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PRESENTING SPONSOR
Shower or a soak, or both? What’s best for you?
Working with our homeowners' bathroom remodels, it seems they are fairly divided regarding bathtubs. People either love their showers or love their soaks. And then there are couples who each
have a different opinion!
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Sweets for the sweet: SugarGoodies bonbons come in several flavors, like hazelnut and mocha. Photo: Billy Dohrmann.
FOOD AND DINING SugarGoodies Offers Craft Chocolates Valentines
Writer: Karla Walsh
The best part of waking up? Sure, Folgers is fine, but SugarGoodies founder Jessica Robertson recommends some chocolate-dipped biscotti to dunk in it. “It’s a nice treat,” she says. “The chocolate is so luscious.”
This Valentine’s Day—or anytime you want to treat someone (including yourself)—consider the local company’s biscotti, chocolate bars, hot-chocolate bombs or homemade marshmallows. Or try the bonbons in the
“support local” section at Crème, which blew me away with their pure chocolate essence.
“I’m inspired by flavors that are familiar but done well,” Robertson says, listing off her current favorites: caramel, hazelnut, dark chocolate and mocha. SugarGoodies uses grand cru dark chocolate from suppliers who pay a premium price for sustainable, fair-trade cacao beans. The result: delicious chocolate, from a process that supports the farmers and their farms for generations.
Robertson started her dessert career as a cake decorator in 2007, first
for Walmart and then for Dahl’s. She taught herself how to bake from scratch and eventually garnered enough skills and confidence to knock on the door of Baru 66 and inquire about its opening for a pastry chef. She was initially turned away but returned week after week until the owner told her to show up on a Thursday with a chef’s coat.
Since then, Robertson has worked at top-notch restaurants in Chicago, New York City’s Eleven Madison Park and even a Michelin-starred restaurant in Scotland called the Peat Inn. When it shut down during the pandemic, she moved back home with her husband and three kids but found few options in the Midwest for pastry chefs, even of her caliber. So she read about chocolate, watched YouTube videos, taught herself how to
create epic confections—and founded SugarGoodies.
As she puts it, “I developed a passion out of necessity and curiosity.”
You can find her latest updates on Instagram (@sugargoodies3) and buy her treats at Crème, in care packages through Happy DSM, and on the SugarGoodies website. Delivery within 5 miles is free, but she’ll ship her goodies anywhere in the lower 48 states.
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WEEKEND SECTION PRESENTED
BY CATCH DES MOINES
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Eastern Iowa native Grant Wood (1891-1942) painted “The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover” in 1931. It’s in the permanent collection at the Des Moines Art Center and part of its new anniversary exhibition.PLAN YOUR WEEKENDCelebrate Arts, Culture and Museum Milestone
The Des Moines Art Center kicks off its 75th anniversary with a new exhibit called “Art Center: 75 Years of Iowa Art,” curated by Laura Burkhalter and Mia Laufer. It opens Friday with a free reception featuring complimentary hors d’oeuvres and refreshments by Tangerine at the Art Center.
The exhibit features some 100 works by about 60 artists who have lived and worked in Iowa from the early 20th century to today. They range from historic icons, like Grant Wood, to lauded contemporary artists such as Anna Gaskell, Mitchell Squire, Larassa Kabel and Phillip Chen.
“What I wanted was to celebrate the Art Center, of course, but more importantly to celebrate the community in which we live,” director Jeff Fleming said in a recent dsm story.
The exhibit also features newly commissioned works, including a
piece by Meskwaki painter Duane Slick, along with four performance-based works by artist and educator Firat Erdim during the show’s run through May 7.
Looking ahead: The Art Center announced Tuesday that Kelly Baum, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, will become the art center's next director in May, following Fleming's retirement.
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PEOPLESpeaker: Activist Zoey Luna takes a turn in the Capital City Pride speaker series at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Temple Theater. The 21-year-old actress and transgender activist has appeared in several documentaries, including “Laverne Cox Presents: ‘The T Word’” and “Raising Zoey,” and the 2020 film “The Craft: Legacy” (pictured, far right). The event is free, but registration is required.
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ARTS AND CULTURE Print show: Explore the history of printmaking in “Old
School, New School,” a new exhibit through March 31 at the Polk County Heritage Gallery. It features work from 10 Iowa artists and demonstrates how various printing techniques have evolved over the years. A free reception is set for 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday; the gallery is open 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
weekdays.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARSThe big game: Des Moines Performing Arts hosts its sixth annual Hoops and Hops March 16-18 at Cowles Commons. Watch the 2023 NCAA Basketball Tournament on big screens in a heated tent surrounded by food trucks and beer carts. What could be better? Plus, hang out on March 17 for a Saint Patrick’s Day party.
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ARTS AND CULTURE Country concert: Chris Stapleton comes to town for a performance June 22 at Wells Fargo Arena. The concert is part of his "All-American Road Show” tour, in support of his award-winning 2020 album “Starting Over.” Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.
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Terica Marie, center, stars as Anne of Cleves, here called Anna, in "Six" through Feb. 19 at the Des Moines Civic Center. Photo: Joan Marcus.
ARTS AND CULTURE
'Six' Remixes History at the Civic Center
Writer: Michael Morain
If you’re looking for Valentine’s ideas, consider tickets to “ Six,” the musical about the wives of Henry VIII who met, in turn, various unromantic fates: “divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.” At the very least, it’s a heartening reminder: Your love life could always be worse. Fortunately, the show offers much more. The 2022 Tony winner for best original score and best costumes, at the Des Moines Civic Center through Feb. 19, is a surprisingly upbeat account of a low point in Western civilization, an empowering spectacle powered by an all-female cast and band.
It’s also a cheeky mashup of pop culture and history you may have forgotten from high school. (“Remember us from PBS?”)
The setup as a TV sing-off like “The Voice” has just enough narrative thread to stitch together the 80-minute show, where each queen gets a song to show why she suffered the most. They throw a lot of shade under all the bright lights.
They also realize, of course, that they can rise above their rivalries. But if I had to choose a winner, I’d crown Anna of Cleves (Terica Marie), who channels Nicki Minaj and Rihanna in a rowdy, unapologetic account of her post-divorce life of leisure. (“I ain’t saying I’m a gold-digger, but check my prenup and go figure.”)
The choreography moves fast and the lyrics even faster, so if you go, you may want to listen to a
recording before or after. The original Broadway cast album was nominated for one of this past weekend’s Grammy Awards, where the queens would have dazzled the red carpet in their metallic Tudors-meet-Jetsons couture.
Another tip if you go: The Royal Mile is just around the corner. Why not pop in and raise a pint or two – or six – to love? Time heals most wounds, and hope springs eternal.
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