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Just Give In
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Tina "Tamale" Ramos
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Last Updated on October, 09 2008 at 01:10 PM
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I come from a long line of strong women. I sometimes look back and
wonder what kind of woman my grandmother was to start a grocery store
more than six decades ago. I wonder about the strength she must have
had to make the business thrive through the good times and the hard
times.
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Tina's favorite: M. Butterfly
I come from a long line of strong women. I sometimes look back and wonder what kind of woman my grandmother was to start a grocery store more than six decades ago. I wonder about the strength she must have had to make the business thrive through the good times and the hard times.
My mother ran the store my grandmother had founded. Today, I sell love and comfort disguised as food. But what if my path had not been so clearly marked? Would I have found myself in this line of work? What type of person travels along one career path and suddenly makes a left turn - to find themselves doing something completely different?
I had the opportunity to meet someone who just recently had these same questions answered. Her name is I-li Brice and she is the founder and creator of Vice Chocolates. She used to work as a web developer, but she had a medical condition and surgery last year that really made her rethink the direction of her life.
She was always creative. She cooked. She made music. And even as she recovered from her illness, Brice kept chocolates in her life. But sometime in the months after her surgery, she began wondering if she could turn something as fun as chocolate-making into a job.
Brice's husband, her family and her friends agreed that after her health scare, a change was necessary. Brice decided to study chocolate at Ecole Chocolat and became a master chocolatier after an internship in Vancouver, BC.
Brice then rented time in a commercial kitchen near Jack London Square to mix and shape pure simple ingredients. Of all her creations, my favorites include M. Butterfly, which is white chocolate ganache infused with lemongrass, kaffir lime and coconut milk in a molded semi-sweet 65% dark chocolate shell. Another favorite is the Violent Heart, a molded dark chocolate shell filled with a soft caramel delicately spiced with a hint of chipotle peppers. Both are beautifully painted in gold luster dust.
A friend once called chocolates her vice, and that's the name she gave her company. Her sister drew a logo that incorporated Eve and the serpent. If you ask me, a taste of vice chocolates is more like admission to Eden than an expulsion. As I get older, I appreciate more the value of small indulgences savored in moderation compared to the gluttony of my youth.
Brice will soon have her online shop up and running, but she is still working out the details on a storefront. Until then, look for her black and purple tent at the Jack London Square Farmers' Market every Sunday.
I see my grandmother in Brice. Both women had the mettle to create a business in which food and love are intertwined. A taste of her chocolates will make you weak in the knees and will give you a literal understanding of her tagline: "Just give in."
Vice Chocolates www.vicechocolates.com at the Jack London Square Farmers' Market at Broadway & Embarcadero Street, Oakland |
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OAKLAND
NEW
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