I came to chocolate in a very round about way. Ironically even having said that my story is very similar to other chocolatiers out there, still  each chocolatiers journey is unique to them. Having gone to school for Glass Art I found myself working in a big box store stocking shelves overnight to pay the bills. Then to a inbound call company where I helped customers book travel all over the world and then after moving here to San Francisco I found myself working in a Bank. But the one thing that was constant in all those situations was Art and Baking. It was during a Art assignment where I made my first Cheesecake for a dinner party themed exhibition we were having along with potluck. From there no matter what job I held, I continued baking and trying different desserts out but always focusing on flavors I had not seen in the stores as well as the look and artistry of the bake. 

So where does chocolate come in you may ask? Well from the baking of course. As I read and watched more and more programs and books I saw many of the high end desserts with chocolate decorations and even at times completely made out of chocolate. The constant through out all of it was Tempering the chocolate. "Tempering the chocolate?" I asked myself, what on earth is Tempering chocolate? Well for those that don't know, basically it is what makes chocolate shinny and gives it that distinctive "snap" when you break it. To get there though it is a controlled process of heating, cooling, and heating chocolate again to get the molecules in the chocolate to align in a specific form. Sounds all technical and alchemic right? Well you are not far wrong. So thats why I found a class to take. The class taught me not only how to temper chocolate but many of the techniques used in chocolate making and from there it opened my eyes to the artistry of chocolate. Even then I never thought of trying to even sell chocolates as a business. 

So here I am making these chocolates for gifts and for friends and each of them encouraging me to sell them as well as providing unsolicited thanks and amazement over the quality and taste. So I decided to see where this Chocolate venture takes me. And so BearPhoenix Chocolates was born. So come and try my Artisan chocolates and see what adventures they take you on.