what we hearted was that the free sample followed up with a, "I'll take some..."  YAY!  Another love added to our Crème Caramel LA ranks. :)

We sold out again of the Caramelized Bacon, Chocolate, and all crème caramels.  I'm glad we made many happy, but for those who missed out, I'm sincerely sorry we ran out.  :(

Here is the happy couple that had the last Chocolate Bread Pudding!

And this lovely love came back to show us she finished the dessert!! :)

Before the day ended, @LetMeEatCake and I took some party shots!  (This picture would have been different 4 years ago.  At least no hangover!)

Day 2 of the show came quickly to a close and we ended it the way we always hoped we would.  With friends and family.

 

(Thanks Adris for the pic.)

Ok, I hate to be a cliche, but the smiles on our customer's faces are really what makes all the long nights worthwhile.  Thanks everyone for supporting our new business with your smiles and bellies.

Total sleeping hours logged in a 96 hour period - 14 hours.  YEEOW!

Special thanks to Adri d, Erin Y, Kyle d, Sheila E, & Kiara C for making us look awesome.  I love you.

Thanks to @SauceLA, @LetMeEatCake, @CameraChickie, @GastronomyBlog, @QueequegMB,  @CarolineonCrack, @LAist, @StreetGourmetLA, @Treasure_LA, @FrenchyFoody, @RicardomZarate, @JulieWolfson, @Coledick, @DishingDelights, @OneMoreBiteBlog, @CastIronGourmet, @bassbiz, @AllSpiceCafe, @PlushPuffs, @IHeartPies, @LeBonGarcon, @Damnthatsgood1, @Coldwaterrondo, @Exfolatte, @shortninlb @EdibleWestside, @EmbraceSweets, @BangersnSmashed, @AlexisCJolly, @AllJarredUP, @UniqueLA, @Theliquorcake, @AnnoyedGamer, @MissFruitfly, @PrincessGourmet, @KRapothecary, @honeymyheart, @SuperShaina, @ConsumingLA, @SavoryNotes, @LATimesFood, @ElinaShatkin, @Gmasbakery, @Mothercluck, @ViciVictual, @GOODLAHQ for stopping by! (I know I'm getting myself in trouble and will have missed a few.  If that's you.  Please let me know.  I apologize for my memory.  :( I really do appreciate you.)

And extra special thanks to and my unending love for SG. Without you, I wouldn't even have dreamed of doing this crazy business.  Thanks for making everything better just by being you. (Don't kick my butt for this PDA. ;-) )

 (Heh it was worth it.)

Hearts again to all.  Thanks for reading.  Wait...THERE'S MORE!!

Crème Caramel LA Mentions:  (Thanks again to the writers for giving us a shout!)

LA Weekly Blogs: Artisanal LA Spring 2011 Photo Gallery + Top 5 Eats

Let Me Eat Cake: Crème Caramel LA - A Love Story

Blogging LA: GTD This Weekend: Lots of Art

Street Gourmet LA: Artisanal LA Spring 2011: Guys like Shopping Too

Laist : A Brief Guide to Artisanal LA This Weekend

Treasure LA: Artisanal LA : Where Passion Meets Delicious

Caroline on Crack: Artisanal LA Spring Show 2011: Liquor Cakes, Peep Pies, Cracker Brittle

Julie Wolfson's Posterous: Quick Vist to @ArtisanalLA

Trippy Food: Artisanal LA Spring Show Gallery

One More Bite: Artisanal LA Rockin' Locavores Worlds Oceancide

Savory Notes: Artisanal LA

julietilsner.com: Artisanal L.A.: Bacon is the New Black

Guzzle & Nosh: Flickr Stream

The Nomlog: Favorite Finds at Artisanal LA
Artisanal LA Spring Show: Flickr Group

And we keep movin...
Join us this Saturday, April 30th for our 2nd week at Gigi's Farmers Market held at The Americana in Glendale on Caruso Street!  We'll be there from 10am-2pm.

Sunday, May 1st - you have two choices:  Melrose Place Farmers Market in WeHo 10am-2pm OR get your wine on with our Original Crème Caramel at Domaine 547!  Get your tickets here.

AND we're so pumped (how Jersey Shore of us.  What?  Too 2010?) for our first show at Unique LA, May 7-8th!!  We'll have a different format, more concession style than promotion, but we are BRINGIN EATS.  NEW EATS in fact.  Hint:  One of the treats collabos with Plush Puffs marshmallows.  MMM MMM YUM!!  Get your tickets here, please.  And guess what??  Admission includes entry for BOTH days!  Over 250 vendors?  You'll need that extra day. :)  Check out the list o' participants!

I really do love you all.  Thanks for the support.

XOXO,
KdlC

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From Here On Out... Double Header Weekends!

Taking a little breather for a moment since this time will probably be one we look back and say, "Remember when we actually had a minute to breathe?"

Here on out, we're doing double headers on the weekend bringing crème caramel and bread pudding all over the LA map!


View Crème Caramel LA - Where to Find Us! in a larger map


It all starts this weekend.  Don't forget to RSVP to all of GOOD LA's Launch Weekend events, April 8-10th.  We're going to be indoors this time at the Community Marketplace on Saturday vending the cool crème caramel and hot bread pudding for our Atwater Village friends (Atwater Crossing - Casitas Ave).  The event is going to be a fun opportunity to see Artisanal LA and Unique LA vendors in one spot!  Other fun workshops are planned in support of our awesome Los Angeles community.  Definitely check out any of the events, but we hope you swing by on Saturday!

And as always (mostly always) we will will be at the Melrose Place Farmers' Market in West Hollywood, 10am-2pm (La Cienega/Melrose Place).  Yay!  Home #1!

If you haven't done so yet, purchase your Artisanal LA pre-sale tickets now!  It's $15 at the door, so get your pre-sale tickets for $10: http://artisanallaspring.eventbrite.com/  

Our first experience with Artisanal LA was as an attendee, pre-Crème Caramel LA.  We were excited about checking out the local vendors and eats.  We were not disappointed.  By the time we were past the first row of booths we were STUFFED with samples.  It was a great way to meet local purveyors and sample their offerings.  Although we could have easily ate our way through the show, we also made sure to take home some of the products from Cast Iron Gourmet, All Spice Cafe, Gotta Have S'mores, Anticucho sauce from Chef Ricardo Zarate, and eats from Market & Homeboy Industries with coffee from Cafe de Leche.  This year's show is going to be AMAZING.  New venue with much more room for new vendors.  In fact almost half the show has new kids on the Artisanal LA block.  WOOHOO!  And for our Crème Caramel LA loves, we have a special item that will be available only at Artisanal LA.  Don't miss out. :)

SO MANY MORE EVENTS coming up! (AND yes, we've added a second farmer's market in Glendale!!)  I'll post the next events after Artisanal LA later this week.

Ok, back to hyperventilating.

XOXO,

KdlC

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Countdown Clocks to Crème Caramel LA Events!

Wee!  Excited to bring back our desserts to the Melrose Place Farmers' Market this Sunday!  The weather is going to beautiful and we can't wait to see our friends out and about.

The next two months are going to be bananuts for Crème Caramel LA, so we decided to amp up our anticipation by installing countdown clocks for each event!!  (Not as sexy as I'd like, but hey it's COUNTING DOWN our events.  I love it!)

Let's start with this Sunday's Farmers' Market in West Hollywood:



Yee!  It worked!  Next up, GOOD LA's Launch Weekend - Community Marketplace at Atwater Crossing:



Yahoo!  Purple and Gold!  What about counting down to the fantastic food event, Artisanal LA?



Spring-y!  Here's the countdown to our 2nd Farmers' Market at the Americana in Glendale:



I apologize for my nerdy love of this, but here's the last countdown for UNIQUE LA!



Hope to see you all.  We're making Green Tea White Chocolate Crème Caramel again as an off menu item on Sunday.  Hope to see you there!

I'll be 10, 9, 8ing,
KdlC

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We Made a Map!

Since we're all over the Los Angeles map in the next two months, we made a little "Where's CCLA?" guide for you, our dear friends.

Here's the link for the inner map geek in you: Map

Melrose Place Farmers Market is back on this Sunday, April 3rd.  If you missed us as much as we missed you, you won't be surprised by our random hug giving this Sunday.  It's what we do.

Here's a handy guide of the upcoming events to go with your spiffy map:

April 8, 9, 10 - GOOD LA Launch Weekend

Artisanal LA and Unique LA vendors will be mashing it up at the Pop-Up Community Center in the snazzy Atwater Crossing complex on Saturday, April 9th!  GOOD LA has so many fun activities and things to do for their launch, so if you can't make it to the Community Center, definitely check out the other GOOD things going on over the weekend!  DON'T FORGET TO RSVP!

April 16-17 - Artisanal LA Spring Show

Saturday, April 16th | 11a - 8p

Sunday, April 17th | 11a - 7p

It's our second Artisanal LA show since our official launch at the December Holiday Pop-Up, just 3 and half months ago!  We're hoping this is a trend. :)  If there is one food event you MUST go to this year, it is this one.  Artisanal LA was launched to bring together local food producers and artisans to showcase their craft and spread the love of local eats.  If you haven't been to the December or October shows, you don't want to miss the Spring event.  It's at a new venue - Santa Monica Place's NEW Dining Deck in the heart of Santa Monica!  Beautiful views and tantalizing treats.  A fantastic way to start off your Spring!  **SPOILER ALERT - we're bringing a new treat to this event that will be available at ARTISANAL LA ONLY!**

Pre-Sale Tickets -- available online through Eventbrite beginning April 1 -- $10

Day of Event Tickets -- available at the door, space permitting -- $15

* All programming, hosted beverages and tote bags (for the first 1000 attendees) are included in the ticket price

April 23 - 2nd Farmers' Market Added - Gigi's Farmers' Market at The Americana!

We're happy to announce our 2nd Farmers' Market spot for our Eastside friends.  Starting Saturday, April 23rd and every Saturday after that, we'll be at Gigi's Farmers' Market located on the South side of The Americana!  Look out for our booth and stop by to say hi!  We'll give more hugs out!

May 7-8 - Unique LA Spring Show

The largest independent design show in America.  And we're bringing our desserts!  Local designers bring their lovely wares and we get to feed the hungry shoppers!  We're honored to be a part of this wonderful event with a few other Artisanal LA alum.  It'll be a Clothing, Art, and Design spectactular!

Pre-sale and Door Tickets: $10

Hope to see you at one of the events. :)

XOXO,

KdlC

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Melrose Place FM closed 3/27 - We'll be back on Sunday, April 3rd!

City is repaving the road, so Melrose Place Farmers' Market will be closed this Sunday.

BUT we'll be back at the market on Sunday, April 3rd!  If you can't wait until then, we do take online orders for delivery to addresses in LA and Orange Counties - 7 days a week (Delivered before 5pm.)

Thank you again for supporting and eating our treats.  We heart you, LA!!

XOXO, KdlC

Beautiful Weekend - Chockfull of News!

We hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.  The weather was super fantastic this weekend in Los Angeles.  Traffic, smog, potholes... you have nothing on our sunny days!  Spring forward if you haven't already.  While we lose 1 hour of sleep, we gain so much more daylight to enjoy the days activities after work.  WE LOVE THAT.

Speaking of more activities, we have a bunch of new news to share with you, our Crème Caramel LA loves:

First up, we're adding a second farmers' market!! Yahoo!!  Starting April 23rd - Saturdays, we'll be at the Glendale Americana - Gigi's Farmers' Market slangin our desserts for our Eastside friends.  We're super excited to be adding another vending date to our schedule.  Gigi's Farmer's Market is located in the Glendale Americana and is up and running 10am-2pm.  For our parentals out there, they have a petting zoo for the kiddies, and of course shopping, eats, and a movie theatre on site!  We'd love to see you strolling around with a cup of hot Caramelized Bacon Bread Pudding or a chilled treat of Coffee Crème Caramel.

We received the next bit of news on Friday evening and we COULD NOT wait to tell you today.  We just learned that we were accepted to participate at Unique LA's Spring Show!!  (YES, DOUBLE EXCLAMATIONS!)  Unique LA hosts the largest independent design show in the country (yes, the whole US o' A) that showcases local artists and designers and we get to share our treats at the event. :)  Event will be held in Downtown LA at the California Market Center's Penthouse, May 7-8 (your admission gives you access both days.)  Thanks to Sonja at Unique LA for the opportunity.  We're super excited!

We heart Artisanal LA.  We're giddy with excitement for the upcoming Artisanal LA Spring Show for the following three reasons: 1) all local food producers and artisans will be in one beautiful space showcasing their best and yummiest, 2) it's happening in less than month, April 16-17, and 3) Artisanal LA and Shawna (the event's founder) gave us the opportunity to officially launch our company at the Holiday Pop-Up and we had a FANTASTIC time !!! (TRIPLE EXCLAMATIONS!)  Whether you're a locavore, a mild-mannered food lover, or just a Hungry Hungry Hippo, like me, this show cannot be missed.  Restaurants, small businesses, and amazing chefs will be ready to amaze and tantalize you with their wonderful savories, sweets, and umami goodness.

We were lucky to be included with an amazing group of participants in the December show: Cast Iron Gourmet (makes our bacon for our Caramelized Bacon Caramel Bread Pudding - aka CBC), All Spice Cafe (spices, sauces, and more to make your mouth tingle!), Mothercluck (amazing jams and wonderful jellies), ViciVictual (sweet potato pie, YES!), Crust by Stephanie Jayne (amazing, AMAZING s'mores pie),  Morning Glory Confections (Bacon Fat Brittle, what?!!), San Angel Mole (Holy Mole.  Ok, I'm sorry that I went with the obvious. :) ), Flying Pie Man (sad our meat pies are in Mountain View, CA),  Get Your Lardon (Bacon? BACON!  Yes, there is a running theme.) , and many more awesome food artisans that make us smile.  Needless to say, it's going to be a pretty sweet (and savory - *ba-dum CRASH) time. (Oops, forgot to add Cold Brewand Cola.  Wish I had some right now.)

More info to follow on these (and hopefully more) events as we get closer to these dates.

Our sincerest and heartfelt thanks to all our supports - friends, family, and new friends and family.  Without you we would have a lot of bread pudding and crème caramel on our hands and no one to eat them.

We love you.
KdlC

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P.S GEEZ Spring Forward!!  I totally forgot to thank @GmasBakery, @DianaTakesABite, and @Tinabellera for stopping by yesterday!  <3s and :)s and thanks. :)

We're Back!

Not in a Poltergeist-y way, because that creeps us (me) out.  We're back like a fun game show that showcases desserts!  We're at Melrose Place Farmers Market, this Sunday, my friends.  And we can't wait to march with our Dessert Parade once again.

 

We'll have a small batch of two (COUNT 'EM, TWO!) off menu items available.  Make sure to ask what we have in our little stash.  :)  We've sold out during the previous two weeks, so we'll make sure to bake more, but get there early just in case.  Please and thank you!

Our dear amiga, MJ, sent us this pic of her "Oscar Party Pack" which highlighted all 6 of our desserts! (Original, Chocolate, and Cafe Crème Caramel, and Original, Chocolate, and Carmelized Bacon Caramel Bread Pudding)  We love her and the pic.  Thanks again for sharing and ordering!

It will be 71 and beautiful, this Sunday, so we hope to see your lovely faces.  If you're cruising by en route to enjoy the beautiful day, make sure to check out our Drive-By Desserting option.  (Tweet or email us 1/2 hour before pick-up, get a confirmation, and get your treats curbside!)

XOXO

KdlC