Everything sounds more serious in Latin, even candy

From Miette

Get your gorgous, haunting, decadent, so amazing you can't decide whether to eat them or varnish them & save them as decorations forever Valerie Confections Skulls, now only $17.50 at the Hayes Valley Confiserie & at our Chestnut shop, too! Pick your poison...

Scorched Caramel (Brown)~Organic cream & sugar cooked gently to the point of amber & beyond…

Bitter Brandied Cherry (White)~Darkest chocolate, Kirsch-rich ganache, boozy sour cherries, and the finest dusting of deathly white cocoa…

Curious Chili (Black)~Mysterious chilis and spices warm & perfume this deep dark chocolate…


Valerie "Mori Ex Cacao"
Price: $17.50 at Octavia & Chestnut!
Notes: These will be delicious through January 2010!

Radio Free Miette

From Miette

An interview with the charming Brendan of Dinner Party Download, who has his doubts about candy's role in the modern democratic world. I attempt to win him over by having him taste our...oddest candy, which even I don't like, and you know I like some odd candy. I'm just going to assume it worked! *Listen Here*

Sweeter than a Sugar-Pie Pumpkin

From Miette

This is as close to a pumpkin patch as us city girls are going to get this year! No hay-rides or baby goats, unfortunately, but at least there's no chance of accidentally putting your whole hand through a rotten pumpkin that looked perfect from one side. Eeew. Plus, look how cute & smiley they are!

Milk Chocolate Jack-o-Lantern
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut
Price: $5

(In the background: Fruit Sours, Mellowcreme Pumpkins, & Orange Rock Candy, all available at Octavia)

From Miette

But not as cute & smiley as these baby pumpkins! Eeeee! Get yourself a whole patch-worth!

Crispy Milk Chocolate Pumpkins
Availability: Ferry Building, Chestnut, Sold out at Octavia!
Price: 10cents each, $2.50/gift bag

From Miette

Oh my gosh, that's some sugar right there, under the spooky tree. Handmade lollipops, licorice pastels, and new variations on candy corn. You don't even need to eat them to get a sugar fix. Ask us nice & we'll let you just smell them... Instant Halloween flashback, no harm to your teeth. Wait. I'm going to put myself out of business here.

Halloween Bulk Candy
Availability: Octavia
Price: $10/lb

Halloween Orange Cream Lollipops
Availability: Ferry Building, Sold out at Octavia & Chestnut

From Miette

Nothing pumpkin-related here, just our favorite malt balls in Halloween-y hues, and the Prettiest, Sparkliest, Milk Chocolate Balls Ever. We want to make them into a necklace. Fill a jar at your house & forbid anyone to eat them.

Malt Balls
Varieties: Milk, Dark, & White Chocolate
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut
Price: $10/lb, gift bags from $3-$7.50

Halloween Sparkly Balls
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia
Price: 10cents each, $2.50/gift bag

Black & White & Blood Red All Over

From Miette

All the technicolor gore in the world will never be as haunting as a well-crafted black & white thriller. Without colorful distraction or mundane associations, images can linger for years. All it takes is a plaintive windstorm or footsteps behind you on a desolate street to bring back a scene in all its crisp, classic horror.

At least, that's what I imagine. I stay well away from scary movies of any sort.

The world is a scary enough place, with candy like this lurking around every corner:

From Miette

Shudder. And yet...who knew a skull could be...glamorous? The brilliant Valerie of Valerie Confections and Douglas of DL&Company crafted these gorgeous little deaths by chocolate, and have raised the bar for Halloween candy forever. I could never buy one because it would surely invade my dreams, but if you're of a sturdier constitution, please do.

Valerie Skulls
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut
Varieties: Brandied Cherry(white), Curious Chili(black), Scorched Caramel(brown)
Price: $25

From Miette

If you prefer devilishly handsome to devilish, a chocolate moustache might be the perfect Halloween accessory. They're elegant, handmade, and efficient: finally, a costume & candy in one!

Chocolate Moustache
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut
Varieties: Milk or Dark Chocolate
Price: $12

From Miette

Is that a cauldron of bones? Have the Miette girls finally lost their minds? Oh, it's only our beloved Schoolchalk licorice, with its lovely minty marrow. I mean, minty center.

Schoolchalk Licorice
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut
Price: $12.50/lb

From Miette

Those must surely be frozen grapes, right? Crunchy eyeballs? Ug. Now I'll never be able to look into someone's eyes without thinking, "...crunchy".

Milk Chocolate Crunchy Eyeballs
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut
Price: 10cents each

From Miette

Ah, a classic. Still way too scary for me (I used to run out of the room whenever The Count appeared on Sesame Street), but I'm sure you would make an irresistible vampire. Do you think there's an edited version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with all the vampire parts cut out? That's what I'd like for Halloween, please. I've been very good this year.

Wax Fangs
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut
Price: $1.50

I hope the prizes included tiaras for all the cows.

From Miette

Oh, Straus Family Creamery! We love you so! Your beautiful bottles, your homeopathically-treated cows, your super-creamy cream & super-buttery butter. Your products are so delicious & happy & alive! As Sommer at our Ferry Building shop put it, "The difference between Straus & other butters is like the difference between me & a corpse."

We've always used Straus butter & cream in all our baked goods because we think they're the best, so we were sooooo proud of those darling cows & farmers when they recently swept the Los Angeles International Dairy Competition.* Out of 43 competitors, Straus won 4 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and a bronze.

From Miette

And that's why this cupcake looks so proud.

*My grandpa, uncle, and brother are all championship dairy judges. They can tell you what mood the cow was in & what direction the wind was blowing, just by smelling cream! Not so surprising, but still impressive, considering my grandpa & uncle live in rural Missouri. But my brother lives in Chicago! Nice work, city kid!

Nothing is More Fun Than a Caffeinated Tomboy

From Miette

For serious. Tomboys are always fun: they're not afraid to get dirty, they laugh a lot, they have holes in their jeans & smudges on their faces. We love tomboys. Heck, we are tomboys! We may wear fluffy dresses* & spend a lot of time tying bows, but we fix the sinks, climb the ladders, and ride our bikes up & down the crazy hills of San Francisco. With cakes in tow!

From Miette

One of our classic cakes is named The Tomboy, three layers of dark chocolate cake, layered simply with vanilla buttercream. We make the Vanilla Tomboy all year, but always make a seasonal version as well, as you can see above. We have said good-bye to the Raspberry & Strawberry Tomboys of Summer, and have welcomed the Coffee Tomboy into our chilly, drowsy arms.

*"Running, jumping, climbing trees... putting on make-up when you're up there."
-Eddie Izzard, a tomboy who can rock a frock

Vanilla or Coffee Tomboys
Availability: Ferry Building, Octavia, Chestnut.
Price: $30/6-inch cake, $50/8-inch cake (by special order only!)