Easter Countdown

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

We're getting ready for Easter, one day at a time. Once you've got your general logistic planned -- family feast, private celebration, or something in between -- it's good to make yourself a timeline.The bunny here clearly isn't ready for the arriving guests, and we don't want to be in this position.

We've got just about four weeks to get ready, so we can divide the upcoming tasks up that way:
  • This week, decide on the place, time, and guest list. Talk with anyone else who should be involved in the decision. Go ahead and order your Sweetique Eggs, too. Make any travel arrangements now.
  • Next week, send out the invitations and plan the menu. If you need to shop for Easter baskets, outfits for the children, or supplies for houseguests, go ahead while the selection is good.
  • The following week, assign potluck duties, have family portraits made if that's part of your tradition, and clean and decorate the house.
  • The week before Easter, shop for food and do advance preparations for the meal. Confirm with your guests and arrange airport pickups and so forth.
When the big day arrives, you'll be calm and ready to enjoy it.

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Easter Countdown

Monday, March 8, 2010

Easter Sunday this year is on April 4th, just about four weeks away.That means it's time for the Easter Countdown.

Easter is second only to Thanksgiving for festive family dinners in the U.S., so right now is the time to start making your plans.The first thing to consider is the guest list:
  • Can you get the whole family together in one place, at one time? If so, consider the possible locations. If there are too many people for anyone's dining room, you have other options, from renting a pavilion in the park to setting up a buffet and having everyone balance plates on their laps. Just figure it out now, so you won't have last-minute problems that interfere with the pleasure of the occasion.
  • Do you have to divide up? Blended families, divorced families, unmarried couples whose families still expect them home for the holiday, and families with two sets of grandparents in distant cities all have to be prepared to compromise. Now, before anyone has baked anything, have those conversations. Maybe the kids can have breakfast and attend church with one family, and join the other for dinner. Maybe you can feast with one side of the family at 1:00 and the other at 6:00. Maybe brunch on Easter Saturday would work for one family just as well as Easter Sunday dinner. Planning ahead avoids hurt feelings.
  • No family? Plan a gathering with friends on the big day, so none of you has to feel like you're missing out. If you're the only singleton in your set, or all your friends are leaving town to be with their families, tell someone -- chances are, one of the families you know would love to add you to their guest list, but they won't ask you if they figure you're going to be with your parents.
  • And some people don't want to take part in a big family meal, either with their own families or with others. Make another plan right now, so you can tell all the well-meaning people inviting you that you can't join them, because you've made other plans. If those plans involve you, a Sweetique egg, and your cat, no one needs to know. It's the telltale deer in the headlights look and "Uhh.... I... uhh... I don't think I can..." response to invitations that gets you dragooned into social events you don't want to be part of.

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Get On Our Email List!

Friday, March 5, 2010


We send luscious emails, with special offers and information. You will imagine the scent of chocolate as you read, and the experience will just generally improve your day.

Head right over to our contact Sweetique page, and tell us you want a free subscription. That way, you won't miss a thing!

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Bread and Chocolate

Thursday, March 4, 2010


When I was a little girl, we used to have bread and chocolate for a snack. This was in France, so it was a matter of begging the cook for a nice crusty roll, tearing it open, and tucking in a bit of good chocolate. On a special occasion, bread and chocolate might even be a croissant and chocolate, though this involved getting the croissants from a bakery.

In the U.S., we can't keep things this simple (though I think we might like it, if we make sure to have the same high quality of simple ingredients). Here are some American takes on bread and chocolate from around the web:
The pains au chocolat have French names, but they are the chocolate pastries we eat here in America, not the pain au chocolat of my French childhood. The last one reminds me both of French Toast and the infamous Scottish deep-fried chocolate sandwich, but all of them involve bread and chocolate in some way. Let us know which ones you prefer!

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The World's Oldest Writing?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Researchers in South Africa have found what they believe might be the oldest human writing, or at least the oldest attempt to convey information graphically. The writings, 60,000 year old ostrich eggs with regular patterns of scratches in geometric shapes, look very intentional and quite different from random markings.

Linguists, pointing to the fact that current residents of the area used to mark ostrich shells with geometric patterns to show ownership, suggest that the decorated eggs are in fact an extremely early evidence of human language. The speculations, reported in New Scientist, contrast with the traditional view that true language began about 50,000 years ago.

While some have always held that some sort of symbolic representation of communication must have been present among homo sapiens as part of the definition of the species, putting the origin of language at about two million years ago, writing has been thought to be a much later development.

Having seen the images, we think that they may be the forerunners of the "Picturesque" design of Sweetique Chocolate Easter Eggs, which you can see in the photo above, on the right.

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