Epicurean Adventures: Springtime Bunnies or Great Things Come in Teeny, Tiny Packages

I had an exceptionally rough week last week. In a service-based business that deals with often intangible or immeasurable (to outsiders) labor, such as my day job's industry, web design and development, clients have a hard time understanding sometimes that things are not "just" that simple, and that adding "just" in front of a request (i.e. "Can't you just make that form work?" "We just want you to change these 80 million things in the design ... they're just small changes; can I see the revision tomorrow?") doesn't make it any simpler or any less time consuming.

So when I got my secret surprise from Sucre at the end of the week, it definitely helped take the edge off. It's funny how much excitement a simple brown box, inscribed with five simple letters, can bring. Anything that comes in a box in the mail is a gift in my mind, and the box-within-a-box of upscale companies like Sucre, as a prominent tastemaker pointed out in a meeting once, brings that thrill to a whole new level.

A teeny little aqua-y jungle green box, wrapped with a slender brown ribbon, was dug up from layers upon layers of crumpled paper (which I applaud the use of since paper is both sustainable and biodegradable whereas styrofoam packing peanuts are certainly not). This could only mean one thing -- chocolate!

I was not disappointed. Pretty, pretty little bunnies, wide-eyed and cotton-tailed, peered up from the depths of the careful packaging. Shaped out of dark chocolate, a rich, barely salted, luscious caramel center filled the lapins and oozed out, thick and viscous -- but not trailing that obnoxious and embarrassing long tail of cheap caramel -- with every bite. The label and description say the little darlings were dusted with pink, but I find that the luster was closer to a rosy-hued lavender, which is equally adorable. The small details, such as impeccable moldings and shiny airbrushed colors, is what sets this boutique artisan chocolatier apart, in my opinion. After all, if your bon-bons cost around $2 each, you expect perfection and whimsy that supports the branding, right? I know I sound like a marketing person right now, but I really do love this shop and the tastefulness and detail in every aspect of the company and its goods, which is why I send stuff from Sucre as gifts and chose them as my wedding favors (which, unfortunately, were "misplaced" -- i.e. stolen off the table -- at my wedding ...).

Anyway, it always seems that packages from Sucre come at the times I need additional cheer most, and there's just something extraordinarily uplifting about a beautiful package with sinfully delicious goods in it that make you feel like maybe, juuuuust maybe, that week was worth suffering through.