Bittersweet and the little soap company

applesauce cake

Bittersweet will be celebrating Twenty-Five Years in April. I can't help but remind myself of the women that paved my way.
Aunt Charla taught me to crochet and wore cool ankle boots and bandanas on her head.
My Mom could make anything and always shared her tender love. She made beaded necklaces and her name was Alice. Hence the name, Alice Bracelet and Alice Soap that I happily named after her.
Great Grandma Lucy was the first generation soap maker in my family and inspired me to name an entire zero waste collection in her honor.
Aunt Vivian sent me soap that she made in her kitchen in 1997. The seed was planted and her niece is forever grateful. The Third generation soap maker!
Grandma Christine was graced with many talents, and her chocolate pie was divine. I can remember the day that she shared her pie recipe. I made it not too long ago.
Grandma Lola owned her own restaurant during the depression. Her talents were many including being an artist. Her paintings were beautiful.
I left out an important woman in my family. My Great Aunt Enid. She was the first woman bank officer hired in Missouri. She went on to get her law degree and became a successful business owner.

We're eager to enter March at both the shop and soap house on the hill. I've been gazing through seed catalogs and planning the next seasons blooms. The freshness of Spring will soon fill the air. We just received another shipment of spring into summer clothing and accessories, and I'm in love with the rain boots, or garden boots. Some new hats designed with spring, summer in mind, and a lovely assortment of linen trousers, and go-to tops are center stage. 

It's with a heavy heart that I type this post. I had breakfast with my family this morning and the topic was all about the current climate in Ukrane. How could it not be? I don't feel good about this at all, and the future could change for many at the drop of a hat. For those who have never witnessed a setup for war, it's hard to see such things. My dad is old enough that he remembers more than one war, and he was in the army. He believes what's playing out is a prelude to another world war two. I can't say that I don't dissagree. War is never good no matter how you look at it. I can hardly bare the thought. I have a lot to say about this and how our current administration handles such things, but this is not the platform for such topics. --------

On a happy note, Bittersweet will be celebrating twenty-five years in April. I can recall that lovely day when Bittersweet was born. It was a lovely day! There have been many other lovely days follow. I am grateful. I'm blessed to have such strong lineage and forever grateful for these ladies. Each one delivered a different gift. But these gifts were not something that you hold in your hand. Wisdom, Encouragment, and Strength come to mind. Without them, Bittersweet would not be Bittersweet. 

We're looking forward to celebrating an early arrival of spring celebration at our shop next weekend. I mentioned in my last post how the downtown hosts a spring open house. We're happy to participate. In May Bitterweet will be celebrating our annual May Day event at the shop. Next to Christmas, this event is one of our favorites. I might even throw in a twenty-five year celebration too! Why not?

Our manufacturing line-up is moving fast speed ahead as we whip up new spring soap, and skin essentials. 

The aromatic scent of apples fills the kitchen. We're making Applesauce Cake with Caramel Icing. I've seen many variations of this cake over the year, but my favorite is my moms. The aromatic cake with its cloves and nutmeg smell so good! It will taste even better. Years ago I found a recipe for old-fashioned caramel icing that was made with milk. I love the recipe, and it's easy since you don't have to use cream. 

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup butter
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 apple finely chopped
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup chopped pecans

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour an 8 x 8 inch baking dish
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves.
3. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer cream the butter and sugars; until light and fluffy.  Turn the mixer to low and add applesauce and egg; blending just until combined.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture in three increments mixing just until combined after each increment.   Stir in the apples, pecans, and raisins.  Spoon into the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.  If desired ice with homemade caramel icing.     
6. Icing - 1/2 cup butter   1 cup brown sugar  1/4 cup milk   cups conf. sugar

Melt butter in pan, add brown sugar and cook over low heat about three minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and cool. Add sugar slowly, beating after each addition, until frosting is thick enough to spread. ENJOY!

Jill xo

spring reinvented

It's been a whirlwind of a week at the modern apothecary! Last-minute tweaks on designs, soap wrapping paper decisions, by the way, we ponder those thoughts months ahead. Upcoming open house plans, new arrivals in our clothing department, and to say that it's an exciting time, this prelude before spring, would be an understatement. 

The Bloom Cleansing Bar is almost gone as is the Spring Fling Soap. They were around for about a week! It's incredible how there here and then gone. No worries, we will be stocking our soap shelves with a new soap each week. We're finally getting caught up with manufacturing after a busy holiday season. Four to six weeks is a considerable amount of time to wait for something. What's that saying? Good things happen to those who wait. Perfect!

We had a snow day on Thursday. It's been a very long time since our shop has closed for snow. It was pretty snow, and a lot of it! It's just now melting. I keep saying to meself, we're one day closer to spring!

A few years ago my aunt Vivian visited from Santa Fe and we roamed over the hill and through the woods to our favorite antique shop. She spotted the colorful saucers sitting on a shelf. There were only three, but I fell in love with the vibrant colors and could not resist picking the three up. We had just ordered fresh flowers from our supplier and I captured that shot. It's one of my favorite captures, to date. Not to mention the memories that associate with the delicate china. A day spent with my aunt shopping. 

We've planned a spring open house in conjunction with the one that the downtown hosts. It's always the first week of March. It's the perfect opportunity to explore the many amazing shops and eateries, and if the weather is nice, which I think it will be, sit outside and take in some spring sunshine. I love the graphic image of the spring girl! The bugs, flowers, her hat, make me smile, and I wanted to share her with you. 

We have the cutest collection of jackets coming from our favorite clothing manufacturer! I can't wait to get them!  We know that you will be just as blown away by them as we are. Those buttery soft leather belt bags are my style. I love belt bags and always have. I'm glad that they're trending. 

Pink Clay or Rose Clay Cleansing Bar is back in stock. Hurry though, you probably know how fast they go. It will be a while down the road before I get more made. My soap manufacturing list is a long one, and I'm finding myself playing catch-up.

We've been getting numerous requests for our Cleanse Household Cleaner. If you have ever used this Bittersweet product then you know how aromatic it is. Cinnamon, clove, rosemary, lemon, and eucalyptus shine!

Wake me up before you go-go... Bittersweets Shower Spray is the bomb! Start your morning with this pungent rosemary and eucalyptus concoction and you will be starting your day the right way. 

We're planning on incorporating our fresh lavender from our gardens and the different varieties of herbs and flowers from our garden. It's a joy to share my garden herbs and flowers with you. 

 Jill 

 

 

make believe spring

I ordered new lab coats. The white ensemble will help an apothecary girl to look the part when blending and mixing oils to create body essentials. At least that's what I think. 

We've been moving fast speed ahead towards Spring at both our shop and home. I spent the day last week browsing home good shops searching for the perfect this and that to fill some styling gaps. It's always funny how when you're looking for a particular something how you usually don't find it. Nowadays and with the style experience under by belt, I hold out until I locate precisely what I envision or dream up. It doesn't make sense to settle anymore. It's also funny how when styling you determine exactly what that piece may or may not be by the more you dig into the project. I have learned to be exact and not to waver in my choices. Otherwise, you end up tossing that object that you settled with and eventually replacing it with the one that moves you. It's worth the wait! 

Our latest and greatest soap offering is packaged in cherry blossom paper and inside the aroma of this soap is floral, but not in a traditional floral way. It has notes of vanilla that actually helps to balance the blend so that it's not too floral. 

We replaced our crystal chandelier with a more modern one. The lighting feels and looks like it's always been here and blends it nicely with our style of vintage and modern. 

We have fresh bottles of Cleanse. Or should I say we did! We sold out this week. This popular home keeping essential is flavored with clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus, rosemary, and lemon. We love the scent! This household cleaner is used to clean our shop and home. The essential oil scent lingers in a most wonderful way. 

We did not sell out of Headache Sticks and Lavender Sticks. A fresh lot of both are available at both our web shop and brick and mortar. 

Those petite cupcakes with their heart candy toppings and fluffy pink icing. I ate it after capturing that shot and if I'm being honest, I ate more than that one!

I spent an entire afternoon making this.   

It seemed the recipe was abundant in its ingredients. Carrots, onion, leek, celery, and an entire bottle of red wine. It was well received, but way too much. I shared some with my family.

Then we made oatmeal whoopie pies. Most of the recipes are quite similar. The icing varies and it's a matter of preference I believe. Seven- minute icing would be good on these. I made an old-fashioned butter cream. Next time I'm going to make the seven-minute icing. Its silky texture would be a better fit.  

I'm working on the web site getting the new soaps listed and adding them as they become wrapped and ready. 

Yesterday was filled with an amazing group of customers and our conversations and visiting allowed me to realize even more just how blessed I am. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

xo

Jill 

 

 

listen

We've started to propagate the Fig trees again. Each single leaf will transform into a beautiful plant in just a few months. Give it a moderate drink of water once a week and a bit of sunshine, but not too much. They don't like direct outdoor sun so don't take it outside in the sun. I have several and have found that they are the easiest plants to grow, and boy do they grow!

We love sharing The Things we love. This list of admiration items changes with the seasons. It's a joy to create and style new items and essential at our store. In short, we love sharing our favorites, and can't help but think they will be your favorites too. We also seem to always offer a few trend pieces that make their shining debut a year and sometime even two years later. I'm not sure how that works, but I've definitely noticed this since owning a shop. Maybe it's because I'm old enough and been there done most of it, and eventually you just develop a knack for knowing what is going to be trending before it trends. 

I'm on a mission to bring back the art of handwriting a letter. Who has the time to do such things? Well, I certainly do not, but making time has developed into a commitment that brings me soulful happiness. Even if it's a short and sweet letter, I'm all for the process of sitting down and writing a thank you or warm sentiment on beautiful paper. I'm mentioned many times how I've always had a love for decorative paper. Evidence is shown by the collections we have at both our shop and studio. I am a soap maker, with that comes the notion of loving beautiful paper.  When Bittersweet was first born some twenty-four years ago it was a challenge to find pretty paper. Most of it was imported, and rare. The internet was just kicking in, and even though I thought it to be a great new resource, it seemed to be a waste of my time. Dial up! Some of you won't even know what those two words mean. If you're twenty-four that is. 

The new jewelry that came in is simple but perfect. Speaking of jewelry. I had a treasured turquoise necklace that I haven't been able to find in months. We had traveled a bit last summer and I was almost certain that I lost it while on the trip. This is a true story... Typically I don't get too attached to anything. The treasures of this world just aren't my thing. Of course, I love clothes, shoes, jewelry, and having nice things, don't get me wrong, in fact I'm probably considered to be a bit acentric along those lines. Born with it! However, knowing that I do love these things, I can take them or leave them. Anyway, the other night I was thinking about my favorite necklace a simple turquoise nugget on a leather chain that I've had for twenty-five years before losing it. All of a sudden, a little voice instructed me to sit down in front of my wicker jewelry stand. Of course, I'm going to listen to the voice, always. I did what it instructed me to do and no sooner than I sat down I spotted the necklace hanging behind the stand! I can't tell you the number of times I've searched and taken all of my jewelry out to try and find that necklace, but as soon as I sat down, I saw it hanging immediately! I really could not believe my eyes! Listen to those little voices! I believe the attachment that surrounded that necklace was directed from a time when I spotted the necklace and fell in love, but really didn't have the money to purchase it. I went ahead and bought it and when it arrived it exceeded my expectations and I valued it much more knowing that I had to make a sacrifice to be able to afford it.   

Do you remember when I chatted about digging out my big camera and all of the special lenses? Well, I did, and it kind of felt like I was going back in time. The quality of pictures that you are able to get on your phone are nothing short of amazing! Firstly, my big camera was messing with my patience, and it was posing to be few and far between. So, the next day I captured the shop picture and product shots on my phone. Honestly, being able to perform such a time-consuming task with less time-consuming time is of value to any shop girl! Long story short... Why make things harder than they should be? 

Our new perfume, Mirabella smells like a beautiful spring day! 

A carefully curated collection of socks awaits you!

Soft sweaters from my favorite clothing brand will gently glide you into SPRING!

Equally impressive is our recent shipment of denim. 

Unique Love Day Essentials that will not only get noticed but be impressive and well received. 

Going into Spring tops that emphasize comfort and style at the same time! We love that!

The new soaps are starting to arrive. We're building our inventory and have approximately twelve weeks of soap curing. Some of your favorites are being cut and cured, while a smorgasbord of new ones hits the shelves each week. 

Remember those little voices? Well, last week they were arriving with titles and chapters! I was preoccupied with soap making and the voices reminded me not to leave out certain favorite topics in my soon to be book. My fingers can't type fast enough and I'm a fast Typer!

       It’s interesting how I’ve always had an intense yearning to write about my faith. For many years that thought set in the back of my mind nudging at me and reminding me that I had some unfinished business. Between the everyday goings on of operating my manufacturing business and managing a shop there was little time to contemplate such a grand project.  It wasn’t until my husband died that this longing became stronger and more intense.  

Taken from My Beautiful Faith...

Jill xo