best of 2023

I keep a list on my computer called YOU ARE DOING GOOD. Every time the business is able to do something good — even as small as giving a little gift card to a local shop for employee birthdays, which we implemented this year — I write it on the list. I go to look at the list when I feel like too much of my job is thinking about money.

So much of running a business, even a mission-driven one that works so hard not just to be about money, is about money. Making money is always the first thing and never, ever, the only thing. Profitability is so boring compared to all the other fun things about running a business — getting to use amazing ingredients, hiring the most unbelievable people, meeting the best customers. Making money is just a game. But it’s a game we have to win in order to keep doing all the other fun things, and so: LL is fortunate to have an unbelievable bookkeeper who provides us with the best reports, a great Director of Operations who looks at the big picture, smarty-pants managers who ensure we’re humming right along productively and efficiently, and a slew of people from baristas to chocolatiers who are the lifeblood of this little operation. The business always reminds me of Strandbeests — so many moving parts that all have to work together, with customers being the wind (the actual wind beneath our wings, ok?) that fuel the machine, that keep it running. A glorious ecosystem, really.

As we round the corner on our 20th year in operation, I’m thinking about our mission for the next 20 and reflecting on where we’ve been. In 2003 I registered the name Lagusta’s Luscious and started a side gig making and shipping vegan truffles. It didn’t become a full-time thing until 2010, before that I was doing mostly savory private cooking. In 2011 the brick & mortar (it really is brick and mortar, too, really old red bricks from the 1890s!) shop on North Front Street opened, in 2016 we opened Confectionery!, and in 2023 we moved our production to our sparkling factory across town.

Through it all we’ve stayed true to our vision of using super high quality ethical ingredients, ultra eco-packaging, and ensuring that as best we can, the humans in our supply chain are treated with dignity and fairness. Since 2015 I’ve kept a running list of everywhere we’ve made donations and it’s over 250 different organizations, everything from animal and environmental groups to social justice and arts non-profits, many many local causes and even some funds for employees or community members who needed help. In the summertime when we do our Staff Collection boxes each staff member gets to pick a group to donate a few dollars from every box to. These little perks are what I love — trying to always push this business more toward being an agent of good in the world.

And FINALLY, it took three years to get here — but I’m writing my annual round up in the cafe without wearing a mask. Reading through past round ups they’re saturated with anguish about how hard the pandemic has been. This year was a reprieve from that particular hell and I want to take a moment to acknowledge it! Additionally, it’s no longer a strange sight to see one or two people working with a mask on because of a tiny sniffle or probably-allergies-but-who-knows sort of thing and this kindness toward everyone else is really wonderful.

What else?

The move to our new production space in February transformed the production/packaging/office crew’s jobs overnight, infusing them with an ease and spaciousness that were desperately needed. 

Bridget, a picture framer in another life, expertly hangs up art in the new production space

Overhead is higher at the new production space so our huge focus in 2024 will be overhauling our packaging and production to ensure we’re working in productive ways in order to lower costs. ‘Twas ever thus, right?? I mean, we’re living under capitalism, we’re gonna always need to find ways to lower costs, right? Ugggggggggh. H8 it. But what we won’t do is lower wages, get rid of holiday bonuses, or compromise on ingredients or packaging when it comes to sustainability.

So, with all that in mind and because costs of EVERYTHING skyrocketed in 2023, our only choice is to work more efficiently.

Some of our, ah, more bespoke packaging might become a bit more mass-markety next year (hand foiled bars lovingly tucked into fiddly little boxes? Your days might be numbered…) but I don’t think it’ll be too bad. We’ll always be us.

The other big story of the year was almost closing our NYC baby, Confectionery!, then entering into an intense round of negotiations with our landlord and finally signing a 5-year lease with absurd rent increases every year. I’m savoring every second of time I get at Confectionery! and hope we can be on 9th street forever!

To celebrate, Maresa and I spent a few (incredibly grueling, if I’m being honest) days renovating Confectionery! with help from our upstate contractors, John & Bob, plus everyone who works at Confectionery! who came by to help paint and rip up floors and install shelves. I am truly awed by the result, it’s the most beautiful shop and my heart skips a beat every time I even see a photo of it or think about it.

A note from Kelley about her time at Confectionery! this year:

well obviously other than joining the team this may, I’d say the highlight of my year at confectionery was helping renovate. I started at the perfect time to see a true “before and after” of the shop, and the magnificent transformation is probably the number one thing custies have mentioned when they come in – other than how excited they are for vegan treats, of course ; )

-kelley

Our baby cannabis arm launched our THC confections line pretty much the second we could legally do so, and it’s been a RIIIIIIIDE. Have you ever launched an undercapitalized (like, always, right? It’s the LL way lol) business in an emerging market while that market is navigating beautifully-intentioned-but-awkwardly-executed social equity programs, lawsuits related to same, disorganized regulation implementation aaaaand outside funding pouring in, making it wildly difficult to make it as a *truly* small business? I don’t recommend it unless you have a strong stomach and the bonkers work ethic of someone who owns multiple other businesses, TBH. We’re doing it though and the pride we have in it is HUGE.

Ericka and Devon designed a swagged out merch collection that blew all our minds. A lot is sold out but not everything! I think we’ll bring back the turtle crewnecks because they were little clouds of perfection.

We made some SEX STUFF that was a joy, we collaborated with Tristan Taormino on a box of super sexy x-rated chocolates and it was so fun to make it all.

We suffered through our first FDA inspection during our busiest weeks of the year (when an FDA inspector watched everything we did for two weeks!!!!) and lived to tell the tale, plus we learned better ways to separate allergens that will make us a safer and better business.

We invented the GORP JAR to frankly use up lil bits of scraps and it’s been so fun and successful that we made bumper stickers about it.

MUG CLUB launches early next year and getting to work with Alexis again was the best.

We got a lot of nice press but the funniest thing was that our tote was on Gossip Girl????

April Fools was, as always, THE BEST.

A few fun products we launched: cheese powder!!

Custom barks (getting to make weird and x-rated barks all the time is NOT A SMALL JOY PLS KEEP IT COMING)! Campfire squares! Furious Mocha (hahahaha this video Ericka made is so funny)! I was very proud of this drink that didn’t sell enough to keep it on the menu!!

Probably like a billion other things that my brain can’t call up right now??

We raised thousands and thousands of dollars for many causes through our summertime Staff Boxes, donations tied to products, donations at check out on our website, and a fundraiser in November.

My personal biggest news story is that I got married and I wouldn’t mention it except that the whole thing was really an LL joint since the talented labor of so many folk I’m lucky enough to work with helped to make it the magical day that it was.

made by Maresa!

I’m also celebrating being vegan for THIRTY YEARS this year if you can even believe that so…..that’s wild to think about?!?!?! If lil 15-year-old baby vegan Lagusta could see the unbelievable variety of vegan cheese she would have access to in 2023 (not to mention candy) she would PLOTZ.

Away from navel-gazing and onward to MILESTONES! So many.

Kate celebrated her 10-year LL-versary. I can’t even!!! She’s in nursing school and only working PT, but having her in our world still is the hugest joy.

Rachel celebrated 7 years, Ericka 5, Ally 3. Literal gemstones of human beans, these ones!! The SPARKLE.

rachel with xoli!!

Big manager promotions: Chris came on board to GM the cafe and how did we ever get along without his humor and kindness? Hailey jumped into managing Confectionery and that place is SHIPSHAPE let me tell ya and as a bonus I get to see Hailey a lot which is a treat. Taylor signed on to  production manage the factory and her skillfulness and talent have upped our game immensely.

OK THAT WAS A LOT AND I FEEL VERY TIRED NOW??

Here’s to the last 20 years, and here’s to many more — and endless thanks to you, the wind in our sails, for loving our little creations and allowing us to do this work. 

xoxox

Lagusta

Past best-ofs:

2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2015 (more!)
2014
2013
2012

best of 2022

OMG I just read through 2020 and 2021’s round ups. OOOOOF. Last year I wished for a year with  less masks and here in the middle of a triple-demic when 1/4 of the staff at a time is out with COVID, the flu, RSV, or whatever else is happening…I’m sitting here sneaking sips of a decaf Walk in the Woods Mocha with a g d KN95 on, just like last year. Sigh. BUTTTTTT!

This year has been so good in our world! A real fun one, a shelter from the wildness and chaos and sadness of the wider universe, our small ecosystem.

I snagged Karen as our new Director of Operations to help me with both the quotidian nuts-and-bolts aspects of the business and the big picture ones: to keep up on our costing and wholesale programs, to implement new inventory systems, to use her huge expertise to level up this place. It’s been a DREAM. On her first day the first week of January she suggested we move Commissary! into the chocolate shop space, since having two retail spaces two blocks apart was, frankly, causing me to lose my marbles. We moved in June and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever been talked into, kicking and screaming against my will because even though Commissary was kinda making everyone who worked there bonkers, we all loved it so much too?

But now we are one, and it’s SO GOOD. My toes are curling in happiness as I write that sentence, that kind of good. Truthfully, squishing up these businesses under one roof has been TUFF this holiday season but it’s still so worth it.  I’m loving temporarily having only two workplaces (New Paltz and NYC!) not three, and having most of the crew (all except for the Confectionery crew) under one roof has felt…oddly like…blending a family? It’s been so nice. Not having a food menu has been a DREAM and if you want more words about that here they are.

Maybe the best photo ever taken of our managerial team (minus Karen, Ericka is hidden!)

What else did we do. Hmm. Oh, yeah….we bought a building to move our production into? Hehe. And I REALLY mean “we.” Read all about it here. (how funny do I look in that first photo oh man I can’t stop laughing at it). We’re hoping to move in right after Valentine’s!

Another couple got engaged at the shop! Our hearts overflowed. A double rainbow ensued!

BUT WAIT! There were not one but TWO proposals in our world this year: Kim & Rob got engaged at Commissary, joining Brianna and Steve who got engaged at the chocolate shop a few years ago!

Ericka and Devon led the way toward an entirely new website which has transformed our online shopping experience — it was months and months of painstaking work, but it’s been so rewarding and worth it. No more crashes during busy times!

Lol @ April Fool’s, as ever haha. Halloween was rad, as ever. Our summertime garden was GLORIOUS?!?! Maybe boring but very exciting to me: we redid the parking lot at the shop and it’s so great now. Lots of tiny annoying problems fixed, such a good feeling!

We introduced BOXED MAC & CHEESE! It’s so great that we built an entire cheese-making room for our cashew cheese set up at the new production space. Ericka designed the most amazing package for it, it’s so beautiful. We continued updating, upgrading and redesigning our packaging with the fine folks at Rabe Design.

We made some wildly cute tote bags, but what else is new.

I fell in love with our very own Pink Drink.

We all got very into this idea of turning all of our chocolate odds and ends plus nuts, seeds, and dried fruits into ever-evolving GORP — no waste culture!

We did a little collaboration with Dr. Bronner’s which is a company I have idealized since I was basically born, so that felt really good. Business buddies with your idols? I’ll take it.

The other HUGE news of the year is that we launched a cannabis spinoff brand. It’s been a total joy getting to learn about local cannabis and how best to use it in caramels. Our baby cannabis business is five months old and she just got her THC manufacturing license (we’ve had the CBD one since the summer)— look for THC caramels launching next spring!

All this has been made possible because of the people who work here. The heart of these businesses continues to be the people who work in them. Everyone works so hard and with so much kindness toward each other — to say it’s humbling doesn’t even begin to cover it. This month we’ve made more chocolates than probably any other month in our entire history, with less staff than ever because of illnesses (but no staff outbreaks, thanks to masks!). Everyone jumped in — Karen learning how to package and ship in just a few hours, Shelly making batch after batch after batch of Hazelnut Bars, Shana and the packaging crew packaging everything as soon as it came out of the production room. We all just pulled together and DID IT, and I am dazzled, humbled and in awe of the nourishing, nurturing spirit in which we’re able to pull together when it counts.

I’m hoping 2023 is a year of taking ever-better care of this crew. Working in less crowded conditions will help a lot but we’ve got a lot of other goals too like to be able to afford paid breaks (which was one of our goals from last year that we are *so* close to — right now all full-timers have paid breaks and we’re mostly full-timers over here!) and we’re hoping to switch to a 7-hour day paid as an 8-hour day with a longterm goal of a 4-day workweek paid as a 5-day workweek (probably 2024 for that one…).

Almost every job here is a lot of standing, a lot of moving, a lot of lifting, a lot of using our bodies. A lot of our work is in finding ways to make shifts shorter without a financial hit, to work as ergonomically as possible, to look at what true sustainability means as we grow.

A few more of our goals for 2023:

• expanded open book finance! Giving the staff quarterly financial reports and walking everyone through them.
• We have some BIG plans for our little city baby, Confectionery, more to come on that soooooonish!
• vulva molds with clits! (wtf with the molds we’ve been using for 14 years…??? about time to get new ones!)
• 100% no plastic packaging — another goal that’s been in the works for years. We’re SO close, and I think this year we’ll get there — we’ve already found recycled kraft cushiony pads that cradle our chocolates (most places use plastic trays, we use paper candy pads, but to make them food safe they’re coated in a plastic coating, but the company we use JUST launched a bio version that’s still food-safe. Our only bit of plastic in our entire packaging process is some plastic stickers, which we’re working on replacing.
• we have some cool new tote bag ideas for our limited edition tote bags series…..
• mayyybe a fun new X-rated chocolate coming soon??? We’ll see….
• radically expanding our wholesale program and (eeek) hiring a….SALESPERSON?!?!?! for the first time ever (HMU if you have experience in these arenas!?)
• And lots more we’re keeping under our hats for now : )

We took a huge financial risk this year by buying our new building and scraping together funds to renovate it. It’s scary and I’m sure Rachel our bookkeeper is yelling at my goals list that rebuilding our savings should be goal #1 (it is Rach! I promise : ) but it feels so good to know that our beloved customers are right there showing up for us when we try to do big things. We’re hoping that you get to enjoy the literal fruits of our labor (so much labor!) in the form of more chocolate, made with the same care but more ease, in the year to come.

xoxoxox

Lagusta

Past best-ofs:

2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2015 (more!)
2014
2013
2012

best of 2021

In some ways, in most ways, honestly, 2021 was harder than 2020. In 2020 I had a huge, year-long burst of energy to save my businesses during a global pandemic. I powered through every day with manic exuberance. WE. DID. SO. MUCH. My god. Read this recap! I’m exhausted thinking about it.

In 2021 I still wanted to save my businesses, but it seemed pretty clear they’d be OK. So it became the slog of negotiating constant waves of new variants, changing rules, and trying to summon energy for the endless watchfulness that trying to create workspaces that keep 40 people safe from a deadly virus demands. We made a decision to be more cautious than most places, out of concern for the most vulnerable among us, and it’s hard. Every day it’s hard.

But it’s also joyful and full of satisfaction and so much beauty.

And the businesses survived, and even thrived. And we worked hard to make them a place of safety and strength for those who work here and shop here.

At LL, we made a lot of systemic improvements to our space this year, but what I’m most proud of is creating a Managing Partners program to introduce profit-sharing among managers who have worked at LL longer than two years. It took a few months of discussions to get the goals of this program just right (thank you to our *tireless* bookkeeper Rachel for endless help with this!) but now we have clear goals in sight. Most of all, I’m so grateful to have formalized a team to help me with decision making — l look to our managers for wisdom and advice, and it feels good to know that their expertise will help shape our space in more of a formal way with concrete financial goals in mind.

With these goals, we were able to have several rounds of across-the-board raises and raising our starting wage at LL. Our next goal is to see if we can afford paid breaks for everyone in 2022 — we’ll see!

We got some MEGA press this year. The Today Show, the Washington Post, and THE NEW YORK TIMES. And more.

We made holographic chocolates, a longtime goal, and VEGAN ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM, which wasn’t a goal, until it was.

Oh, and we had our 10 year shop anniversary! I’ve been making chocolates under the name LL since 2003, but we opened the retail shop in 2011.

The best thing I ate all year was this bonkers caramel that Sama made. So good, so haunting.

And we spent the entire year working with Rabe & Co on beautiful new designs that have elevated our confections so much.

We made this flavor graveyard to memorialize confections of days past.

We had not one but TWO drag shows in our parking lot: one at our giant 10 year anniversary party, and one for Halloween.

Commissary had a rough year, but we’re ending strong. The staff who had worked with us throughout the first year of the pandemic were, like me, completely mentally and emotionally exhausted. Interacting with customers every day — wearing masks for 8-hour shifts and trying to stay calm as people yell at you that they don’t want to wear a mask for 5 minutes — it does something to your soul. We had almost a complete staff turnover in 2021, and I get it. There were days I wanted to flee, too. Instead, I gave up on the restaurant model, and we’re slowly morphing into a place for provisions, a small menu, beautiful food and non food things, art and more.

We have some fun other changes coming in 2022, too. And now we have an almost all-new crew and I’ve put in place a lot of safeguards to prevent burnout: shorter, more flexible shifts, quicker closings, a smaller menu, no indoor seating for the time being.

We implemented a robust grab & go program with nice stickers to tie everything together and look cute in your fridge.

We had great April fools pranks at LL & Comm and Confectionery, ha ha.

Confectionery has faced all the same challenges that Commissary has in terms of being such a public-facing business, and the tiny crew in our tiny NYC sweets shop has sailed along. Because we have only one person working at a time we have to close whenever that person realizes they’ve been exposed and needs to go hunt down a test. Our hours can be unpredictable. Our customers continue to be amazing and to ride these bumpy rides with us. Our manager, Isa, faces every day with perfect equanimity, whatever it brings, and our gratitude is bottomless.

Ericka made this lovely Confectionery timeline — we’ve come a long way!

Here’s to 2022, less masks, more meals eaten together, more stability and sleep, but just as much love, care, concern, delicious food and treats and amazing humans to share it all with.

Past best-ofs:

2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2015 (more!)
2014
2013
2012

best of 2020

I’m not going to be all “OMG what a year, worst year” blah blah. We all know.

But also: there were so many joys this year.

We renovated the chocolate shop HQ and Commissary completely (at the end of it all, we gave our contractor a trophy for being so amazing. That kind of year.). It turned out to be the perfect year to do it, since we didn’t have customers in our public spaces for so long anyway.

The goal of both renovations was to be able to produce more product, and it worked — because of this, we didn’t take a huge financial hit because of the pandemic. That feels REALLY good. We even managed to squeak out an across-the-board raise at the chocolate shop*, to raise our starting wage, and to expand benefits for full-time workers and managers, and that feels *REALLY REALLY* good. 

I mean, I guess I have to mention the thing? OK. We never shutdown (except the shop in the city, which was closed for a few months during the worst of things). There’s no way we could afford it. So we made it work. The pandemic added piles of stress to all of our days every day, of course, in little ways and huge ways. Someone on our staff got an asymptomatic case of COVID and three staff members have been one degree from it, necessitating quarantining and massive scheduling shifts. Because we always wear masks and are ridiculously strict about not eating or drinking within 12’ of anyone else, taking temperatures, having a questionnaire about COVID-safety and social distancing protocols everyone has to complete before they clock in, etc etc, we didn’t have an outbreak on the staff even among people who had worked right next to the person who tested positive.

I’d never really thought about how many meals I eat around co-workers, and what a strong community that creates. This year most of our break meals were eaten alone quickly in the break room or in the bathroom (!!) or a car, a lonely and heartburn-inducing experience. We were all so dehydrated all year because drinking water meant stopping work to go stand outside. Figuring out safe protocols for the staff took up hundreds of hours for our GM Rachel and I. Rachel devoted weeks to navigating the choppy waters of PPP, EIDL, FFCRA, and other scary acronyms. At Commissary we threw ourselves into building a website for contactless ordering, setting up delivery systems, and ensuring we had good stock of the endless takeout containers we now needed. We spent every manager’s meeting discussing comfort levels and decided we didn’t want indoor dining until the pandemic had calmed down.

Overall our customers were AMAZING. For everyone who called us “socialist bitches” (it happened) or said “why can’t I eat in here if no one’s in here” (finally I told a customer, “The people working here aren’t nothing.” and they looked so stunned, truly hadn’t thought of it that way), a million more tipped extra, put an extra mitzvah on the mitzvah wall, thanked us for our commitment to safety, and were extra sweet and gentle on us. 

Working in a public-facing job right now is terrifying. There’s no other word for it. At this point practically a year in we’ve worked out systems for it, but we all live in fear of a customer coming in without a mask and screaming at us, of an outbreak among the staff, of being ordered to shut down. There are no right answers for how to function so we’re all just doing the best we can and trying to be soft with ourselves. 

I came home and collapsed in tears only a few times, always when a customer had screamed at me or, worse, screamed at someone on the staff and I wasn’t there to take the hit. 

I’ve never felt more like I was working on a team than this year. I’ve never been more vulnerable in front of the staff — making collective decisions with the knowledge that our actual lives might be on the line. I tried to do as much research as I could and bring a plan to the staff and make sure everyone was OK with it. 

Everyone stepped up to the plate. During the summer when so many people let down their guard, our staff didn’t. Because we have immunocompromised people on our crew, we were all extra strict in order to protect the most vulnerable among us. Our friend circle became our work germ pod, because there’s no one else we could socialize with. And because we truly enjoy being around each other. One day practically the entire chocolate shop staff spontaneously went to Onteora Lake, floating on the river and not wearing clogs around each other, for once. I wish we had a big staff party this year like we always do, I wish I had a staff portrait to show you, but we didn’t and I don’t. Next year? Wear your mask.

And politics. I’m ashamed to say that I needed June. The businesses needed June. That I needed a national uprising in outrage over murder in order to examine my own role in a racist system surprised me. My businesses are overtly political, that’s the reason for their existence. I should have done better. Starting this summer we made some way-too-small changes to our basic existence that I hope will, over time, result in a less, ah, racist way of existing:

• After Valentine’s Day we’re going to take a company-wide anti-racist training program taught by a member of our community. 
• We’re working with this same educator to develop a program for how to celebrate Black History Month in February. 
• We’ve started looking harder at small things, like our shop playlist. In my attempt not to have music by white, straight cis men I put on too many riot grrrl and other not-so-diverse genres that I grew up with, which I’m working on changing. Making our spaces more welcoming to all means analyzing the way we present ourselves to the world including our iconography, music, and physical spaces in general. 
• Two of the three businesses I own or co-own are in 82% white New Paltz which makes hiring a diverse staff hard, but we still need to be doing more, particularly since so many of our employees are from SUNY New Paltz. In order to attract a more wide-ranging pool of applicants we’ve been working with the director of the SUNY New Paltz Career Resource Center, Mark McFadden, who posts our job listings to the financial aid department, BIPOC organizations on campus, and the disability resource center. We’re also listing our job offerings on a wider array of sites across the Hudson Valley.
• We participated in this great initiative.

Our way is to keep pushing, do the small things when you can do them, do the big things when you can do them, just keep moving forward, just keep learning and growing. So that’s what we’re trying to do. 

Ericka has done great work to make our social media and website more accessible by adding alt text and ensuring our design is clear and readable across all platforms and to all. We did a food drive at Confectionery. Mitzvah Walls at Commissary and Confectionery are a constant joy, attracting a beautiful community. A donor who has been buying larger mitzvahs in honor of her father for us to distribute at Commissary have allowed us to provide so many free meals + treats to our community.

What else? A bunch of celebrities bought our chocolates and came into our cafe and NYC shop, — COOL ONES! Billie Eilish, Zooey and Emily Deschanel (best custies for like a decade now)….RACHEL MADDOW?!?! Others, too, but those are my faves, ok?  

We made some cool new chocolates: Maple Latte Bar, the Ombré Turtle Box, Rosh Hashanah Box, White Chocolate Lovers Box, Self-Care Box, Ginger-Orange Meltaways, Holi Bark, a beautiful box of chocolates to support Woodstock Sanctuary.

At Commissary we made hundreds of meals to be distributed to people in need during the height of the pandemic in the spring, and were even paid for them through a great governmental program, Project Resilience. 

And we hired an amazing new baker and started having more baked goods regularly. We implemented a grab-and-go program selling fermented hot sauce, cheese sauce, gravy, beans and greens, and more. Luis made tamales and they became a regular on the menu.

Before the pandemic was the water crisis. For weeks we ran two-water dependent businesses in a town that didn’t have safe tap water. I spent a long time every day filling up gallon containers of water from a truck in order to get through the Valentine’s Day rush at the chocolate shop.

Oh SPHERES! When cocoa bombs went viral and we got orders for hundreds out of the blue overnight. That was funny. Oh, and I got an office this year! I love it.

Here are some places we donated to (see here for a full list)

• Black Farmer Fund
• Support and Feed
• Assata’s Daughters
• Coalition for Healthy School Lunch
• Food Empowerment Project
• Planned Parenthood
• Haus of Peculiar
• Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund
• Trans Queer Pueblo
• Arts Business Collaborative
• Vocal-NY
• Arthur’s Acres
• Knights for Animal Rights
• New Paltz Arts in the School
• Mountain Laurel School
• Acorn Waldorf School
• Seedling Sovereignty
• Samadhi
• Hudson Valley Program for Middle School Girls

Happy New Year, friends. Thank you for existing.

*Commissary isn’t all that profitable so we can’t afford a raise like this, but because of increased tips everyone makes a decent wage there. : ) 

Here are a few notes from Ericka, our Digital Media and Marketing Manager:

I just re-read my 2018 and 2019 blog posts and laughed because I wrote ‘2019 was the worst year of my adult life’ ….lol. 2020 took that challenge very seriously. One day in 2019 I pulled my daily tarot cards and got the 8 of pentacles, and the tower. I went to work thinking I was getting fired tbh and then Lagusta was like ‘Can we talk outside?’ and I was like holy [redacted] I’m actually getting fired. Turns out Lagusta was actually asking me if I would be interested in being the first ever marketing and social media person for all the businesses! She was like ‘Do you want a secured job out of college doing exactly what you love for three vegan businesses?’ and i was like hmm lemme think about it. Of course I want that!!?!!?!! And this year in May I transitioned into that role. It was pretty weird to deal with a ton of imposter syndrome moving into this position. And when my friends were already struggling to find post-college jobs, and then covid hit, I spent a lot of time thinking I didn’t deserve this job and that I certainly shouldn’t be celebrating it in these moments. But after looking back at this year, I’m proud of the work that I’ve done and I’m even more proud of the work that these businesses have done. It was a clunky transition at times but I’m typing this in my office between answering website chats and updating the commissary ordering site, so I think we’re good :). I feel incredibly honored to pioneer things! And I really want to say thank you to Lagusta for not being afraid to hire and trust young people! And for trusting and hiring me, I love my job and I love the people here. Thank you to this entire crew for accepting me as a very rough river rock two years ago and continuing to tumble me into the shiniest version of myself. There. A metaphor! Here’s to 2021, zero expectations, still full of optimism, end goal: BTS eating our chocolate.

PS: Here are links to our past best-ofs!

• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2015 (more!)
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012

best of 2019

ANOTHER YEAR!

I’m maybe more proud of this year than practically any other. After my business partner in Commissary! dropped out in late November 2018, I spent 90% of 2019 understanding aspects of the businesses I’d never focused on before. Instead of developing flavors, menus, and dishes and training worker bees, I focused on finances and big picture planning. I’ve emerged from a year where I pushed out of my comfort zone (cooking, making) and learned difficult new skills the businesses needed. This year I got serious about taking care of my crew + our fiscal health in truly sustainable ways for the long term and it feels so good. I’ve learned so much. As a result, I’m currently knee-deep in planning some big expansion plans for these small businesses. It’s exciting and scary and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re also currently in the process of becoming a Certified Woman-Owned Business, which has been a wild experience. Lots happening, all of it fun and overwhelming, just like I like it.

Aaaaand I wrote a book. I’m so proud of it, too! It was a glorious experience.

A few goals for 2020 I’m working on:

• more affordable shipping options for chocolates
• completely phasing out plastic
• more beautiful packaging for chocolates
• an increased chocolate wholesale program
• an expanded menu at commissary
• expanded hours at commissary
• a no-waste grab-and-go takeaway expansion at commissary
• increased quality control all around, as always, as ever

Onward to crew highlights!

xoxoxo

Lagusta

• Oh and for best-of round ups from previous years, see
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2015 (more!)
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012

• CONFECTIONERY

AMANDA

Another amazing year @ Confectionery! Even with all the insanity going on outside of the shop in the real world, I get to escape it when I’m here. I’ve had so many highlights this year! Thank you to two of the best bosses anyone can ever have, thanks to my  coworkers who handmake everything everyday, and thanks to our amazing customers, local, first timers and travelers. Oh and to the neighbor pups! 

MARESAS BUTTER

foil wrapped vulvas

English cream eggs

Raviolis

Lemon polenta cake (I’m salivating) 

Strawberry Ice cream bars (imy summa freezer)

Passion fruit white chocolate macarons

Anatomical bleeping hearts 

Cookie tins 

RAINBOW SLABS really?

Earl grey bars

and Skulls!

The list goes on, and on. 

I won’t forget my first independent holiday shift- I killed it! Visiting Maresa’s brand new bakery, wowzie; bragging to everyone that Lagusta wrote a book! Pst, and now a podcast… shhhh! Attending my first Woodstock Sanctuary Gala, and lighting the Menorah for the first time. 

Cheers to another year of love, growth and friendship! 

 

VERONICA

Another year flew by in our sweet little east village sugartown!   

We had some great press this year (Gothamist ~and~ the Daily News) and all the new customers who discovered us from these articles, right around Valentines Day, was such a fun thing to witness. One of the best things ever, this year/decade/life, was this snarky comment left on the Gothamist article: “That whole store looks like a 9 year old girl’s diary.” Amazing. 

 

Also amazing: the passionfruit white chocolate macarons, the fleeting chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches from LL (plus the limited edition yuzu white chocolate ice cream bar! did you get one?), our cute mini freezer for all the frozen summer stuff, the absinthe black currant macarons, Lagusta’s always-hilarious signboards, the awe-inspiring beauty of the flower tablets (blows my mind every time), the beauty of it all, really. 

 

Maresa’s cherry blossom macaron. I mean, COME ON!

 

 

Also, getting to hang out in the shop talking about food all day and talking to our incredible customers. I ❤ you all. And shout out to all the neighborhood four-legged friends too! MJ, Jack, Sweet Potato, the two (separate) bulldogs that are both named Tater Tot (!!!), Gravy, Junior, etc. ❤ ❤ ❤  

COMMISSARY

KARA

about eight months ago standing in my backyard one day i knew suddenly that it was time to take lagusta up on that job offer at commissary! hawks had been flying over me in droves for months–lore says that hawks are message-bringers–and once realized, the message was so obvious! it was time to align my work life with my personal values, to do something right by myself professionally. after my interview i found so many pennies heads side up, more than probability should allow under normal circumstances but hey, comm creates anything but normal circumstances. ahhh, what a pleasure to work in a place where i can breeze right in and say hi to all my regular custies and coworkers because i love them, where i am respected for my essential self that feels unlimited and pure right up until the last second of each shift–i just love it! i never stop getting struck by it all!

DANY

I joined the Commissary! crew a little late in the game in the middle of October, but these two & a half months have felt like the biggest part of my year. My start was entwined with changes abound and it’s without a doubt one of the best. The people I’ve met & worked with at Commissary! have provided an environment of love and support I can’t even begin to express the proper gratitude for. Navigating food world, learning all of the different chocolates, and discovering the magic of cambros are just a few of the lessons I carry with me into 2020. Comm has given me a sense of pride and fulfillment in my work and saying that I’m happy here would just not cut it.

 

CHOCOLATE SHOP

ERICKA

ok so I definitely wrote a long emotional journal entry about how 2019 was the worst year of my adult life and how the chocolate shop was one of the few areas of my life that was sound and comfy. but it was a little mopey and I don’t like that very much so instead i’m going to reflect on the times I felt the happiest at work this year, because of all my wonderful co workers! (In no particular order)

1. every single time we ordered food. especially when I called karma road from my cell phone and they had to call me back but they just called the chocolate shop directly because they had figured out that we place a giant order nearly every sunday  
2. when Kate made me a giant baby pink felt silica gel packet. because that’s SO weird and now it’s on my fridge.
3. dani’s gift to me for secret snowflake this year!! what! it was amazing!
4. going bowling with everyone to celebrate Alexis! (ps we miss u)
5. every hug from sam. if you know you know. sam gives the best hugs.
6. THE MEME PAGE! this was technically started in 2018. But wasn’t that the best? that was so fun y’all are so funny and I already knew that but that page made it so real. 
7. when deirdre went full aquarius on me and told me that if she could know anything about an alien race she would want to know if they interacted with Fibonacci’s sequence, or if they had a different pattern? 
8. when lagusta called air pods air buds. like the golden retriever. these things write themselves. 
9. building a milk cloud with rachel. the results of this sit on the commissary instagram and confused everyone. 
10. when my mom became our accountant! this is just wholesome. except I was on the phone with her the other day and she hung up on me bc rachel was on the other line </3
11. teaching mike the thing where someone knuckle bumps you and you say “turkey” and flatten your hand. he was totally blown away. I mean I get it though.
12. when me and jenn discovered the song association game and probably initiated some of our new work friends into the energy of the shop in a really weird way. nothing says icebreaker like you have ten seconds to sing a song that says sponge in it.
13. the other day I had to leave the shop because a yorkie came in and shelly didn’t even ask she just hugged me when I started crying. I miss my dog! I love shelly a lot. 
14. one day vickie bought a blueberry pie and offered to share it so on a summer evening me vickie jenn and lagusta sat outside and ate blueberry pie with strawberry ice cream. xoli was sitting on my lap and it was so nice that day. 
15. every funny morning meeting quip, every time I felt comfortable expressing something I can’t in any other space, every group hug, or hover hug, every dog (that we definitely don’t allow in the shop don’t worry), and everything else along the way.

despite anything outside of work, I had a really fulfilling, happy, and supportive year working with all of you. I’m so excited for the future of LL and I’m so grateful to be here. 

SAM G

I have worked in the night of the chocolate shop for over a year now, making croissants for the cafe and the city shop. I have cherished every milestone: the slow shift from concentrating-very-hard-still-fucking-up to seamlessly-working-the-dough-while-holding-a-conversation, memorizing the dough recipe and the butter recipe, shaving half an hour off of the total process time by changing just a couple of steps around…it’s all felt special and well-earned. Every night when I open the door to the dark shop, I stop and breathe in the good smells, acknowledge that good people have been doing good work in this space all day, and just feel grateful to be invited. I have two jobs, I work long days and nights, sometimes I am tired and it’s hard to leave my house. But when I get to work, I wake up. Nothing is exhausting, everything is satisfying, and with every task my brain smooths out a little. The dough unfurls, I do the same. I measure, mix, roll and fold, cut and shape, wash, clean, organize. My brain is along for the ride, breaks to make lovely observations, realizations born from total focus. In between carefully timed steps, I scribble thoughts from my clean brain onto scraps of paper— ideas and love thoughts and ways to be better. I walk home, body-tired, mind-kindled. I have done something that I feel is worthwhile. Sometimes the sun is rising and if it’s warm weather maybe a fat robin is walking alongside me, nervous and garbling. I like to be with the world in this way.

MIKE

A full calendar year. Lots of boxes going out to lots of beautiful people and places. Friendships growing stronger. Surprises developing into magical realities. 2019 was quite a year. 2020 will be even better.

MICHAELA

wow, 2019. this year has brought so many changes to my life – the most special being starting this job. after a whirlwind of events, landing here at LL HQ was the best thing to happen to me for so many reasons. meeting all of these amazing people I’m so lucky to call my coworkers is definitely my favorite thing. I’ve never been in such a warm, loving, open space before where I actually look forward to coming into work. spending the days chatting about life, love, politics, intersectionality, what caramels represent us and belting out musical numbers (all while working – busy hands!!) makes me smile. as we go forward into this new decade I’m thankful for starting it by the side of these lovely people I get to call my friends. let this coming year, and all of those to come, continue to bring so much beauty, joy, love, and utter amazingness to everyone.

JENN

I usually start off every one of these posts with something like “WOW THAT WAS A DOOZIE” but this has been one of the best, most transformative years I’ve had at the shop and in my life! This year brought a lot of new faces and friendships, and for that I’m forever thankful. I always enjoy the buzz and excitement of holiday season, and this year our efficiency was *so close to 100%* that I enjoyed it more than ever. While this was a great year, I have to admit I’m so glad 2017 is finally coming to a close so we can just get on with 2018 already, right? [ed note: this is a joke to me because i can’t seem to remember what year it is. roasted!! — lagusta]

DEIRDRE

Even though I haven’t worked at the chocolate shop for very long, it feels like a comfortable place for me where I can tie up my apron and get into a rhythm. I like the balance of a supportive work environment and overall kind and excited customers. I like being able to talk about politics and theory and horoscopes and memes and life at work and feel held by the people there. I like challenging myself to pack as many delicate chocolates into a pretty box as quickly as possible. I like that I get to do that in a cozy, friendly shop with people who are kind and trying to do right and letting their human-ness show to allow other people to get just a bit closer to them than it feels like in other spaces sometimes. Thanks for creating a little pocket of the world where that can happen!

KATE

if the year was a playlist it would start with “honey” by robyn and end with the same. in like a lion, out like the same lion, just as soft, just as strong. the only lambs here are us. i’ve written so many year re-caps and they’re mostly all the same: i love this work, i love these people, no one can take that away from me, and there’s the beauty. this world we’ve cobbled together, together, it’s as sweet as we make it, it’s as warm as we want. in 2019 we solved problems, we cooked caramels, we shipped boxes, we held hands. often my cheeks burned red, sometimes frustration, other times elation. that’s how it goes and there are a million points between every start and finish, but if i have to put words to it, i’ll just say: we keep turning sugar into different forms of itself, and we’re not much different. ❤

SHELLY

wow hi OK 2019 was one of the worst and best years of my life! I graduated college, moved into a beautiful new apartment, broke up with the same person TWICE, and became a manager (amongst tons of other bad and good things). Its funny to think all of this was happening while our little LLverse just kept going and thriving. No matter what I am going through, I always know I can come into work the next day ready for new challenges and a shit ton of laughs (and misandry, never forget the misandry)! I can’t believe I get to go to work with all of my favorite people every single day and for that I am so grateful. Here’s to 2020 being WAY better than 2019 and lets vote Trump out of office!

C

Written and spoken word has always caused me to stop and stutter under an unknown pressure of being as fruitful and eloquent as I’d like to imagine I am. The need to wrap my feelings neatly in a box with a bow is a feat I’m left wrestling with. My feelings have been bursting at the seams since I’ve started working here! Though I know I was meant to communicate with my drawings I’m going to do my best to say how I feel, here. I hope I can show what I mean, through all my nervous typos that I hopefully have gone through and corrected.

I’ve never felt such a leap of faith as joining the LL crew.

My nerves broke way my trail day. It feels homey yet foreign being spun deeply into a world with its own traditions and language. I didn’t understand but I was excited to learn and every person I interact with more willing to show and to share.

Tradition and skills so lovingly passed on to the next. I’m so grateful to have been taught chocolatier-ing by those who love what they do and want you to love what you’re doing.

How do you say thank you to folks who have change your life? (Pause, I started tearing up)

I’ve never felt like I could be myself, wholeheartedly, in a space until now. I’m not even sure I was accepting my whole self until now. And the be in THIS space! These four teal walls! All these people who like me for me and are here to raise each other up for who we are. It makes my heart burst. (Another pause)

I feel so honored to be here. With you all. Making sweet vegan chocolate confections with my hands. In a space with people that I love. I can’t wait to grow with you all! I feel like when I’m here the energy is contagious, weather we are talking about sustainably, playing what celebrities are your last two brain cells, or just chatting about recipes. I feel so happy to be at home.

Every day and I smell like chocolate. A stray dot or two of chocolate on my face (from cleaning the enrober, I’m sure) but I’m always smiling now. I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling since September.

To growth? To burning who you thought you were to make way for who you are? To a family I’ve found. To a family that found me! To caramel burns and flinging cocoa butter everywhere but where you wanted it! To Lagusta for making this space feel like a home! To 2020.

best of 2018

Time for the novel that has become our annual best-of blog. Get yr tissues ready.

For best-of round ups from previous years, see

2017
2016
2015
2015 (more!)
2014
2013
2012

(Thanks for Ericka for taking our staff photo and setting up the selfie stand that produced all these gems at our holiday party!)

A few highlights from me (Lagusta):

• Um, I wrote a book. Sweet X Salty: The Art of Vegan Confections from Lagusta’s Luscious, forthcoming from Da Capo Press in Fall 2019.
• We started ordering period supplies by the case because we employ so many bleeding humans. HIGHLIGHT!
• Our chocolate supplier, Republica del Cacao, whisked me off to Ecuador and I spent a life-changing week learning about where these ingredients (chocolate, sugar) we interact with every day are born. (See the “Ecuador” story highlights on our Instagram for about a million stories from Ecuador)
• My co-owner dropped out of the parts of the businesses we ran together (Commissary! plus the financial aspects of the other businesses)…and I assembled a team of crackerjack women and one man who picked me up off the floor and I got the finances under control and learned to do the things I didn’t know how to do and it’s all going great. Maresa’s still running Confectionery! with me, and she continues to be the best best friend and business partner I could have ever hoped for.
• After three years of hard work, we launched a glorious new website.
• We made a gigantic Tahini Meltaway for our 7^thshop birthday party.
• I got to photograph Chloe’s “heathen” tattoo next to Heathen Toffee.
• 
• We made an unbelievable PB&J Meltaway that looked like a big slab of raw meat but it’s too wonky to make an everyday piece, which is a true tragedy.
• Rachel and G taking over #rammissary (my bi-weekly ramen night, the only time I get to cook ever, sigh) when I was too busy with Christmas craziness, and knocking it out of the park was a treat to see.
• 
• I continue to learn and grow by interacting with the 35 amazing humans who work at LL Industries every day. They make coming to work exciting and fun. I love watching them learn latte art and marbling chocolates, customer service and doing inventory. All I want for 2019 is more of the same.

 

COMMISSARY

MAX!

Walking towards Commissary before dawn, the ice crunching beneath my feet, I watch as a lone blue heron lands on the historic brick chimney jutting out of the roof of a neighboring building.

We enjoy observing each other momentarily, peacefully, until I punch in my code to head inside.

But unlike every other job I’ve had, heading into work feels similarly to arriving at a close friend’s home. I carry that sense of peace from the heron through the door and into the kitchen.

Work is where I get to see the people I love every day. It’s where I get to pursue something I honestly enjoy, enough where I get home at the end of the day and the first thing I do is continue preparing food. It’s where the famous Potato Stud lived with her dinosaur friend for months until she started sprouting little eyes and had to be put to rest (RIP). Creativity is honored in this space.

It’s where I feel at home with myself, a trans man, fully accepted and gendered correctly by the surrounding community. It’s a safe space for people of all walks of life, and if you don’t feel safe then there’s an open and caring conversation waiting to be had about how things could be improved.

Commissary has been more than a job for me in 2018, and the family I’ve gained just by walking through the front door is a priceless reward for coming to work every day. Together, we get things done, we grow, we succeed, we create a space people want to go. It makes every day worth it.

And yes, curious custies, everything here is vegan.

 

HALEIGH!
I had just gotten back from spending my summer in Ireland WWOOFing. I was getting ready to start my final year of undergrad and I had burned through my money on many a nights spent at the local pub. A few days after my return, eager to replenish my rent money,  my brother’s girlfriend and I were chatting about Commissary! and she asked if I thought I would ever want to work there. I thought about it for a moment, and then responded telling her that I’m sure it would  be a cool place to work, but at the end of the day work is work.  I enjoyed the place too much, as a sanctuary for macrons and zines, to risk ruining the little haven I thought of it. Two days later, I scrolled through Instagram and saw a post about Shave Ice and Lagusta’s search for a person to work Sundays at the market. It was perfect! I could still come to Comm in my free time, but it was something I could do during the semester. Well, Shave Ice ended and I quickly picked up other shifts  within the cafe. A few months later and Commissary was never ruined for me as a patron. If anything, it is even better: I no longer have to tell the cashier my name & I even get a complimentary chocolate on occasion! I look forward to the months to come, both as an employee and custie.

RACHEL!

2018, wow, this is the third one of these I’ve written! I can’t imagine not spending time in that little turquoise room on Church St. We’ve almost had 100% turnover since last year (so glad you’re still here, Jasper!) and somehow Commissary manages to retain the same heart.  (a la Doctor Who, changing bodies over and over again but still being the same in their core.) I’m not behind the counter so much any more, now I look at numbers on a screen more than I look at 8g (is that the right amount?) of miso soup in a bowl.  I am so grateful to Lagusta for being open to my job evolving into something new, for both of us really! And I’m grateful to still be able to put on my apron and my velvet work clogs for special food occasions (yaki udon! GRRamen!) Looking forward to 2019!

CONFECTIONERY

JENNA!

This is my first year working at Confectionery (well, I think prior to being officially hired I was in the shop often enough to count as an unpaid employee, and speaking of which, I’d like to apologize to whomever was working on the day that I brought my bike INSIDE the shop because I forgot my bike lock — if a customer attempted that nonsense while I was working now, I would of course smile and politely allow them to do so, but inside I would be SO MAD about having to sweep up the bike grit afterwards! BUT I DIGRESS). Aside from my first weekend on the job being Easter weekend, which was so bonkers that I think it might actually qualify as hazing, working here has been such a lovely way to spend my off days. The staff are so warm and generous, which I have learned through text and email and notes in the journal because we never actually work with one another, and I’m grateful to everyone — including the folks up in New Paltz who let me crash the chocolate shop for a training day back in April! — who has helped me ease into this role. I’ve really come to love our little shoebox and all of its weird quirks and wacky customers. Even though I’ve lived in the city for the better part of the last ten years and I was born and raised in New York State, nothing has made me feel more like a New Yorker than being a shopgirl at an artisanal vegan bakery in the East Village. I’ve gotten nearly-full punch cards for nearby coffee shops as a tip, I’ve met a million adorable dogs wearing sweaters more fashionable than anything in my own closet, I’ve perfected the art of tucking every single strand of my hair up under a baseball cap, and I’ve learned more about tempering chocolate and caramelizing sugar than I ever could have hoped for. It’s been a dream.

 

VERONICA!

Just a few short & sweet words for the year, which sped by at an electric pace. A few of my highlights include:

You, dear customers. Grateful that this (tiny) space fosters real live human connections. Each year that we’ve been open, we get busier and busier and I’m ever grateful to all of our incredibly kind, sweet, and cool customers I get to interact with on a daily basis.

The delicious return of the hazelnut sugarplum bars/bonbons – if you stopped into the shop this holiday season chances are you heard me going on and on about these gems. People, I just can’t help myself. I wait all year for these flavorbabes.

Garden mint macarons garnished with edible flowers from Maresa’s garden & LL flower tablets with edible flowers grown outside the upstate choco shop. I mean, are you kidding me? I can’t grow a damn thing but I love love love flowers. I’m awed every time this form of poetry comes back in season. A true delight.

Butter – did you know in the wintertime we often have Maresa’s big blocks of butter available? I’ve been vegan half my life but still vividly remember and miss the sweet creamy taste of the dairy version. No more. This is it! Try it! I like it slathered on good semolina bread or — what I eat often when I get home from work– melted in a saucepan with some minced garlic, hot pepper flakes and good pasta.

Rainbow cookies! No words needed.

Licorice. Dude, I’m drooling typing this. It’s nothing like the weird stuff my mother used to get from the health food store which made me think I hated licorice. Maybe if we all annoy Lagusta enough she’ll decide to make it year-round and then I can stuff it in my face whenever I want a salty sweet bite.

AMANDA!

Although I began at confectionery mid year, it feels like ive been there longer. The lead up to this magical place was what made it so amazing. Spring of 18, I was on a splurge of volunteering for every city harvest, vegan festival I can get my hands on- between the 8,000 gems I had a pleasure serving in nyc, to the smaller scale at asbury park. One particular morning of 96 degrees weather and being the only volunteer to show up I helped many vendors set up at the asbury event- there I met Maresa! I know, so meant to be. Now that I look back, that day changed so much in my life. I reached out to her via dm when she posted that confectionery was looking for a newbie to join the team. And here I am. That tiny space has taught me so much. Like, how can I manage my space, the customers and the product with min room? Can I do it alone? Confidence, self discipline, communication, and believing in yourself is the real job at confectionery. And the sweets, my goodness. They are magical, they are the future and they are made by two amazing women with much history behind them. Plus they are free of harm. The long drives to the shop had me listening to podcast that helped my headspace. And superiority burgerrrrrrr ugh! The tiny book store around the block that I can’t help but run to on my 30 min break. The music and artist I was never exposed to on our playlist. The nightly journal I look forward to communicating with such amazing people that I unfortunately, never get to see also has some bittersweetness to it. But mostly the idea of being trusted to run their beautiful shop. The discovery of Confectionery and every ongoing delicious treat will continue to be my highlight for many times to come-

LAGUSTA’S LUSCIOUS HQ

KARA!

the winter holidays only come once a year and I am so thankful that the shop has a need for people who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to spend time in a little brick building at the bottom of town where the bustle is always going and the air inside always smells like chocolate plus a little extra something sweet and once you leave it you still smell the chocolate on you, days later you are still rubbing chocolate out of black clothing to wear back to work…I spent most of my time doing dishes (gladly so!) and in doing so I saw the degree of production volume the shop handles so efficiently, making and packing and selling little delights to be enjoyed by people literally around the world—even though I only spent 3 hours a week in the shop I still feel like I am a part of things. there were holiday parties that felt like the family holidays we all deserve, I met good people making good things with care and precision who I am so proud to know, and I felt happy in the purest of ways for the simple fact that I was involved in even the smallest capacity for the 2018 holiday season.

ERIKA!

“you grow through what you go through” was my mantra of 2018. inside and outside of the LL universe, i found myself expanding further and faster than i could keep up with. mental illness can be tough in that way, always feeling like you’re trying to catch up. but in our little chocolate world, there’s always a kind soul within a few steps to reassure you that you’re doing just fine.

my coworkers curate an endless stream of support, love, and so so so much knowledge. since i’ve moved into the world of recipe-making this year, i’ve had to utilize that knowledge approximately every 4 minutes to learn the ropes (and there are sooo many ropes twisted and intertwined throughout our little world: some tiny, some obscure, some hidden, some not available at the moment for your recipe that’s currently on the stove.) every LL employee possesses a vast knowledge of the tiniest details that keep us moving forward, and they’re always happy to pass it along to those still in training.

however, since we’re all forever still in training as humans on this chaotic planet, we often exchange questions beyond the scope of our work: what kind of eco-friendly cat litter do you use? what show should i watch next? if you were a donut, what kind would you be, and why? growing alongside such an amazing group of people has shaped me into an ever-changing mosaic, displaying bits of the knowledge, expertise, and love that i have been lucky enough to absorb.

you grow through what you go through, but it matters too what you grow around, and i feel infinitely lucky to have roots at LL.

KATE!

i know enough to know that joy and pride are fleeting, shifting forces, but i have to look to those terms when i think about the year in my job and the people i work with and the things we all make together in a little new paltz sugarbox. i love the parts of the year where we can’t make things fast enough, caramels get cooked then enrobed and then bought and i never ever hear from them, and then the next day we make the same ones all over again. i love working with people who care about the things they’re making as much as they care about each other. (both: a lot.) in 2018 i learned new things and flexed some old muscles and my only hope is that i keep on doing that: building it all up, taking a step back to give it a look.

LYDIA!

As a small farmer, I so appreciate the willingness of LL’s to hire seasonal staff. It has been fun to learn the behind-the-scenes efforts of another small food business. It is great to work in a place that also cares about food, laborers, and community development through economy!

SAM!

here at LL, I constantly get the feeling that I’m being initiated into a secret magical order.

traditionally, initiation rites were passed down in an invisible line. knowledge traveled from person to person, hands to heart. legacies built through community and sharing.

in the world of the chocolatier, I see no difference.

as goes any fool’s journey -I dove in without questions, just a feeling and a knowing that I wanted to trust it.

here, a whole new craft. no textbooks no studying.

here, sweet skills are passed on like a torch.

here, where we learn from each precious person another way to work in this weirdo world of sugar.

and yeah at first you burn yourself with 261 degree caramel, but then you get the hang of it.

It is empowering to be apart of this wizarding world, to know that my time has been alchemized into gold with the support of the LL community.

I am grateful and honored everyday by the magic revealed.

MIKE!

My home was once on the other coast yet I always managed a visit to the slice of heaven Lagusta created. Then the wind carried me East and I landed back in the area. That same wind lifted me to LL and now I am (primarily) the Shipperman. I marvel at the collective spirit of those around me, such an amazing gathering of people creating the highest grade sweets imaginable. Everyone works at such a mind-bending pace, and everything always gets done and there is always laughter and smiles and positivity.  I feel blessed to be included in this wonderful adventure of integrity and solidarity. Especially when there are scraps (Maresa, I see you too). The energy is infectious, the discourse is delightful, and the chocolates, well, you know about them already.

JENN!

2018: Local chocolatier becomes manager, is surprisingly overwhelmed at how crazy hard it is! Learning the business side of the business has been eye-opening. I have so much respect for everyone that crosses over from maker to manager. While it’s a bit sad to lose time at Selmi, it’s worth it to be able to spend time passing on my skills I’ve learned here. It’s been a true honor mentally tracking everyone’s growth as a worker and a person since I came here in good ol’ 2016 (remember that dumpster fire of a year?). I feel like a real proud mama bird, and nothing has ever been more fulfilling. Huge thanks to Lagusta, Kate, and Alexis for believing in me and teaching me their ways. I truly love every single human at this shop so much, it makes all of the stress induced eczema well worth it. Cheers to 2019, hope it brings even more love and growth.

ERICKA!

2018 was really wonderful and great and also the opposite in some ways. I moved to New Paltz in August with my partner and cried a lot and was stressed until I got a job at the chocolate shop and never cried again, ever.

Just kidding but like barely because at my ten shift check in when Kate and Lagusta asked me how I was feeling I was being 100% serious when I said I genuinely am not used to being treated so kindly and feeling so comfortable talking to my coworkers (read: friends). Ow it hurts. I love y’all. These businesses are actually magical little vortexes filled with the best energy. I’m not sure how so many good people ended up in one place but I’m so grateful and happy to witness it. I hope in 2019 I’ll finally be allowed to touch the caramel. Thanks for filling the second half of my 2018 with so much knowledge, fun, and obscure band names. I appreciate you all more than you know//more than I can express xo.

HOLLY!

The thing I love most about working at Lagusta’s Luscious is the community of amazing, supportive, hilarious, and compassionate individuals that work beside me. I feel so blessed to know all of them and I’d like these wonderful people to know that they have made the most incredible impact on my life. Their goodness is infinitely inspiring and empowering.

Some of my favorite moments include:

Our endless conversations about our pets and all of the ridiculous things they put us through.

Erika accidentally pouring a Cambro of whip into her shoes and being a total champ about it.

Finally acquiring ceramics from Alexis and picking her brain about everything from recipes to business management.

Ramen and city trekking with Maresa, Sam, and Kim.

Realizing that Jenn is the only person who loves Christmas music as much as me.

But really, every moment is fantastic ❤

KAREN!

As a recent Manhattan->Hudson Valley transplant I joined the seasonal crew at LL headquarters this fall.  Having been a devoted customer of Confectionary! for the past couple of years I thought it would be an easy job to help support a product I love so much.  Veronica’s smiling cheer and loveliness at the shop also made me think – if such a nice, warm person can thrive at a retail job (unheard of) then this place must be run right.  I’ve worked in elementary schools, on construction sites, in theaters, and in a prison.  If the principal, the foreman, the director or the wardens are nice people, it shows all the way to the very bottom of the crew.  This is what has been confirmed in my last two months of this job.  There is not a prickly person in the bunch, only the hardest working, kindest folx I have ever had the pleasure to work with, assembled and inspired, if not occasionally pushed in the right direction, by a very kind lead.  I never thought that fudge scraps would be my second favorite to ANYTHING, but my favorite thing about this job has been the people.  And the fudge scraps.  But definitely the people first… the fudge scraps are a close second.

BAKER SAM!
I’d been coveting a secret (not-so-secret, if you ask anyone who knows me) dream of working here for a long time, when I decided to just take the plunge and offer up services– and by “services” I meant “will to learn”, because I’m as inexperienced as they come, having never worked in kitchens or food service or the baking world, which is where I am now. The first highlight of my year was being warmly invited to dive right in. Mostly I work independently during late night hours, learning to ID all of the many variables, developing rhythms, pushing process times and generally trying to understand my tasks in a way that eventually becomes muscle memory. But first there were mornings training with G, which was also a highlight. G has a grace in working with dough that was a pleasure to witness and that instantly set forth a clear picture of what to aim for. G kept a warm and fast-paced work environment, always maintained a great soundtrack (thanks for helping me rediscover the beauty of Wham’s “Last Christmas”!), was never afraid to step in and show me what I was messing up, and made sure that I had a baked good in hand for my morning walk home (you have to taste your product to understand it!) Other highlights: learning that dough can heal itself in wild ways (also learning that I’m about as sappy-spiritual about baking as anyone would have guessed); discovering what 8 hours on your feet doing physical labor feels like (the first two weeks, phew! A new appreciation established for the toughness of everyone who works here); entering into the lovely and complete communication processes that keep this place operating smoothly. In this space, this place, it seems it’s second nature to be highly considerate, generous, kind. Ultimately, it boils down to why I was interested in working here in the first place: I hope that something will rub off on me, that maybe I’ll be shaped by the company I keep. In doing hard work in an environment that has integrity built into its core, maybe I’ll hammer myself into some finer metal. The other day I opened up my wallet and found an index card with some scrawl written on it, no date, but it was over a year ago for certain. “I want to be a baker / the perfect balance / scientific equation / fermentation / who can I apprentice with?” I believe in working to learn, and I’m glad to be in a community that creates that opportunity. When I first sat down with Lagusta, I told her I might surprise myself with what I DIDN’T know, and she quickly reminded me that the opposite might also be true. A place with heart for people with a lot to learn. What a dream. Maybe next year this time I’ll have baker’s muscles.

best of 2017

Every year I ask everyone in the LL-verse to send me some florid (or not) prose (or not) about their year at work. This year we were 26 strong, across all three businesses, every single person a dang beacon of joy and singularity. Here are words from some of us about 2017 in a small chocolate company, a bustling café, and a tiny retail sweets shop.

For best-of round ups from previous years, see

2016
2015
2015 (more!)
2014
2013
2012

LAGUSTA’S LUSCIOUS:

LAGUSTA (me!)
I rush to work every day because I work with wonderful weirdos who are always up to help me implement all kinds of schemes and projects. The highlight of my year was the totality of this job, the stresses and the ludicrously saccharine joys, just completely all of it—all its million grabby tentacles that always need everything all the time, the hundreds of 1.5 minute walks between LL and Comm (if I don’t have too much to carry I make myself sprint it, always arriving out of breath here or there), the customers and friends I get to hang out with every day, the ramen bowls I get to make, the people I share this job with. My personal life mostly sucked in 2017 and the wider world was so scary every day, so work was a real (um, fairly literal) lifesaver.

The other highlight of my year was, like everyone’s, Tahini Meltaways. Thanks, Alexis! Here’s to more meltaway things and tahini things in 2018.

Plans for 2018:
As usual, we’ve got lots of overly ambitious and guaranteed-stress-making plans for the year ahead. We’re always looking to improve the beauty and flavor of our chocolates, food, and drink, always working to welcome our customers more warmly, to treat each other with true gentleness and respect, always trying to soften up while sharpening up, getting better, kinder, smarter.

Specifically, I want to make our viennoisserie program (croissants!) a bit fluffier and flakier, want to get tickets out in a speedier fashion at Commissary!, want to run out of everything from cashew milk to Rosemary Caramels less by improving communication and efficiency and tightening up our systems. I’ve got plans to build some beautiful new shop shelves from LL HQ, to do some fancy dinners at Commissary!, got some advent calendar ideas for LL percolating away in my noodle. I want to learn how to be a better boss, always.

Oh, and I have a book to write. Mark your calendars for Fall 2019 when my book Sweet X Salty: The Art of Vegan Confections from Lagusta’s Luscious comes out. I have 6 more months to write it and it’s already almost at the promised word count but not even ¼ finished. It’s already super on-brand LL, ah.

SHELLY:
Working at LL has been a crazy all encompassing job that I couldn’t love more! I came into the shop at a really crazy time in my life and I am so glad to have found this lil coven of the greatest people on earth. I feel really privileged to have been let into this world, and I am grateful to have grown with my co-workers and friends so tremendously in the past few months. I have so much love for what we do and what we stand for and I can’t wait to see the LL brand grow into the new year!

JENN:
2017 was a year of many changes for ol’ Jenn! In February I began my New Years Resolution of being vegan (better late than never), and I’m so happy to report I’m still vegan! Having so many seasoned vegans all around me while I was starting out was just so helpful and I’m forever thankful for all of the encouragement, recipes, and love. This year I also took on more making duties, which has been both challenging and rewarding. It’s such a great feeling seeing something on Instagram that I made! Personally, this year has been quite the shake-up. My life got flipped, turned upside-down and I’d like to take a minute just sit right there, and I’ll tell you how literally everyone in the shop has been so empowering and uplifting. I can’t thank everyone at the shop enough for their support. Looking forward to 2018 being a year of continued positive change and growth!

JILL
Boxes! I moved to the Hudson Valley at the very end of August and quickly found a job at Lagusta’s Luscious. It was all whirlwind, heat, and flash. Tobi said, “Get a job doing mail order”. Boxes! I used to mail records, now I mail chocolate. Both are fragile and can melt, but only chocolate gets mailed with ice. Last Wednesday, we mailed 117 packages. Boxes! Everything is made so carefully. It’s very meticulous. It tastes delicious! I run from the back of the shop to the front – to grab more chocolate, for orders. I pass by the scrap table – to look for snacks, for me. There are always snacks. There are always orders. Energy! Chocolate! Boxes!

–Maresa says, “I can’t believe you’re sitting down and not packing boxes”.
–“I am writing about boxes right now!”

Holiday shipping! USPS! We need more packing peanuts! I never met the mail carrier.

The best night of 2017 was when I saw the Raincoats perform in NYC. Lagusta brought them chocolate. They played “Lola” twice. Gina ate one of our caramel bars on stage; she stretched the caramel as far as it could go. (I wonder if she shared with Ana.) When Gina looked inside the bag, she proclaimed, “Furious Vulvas. That will be my dinner.” [Three-quarters of] Bikini Kill played a song they haven’t sung in twenty-three years. It was the first time I saw them. It was amazing! (Don’t tell Bill.)

KARA
putting small sweet things inside of small colored things putting those things inside bigger sturdy things which in turn are put into even bigger things then sent out into that part of the world that exists contingently with the little utopia flourishing inside the shop, how could something so painstakingly pure continue to live if there were no dichotomous relationship with the thing it actively seeks to defy, i guess i am thankful that the strange discordant part of the world is a thing so that i can ride into my eleventh hour of a work day knowing that the place in which i serve my duty is one marked by upheaval of all that seeks to limit our freedom of selfhood in society. thank you lagusta and every single person involved for being warriors through chocolate and sweets, for creating and sustaining a THRIVING hub of positivity, power, and safety, and for allowing me to be a part of the busy winter season!

CHLOE
2017 was the year that Lagusta’s Luscious HQ became my home away from home, not my “workplace.”
So many things went wrong in 2017 and it ended up creating a giant gap ready to be filled with wonderful experiences. All the chocolatiers made their own recipes. So daunting and so rewarding! Tinsley the tinsel cat got a tinsel friend and they both have an extensive wardrobe made by Jenn! We had a Halloween party instead of a birthday party when I turned 23 this year. Enrobing became my main gig and in that I got to listen to endless podcasts and lectures including a 12 hour lecture series on The Black Death so if you need any morbid medieval fun facts let me know. Alexis made soup so warm and comforting that when I curled up on the couch during my lunch break I accused her of sabotage by making us all too happy and sleepy to work. We learned to decorate our chocolates so beautifully that that I’d carry a piece around the shop like “Maresa look how pretty this bark is!” “Kate! have you seen how damn shiny these are?!”
I could not be more proud to be a part of the LL family. Thanks for letting me be a total weirdo!

KATE
the years just keep passing through and taking me with them and if i had my shit together i would have kept tally of how many times we made each recipe this year, how many turtle bar batches, how many maple pecan caramels and peanut butter cup fillings, how many batches of cane syrup (the mother recipe inside all the other recipes). i wish i kept track of how many times i screamed about the sunset outside and how many bad jokes i made in general, how many times “sk8r boi” crept out of the playlist depths and wide-eyed set us ablaze back into the 90’s for a passing minute. i wish i kept track of the number of times i felt genuine pride of product and love of people and camraderie of mission and belonging of place in this teal palace made of sugar. i bet the numbers are high. i bet they would surprise me. ❤

COMMISSARY!

JASPER
Lagusta told us to write a few sappy words reflecting on our year at work, so here are mine.

I started out as a customer, coming to Comms with my partner every once in a while to read zines and roll my eyes at the $6.50 matcha latte with cashew milk (I didn’t appreciate the price tag as a customer, but now I see that everything we serve is 200% worth it). Wow, times have changed since then!

Lagusta has this thing she says at the beginning of every training, how everyone that’s here was "brought" here because they needed it. Something about this place drew people in, like a sanctuary. That was very much the case for me. I was closing a chapter in my life and looking for a new one to sink my teeth into. Found it!

I hopped behind the counter in April, up to my elbows in dishes on ramen night (#rammissary) while learning the very basics of working in a kitchen. I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned and excited at how much there is still left to learn.

It was in this kitchen that I learned what it’s like to be a part of a true team— a coordinated effort toward at the common goal of great food, sound politics, and warm community. My coworkers, employers, and customers are the best people I know.

I am so grateful for the team I am a part of, in all of its iterations over the past year. I’m grateful for every blobby latte heart (still working on it!), every perfect croissant, every broken dish, every dog in a sweater, and every redeemed Mitzvah.

Thanks Commissary! for being my sanctuary and my rock this year. I’m so excited to see what this year brings.

xo,
Jasper
p.s. follow @CommissaryOoC on twitter for funny “Commissary Out of Context" quotes/pics from this year.

RACHEL
I think a lot about a thing Lagusta said about how every time you chop a carrot you try to do it better. It’s like that at Commissary. Constantly improving, even repetition is not repetitive because there are tiny minute details to be improved upon.

Theres also things, like tofu pockets, that you revisit and get acquainted with again after a years absence. You remember who you were the last time you cut one. I feel grateful to remember that person, cutting tofu pockets in 2016, and even more grateful to be the person I am now, cutting tofu pockets in 2017. Same task, but so much growth! I love this job and I love the people I work with and I love the challenge of constantly striving to make positive changes. Excited for what's next!

JACOB
2017 was about trying to take steady, deep breaths. I bought a subscription to Headspace to help, it needed that much deep breathing! The idea was to find a groove, the beat at which everything just “runs”, and by running I mean taking off in a sprint and not slowing down. We saw an almost total staff change up at Commissary! this year (thankfully not a total one because who wants to run Commissary! without Rachel and Chrissy?!) We’d actually done amazingly well with staff retention, over a year for almost everyone but a new wave of excited and passionate folks changes the dynamic and it’s dynamic for sure! Even with new people we still have the return of old favorite food and drinks with a rotating menu and from that comes the excitement from customers of returning favorites like an old friend. Many customers have now become old friends as Commissary! becomes a community beyond just the food and drink and the space becomes worn and grooved itself. We went from dainty thin glass cups to thicker cups (everything breaks!) and new beautiful custom ceramics from Alexis. Everyone goes to “Advanced Milks Training” at Stumptown training central to perfect that heart, fern, or tulip. Sarah Jane helped us finally update the counter and table tops, trying to recreate our youth of 1.5 years ago when there were groove-free wood surfaces to eat and drink from (it’s our “everything should always be clean like new!” mantra.) We try and fill the space with more tasty beauty (hello Tuesday Ramen!) and fine tune every movement and detail. The challenge now is to look and grow inward.

CONFECTIONERY!

VERONICA
The year seemed to pass so fast — a whirlwind which felt sped up, no doubt, by my immense intake of sugar. It was worth all the ~probable~ cavities.
The highlights:
The almond croissants every Wednesday (#veganviennoiserie). Maresa’s springtime ramp biscuits with butter (I’m already making room in my freezer so I can buy every single one to store long-term; heads up, customers. We’re, uh, sold out. They’re all mine). Lagusta’s red satin ribbon heart decoration enveloping the window for Valentine’s day, the perfect backdrop for playing Mazzy Star on repeat. The tahini meltaways, the tahini caramel ice cream bars, the tahini mousse cups (I have a thing for tahini, especially done in the LL fashion). Those chocolate cherry big macs (M, can you make those again soon?!). The polenta caramel bars. The smoky corn on the cob bars, an old favorite I always return to. The triumphant return of the corn macarons this Autumn. Corn corn corn, more more more. All of the holiday cookies, but especially the pignoli ones which made the stressful holiday season infinitely better and which I can’t stop thinking about. Every single cake decoration Maresa made that I had the pleasure of gazing upon. Damn!
Getting up to Commissary finally and having it be everything I knew it would be – and much, much more. What a beautiful place you have up there now, Mew Paltzians — it feels like it was part of your town all along. Have some beans and greens & mac and cheese for me, please.
The Dogs of Confectionery, the regular cu(s)ties who know to come around the cash wrap for a little cheezit-looking treat and who make me want to explode from their sweetness: Yetta, Junior, Amelia Peppercorn, Elle, and also all the neighborhood dogs whose names I don’t know but who let me pet them and who drink from our water bowl. This summer we had a cat on a leash drinking from our water bowl, too, and now that is a goddang highlight if there ever was one.
Also, our visit from Queen Lydia (Maresa’s dog). Also, our visit from Ponyo Georges during pumpkin picking season:

The highlight recap wouldn’t and couldn’t be complete without mentioning the Confectionery customers, who are just the best. Often in our Google Doc work journal we have notes that say: “Our customers are so nice!” and it’s the truth. I love meeting all of the people I get to meet at the shop, who make my job more than a job. ❤

CAITLIN
For me 2017 was a pretty awesome year. Whereas 2016 was full of change and a little crazy, this year I got settled and grew into the shop, getting to know more wonderful custies and my co-workers a little better, including the addition of wonderful Timberly.

One of my highlights was seeing how our Mitzvah Wall grew and so did its followers, it felt really good in these scary uncertain times to have a safe space and to see people come in and write notes of compassion and solidarity for each other.

Also getting our lovely sleek new counter, which meant more people hung out in the shop and I got to witness the joy of two long lost friends that live in different parts of the U.S. and bumped into each other in our little shop, it's great to leave work with that warm fuzzy feeling that life is wonderful!

Also CROISSANTS! Also Maresa's chocolate tarts and the rare savory treat including the dreamy ramp biscuits!

Also getting treated to a staff trip to Woodstock Animal Farm Sanctuary and getting to meet the wonderful LL and Commissary crew!

Also having Brooks form Superiority Burger pop in with foccaccia worth living for!

GENNA
Confectionery was my rock this year. It provided me a space to share with lovely people, and get to escape from the rest of the world.

My best of the year was getting to celebrate one year with this unbeatable crew, and eat too many sesame chocolate treats.

❤ ❤

Best of 2016

It’s the night before my annual vacation, I’m drinking my tea with lotsa whiskey, I’m listening to Miley Cyrus even though I am thirty and eight years old. Let’s go.

2016 in the LL-verse. Will I ever write one of these where I don’t say

IT WAS OUR BIGGEST AND BUSIEST YEAR YET WOW

WHAT A RUSH

The answer is yes! In like 3 years when I pay off some business debt and can afford to keep the business smallllllll (is beautiful) and pay everyone so so so much better (thru magic/efficiency). (Or: When our incoming president blows us all up with his Twitter account & chocolate isn’t a thing ever again.) Just you wait, Henry Higgins! We’re going to annoy everyone by being that pretentious business always shouting about how we’ve won capitalism and are staying true to our anarchist ideals by turning down business and doing something called “days off.” YOU KNOW THAT GENRE, RIGHT? It’s a thing, right?

But first: baby’s gotta pay off a coupla Selmis.

Thus.

IT WAS OUR BIGGEST AND BUSIEST YEAR YET WOW

WHAT A RUSH

I love picking out staff gifts and wrapping them all twee with little handwritten cards and things. (Hey, I’m never gonna have kids, so I’ll take my present-giving pleasures where I can get em.) Usually I spend a nice night in my home office writing the letters and wrapping, a little respite from the December craziness. This year I had to take three full nights off from work to get it all done. Last year I wrapped about ten presents, this year I wrapped over twenty.

Wtfffffff.

The truth of 2016 is I didn’t want to think about my mom having died, so I created a new reality for myself in which I wasn’t given any time to think about it. I wouldn’t exactly recommend it as a strategy for grieving, but as a business-running tactic it’s hella perf.

Within two weeks in May I opened up an NYC sweets shop with my BFF, Maresa, and a coffeeshop with my partner, Jacob. I didn’t sleep at all in May, it was great! I definitely didn’t spend most of June falling apart, nope! Why do you ask?

Highlights @ random:

• Um I mean opening Confectionery! and Commissary! was a highlight, yeah. Put exclamation points after your businesses, people. It’s good to do. There’s a highlight for ya. Exclamation points. !
• I have this friend I met through the internet, Liz, as one does these days. Liz used to do things like work undercover in factory farms taking videos of animal abuses that are still used today to influence legislation and stuff, and now Liz has become a huge coffee nerd/roaster/coffeeshop owner. I could explain all about how this journey parallels my own in ways but I’m always on about that junk so let’s just say I love Liz. So Liz came out to do a two week-long skill-share. God, it was great! Living with another rabid food weirdo for two weeks! Working around the clock! Liz is good at everything! Highlight.

• Liz is also a huger food snob than me, which I didn’t think possible, and tasting my way through a few weeks with her strengthened my commitment to using my practice of veganism as clear-eyed needle-nosed activism through making the best well-fed-not-an-animal-dead food and drinks known to humanity. It’s good perfection motivation (my therapist would tell you I don’t need any more of that) to keep up yr standards when not just making money (boringest goal) but the elevation of the progressive movement you most care about is at stake, too.
• On one of our training days for Commissary!, I stared at the 6 people staring at me waiting to teach them how to run a coffeeshop when I didn’t yet know how to run a coffeeshop (do this, people, it is good for you, to be dumb at things you very quickly have to learn to be great at) and I got a for-real chill down my spine, thinking, “These guys don’t know it yet, but they’re about to become best friends.” Six strangers. That’s abnormal in lil incestuous New Paltz, but I’d brought in ringers: three of our crew were hauled in via social media from cities around the country. Bonkers, eh? Nerve-wracking, eh? And now three of them live together and everyone hangs out after work and the team of six is so tight and runs the place by themselves ridiculously well.
• (No fancy dinners to report about this year. Oh, but just you wait, 2017.)
• Weirdly, or not, the New Paltz chocolate shop, heretofore referred to by its given name, Lagusta’s Luscious, continued to up its game. Everyone seemed to, plainly put, get a lot better at their jobs this year. And they were very good at their jobs last year. Everyone new we hired fit into this higher level, or rose to it quickly. The managers run the place so efficiently that now I find myself asking them questions all the time, knowing that since I last made Peppermint Bark or shipped a UPS Ground to California (don’t do it!) they’ve developed better systems than the janky ones I originally instituted.

• SKULLLLLLLLS for Bones

• Kate’s been organizing little shows at Commissary! They’re so perfect. Softhearted, warm, friendly. A sweet community of bands, a constellation of loveliness. We got an offer to have a Big Name play, but word on the street is that he’s not a cool dude. No room for uncool dude vibes in our space. Kate turned him down and he was madddddd. Ha!
• I just like these guys. I just like them, these women and gender nonconforming individuals and Alan & Jacob. They’re interesting. If I were to write a novel about them (don’t worry that’s definitely not a thing I’ve already started on) it would be impossible because they’re all so themselves in all their interestingnesses and weirdnesses that fictionalizing wouldn’t work. Not one but two of them went to Salem around Halloween because they wanted to get even witchier. Which isn’t really even possible. I mean come on. Jenn knit a santa hat for Tinsley, the gaudy tinsel Halloween cat Kate and I bought at the supermarket (yes she adorably rode the conveyor belt into my arms) which, for reasons I can’t really parse, has to live on the front counter, propping up the Drinking Chocolate menu, or else everyone is mad at me. Veronica (my first employee, hired when she was 17, now grown and running our NYC shop for us, along with Caitlin & Genna) politely asked if we can plan her days off from Confectionery! around Film Forum’s cheap days. Genna’s taking six days off this winter to finish a huge tattoo. Caitlin, of pink hair and vintage dresses, speaks a hundred languages and is getting a PhD in things I can’t explain at Yeshiva University and moonlights making baked goods for her roller derby team. Alexandra spent the semester in Africa preparing for a career of working with elephants and came back not missing a beat, gently teaching the newbies how best to scrub the sink. Alan has become the Commissary! mascot, so lovingly perplexed are all of us about his weird brain, tattoo of his dog’s logo (I know) and obsession with reading Infinite Jest. Adrienne and Kate sent a lot of chocolates to a podcast they like about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the podcasters came to the shop kvelling like crazy and everyone took a lot of photos of themselves jumping very high in the air. Once Kate asked Adrienne what she was going to do that night and she said, “I might put the rats in the bathtub. Not with water, just to hang out together.” I can’t even start in on Alexis’s far-reaching genius, or Taylor’s enrobing prowess, how she’s perfect at everything she touches, even (esp!) when that thing is scraping the floor free of stuck on chocolate. Sarah Jo comes to us as the World’s First Openly Lesbian Navy Chaplin, blowing all of our minds with stories of the military and organized religion on the reg. Ilianna’s wild energy belies a deep understanding of far-left politics that will blow your mind, Kathleen’s effortless competence and humility blow my mind every day, I bow to her strength. Rachel’s one of those people who seems sweet and normie until you learn she’s full-on making puppets at night. Kate, queen of sweet queerdos, presides over choco town appreciating these nuts as much as me, never raises an eyebrow when I ask her to do things like see if the totebag people can provide us with written proof the people sewing the totebags are paid a living wage. Chrissy’s soft heart—a ripe persimmon, sweetness lingering. Cam busting in after high school to tear through a mountain of dishes. Vivian’s quiet, all-seeing eyes. Jacob there to catch anything that could fall through the cracks, efficiency expert, perfection personified.
• Um, I also like my drive home from Confectionery!, every other Wednesday night. I dawdle until it’s really late, who knows why. Close up shop, get an ice cream at Superiority Burger, read The New Yorker. Right before they close I usually have my favorite seat under the Divine poster (bow down) all to myself. The car’s all packed, I put the padlocks on the grate (Brooks says “gate,” I’m sure I’m right) at 440 and I love that drive, westward along 9^th Street, snaking through favorite neighborhoods, a side towel spread out on my lap and messy Superiority Burger (sandwich equivalent of my heart) in one hand, a good long day in our tiny sugar shoebox done, my mind unspooling lazily past where St. Mark’s Bookshop used to be, past Stonewall, easing onto the West Side Highway, up past the new Whitney (I’ll get there eventually), stupid Trump world, Fairway (best). The highlight of my year is midnight Manhattan driving? Yup.

ENOUGH ABOUT MY CRAP! Let’s get to everyone else.

Are you ready to tear up?

NOT KIDDING.

LL:

VIVIAN                                                                                                                                                            The shop became a warm, cozy haven in 2016. Though my time at Lagusta’s Luscious has been short and sweet (a few months,) I have learned so much and can only imagine the plethora of information I have yet to soak up. 2016 was a year full of chaos, political and social turmoil, weirdness, and mental fuzziness that makes you want to believe that the stars and planets were just not aligned even though you don’t entirely believe in that kind of stuff but really want to, but the shop provided an agreeable comfort.

As a newbie, I have much more to experience. Lagusta’s Luscious has provided me with a platform to do so. There is always a new task to complete, a different technique to apply, an unfamiliar recipe to create.

However, my short time at LL has taught me some invaluable information;

• Work, work, work
• Efficiency+quality= success
• One CAN get tired of eating too much chocolate
• Take care of your feet with clogs like Lagusta, Kate, and Alexis [Lagusta note: wipes hands on apron; hangs it up; work here done]
• Keep watch of the water in the double boiler so it doesn’t all evaporate (yikes)
• Farmers are incredible employees
• Smiling, laughing, and silly jokes are the remedy to making it through a tough day
• If one has passion, drive, and a vision, anything can be done (cheesy but true)

Both the LL and Commissary! crew restores my hope in humanity. All intelligent, all beautiful, all compassionate, all talented, all creative, all hardworking. So refreshing. I look up to those I work with and am more than grateful to have been given this opportunity. Lagusta fosters a beautiful little compassionate, unique, thoughtful community of like-minded individuals in little New Paltz that gives veganism a beautiful, decadent, remarkable name and has made my year interesting and exciting

Grateful and Thankful

HOLLY                                                                                                                                                       Moving off of Long Island to begin working at Lagusta’s Luscious was the best possible ending to my 2016. Although I’ve only been a part of the incredible crew there for about a month, I’ve never felt more at home at my place of work. Everyone that I have met has impressed me with their talents, inspired me with their kindness and compassion, and have made me proud to be a part of something so unique and purposeful. I am beyond excited for my future at this wonderful company and I am extremely thankful to have the opportunity to learn from such lovely people. Every day is a great day and one to be appreciated when you love what you do.

JENN                                                                                                                                                                I’ve been working here for a short time, since this past August, and I am so fortunate to be here with all of these amazing people making amazing things. Everyone who works here is the coolest ever! Seriously! Not only has everyone here been so good at teaching me new things, but they’ve also just been so great to talk to. I’ve learned so much about everyone here and it’s a true honor to spend so much time with everyone, I’ve really  never felt so comfortable in a work environment. I’ve also met so many locals as well as visitors. This is a unique little town that I’ve lived in for the past five years, and I now feel like a true part of it all. It’s so rewarding seeing custies at the shop or in town telling me how delicious the chocolates are and how much Lagusta’s Lucious means to them. My favorite thing is when people walk into the store and ask “is *everything* vegan?” and I get to say yes and make their day! The past several months have meant so much to me, especially considering how turbulent of a year 2016 has been. Having this safe space to spend most of my time in makes all the difference. It’s sincerely one of the most special things I’ve ever been a part of. All of that sappiness being said, my favorite time in the shop is whenever there are chocolate/caramel/macaron/anything scraps available for my consumption. I’m a real scrap vulture.

CHLOE                                                                                                                                                                 A year ago, just off the plane from Sydney Australia, I never would have believed that I would be making vegan chocolates in “upstate” New York. I certainly would have never believed that I would make caramels that include onions, chipotle and miso! Such wonderful creative things are born here because this shop is full to the brim with the most interesting, kind people willing to challenge that ordinary. I’ve learned so much in my 8 months here about dipping turtles, rolling truffles, making Furious Vulvas. Every day here is different. Whether I’m stabbing away at an impossible block of coco butter or gently picking rose petals there is always something new to learn. In fact, I’m still trying to learn how to go an entire day without getting chocolate on my sleeves. The hard work is truly worth the effort as I get to be around such inspiring loving people and end up creating the most delicious chocolates at the end of the day.

So many high points this year, it’s hard to choose a favorite. I think it’s impossible to beat a surprise Twin Peaks birthday party complete with a log cake made by Adrienne. And when times were tough this year I’ve felt most comforted at the shop with an inflatable tube man dancing outside when I need him most and walls covered in endless comics and quotes that remind me that this is where I belong. I can’t wait to see what next year will hold. Thanks to everyone for letting me be a part of this wonderful vegan chocolate world.

ALEXANDRA                                                                                                                                                  This past year I had the privilege of traveling to volunteer in Guatemala & study/intern/live in Kenya. In Kenya I had the opportunity to live out my life’s dream: seeing elephants live wild and free. What brought me much comfort while I was away was knowing I had more than one family to come home to- home family & shop family. Last year Alexis said our staff was made of people she felt like she waited her whole life to meet, and I could not agree with her more. You are all so special to me.

2016 in the shop was composed of freaking amazing ice cream all summer (including leftovers of Maresa’s macaron ice cream sandwiches oh god), talking about eyebrows, dancing as I sometimes do, an epic caramel burn, birthdays & potlucks, custies & recipes galore, the excitement of Commissary! and the incredible lattes that come with such, and jumping back in during the thick of holiday craziness (the time I actually love most). I get super emotional when I really sit and think about the beautiful bubble that is the shop. I’m so deeply thankful to be part of it and work amongst the best peeps I could ever imagine. When the world is so very dark it is truly amazing to be part of the softness and magic of LL.

KATE                                                                                                                                                                     it was a good year, despite. coming to work the day after the election and being in a shared puddle of grief: a gift, an oddity. everyone putting down their umbrellas and getting to throw sugar at the colossal loss we all felt, getting to get down to business and make sweet things on a day we felt completely, utterly, disgustingly useless. & immediately: we made lots of skulls, but everyone knows about that. the rest of the year: i said “damn” in a shop instagram post and this one lady got real mad. adrienne nailed the chipotle onion caramel on her first try i almost fell over. i ate many scraps of the peanut butter caramel bar. the shop got covered in spiderwebs again. jenn found our halloween tinsel cat in the closet and she came to my birthday party. i got to work alongside of people i love and respect, every single day, no exceptions. fringe: getting to book and host shows at commissary, bringing sammus and adult mom and mary lattimore and long beard and and and and… to town to play beautiful shows. also, at the shop we got the whiteboard. we got a new metroshelf by the couch. lagusta is ordering more vulva molds. it’s the small things, too.

ALEXIS                                                                                                                                                                It’s hard to reflect on my year at the shop without reflecting on my year as a human being. It’s been another year of incredible growth and change and yet after reading my recap of 2015, things are still so much the same. Comfortable and safe. An amazing group of strong-willed, intelligent, valuable women (and a couple good men!) working hard together.

We invented new recipes, grew to meet the demand of two new businesses, ate so many tacos, celebrated all the birthdays, endlessly discussed cult television, laughed a lot. We added amazing new members to our team and made it through the holiday season with grace and relative ease, constantly testing the limits and never settling for less. 

In 2016 the shop opened doors for me to be an artist again in all my most favorite ways. This summer Lagusta, Jacob and Maresa gave me my first big commission to make all of the mugs for Commissary! and the display case plates for Confectionary, I cooked a weekly soup this winter for some of our staff and customers, Kate and I designed a shop tote bag together.

And just like this time last year I walked through the shop during our busiest days exclaiming to whoever was within earshot and sometimes just to myself, we’re so good at this! This is so great! Everyone is working so hard and so well! I need some coffee!

I think the greatest lesson I took from this year is that you’ll only grow as much as you allow yourself to in any facet of your life. You have to do the work to meet your own demands and rally around likeminded people to push upward. There’s so much brilliance under this one small roof, between our four brick walls, sometimes it’s all too good to be true.

SARAH JO                                                                                                                                                         My greatest hits on my Lagusta’s Luscious playlist is

1. Starting work at Lagusta’s. As a grad school student I am so grateful for my days of placing academic papers aside and interacting with our wonderful customers.
2. Working the front. I am blessed and honored to hear so many incredible stories from our patrons. There almost always seems to be a story associated with our chocolates.
3. The Lagusta’s team. Seriously, these women are amazing! Everyday I am excited to get to know more about them, their passions, and their world views.

Thank you all for collectively creating an incredible adventure which I get to be part of. Here’s to a new adventure for a new year.

CAM                                                                                                                                                                First job! Senior year! Lots of stress, lots of accomplishments and growth! Working at the chocolate shop has been an invaluable experience and I am so grateful that I have been exposed to this magical, very busy world, full of making and packaging lots and lots of chocolate! It is so amazing to me that I can say that I love everyone I work with.  Looking back at when I started in September, I am proud to say that I have learned so much over these past few months and that my speed at packaging chocolate (especially spheres) has increased exponentially.

TAYLOR                                                                                                                                                          This year I found myself calling my identity and concept of “home” into question quite often. In February when I made the move back to my hometown area, (a decision I made in order to reignite my signature ~zest for life~), I felt confusion and loneliness on a greater scale than ever before. I was riddled with crippling anxiety where I once felt endless inspiration; the creative spirit of the Hudson Valley I was so desperate to rediscover, now lost to me. The fog of self-doubt that had settled over my typical headstrong confidence finally began to lift once I was hired at the shop. At Lagusta’s, I discovered a tribe of women I never knew I was missing, yet cannot imagine my current life without; I found a place of work where my excessive energy, skill for multi-tasking, love of getting my hands dirty, and passion for both veganism and cooking come together. When I feel lost in the place I grew up and despair thinking about the state of the world in 2016, I can find comfort in my work and home at the shop.

ADRIENNE                                                                                                                                                     This year there was so much change; the business expanded and new people were added to the LL family. The best part of the year was the way we all grew together to become a team and a family. This is a place where activists and artists can come together to create beautiful things, and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people who are passionate about what they do.

ANNIE                                                                                                                                                                So 2016 was a pretty shit year for the world, but a rather nice one for me, generally. I decided to take a step back from working when I noticed my son was sometimes referring to his grandmother (and primary babysitter) as “mama”. That wasn’t going to fly. So, with a heavy heart I resigned from LL. We had a lovely farewell potluck party and I was sad. Naturally. Felt like I’d only just gotten started, only just started to get the hang of things. But then, a month later, a note from Lagusta: Would I consider working very part time, on my own time/terms to help with the croissant and bialy baking for the brand-spanking-new Commissary?? Hmmm, took all of 10 minutes to say yes. And with that I began sneaking away after the wee lad falls asleep at night to laminate dough and shape bialys for an hour or two at a time. So my year at LL feels mostly like this odd silent version of my previous life working there. Puttering around after hours like a little elf. I get to peek at what the truly busy elves get up to all day and wonder at unfamiliar-looking objects (Is that a special order or just a use-up of some failed experiment? Hmmm.) and try to search out ingredients that occasionally migrate to new locations in the shop or just disappear into the ether. (Where the hell did the extra-gluten flour go?!) It’s been great except that I almost never see anyone which makes me sad because most of the joy of working at LL are the folks that work alongside you. And there are all these new folks that I don’t even know. Ah, the endless marching forward of time. But, I’ll sometimes manufacture a reason to go in during the day and say hello and catch up on gossip and admire new equipment (non-broken rulers!) and hear about different protocols (writing on the white board!) and maybe even find out what some of those new mystery items are. Everyone continues to be awesome and interesting and talented and supportive and I can’t imagine that’s ever going to change but that’s always going to be part of my annual wrap-up. The people rock. They work hard and they have fun. I’m thrilled to be a part of it, even a tiny, secret, little part. And I hope that I get to stay a part of it for a nice long time. Happy end of the year, hope we all survive the next one relatively unscathed…

COMMISSARY!

 

ALAN                                                                                                                                                                   In their simplest form the things that top my best of 2016 goes as 🐛🐡🎤👻🐜🤖👽 . These little emojis represent the collective that is Commissary! Total strangers went from sitting at a long table sniffing teas and sampling chocolates to besties slinging dranks and having Robyn dance parties while closing.

Also; Pizza. Fucking. Day. If there was ever an example of how we can turn chaos in a beautiful experience for us and our amazing custies.

KATHLEEN                                                                                                                                                 Getting to know this bunch of kind, strange, generous, hilarious, hardworking people has been far and away the brightest spot in an otherwise prickly 2016.

In May, I was plopped in the middle of Commissary!, a perfectly teal cafe, surrounded by the warmth of like minded strangers and the coffee scented glimmer of new opportunity.  We have wiggled our way through the magical befuddlement of opening a new business together- the taste tests, early mornings, the whoopsies and the perfect serendipities.  We’ve had a lot of coffee and made a lot of mac and cheese.  And it has all bred so much more growth than I anticipated.

Favorite things include: learning coffee, learning vegetables, learning to be a better me under pressure.  Friendships.  I have developed a far more intimate relationship with an espresso machine than I ever thought possible.  Our work rarely feels like work, but it’s the kind of work that brings that rare and satisfying joy that accompanies pride in your job.  I am inspired by my coworkers,  empowered by my bosses, enamored with our product, and grateful for all of our patient and lovely customers.  All in all, Commissary! has been one of those inexplicable, don’t-know-how-I-landed-here-but-I’m-sure-glad-I-did experiences and I can’t wait to see whats in store in 2017.

RACHEL                                                                                                                                                                 I started this year with absolutely no idea where I’d end up. I’m so glad it was here!

I love the feeling of never ever dreading coming to work, never begrudgingly doing a task.  I love that I want to go in on my days off just because I miss it. I love talking to Jacob about coffee and also playing 20-questions with him to figure out that we were getting new, better, sink-drain stoppers.  I love talking to Lagusta about food and I am so grateful for the new things I learn every day. More highlights include:

-Coming in to Commissary when the power was out to keep Chrissy company and making shadow puppets on the ceiling

-Improving my knife skills?

-Chopping maybe a hundred onions but still not knowing how to do it in the cool, fast way like in the videos

-Making cat latte art with Sam

-Getting to know regular customers

-Eating some kind of soup every day, or beans, #beansarequeens

-Every single, incredible show that Kate has organized

-Everyones’ transition from strangers to friends

-Flinging a pomegranate aril that was trapped in my scarf onto Adrienne when I came into LL one day

The whole year has been a highlight.  I’m really happy I get to be a part of it.

ILIANNA                                                                                                                                                               I can finally be proud of my job! Commissary! is the ONLY physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy and supportive work environment that I have been in. Seriously, its amazing to be a part of. Lagusta, from the get-go, has been and continues to be so hands on, patient, and understanding with me as I become more aquatinted and comfortable in the work environment. I was mostly vegan when I started and since working there I’ve been inspired to fully commit to being vegan by my fellow co-workers as well as Lagusta and Jacob! I know that I work at a place that cares for me and my wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of our customers and our environment. I am always talking on and on about my job with friends and family I think it gets annoying! Commissary! is a very engaging environment and I’m excited every time I come to work. I love learning new recipes and it’s kind of the best thing in the world that we serve (and I get to eat) gluten free vegan mac and cheese!!!!

Commissary! was the only place I was able to concentrate and feel calm while I did my homework this past semester. I’d have food, usually greens & beans or a mac and cheese, some tea or coffee and then I’d get to work on the mountain of reading that I had to do. When I finished the semester Kathleen and Chrissy congratulated me and told me they saw how hard I worked they were so sincere and kind it made me want to cry.

One of the best things about my time at Commissary! is being able to work with my co-workers. Alan, Rachel, Chrissy, Sam, and Kathleen are amazing and I’m so lucky to have them in my life!! I have so much love for them and I’ve never felt so welcome and included at my place of work. I see us cultivating a real sense of family and community. It’s an awesome feeling to get through a rush of customers successfully because we worked together so well. I remember the first shift that I worked with Sam and Kathleen, one of the tasks we had was to start de-stemming about a pound of thyme (which took over a week to complete). While we spent a few hours working on the thyme we had an unexpectedly great conversation about our lives and about life in general. I think since our hands were busy/on autopilot it allowed our brains to get into a deeper state of consciousness where we were able to talk at a level that was beyond a simple get to know you conversation and even though we’d just met, we talked like we had known each other for a while. Fine tuning the espresso with Jacob is always a good time and I walk away feeling more knowledgeable and confident that I am serving quality drinks. One of my favorite highlights of my time at Commissary! is Saturday taco nights with Alan after we close! I look forward to it every week!!

I know all of this probably sounds very corny but I mean it, I am so humbled and blown away that I have the privilege of working at Commissary! I feel like I’m where I am supposed to be and I don’t know what I did to get so lucky! I’m excited and really looking forward to what 2017 has to offer us (even though we’ll have a bigoted nacho cheese dorito for a president)!

SAM                                                                                                                                                              Every moment has felt important, every shift too short, it’s so hard to concisely reflect on so much good, ahhhhh. But I’ll start at the beginning and see where it goes. I joined the team the week after Commissary! opened this May. I could have never prepared myself for how hard I would fall for this place. Joining the LL team, and specifically the comparatively small ranks of Comm, has been a highlight of my year, and probably my life tbh. Working alongside Rachel, Kathleen, Chrissy, Alan, Ilianna, and of course Jacob and Lagusta, inspired me to become the best, most authentic version of myself that I’ve ever been (even though sometimes I still get intimidated by how lovely and brilliant and wonderful everyone is — how are they real people???)

A few weeks after joining the team I heard back about an advocacy job I’d applied to prior – a position at a victim services agency working with kids (what I thought was my dream job). The team was totally supportive and understood that it was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse, so I took the job and cut down to working one weekend shift at Comm. I learned quickly that I had left my totally amazing badass radical safe life-changing job for a difficult uncomfortable hostile life-sucking one. I’ve chosen to stick it out (for now — check back in 2017), but every Saturday Rachel and Lagusta listen to me complain and validate me while I brew coffee and froth nut milk and chop mountains of garlic.

Calm-issary has been my place of solace at the end of every long and draining week and a space for personal growth and healing. The community I’ve found in the LL team is what finally drove me to cut out the last few animal products I’d been using and GO VEGAN! I’ve learned so many new recipes, techniques, and tricks that I don’t even remember how I prepared food before working here.

Okay okay I’m so off track, let’s talk highlights ummmm
-I thought I was a coffee-snob before I started here, but I’ve learned so much more about roasting and ~notes~ and how to tell whether the face I’m making is bc a shot is too sour or too bitter/what to do about it and timing a shot and perfecting the pour over and ~dialing in~

-OMG THE MAC AND CHEESE CASSEROLE. C’MON.

-I truly don’t know how I would have gotten through the Hellpocalypse that was November 9^th if not for the tea and chocolate and skulls and “not my presidents” and sense of physical safety. Lagusta opened the space up for community grieving and conversation and honestly is that not the most perfect thing you can imagine on the Worst Day Ever?
-Oh oh and our lovely secret santa potluck holiday party where I laughed more in three hours than I had all year? When Alan bought me the Most Perfect And Thoughtful Gift? And Lagusta gave us all the sweetest present packages? I can’t believe all these people are real.

-Reading Kate’s zine of the week (and then one or two more) every week.

-The Sammus show — eternal heart eyes (another hat tip to Kate for making that happen)

This year I discovered my boundless love for matcha lattes w/ homemade cashew milk, re-connected with my old flames the pignoli and rainbow cookies (my tiny Italian heart thanks you, Maresa!), and met some of the raddest people I’ll ever know.

I am so thankful that this business exists and am eternally grateful to share my time on this spinning space rock with the people who make all this magic happen. Thank you for teaching me that I don’t have to compromise – I can have my values and live by them and work for them and be supported and encouraged. I’m so looking forward to all of the incr(edible) things 2017 will bring.

CHRISSY            

                                                                                                                                    kind of crying a little bit thinking about how lucky i am to get to be a part of this magical chocolatey coffeebeaned world. all of it is great. all of it. my coworkers who dance to robyn as we mop the floors at night. the shows, the shows, the shows. thanks for those, kate. crying at Adult Mom and receiving a hug from lagusta, crying at Sammus, crying at Swanning and Mary Lattimore and Guilt Mountain and Long Beard. the magical afterglow feeling you get when you leave a show at commissary and you know there is good in the world and it exists right where you are. every single time a customer brought in their dog. once a bird. never a cat but we did have a couple meows at the glass door sometimes. getting to be around the most incredible people i’ve ever met. having your coworkers be your friends but also your heroes. the zine library! latte art improvement. getting better at cooking by learning from, observing, and be inspired by one of the best vegan chefs in the bizz! how lucky! figuring out that mac and cheese can be vegan and delicious and getting to eat it on my lunch breaks. the beauty that occurs at commissary after hours around candles and tables of lovely humans. being a part of something i believe in. being a part of something that does good things for the world. the morning of november 9th when a woman hugged me over the counter, both of us sobbing. acquiring a home in new paltz and feeling at home in that home. hearing a loud noise and looking out of my bedroom window to see gary the inflatable tube man. getting snuggly in my bed and knowing that lagusta is downstairs making something wild and delicious in the depths of night. hazelnut sugar plum bars. lemon poppyseed macarons. flavor notes, flavor notes, strengthening that damn palette.  ~*~*coffee shop crushes*~*~, pizza day, pickles, when lagusta learned to make memes, fresh local produce weekly! all of its been so good and i am so grateful. 

 

JACOB                                                                                                                                                             2016 started as a dream on a walk on the beach: what could our future hold? what should we plan for and how do we make sure we’re ready to take that step? Less than a week later those non-existent plans would have to be formulated as we saw what 2016 would bring: Confectionery! and Commissary! Lagusta’s Luscious didn’t just happen, there were no plans, it was as organic and slow and deliberate as can be and allowed us years to find the best path. Confectionery! and Commissary! both went from concept to opening in 4 months…from nothing. To say it was a new (exhausting / exhilarating / terrifying / taxing) experience is beyond an understatement and to see these businesses and spaces become a reality was incredible. I was traveling most every day before we opened the two and was drawing plans, ordering equipment, securing permits, designing logos, creating menus the entire time (while also doing my traveling job.). I’m so grateful to Lagusta, Maresa, Liz (who consulted and trained for Commissary!) and John (our amazing contractor who has built everything we’ve built) for bringing these two businesses to life. For me 2016 was about the month of May when we met, trained, and welcomed into the LL world our new staff, new businesses, and new challenges.

CONFECTIONERY

CAITLIN                                                                                                                                                         2016 has been one intense year for me,and probably everybody!. Personally, there was a lot change, but good! I moved to Brooklyn, starting training roller derby, and landed the best job I’ve ever had.

Joining the LL team and getting to witness Confectionery come to life has been amazing.

Being the chocolate lover and sugar addict that I am, I knew I was going to be in a happy place surrounded by cookies, turtles & truffles. What I didn’t know was all the love and commitment that was poured in to this business to deliver a top quality product without compromising ethics. It’s been incredibly inspiring to see how much care and respect everyone has for each other, the earth and environment. Since working here I’m learning to be more conscientious with the choices I make and where I spend my money.

I’m incredibly grateful to be part of this amazing team and can’t wait to see what 2017 will have in store  for us ( 😉 bad joke!)

GENNA                                                                                                                                                              It’s a crazy and special thing to get to be a part of this family after fan girling it from a distance for so many years.

My highlight is getting to help be a part of the crew that has made this little ol’ space on east 9th street a haven for me, my friends, and this family. Having a space to heal, have unfiltered conversations, and eat lots of sugar has been a really wonderful and necessary thing.

Oh, and my favorites of the year have to be the pignoli cookies, that damn churro ice cream mac, croissant caramels, and my lovely “kill your local misogynists” mug from Kate.

KATIE LEE                                                                                                                                                      2016 was rough in so many ways, but being part of the LL crew (NYC, yeah!) made it a lot softer. Here are a few standout moments for me:

-when my shoe strap broke on the way to the shop one morning and I fixed it with bakery twine (and it stayed together the whole day!)

-all of the many various treats from Superiority Burger (soup! TFTs! that perfect apple Brooks gave me one time! those dang hippy wraps!)

-seeing the looks on people’s faces when they realize that everything in the shop is vegan (and also when they realize that everything is delicious)

-befriending so many talented, smart, creative, compassionate, unbelievable people both upstate and down

-the almond rhubarb birthday cake Maresa made for me

-those chipotle caramelized onion caramels, my god

I’m so grateful to have a place in this radical little sugary universe. It’s nice to be here.

VERONICA                                                                                                                                                  *The* highlight is Confectionery opening! It still feels like a dream that I get to work in the sweetest sugar-stocked shop in my favorite neighborhood.

I love my walk from the train station every day, up Broadway a block to Wanamaker Place and then down, east, as it turns into 9th street, down past the man from Veselka unloading their produce delivery, down past Superiority Burger, down to the shop. Meditations in the rhythms of daily life.

I love the vintage wallpaper and the Mitzvah Wall. I love the hazelnut sugarplum bars and the corn macarons especially. I love seeing the excitement people have when they discover every single thing in the shop is vegan.

I love our customers so much!!! They are seriously the best and that is not something I say lightly at all. They really are. I love getting to know our regulars and their flavor preferences, and I also love talking to the people who are only passing through.

I just really fucking love food, the experiences we collect in relation to things eaten, the power of food to inspire and enrich our being as we go through our lives. I absolutely love being able to be a part of that here.

MARESA

3. Making desserts for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary Thanksliving.

2. Working real hard for a half day then playing hooky with Kate and Olivia to go tubing on the river.

1. Opening a shop with my best friend.

____________________________________________

❤ ❤ ❤

The past:

2015

2015 (more!)

2014

2013

2012

 

Vegan Deviled Eggs (updated!)

Coupla things, blog friends:

Did you know we have a cafe now? If you don’t you’re forgiven, because I haven’t written anything on this blog for six months, so. (Pal around with us on FB or IG or Twitter where we bug you with beautiful food pix every day, ok?). Um also did you know we (with our BFF Maresa, who also co-invented this recipe) have an NYC chocolate-macaron shop now? We still have our OG New Paltz choco-shop, it’s mostly a production space for shipping & the NYC shop & life is great & I work 24 hours a day and you should come visit our lil empire in NP, blah blah.

OK now that I’ve done my capitalist-promotion for the day, let’s talk eggs.

At Commissary! (aforementioned cafe) we serve ye olde Vegan Deviled Eggs every day (on our cheese plates obvi), so I’ve learned the ins & outs of ’em more, and that old post is such a mess that I figured I owed it to you to streamline it a bit.

Some updated notes:

• The original recipe calls for unsweetened almond or soy milk. Almonds are naturally sweet and that sweetness can be off-putting, so I like a mix of 1/2 almond milk and 1/2 soy milk to cut the sweetness without that telltale thick beany soymilky flavor. But if you don’t want to buy a container of each, use either. I’ve also tried this recipe with homemade almond milk—in my opinion it’s too sweet. Don’t get too precious.
• If it’s your first time making these babes, read the original post for good tips for using agar and black salt for the first time and where to buy an egg mold.
• You might want to halve the whites recipe and make it twice unless you have a lot of egg molds, because it’ll set up fairly fast. Agar is thermoreversible (ooh la la), however, so if it sets up you can gently reheat it & it’ll melt back down. In my opinion it always gets too frothy when you do this, though.
• Speaking of frothiness—it’s really your enemy. It doesn’t give you a good texture, and it’s a dead giveaway that you’re eating a fake egg. To cut down on froth, barely whisk or stir the mixture as it’s coming to a boil, and tap it hard on a wooden cutting board before you pour the whites into the egg molds, and scoop off any froth and throw it away. If you still have bubbles when you’ve poured the mixture into the molds, poke them with a knife blade.
• If you’re too lazy to do the whole eggs thing or don’t want to buy an egg mold just for this recipe, just chop up the whites (spread them on a sheet pan or something instead of pouring into the eggs molds) and mix em with the yolks and make egg salad.
• Be sure your black salt is the sulfurous, eggy kind, kala namak. We use a black lava sea salt on a chocolate and always have to be careful not to mess em up. The egginess of kala namak varies widely, so buy a small jar. It also loses its potency quickly, so buy a small jar. We taste our eggs every day and typically have to give them a small sprinkle of salt every morning to top up the egg flavor.
• The big difference between this recipe and the first version is that Rachel, who works at Commissary! had the brilliant idea to blend the scooped-out insides of the whites into the yolks mixture—it helps the mixture hold its shape and gives it a little more flavor. The original recipe had vegan mayo, but with the scooped out whites you don’t need it—I upped the vinegar & mustard quantities slightly, too.
• I just bought these egg molds, they’re nice, though slightly bigger than regular chicken eggs.
• If you’re wondering why two hardcore vegans (Maresa & I have been vegan combined literally 40 years or more) would make these, here’s what Reesey had to say about it way back when we created em: “I usually hate stuff like this. We did it for a few reasons: 1. the fun challenge of nailing a taste and texture that are decidedly Not Vegan. 2. Deviled eggs, to me, taste good. I’m not vegan because meat and dairy and eggs taste bad- I’m vegan because those industries are too effed up to support. 3. Nostalgia. My grandma used to make deviled eggs and now she can’t, so someone’s gotta do it, and I’m not going to touch a chicken’s period. That said, Enjoy!” 

OK let’s get going.

THE WHITES

900 grams milk (about 4 cups): unsweetened soy or almond or, preferably, a mix of both. Be sure your milk is unsweetened or your eggs will be disgusting!

4 teaspoons agar powder (11 grams if you’re like that)

1/2 teaspoon black salt

1. Bring all just to a boil. Barely stir. Pour into egg molds.
2. Let set up 15 minutes or so, in the fridge or not, then scoop out the center cavity with a melon baller, grapefruit spoon, or whatever. The beauty of making your own egg whites is that in addition to not supporting the machine of institutionalized death and heartbreaking pain that is the egg industry, you also get to make your cavities as big as you want (make them big), so you can put in as much filling as you want (put in a lot). As with non-vegan deviled eggs, the filling is the tasty part.

THE YOLKS

1 lb firm or extra firm tofu

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon mustard

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or whatever vinegar you want)

1 1/4 teaspoon black salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon turmeric

scooped out innards from the whites

1. Blend all together in food processor or blender. Taste and keep messing around until it tastes good.
2. Using a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip, pipe the yolks into the whites in a circular motion.
3. Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika, chives, basil in the garden gone to flower—whatever suits your fancy.

LL 2015 Staff Highlights

Here’s the second part of our annual year-end roundup. Part one, with a lot of words from me, is here. 

Adrienne:

New recipes were mastered, delicious ice cream was made, potlucks were shared, people stepped up when others had to prioritize time with loved ones, early mornings and late nights were enjoyed in each other’s company, and delicious chocolates were devoured by all.  We couldn’t ask for a better place to spend our days.

Alexandra:

Becoming designated custie person and getting to know all the lovely regular customers a little better, taking one of the hardest course loads I have ever taken and ultimately being so proud of how I did and how much I learned, going to the museum of natural history for the first time with my wonderful boyfriend, seeing both Seal and Madonna in concert, lavender lemonade, toffee, hot cider, maple pecan caramel, Lagusta’s pizza, celebrating the shops 4 year anniversary along with my relationship’s 4 year anniversary, being surrounded by the most amazing people every day at work and learning so much about both them and myself, feeling more and more grateful every day that the shop exists, knowing the incredible person that is Lagusta, meeting brilliant Pauline.

Alexis: 2015 was the year where going to work didn’t feel like going to work anymore. It was the year I truly felt at home in the shop.

2015 was a year of change, loss and growth. And we rallied around one another, everyone so soft and so strong. The staff I belong to – I’d say they’re people that I’ve been waiting to meet my whole life. They’re not co-workers and bosses, they’re friends. I’m thankful for them all every day.

Some quick highlights:

-Had my last “waitressing” job this summer during Lagusta’s beautiful dinner series.

-Got my first real oven burn. Hurt like hell.

-Grew to enjoy the world of solitary enrobing, which was previously my least favorite and most often fucked-up task

-Discovered the beauty of listening to podcasts while working (especially while enrobing)

-Shipped a hell of a lot of boxes in December

-Ate so many scraps

-Learned a whole lot about veganism and made some pretty tasty work lunches

-Witnessed Maresa toss/chuck/heave so many cupcakes/macs/flax eggs into the ditch and it was never not funny

-Had some great Gilmore Girls chats. I’m looking at you two, Adrienne and Alexandra.

This past month I kept catching myself smiling as I walked through the shop, watching everyone work so seamlessly and flawlessly together through our busiest time. I’m so damn grateful to be a part of this. It’s been quite a year.

Annie:

I am a relative newcomer to the LL family, having arrived in June to this lovely, tight-knit, happy crew. I’m a food business veteran and the oldest member of the bunch so I wondered how my way of looking at things would fit in with the tone already set in the place. Thankfully, it has been a smooth, easy ride. I’m happy to put forward my ‘wisdom’ (ha!) on food safety and baking equipment and proper footwear – it makes me feel useful and, frankly, like less of a newbie amidst all these people who really know their stuff despite not having decades of experience. Impressive and humbling as that is, I am super pleased that I’m starting to learn all the exacting, attention-requiring arts of chocolatier-ing from such patient, cool, fun people.

So, on to the highlights of the year… One of the real perks of the job for me is that I’m able to visit with and feed my son every working day – that is an amazing opportunity for a new, working mom. I so appreciate everyone accommodating me and him, even during the busiest of times, and it has made the whole experience just perfect.

I’ve really enjoyed acquiring a few titles along the way: Food Service Professional (natch), Spider Catch (and release)-er, and Peppermint Patty Princess (by far my favorite, but I’m wondering, when do I get my tiara??).

It has been enlightening to see how even the ‘mistakes’ (Thank god, since I made plenty) get used and made into something amazing and delicious – the most truly efficient and waste-free kitchen that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot!

And even though I espouse to be a principled person, it wasn’t until I saw just how much Lagusta lives by her principles and has made a successful business that supports and benefits her community, that I started to ‘put my money where my mouth was’ and tried to do the same. Joined a CSA, stopped supporting businesses that have dodgy practices, ate better and encouraged others to do the same, the whole shebang. I owe her a big thanks for that inspiration and kick in the pants.

But the best highlight for me was making a bunch of friends who make going to work the highlight of my week!! Thank you, one and all.

 

Jacob:

In 2014 I was focused entirely on improvements inside the shop but this past year we started looking outside. We always have a list of wants, needs, and dreams for projects at the shop (if only you knew of some of the grander dreams that have come and gone over the last few years!) and this year we decided to just start crossing some of them off. The biggest one that you’ll see if the patio in the front of the shop. That started with a plan to redo our perpetually potholed filled driveway with porous pavers. We went though many design ideas and in the process realized that redoing the front area and setting the parking area back away from the building would be the best best for now. We had our farmer friend Ian Taliaferro design and do the work and we revealed it at our 4-year anniversary party. We’re so happy with how it turned it that we had our only dinner series of the year out on the patio this summer. We also added an awning on the side entrance of the shop (no more shoveling snow in order to get into the shop!), a huge deck in the back, and the ornamental holiday front awning for the winter. In addition, one of my favorite new items (a years long project!) was the custom bike rack on the side of the patio, that really finished it off for me.

Inside the shop we were finally able to tackle the nearly decade old Bluestocking Bonbons packaging when we realized we’d be running out of Furious Vulva boxes. This was a huge opportunity for us to bring it up to date but also a lot of pressure to work with one of our oldest, and most recognized, products. After eliciting outside help (thanks Scott!) and numerous revisions (thanks JP & Hemlock!) we finally settled on the new Vulva box and I think it’s the best of both worlds. I can’t wait to update all the rest of them.

Of course there’s chocolate too! My favorites for the year:

– The Blood Orange Heart: I was proud of our new creation! It’s often hard to create new meaningful chocolates (that taste great) for holidays and this one was splendid.
– Peanut Butter Ice Cream Caramel Bar: This one was a dream, literally, we’ve been dreaming of such a thing! I used to eat Snickers Ice Cream bars as a kid and there was always the want, the need, for one. Lo and behold, we have it!

– Slushies and ice cream: for a chocolate shop we do really great on the non-chocolate side. I was lucky enough to taste-test so many great ice creams and slushy flavors this summer.

– Daylily bialys with foraged daylily flour: I could eat these with Miyoko’s or Treeline cheese every day of my life. In fact, I think I did as long as I could until they ran out. I even helped forage for these so I think I earned it!

Kate:

my year’s memories include birthday party potlucks & scaling recipes up-up-up, wondering why we didn’t do it sooner. working harder and better than last year: being unsurprised, being proud. we got new thermometers and an extra selmi (no big deal) (very big deal) and on halloween lagusta covered the shop in spiderwebs with me, which honestly felt like the thing I was born to do. trying to come up with specific and standout memories of the year proves difficult: when you love your work so much, when you are in awe of your co-workers. every day is standout & I am aware of how rosy I am painting all of this & it is my day job, yes & punks aren’t supposed to like their jobs or something & yeah right & some jobs are worth loving & rose rose rose rose rose

 

Kyra:

Having just started working at the shop two months ago, its hard to call attention to specific moments of importance when every moment so far feels invaluable in creating my general sense of love for Lagusta’s Luscious world and all of the incredible people who make it such an incredible place to be.

Every day spent at the shop is full of new feats, new chocolates to taste, endless laughter–work for me is dipping turtles, making the always-crucial whipped cream, spoonfuls of peanut butter filling, celebrating birthdays with the best potlucks and party hats, memorizing the ever-growing collection of quotes suspended throughout the shop while wrapping bars in gold, the olfactory satisfaction of Maresa’s Macarons, and toasted pecans, and Walk in the Woods bars. The list goes on.

It’s 11 pm on New Years Eve, and although my general attitude towards this holiday is that the sentiment of excitement for renewal can be replicated any day of the year, tonight I’m relishing in this holiday’s tendency towards hyperbole and feeling extremely grateful for the last two months of this year, and the year to come. I feel so lucky to be a part of such a strong community of talented people who provide me with infinite opportunity for growth- and to be able to feel that about a workplace is something rare and unforgettable.

(crazy work times didn’t allow time for me to take photos of some of our newest LL team members, eeek!)

Lauren:

The highlight for me this winter was definitely getting to work with so many unique, fun, quirky, entertaining, kind, helpful, amazing people. Everybody was willing to teach and answer questions and to share their love of this delicious, creative work. Birthdays were always highlights as well- whether we had potlucks or pizza parties it was so great to set aside time during the busy day to celebrate and enjoy food and good company!

 

Meredith:

One 2015 LL time that I will always remember is working on Halloween. We had spent the day before packaging pieces of bark that looked like spider webs for the trick or treaters. After putting all of the bark pieces into the bags, we thought we had way too much chocolate, and that we’d have a massive amount left over. Come Halloween and the herds of trick or treaters, we ran out of spider web bark within 2 hours, and had to frantically package random pieces for the masses of children that were coming into the shop. As frantic as it was, it felt strangely fun to be that insanely busy for the day.

Shana:

well, 2015 came and went faster than a peanut butter lover such as myself can devour a peanut butter cup. Things have been tough on an emotional & friendship level, but I truly have never felt stronger teamwork than I did during the past 2 months. Filling hundreds of orders with just a few of us, and without Lagusta being around because she was busy being the best daughter/caretaker/friend on this planet, was hard – but it felt good. it also feels incredible to be creatively fulfilled by your job because working late or going in early doesn’t matter. Working with people who are hilarious and talented barely gets tiring when you are proud of what do you. Now, as I do every year, I’m attending another chunk of Phish concerts to say goodbye to the year. So, I’m sitting here in NYC listening to people talk about working in crappy offices, and their long commute on the subway everyday to get to work. And how Phish NYE is their only outlet for happiness. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here laughing and eating my hazelnut sugarplum caramel bar.