If you have been to our Solar Gardens at Avalon shop this past week, you will have seen that we are working hard to reorganize our Avalon space...for a few very good reasons.

You may be wondering what's going on? So are we haha!

Well, first up...we are thrilled to tell you that we are creating a new Bistro in the Avalon shop.

And of course that's not all (you know us). We will be starting a new Fudge company (Solar Gardens Copper Kettle Fudge Company) with all the fudge being made from scratch, right in the shop before your very eyes (while you're sipping on a latte and enjoying the show)!

THIS, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, is going to be a blast!

We truly love our Avalon shop. We do have a soft spot for it as it was our first and original shop in the city. We think it is a gem within its lovely neighbourhood and with its charming ambiance. We have so many local regulars from the area that visit us often, buying fresh baking, local eggs and lots of other things.

Over the years, our Avalon customers have told us how nice it would be to have a little local coffee shop in their neighbourhood and, more specifically, within our Avalon shop.

We have now taken those suggestions to heart and have decided to convert some of our Avalon space into a cozy bistro.

There you will be able to sit and enjoy a coffee or tea along with a little savoury or sweet treat. Or you will be able to pick up coffee items or treats to-go.

Our chefs will be preparing lots of delish baking and food items for the Bistro, and so you will no longer need to go to our Lawson Heights shop and TREATS for treats (see what we did there!).

We will still have our well-loved baguettes, focaccia, and gooey cinnamon buns available for purchase, but we are excited to try new desserts and savoury items in our Bistro. And no worries, we still have room to maintain our other items at Avalon, and so we will still carry spices, extra virgin olive oils, balsamic vinegars, jams, honey, gourmet foods and all types of novelty items for Christmas and everyday.

We will let you know when our Bistro and cappuccino machines are fully up and ready, but we know it will only be a week or 2 until we are brewing coffee and steaming milk at Avalon and plating tasty desserts for your pleasure.

Whenever Roger visits an exhibition or trade show that has a copper kettle fudge company kiosk, he stops to sample a few flavours and invariably comes home with several big blocks of fudge to share and enjoy. He's always dreamed of having a candy company. (Just don't call him Roger Wonka). We've tried, it's not pretty!

Roger particularly loves being able to watch the fudge being made. It seems like such a wonderful craft and art. Pounds of butter, cups of sugar, cream and delicious flavourings are added into a big copper kettle to be heated and mixed. Amazing aromas waft about the room and the creamy thread of cooked fudge is then poured onto a marble slab, lifted, twirled and gracefully and artfully cooled with wooden paddles before being cut into blocks or poured into molds.

We totally understand Roger's fascination with the technique of making fudge and his love of well-made artisan fudge.

So...as they say on tv...Roger loves fudge so much, he bought the company!

Our Avalon kitchen will now be the site of small batch copper kettle fudge creations.

We want you to be able to view and enjoy fudge production as much as Roger does - the art of cooling, paddling and cutting the fudge - that we are reorganizing our Avalon kitchen space so that our fudge creations will be safely visible to you.

In the not too distant future (we're thinking by the end of this week), you will be able to see Roger and the crew in action if you are at the shop Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays when the fudge is being made.

We still have work to finalize changes to the fudge production area, and we also will be undergoing training to make the best and tastiest artisan fudge possible. But within the week, we hope you will be able to sample and purchase delish fudge made right at the Avalon shop. How cool is that?

And it needs to be said - this fudge is not made from a mix with water and preservatives. It is totally made fresh in-house with whole ingredients from scratch and will be crafted in a copper kettle in small batches.

This year we have 2 options for Christmas parties at TREATS - the popular MYOP (Make-Your-Own-Pizza) and our tasty new 5 Course Christmas Dinner option:

A) The MYOP:

Many of you will be familiar with our MYOP parties that we offer year-round. We provide the rolled out pizza crusts and fixings. You top your own individual pizza with the toppings of your choice. We then bake your pizza in a few minutes, and you have your thin-crust pizza topped just the way you like it! And we won't forget to make you dessert pizza.

B) new this year! - Our Italian chefs have created a 5 Course Christmas Party menu and the prices and dishes offered are fabulous.

We have just redesigned our TREATS menu and it is now ready to be used at TREATS in the Lawson Heights Mall.

Thank you so much to everyone who gave us feedback when we posted the first sample page on Facebook and asked for suggestions. Your suggestions have been very helpful and we will be contacting the suggestion winners to offer a free Italian dinner for 2 (with wine) for their specific suggestions. We really appreciate the time you all took to leave comments and make suggestions.

Following is our new TREATS menu:

You will see that your favourite items are still available, and can view the new Italian menu created by our Italian chefs Simone, Paolo and Carola who continue to amaze us. We thank them. Did you know a proper Italian pasta meat sauce takes 12 hours to make? Who knew?

Here are the dates of our public classes (where you can join a group of other people taking the class).

This festive season you can book any of the following dates:
Sat Nov 26, Sun Nov 27, Sat Dec 2, Sun Dec 3, Sat Dec 9 and Sun Dec 10. All classes will be held at TREATS in the Lawson Heights Mall and start promptly at 1:30 pm. If you wish to dine at TREATS before the class, plan to arrive about noon to allow yourself a leisurely lunch or Sunday High Tea. To book your spot in any of the public classes just email solargardenclasses@gmail.com.

OR you can book a private group class if you have 4 or more (up to 100) friends that would like to do a class together. Just email solargardenclasses@gmail.com to make arrangements.

Perhaps the best other thing ever....

One of the wonderful things (or shall we say 8 wonderful things) that have been keeping us busy and bringing tons of joy into our lives are these 8 fantastic creatures:

Please welcome the unexpected but totally loved Solar Gardens litter of Sep 23 2023.

In late September, our newest girl Willow had 8 (EIGHT!) healthy puppies - 5 girls and 3 boys - and they are growing like beautiful sweet weeds.

Momma Willow has been amazing! And we have been so pleased with our older dogs (Auntie Petal, Chudley (no relation) and Poppa Buddy) and how they have all adjusted to the litter. Our Fab Four grew into a Delightful Dozen overnight, and we are in love with them all.

The puppies are starting to go on small short walks with the older ones, are housetraining quickly, and are already pros at getting in and out of our doggie door! Did we mention they are smart?

We will be sending updates on these little loves in the coming weeks and will be posting occasional photos on Facebook as well, but we will be looking for good homes for these adorable, smart, calm, happy wee loves in the next few weeks. 4 have been adopted already, one going as far as Calgary when she is a bit older.

If you have any interest in adopting, drop us a note at solargardenclasses@gmail.com.

We know these pups will be the best companions and friends one could ask for.

So....coffee, fudge, baking, Holiday parties with Italian cuisine or pizza...and puppies.

Life doesn't get much better!

Oh! And TREATS now has a liquor license!!! That happened too!!!

Roger & the TREATS & SG (& FUDGE) Crew