My Write-up for Down Home Magazine

The week leading up to our seventh wedding anniversary, Tony & I were indecisive about how we wanted to celebrate. That Thursday, the oh-so-popular Facebook beckoned us to Mother Earth's tap room. How did it do that, you ask? While scrolling through my news feed I stumbled across these eloquently typed words: "We just put on a very tasty chocolate stout that was done on the 1 barrel system!!!! Hope to see you down here for a pint!" Well, Mother Earth's marketing worked - we went to the tap room, drank a delicious pint of chocolate beer, and discovered that it was brewed with cocoa nibs from Videri Chocolate Factory out of Raleigh, NC. Yes, you read that right, our big city has it's very own chocolate factory. We spent a portion of our time flipping through all the pictures on Videri's Facebook page  - sipping on chocolate and looking at chocolate - and it was then we decided how we would celebrate married-life. 

On Saturday we pulled up to the historic 1912 Depot Station in Raleigh, where Videri is located. In we went to the very modern and quaint factory, where we were warmly greeted by friendly faces, walls of chocolate bars, cozy sitting areas, and chocolate covered wine glasses. Their inviting seating areas and patio are perfect for gathering with friends and they even take reservations for bridal showers, birthday parties, and the like. We got a brief tour of the factory by the head chocolate maker himself and sampled their various flavors of chocolate. If we must choose, our two favorites were the Pink Peppercorn and the 90% Dark Chocolate Bars. Videri's mission is to "create wonderful chocolate, from bean to bar, everyday. [They] are hoping to change the face of fine, hand-crafted, artisian chocolate by being a welcoming chocolate factory that makes people feel happy and at home." I say they're doing a fabulous job at just that!! 

Pink Peppercorn Chocolate ... it was so good!!! 

To make it all the more awesome, the Videri folks highly recommended that we visit The Tasty Beverage Company just two doors down. I'm so glad they did! We opened their door to see shelf after shelf of local, craft, and specialty beers - over 1200 kinds to choose from. They also feature "a selection of wines, high quality sodas, local meats, cheeses and six draft beers for your consumption and subsequent enjoyment." So there we sat toward the back of the store, side by side at the bar sipping on beer and eating some chocolate, while chatting with one of the co-owners. Shout outs to Mother Earth Brewery (www.facebook.com/MotherEarthBrewery), Videri Chocolate Factory (www.facebook.com/viderichocolatefactory), and The Tasty Beverage Company  (facebook.com/tastybeveragecompany) for making our seventh anniversary a super special and memorable one. 

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This appeared in the July / August Issue of Down Home Magazine. The issue is filled with lots of fun articles and yummy recipes using blueberries. See the rest of the magazine online for free by visiting here.