Chocolat Fine Chocolates

This is Mr Frasier Chocolat.

Mr Chocolat owns a chocolate shop in Macadamia Grove.  He makes the chocolates himself, and his loyal customers think it is the best chocolate in all Sylvania.

"Welcome to Chocolat Fine Chocolates," he says.  "What can I help you with today?"

Every weekday afternoon, at three o'clock sharp, the hometime bell rang at Macadamia Grove Primary School, and inevitably several students would walk to Chocolat on their way home - even if they had to walk quite a bit out of their way!

One day, Wash Wildwood and Angel Woolly were the first to arrive, and knew exactly what they wanted to spend their pocket money on.  

"I would like two of those big truffles, please!" said Wash.

"And I'd like a bag of chocolate coated lemon peel," added Angel.  Wash looked quite impressed at this - the lemon peel bags were quite large, and cost more than the boys usually spent.

"I'm sharing with my sister," Angel explained.  "We pooled our money before school - it's her turn to help Mum with the twins this afternoon."

Meanwhile, Faraday Periwinkle and Merida Fletcher were having more trouble making up their minds.

"We could get some fudge..." said Merida thoughtfully.  "Or...."

"Or shall we go halves in a block of Caramel?" suggested Faraday.  

Eventually, all the schoolchildren had emptied their pockets of coins, and were busy filling their mouths with delicious treats!  Mr Chocolat had just a few minutes to recover from the onslaught before Mrs Corrie Dale and her daughter Peren arrived.

Corrie was shopping for a gift for her husband's birthday.  Mr Dale had quite the sweet tooth, and chocolate from Chocolat's Fine Chocolates was his favourite treat.

"I think I would like to select several individual chocolates from the cabinet," she said.  "May I have them in a nice box, please?"

"Of course" Mr Chocolat answered.  "I know Ewan likes fudge, too - shall I include a piece of that, as well?"

While they were talking, Corrie's daughter Peren wandered about the shop, looking at all the different items for sale.  There were large blocks of chocolate in several different flavours.  There were boxes filled with truffles, and others filled with a selection of chocolates.  She gazed at them, trying to guess what tasty centres were hiding in each one.  There was even a large chocolate sculpture of a mouse.

Everything looked so delicious, and the whole shop smelled so good!

She wondered if her mum might buy her a truffle to eat on the way home...

Finally, Corrie was happy with her selections, and went to the counter to pay.

As it turned out, Peren had made a selection of her own.

"Mum, can I have a chocolate ladybug?  Please?"

"Oh alright then," Corrie smiled.  "But I don't want your dad to know we were here - it might spoil the surprise - so be sure to eat it all before we get home."

Peren felt that this would not be a problem at all.

The Grunt Family's Fruit Stand

The Grunt family owns and operates a large farm on the edge of Macadamia Grove.  Their main crops are apples, corn and macadamia nuts, however Mrs Grunt and her daughter Olivia are interested in growing other fruits as well.  The farm's produce can be found for sale in the local Supermarket, and other local restaurants and food businesses also use their produce.  

Inevitably though, there is always some beautiful fresh produce left over, and it was Olivia's idea that it would be a good idea to run a fruit stand outside their house on the weekends.  Her father agreed to build it, but decided a wagon would be a better design, so that it could be moved around easily if they ever wanted to sell at a local fair or similar.

Last weekend, the Fruit Wagon opened for business.  Olivia was very excited.  She hoped to be in charge of this little weekend business eventually, but her father felt he should be in charge this first time.  

"When you have learned enough to be in charge, you and Hugh can run the stand yourselves, and keep the profits from it," he said.  "But first you will need to learn the ropes.  You will have to learn to weigh the fruit, work out the prices, and deal carefully with the money.  But most importantly, you will need to learn to look after your customers."

Hugh was also quite interested in the fruit stand idea (mostly as he liked the idea of having more pocket money), and he cheerfully did his part to help set up.  He had always been less enthusiastic about farm work than his sister though, and Olivia noticed he had brought a book outside with him.  She wondered how much help he would be in the long term.  She had to admit that he had done a lovely job of the sign, although she did wonder why he had drawn bananas.  

"We don't grow bananas," she pointed out.

"Yes, but I am good at drawing bananas," Hugh answered.  "Anyway, does it matter?"

"I suppose not."  Olivia rolled her eyes and gave up.  The sign did look nice.

They had just finished getting everything in place, when Olivia spotted some potential customers.  Elinor Fletcher was out for a walk with her daughter Merida and the little twins.  Olivia waved.   Mrs Fletcher looked interested and trotted over.

Soon Corrie Dale arrived too, and had questions about about some pears.

"Are they very sweet?"  she wondered.

"Oh yes Mrs Dale, and they are perfectly ripe.  Just picked this morning," Olivia replied. 

"Well, I shall have some then," smiled Corrie, hoping the pears might satisfy her daughter's sweet tooth.

Meanwhile, Mr Grunt was explaining about corn to Mrs Fletcher.

"You must eat it while it is very fresh," he said.  "Then it is the tastiest vegetable you could wish for."

Merida Fletcher wasn't particularly interested in corn, and had instead concentrated on choosing herself a snack.

"Mum, can I have an orange please?"

All in all, it was a successful day.  The Grunts had many customers on their very first day, and Olivia just knew it was going to be a success.  Suddenly, she wondered where her brother had got to...

It appears the lure of his favourite book had proved too much for Hugh, and during a quiet spell he had snuck off to have a bit of a read...

Olivia hoped he would be more help in future.  Otherwise, she thought, they might have to rethink how the profits were shared out...

Family Updates

Hello there!  I have a few ideas for posts that I would like to share soon (some of them inspired by creative challenges on the forum), but for now, I would like to draw your attention to a number of updates I have made to our Meet The Families page in the last month or so.

I am pleased to introduce the Dale family of sheep, the Fletcher family of border collies, the Pennypress family of red pandas, and Mrs Roxy Renard.

If you have not yet read their bios, and would like to, they can all be found on our Meet The Families - Macadamia Grove page, as they are all residents of the village (you will need to scoll down to find them - the families are listed alphabetically by surname).

I have also added a picture of my Slydale fox family, with their names, but I have not yet included their bios - they will come soon!

I am also looking forward to adding some other new additions to the Town page, but it is always the same old problem, isn't it? - so many projects, and so little time...  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading about these families., and that you are having some time to work on your own pet projects, whatever they may be!

Happy Easter!

The residents of Macadamia Grove are having a lovely morning - the big Easter Egg Hunt is on!

Happy Easter everyone!