THE STORY STARTS A LONG TIME AGO IN A COUNTRY FAR, FAR AWAY...

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Imagine yourself traveling with me on a busy street in Jerusalem, Israel years and years ago.  Ahead is the entrance to an open-air street market constructed of stone, wood, and simple fabric awnings to keep the sun away.   People are moving in all directions, creating a commotion of sounds, sights, and aromas. Stick close by me as we shuffle and politely elbow our way through the crowd.  We try to keep track of where we've walked but there are so many paths leading here, there, everywhere.   We crane our necks, looking past peoples' heads, to see the goodies for sale..  Some merchants set their wares on tables, lined up one next to the other.  Some sellers, like the fish mongers and vegetable farmers, have more elaborate setups:  permanent display cases and long areas to chop, weigh, and pack customers'  purchases.  We see a table of deliciously-looking baked items.  We look at each other, as if to ask, "What are these?".  

 

We buy a couple and sink our teeth into them.  Wow!  What an explosion of flavors.   Between the softly crunching dough sheets were incredibly contrasting textures and flavors that awakened our taste buds like no other:  earthy with flowery perfume, silky butter coating crunchy nut pieces, and swirling spices.   We had never seen or experienced such a delicacy.  

 

My good fortune continued when I returned home.  A Lebanese neighbor delighted in baking pans of baklava for my family.  Years later I wondered how many people would like to be introduced to this sensational sweet in an array of exotic, not the usual, flavors.  I didn't want to copy what already existed.  As they say, the rest is history.  Tachios was born.

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I think of my baklava flavors as exotic delicacies.  I truly hope you will see them as gifts for you or for others.  They aren’t meant to take the place of usual fillers like cookies, doughnuts, Danish pastry, brownies, and cupcakes. Think...exceptional, extraordinary, uncommon, memorable, unique, rare.

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