the prairie
To love this land
is to appreciate her nuances and respect her strength,
to survive her is nothing short of ingenuity
while facing her fierceness and isolation,
to thrive here is to find the melody
and poetry in her stillness.
She is terrible- you would do well to fear her;
and she is oh, so loved.
My journey with chocolate started with my great-aunt and a double boiler - candy making is a generational tradition in my mother’s family.
I’m RubyAnn, and I grew up in this harsh and beautiful place called the Great Plains of North America.
As a daughter of four generations of immigrants, boxes of recipe cards have formed a living coffer of the heritage and culture that gave me birth and shaped me. One of my earliest memories is of my mother cutting handmade noodles with a butter knife, with afternoon sunlight drying sheaves of the golden strips of dough draped over her wooden clothes racks, and my siblings and I surreptitiously feeding letters through the shiny new noodle machine to make paper noodles- what magic and what punishment! Dishes like haluptsi, cheesebuttons and borscht fed us on many frigid winter nights, and the ritual creation of torta, kuchen and blachinda formed both celebrations of the seasons and rites of passage.
Chocolate gave me a space to express my individuality among the seas of talent that are my sisters,
away from the teasing around the strudel cloth of 'can we read the newspaper through the dough yet?'
I meditated, thermometer in hand.
Chocolate gave me a reason to create space for myself, to find a bit of sweetness among the chaos that was life on my parents’ organic family farm and ranch in rural South Dakota after my father passed away suddenly from a farm accident.
My menopausal mother was raising four teenage daughters and two sons, and farming - my siblings and I were the only workforce she had for several years - during a drought cycle.
One day, I found a little decorative sign at a thrift shop that said ‘Chocolate Fixes Everything,’ and gave it to my mother.
To me, it seemed as if creating moments so sweet that time stopped was one thing I could do to alleviate her stress.
After leaving the family farm to study kinesiology, I found solace in ganache theory and the tempering process. The rhythm and ritual grounded me during tumultuous years of building a career and early adulthood. Chef Michelle, the chocolatier who mentored me, Chef Dennis who encouraged me, Chef Kai, who recognized potential in me, and Chef James, who challenged me, each gave me valuable and humbling experience in the atmosphere of professional pastry that is
simultaneously fishbowl and pirate ship.
Even though I know now that it’s not my responsibility to fix anyone else’s problems, I still see my work with chocolate as a way to make the world around me a better place- both for myself, and my family, friends and neighbors.
Regardless of our origin, regardless of our colour or the experiences that have shaped us,
each one is precious,
each identity is unique, and each story can be heard.
Storytelling is my passion,
cocoa butter is my medium.
My studio windows look out over the Heart River in Stark County, North Dakota, where I reside with Farley, the dog, and Friendly, the cactus.
Each design attempts to capture and translate into taste the distinct physical sensations I experience in the conjunction of multiple facets of a moment- the percussion of cottonwood leaves in the breeze, the salty freshness of this vast sea of grass, and the comforting ever-presence of the wind against my skin. These are the constants- juxtaposed against the never-ending variety of wit, harshness, and flavour of the people who, like me, call this place home.
And, each annual series of collections is themed to create a cohesive and moving experience - a monthly escape within the comfort of the recipient’s home, because after all, home is where the sweetest stories begin.
As a remembrance of the individuality of my grandmother and her sisters-in-law, each box has a unique collection of flavors, shapes and sizes- each truffle day is a not-to-be-missed edible art installation based around a chosen theme. All ingredients chosen are of the highest quality available for both taste and nutritional value- should you have concerns about allergens, please notify me during the reservation process.
If I can be so bold,
my vision for my practice as a chocolatier
is to be that of a honeybee,
transmuting the beauty I coexist with
and catalyzing the creative power of those around me.
My moments are an existence filled with wonder.
I hope this box imparts a bit of that sparkle to you.
Thank you for being with me.
None of this would exist without Darlene ‘That’s What She Said’ Alcazar, Chicken and Waffles Tony, Hardtack Ruthie, ‘Come to Dinner’ Matthew and ‘Let’s Pull a Card’ John, Chef Leslie and her Red Shoes and Lucy the 17 year old Sourdough, The Incredible Suzanne, Chef Sandra from Melbourne, ‘TV’ Tony, ‘Aerodynamic’ Rachel, Sexy Rexy the Terrifying Dishwasher, Marshal + Mac + Eric + Brett, Maria the Goddess Herself, The Professional Martha, Matthew’s Pan Full of Sausage and Grape Stirfry, Sheena the Everlasting Hugger, Chato y Baltasar, Wynell the PostModern Jukebox, Dave Lamb and Red Shirt Dan, Jalisco Tony, Danny the Dishwasher, Chef Kai, John “You Gotta See This” and Daphne McClure, Kieran the Indomitable, ‘Lift and Separate’ Rachel, Gina ‘Shine On, You Crazy Diamond’ DePalma, and of course my sisters who had my back through all the madness. If your name isn’t included, on the list, trust me, I’m grateful for the memories we made that are better kept off the record.
Much love, RubyAnn