Breakfast at Deluca's

We are waiting outside Deluca's Italian Deli on a bright morning for 11 o'clock to strike. The guy with a freckled face greets us, the first customers of the day, inviting our attention to the chocolate croissants he had finished dusting with powdered sugar. Without thinking twice we order it with dry cappuccino. We frequent Deluca's for their cozy European ambiance, gourmet food and hospitable service (and once in a while to hear some Italian words) but today we come with a purpose. We brought some chocolate samples hoping they would be interested to add local artisan chocolates to their selection. Deluca's sells a variety of chocolate products from bars to confections, presented in eye catching packages lined up next to the cashier's counter, so we brought samples of our dark chocolate disks in three flavors to suggest that they offer in their Deli section to pair with the assortment of cheeses, preserves and charcuterie. The manager in charge is not at the store today, so we leave our chocolates with Julia, the person in charge this morning, whose warm and welcoming grin is encouraging. To suggest variety, we also brought a few samples of our salt and caramel mendiant disks and dark chocolate dipped oranges which we explain were candied in Italy! She will pass them to the manager, Julia promises.

Our cappuccinos with thick, enticing foam overflowing the cup's rim are served with Italian almond biscotti and our order of warm chocolate croissants freshly baked this morning. This perfect picture is captured with our iPhone before the foam clings to our upper lips like an old gentleman's mustache. However under the rich foam we discover dark, overheated coffee. Disappointed, we hesitate to voice our expert opinion. The girl at the counter scrupulously made the perfect foam overlooking the coffee. If she had focused on the coffee instead of the foam, our picture wouldn't have come out so pretty. Why can't we have perfection in life will never stop to puzzle us, but we want to start the day on the right foot and focus on the the perfect croissants instead which more than make up for the bad coffee. We stay positive and keep our fingers crossed that perhaps there might be a chance to see our chocolates one day on Deluca's counters.

Mamas vs Viv

Before we tell this story, we need to pause here and elaborate a little further about us, in case it couldn't be extrapolated from our earlier posts. We are fashion savvy, we love colors and we accessorize with jewelry, scarves and hats. And since we share a great sense of humor, we are generally in pleasant mood when we are together (with few exceptions of course).

This picture, taken impromptu at Elizabeth's house before a night-out well characterizes us. That evening when one of us came to pick up the other, we nearly fell to the floor because we were both wearing our Anthropologie hats in complementary colors, purchased few days earlier on an impulse. There were only two left in the store, in reverse colors of Elizabeth's favorite lavender and Lili's favorite yellow - in other words they were made for us. If wearing the hats wasn't enough, we both happened to be in our ankle boots independently bought from Zappos for the season, Lili's in her favorite brown color and Elizabeth's in her favorite red.

Now, here's the story. We had kindly asked Vivien, a lovely aspiring young artist who also happens to be Lili's daughter, to create an artwork representing the two Moms in her signature style so we can incorporate it in our logo. Vivien already contributes her artistic talent by individually hand-writing flavor descriptions of our chocolate bars on the packaging. We didn't give Vivien any ideas, hints or suggestions, so honestly we got a little apprehensive and lost sleep over this - would the extra pounds gained from our week-long Napa trip make their way to her drawing? Would Vivien dress us in designer shoes and clothing? Would she accessorize us with fancy jewelry? Would she conceal our stubborn grays? or glamorize us with make-up and hairdo? Would our occasional manicures and pedicures make it through?

It turns out we didn't need to spell out to Vivien how we wanted to look; she knew exactly how to portray us, which she conceptualized and produced in less time than it took us to make a batch of chocolates. We expressed a sigh of relief - Vivien saw the Moms exactly how the Moms wanted to be seen (or perhaps she prudently avoided any conflict). But here's the thing. We liked the fashion and the physiques, but what happened to our faces? Where was our smile, our lipsticks? Vivien gingerly went back to work and, before the Moms finished tempering, she had transformed her drawing. Now we're talking! But wait a minute, something's still missing - no jewelry? Alright, the fancy clothing makes up for it, so we love it, Viv..... but there's one little thing before we endorse it - we always wear a perfume, where is it?

To hear Vivien's story, check out "Viv vs Mamas" posted on July 4th, 2012 on her blog www.vivartdream.blogspot.com

Behind the scenes.....

Produced for the ankle boots picture above since the original photo was taken above the feet. Anything can be fixed!