Copperpot's

Befitting motto: "slow down, and jam on"

​A mere two months ago, IT day-jobbers ;Tom Wilfong and Vanessa Safie started a little jam making enterprise in their Kendall home kitchen.. Since then, it has quickly grown into a miniature company - one that just might (we hope) topple Smucker's. Made with all natural, preservative-free and local ingredients, Copperpot's jams are undoubtedly one of the best (if not the best) jam we've ever had.

Let's tap into your imaginary taste sense with their jam varieties:

• Apple Butter
• Apple Sauce
• Bourbon Apple Butter (While its popularity was completely unexpected, Copperpot's said this was their most difficult recipe to perfect.)
• Jalapeno Jam
• Pineapple Five Spice
• Red Onion Marmalade
• Strawberry Jam
• Sweet n' Spicy (candied jalapeños)

As their own self-proclaimed harshest critics, Safie confessed that her favorite is Pineapple Five Spice, "I love [it] so much that I scrape the pot clean when I cook it". Wilfong confessed his, "Apple Butter. I love that when you take a bite of the apple butter it screams apple in your mouth". (By the way, if we had to choose one, we'd take a lifetime supply of Strawberry Jam. The cleanest and freshest tasting jam one will likely every experience).
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The Candygirl herslelf, Marissa Gould

When Candygirl Marissa Gould moved to Miami last year, she was concerned with the lack of old-school candy stores to satisfy her sweet tooth. "I was hard-pressed to find an old-school candy store where you, the customer, got to mix and match your favorites. So I decided to create my own candyland -- a candygirl's candyland to sweeten up your day."

Well, she has done just that. Gould offers a variety of retro sweets, including Razzles, Mallo Cups, and edible cigarettes and cigars. She has gummies in just about every shape, size, and color, as well as those huge jawbreakers guaranteed to leave you with TMJ. And for those looking for an extreme sugar rush, try the Flintstone-size candy powder straws and the three-foot-long gummy snake, strangely named the Big Fat Hissy Fit.

Where do you find this sweet temptress?
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​There are thousand's of hot sauces on the market varying in intensity and flavor with tantalizing names like -- Scorned Woman, Ass Blaster and Crazy Mother Pucker's -- each professing to be the hottest and baddest concoction out there. So what prompted Miami-based siblings Rick and Sharon Kahn to jump on this bandwagon and bottle their family recipes into Captain Rick's Hot Sauce and Sharon's Spicy Tamarind Sauce?

Rick, a boat captain by trade, has traveled the Caribbean trying every chili sauce there is and laments that "hot sauce is often just heat, so instead of enhancing the food it just kills the flavors." Like many entrepreneurs, Rick saw an opportunity and has embarked on a journey to market a sauce that goes back to his mom's kitchen in Trinidad. "There is no salt or preservatives" he assures us - "just lots of natural chili flavor." It's a crowd pleaser at Scotty's Landing where fans like to mix it up in their Bloody Mary for some extra hair of the dog.
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​These days it's not enough to have just one job. In this economy, you have to be a hustler to get by. If you're lucky, maybe you'll even be successful.

Celebrities are no different; they like to have their hands in the cookie jar too. It's easy to criticize stars -- say they're sellouts. We say they're smart. But just because they're celebrities doesn't mean they're successful at everything they do. Take Donald Trump and his glorious vodka. Remember that catastrophe?

Here's a look at the liquor brands that are still around, strong and worth trying (even if just for kicks)...
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Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

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all photos Laine Doss

Forager bees coming home after collecting nectar

​Marcie Davis sells her local honey at the weekly Coconut Grove organic market and online. Wearing a bee necklace, she displays her wares with the smile of a mom showing what her child made in art class - local honey, bees' wax candles in the shape of little hives, soaps. Give her a few minutes and she'll tell you why bees are so important and why she feels so strongly about her hives.

"One third of all your food is dependent on honey bees", Davis says. Even digging into a steak you can thank bees, in part, since livestock eat grass, grain and other plant life.

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​We've all heard, "Do what you love and the money will follow." Well, the De Santis family took the words to heart and plunged into the wine import business. Today, Michelle and her father, Antonio, own and operate De Santis Selection Imports, a boutique importer focusing on artisanal wineries.

"We choose wines that are typical of the region they represent," Michelle says. Back in 2009 she convinced her father they needed to go into business together and, after a family visit to Italy, Antonio De Santis, a long-time Shell executive, agreed. He put his corporate suit aside and embarked on a new career path that would make any oenophile jealous.
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Melissa Toro has a cupcake and a dream.

​Melissa Toro just wants a freaking place to bake her cupcakes and brownies.

The Miami native and owner of Meli Bakes has been looking for a commercial kitchen or bakery for almost a month without much luck.

"I've been trying to start my own baking business, and I was looking into what it would take, and I found out I would need to bake in a commercial kitchen in order to get my license," Toro says. "I've been looking and it's impossible. There's nothing on the internet. I've contacted schools, churches, and caterers. It's been really difficult."

Toro grew up in Miami and went to school in Boston. In the past year she's been trying to get a job in a lousy economy. "Basically I'm a housewife, not by choice," she said. "I started getting into baking for friends. Now I'm obsessed with it. I dream about baking at night. I'm a hoarder of kitchen gadgets."

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Photo by DDB

​Mike Gonzalez is a self-proclaimed beer geek who's spent most of his spare time -- in his adult life that is -- drinking in everything he can about beer. A business analyst by day, he's a beer peddler at night. His year old business, Yo Beer Guys, is an online beer retailer servicing the Miami-Dade area. The firm is the result of one too many unsuccessful late night beer runs. This entrepreneur saw an opportunity when he came back parched and empty-handed. Who doesn't want a keg or a crate of your favorite hard-to find brewskis delivered right to your door?

Brew & Bites will hold an event Sunday during United Way's Miami Wine & Food Festival. Yo Beer Guys will be on site handing out beer to thirsty revelers. "It's a shout out to a growing beer movement that has hit South Florida with microbrews and brew pubs are popping up faster than you can say -- craft beer," Mike muses.
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Paula Niño

Owner David Trafton

​If your morning commute involves driving along North Miami Avenue and 26th Street, there's a window you can stop by for breakfast and a cafecito.

Bon Appetit Walk-A-Way Café opened last week offering pastries, pastelitos and organic egg omelets for breakfast, and organic mixed green salads, a soup of the day and owner David Trafton's pizza for lunch.

A special of cheese pizza, mixed organic greens salad and a drink costs $6.99 and there's a daily lunch special to choose from as well. Homemade desserts, including Fireman Derek's Pies, are also on the menu.

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