Christine Sanders Blog

We’ve been Christmas-ified!

Christine — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:38:55 +0000

It might be early November, but here at CSC it is feeling like Christmas already. The site has been ‘Christmas-ified’ and oh, it looks so pretty and so…. Christmassy…
Stocks are coming in and your delicious delights are duely tasted and tested just to ensure the knee-buckling continues with gusto!
There has been a slight change to the range …… Lemongrass is no longer available. I know, it’s really sad news and it was such a yummy chocolate. However the good news is that the every popular and much loved Spiced Ginger Biscuit has stepped up the mark and now is a fully fledged member of the range. It won Great Taste Gold in 2009 and is a real and true knee-buckler! Wow!

November has arrived??

Christine — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:28:23 +0000

How come we are in November already? The year has flown by so very quickly!
Here at CSC we are getting ready for that wonderful time of year where we can indulge without a trace of guilt, and shower our loved ones with delicious yummy treats. Not forgetting yourself of course!
Yes, Christmas is a-coming!
And if (unlike me) you are the organised type, you can place your order early, pop in a note to say when you’d like them posted, and sit back and relax….
Our first Christmas show is on 19th November Little Luxuries at the Queens Hall, Narberth.

It’s all hotting up!

Christine — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:18:16 +0000

It’s all getting busy at the Christine Sanders Chocolates right now!

New deliveries on their way and just had a very productive meeting with Ian from Outhaus.

Don’t forget – Little Luxuries Queen’s Hall this Saturday and then Cardigan Food Festival on Saturday 6th August.

Llandysul Food Festival

Christine — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:15:48 +0000

Llandysul Food Festival was again a new fair for me and to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect. Well what an absolutely lovely food festie! It is quite small (about 1,500 visitors) but, as we all know, small is beautiful… and this did not disappoint.
We were in a lovely flat green park with a band stand in the centre and had a delight of music wafting our way throughout the day. A harpist, a few choirs and if this was not enough, it was all followed by some great music being played, songs to suit all tastes.
And as always, the food festival was supported by such lovely people. Chocolates were tasted and chocolates were swooned over and many, many chocolates were bought to be gobbled up later that evening! A few people asked if we send chocolates by post (we do!) and if we send them global (we do that too!)…. So, if you are ever stuck for the perfect present to send to someone special, you know you need look no further…
And it seems that thoughts are once again turning romantic as we had many enquiries for wedding favours…
The weather also stayed dry which is always a blessing here in Wales and the atmosphere was just fantastic.
Thank you to everyone who made Llandysul Food Festival such a wonderful day out. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I’m sure the visitors did too. And a massive thank you must go to everyone who came and said hello, tasted and discovered Christine Sanders Chocolates for themselves. Welcome to the world of seriously delicious chocolates! Enjoy your chocolates – you know you’re worth it!

Weddings! Rachel’s getting married…

Christine — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:18:32 +0000

Today we delivered to our very first wedding. It was so exciting!
I met Rachel at the Welsh National Wedding Fayre in Swansea at the beginning of the year. Since then we have been in regular contact, matching ribbon to her colour scheme, deciding on favours and ensuring that as far as her wedding favours were concerned, absolutely everything went as smooth as chocolate. It did….
Well I just love weddings! Not my own, I hasten to add, but I love being part and going to weddings. It is all just so romantic and a time when cherubs and fairy dust abound!
So, with just over 100 carefully made up, tweaked, preened and beautifully presented wedding favours at the ready, I set off to meet Rachel at Margam Park in Port Talbot.
What a beautiful place for a wedding it is. It looked so lovely, so sparkling and just poised for the whole celebration to begin tomorrow (Saturday 25th).
It was great to meet Rachel’s mum once more and also this time to meet her dad as well. Rachel also arrived, and in true bride style, she looked just radiant. Positively glowing. I know tomorrow she is going to look an absolutely gorgeous bride.
So, without further ado, I carefully placed the wedding favours on the tables and stood back. I know, I know I’m shamelessly biased, but they did look absolutely beautiful, quite stunning infact. The first wedding, and I was delighted.
Have a truly wonderful wedding day tomorrow Rachel. Thank you so much for having Christine Sanders Chocolates as part of your wedding and may you and your husband have a life of Passion Fruit and Champagne, a deliciously, fabulously, wonderful life together..

Welsh Game Fair 18th and 19th June

Christine — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:16:30 +0000

Well as you all know, this year I am the ‘new kid on the block’ as far as food festivals are concerned, and The Welsh Game Fair was so highly recommended by fellow foodie fest stall holders, that I thought I had got to be there. And I was!
And…… the weather (for the last few years) had always been absolutely glorious as well.

So there I was, grinning ear to ear as I arrived on the Saturday morning. Although the weather forecast was not brilliant, I (the ever optimistic) wore a summer dress and sandals, and opened up shop. Then the heavens opened! Oh wow, what rain! It poured down!
Being in a marquee, me (and my delicious chocolates) were safe and dry, but it did turn into a mud field outside. It was reminisiant of Glastonbury Festival I can tell you!

But did this deter us? Did this put us off? No! Chocolates awaited and chocolates were duly devoured! Luxury chocolates had arrived and the people (although a tad damp) came, tasted, felt the buckling of knees, the soaring of chocolate ticked taste buds, and arrived in Christine Sanders Chocolates heaven!
Again, it was just wonderful to meet so many people. Many visitors had travelled over from Ireland, and they are such a great bunch. So much humour and oh, I just love the Irish accent…

Hello to everyone I met. It was fantastic to meet you all and thank you as always, for buying Christine Sanders Chocolates – the best luxury handmade award winning chocolates ever! Enjoy…….

Queen’s Hall Little Luxuries

Christine — Sat, 28 May 2011 17:33:24 +0000

Another great but frenzied day at the Little Luxuries, Queen’s Hall, Narberth!

I just love doing my local! It’s a little like a monthly club really… and it’s always sooo lovely to meet my regular customers once more, who say ‘hi’ and ‘ooooooh yyyeeeesss!’ as they pick up their scrummy delicious treat of knee-buckling chocolates!

It was a busy day, but what a wonderful day, and hello again to everyone I met. Enjoy your chocoates, and may your knees truly buckle!

I tell you, being in this business is fab! It’s such a great feel-good factor making people Happy Happy. They always leave my stand with a broad smile on their faces and as Nina Simone once sang, ‘That Pleases Me’!

Knee-buckling Moments

Christine — Fri, 20 May 2011 08:39:24 +0000

Well it’s all happening in the little world of chocolate bubbling away here in the depths of Wales…
We’ve just had a new delivery of Champagne Truffle – I know, the very favourite of many. To be honest, it isn’t usually one of my absolute favourites, but it has such a dedicated following and loved, no, adored by so many fans, it had to be in the range. And the Champagne Truffle doesn’t usually make my knees sink to the floor following by moments of swooning and crooning… But oh, this was different. Oh yes, by gum it was yum! Delicious, scrumptious and mmmm, mmM, MMM!! Infact, one just wasn’t enough – I just had to munch through another and oh, just one more just to be sure…….
We’ve also just had a delivery of Rose Creme and Violet Creme, and for these two, Cathie from our Tasting Team steps up to the mark. These are Cathie’s absolute favourites and Cathie, I have to tell you, is very demanding. No if’s or but’s , they have to tickle her taste buds in just the right way to get past her, I can tell you. No ‘perhaps’ or ‘maybe’s ‘ with Cathie. Unless they knock her off her feet and send her to heavenly places of ecstasy, Cathie won’t accept them. Simple as that.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Lovers of Chocolate and wobbly knees, I can proudly announce that YES!, the Rose Creme and the Violet Creme passed the testing with flying colours, they ARE knee-buckling, and they were accepted! Cathie for her part, is a very happy and contented girlie indeed. Smiling and with a sparkle in her eyes, she is very satisfied and very happy. Thank you Cathie, you have, as always, dedicated yourself to the cause of demanding only the true knee-bucklers, and have done an absolutely sterling job!

Wonderful West Wales Food Festie

Christine — Mon, 16 May 2011 10:17:17 +0000

We’ve just had a wonderful weekend at the West Wales Food Festival held at the Botanical Gardens, Carmarthenshire.

There are so many wonderful aspects doing a 2 day show.
Yes, there are negatives…. working till the early hours the night before is not a moment of joy (!), followed by 2 full days being stood on your feet…. but there are so many positives. And as we all know, a little G and T on the Sunday evening can work wonders for the tired body!

What I really like about the shows, are the people. As it’s my first year of trading, I’m the new kid on the block as far as exhibiting at Food Festivals and to be honest, I hadn’t ever thought about the atmosphere behind the scenes – but it’s lovely. What a fabulous and friendly bunch traders are! And yes, we taste each others samples, and you don’t need me to tell you how scrumptious, amazing and utterly yummy, food is at these festies! Soo many heavenly delights!

And of course, it is always truly lovely to meet so many people. I met people from all over the uk – some on holiday, some local. And always, without exception, all really friendly and having a fabulous day going from one delicious deight after another. It’s also just wonderful to introduce people to CSC.. Oh, yes, we hear the word Wow! quite a few times in these parts, I can tell you! One man became such a massive Orange Marmalade fan he sent all his friends (and possibly some strangers too!) to my stall to taste them for themselves. And I’ve just had an email from someone who wants to buy some more to share with all his friends! Now that’s what I call a Very Best Friend Indeed!
Yep, I guess that’s the fantastic thing about Food Festies – it is just a delightfully delicious to be in a place, where food and gastronomic delights abound with utter abandonment!

Hello to anyone I met, and a big thank you to everyone – the organisers, the traders and most important of all, to all the very wonderful, lovely lovers of chocolate!

My Love Arrived!

Christine — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:13:41 +0000

Well those of you that have read previous blogs before, know that I probably don’t mean a handsome young man or even ugly old man stood on my doorstep!
No, what I was really interested in was what he was holding in his hands!!
It was, as some may have guessed, a delicious and scrumptious delivery of the most yummiest of chocolates.
As usual, I grabbed them off Mr Delivery Man and rushed upstairs into The Chocolate Room.
Straight into quality control with every taste bud on full alert, ready and waiting. Ooohhhh, we were impressed! Oooohhhh they hit the mark.
Moments of utter delight and magic abounded.
Yes, Yes, Yes! Serious knee-bucklers await all!