Wong, whose mother was a chef, said she has always loved to cook, and began the dessert business two-and-a-half-years ago in Salem after retiring from a high tech sales job. She has seen her business grow 800 percent, and moved to Aurora in November 2003. Wong's bakery serves as a "pastry chef" for restaurants and offers them a variety of fresh and delicious dessert choices, without them having to have a specialty chef on staff. This allows restaurants to keep their costs down and still have fine desserts, Wong said. "We're trying to put good desserts in restaurants and show people there is more to desserts than brownies," she added. Wong searches worldwide for quality chocolates, produce, spices and ingredients, and uses local berries, fruits and nuts in the desserts. Practical Gourmet does not use artificial flavorings or colorings, squeezes all of its own fresh fruit, and toasts the hazelnuts, peanuts, walnuts, and almonds for the candies and pastries.

"You can't have a quality product if you don't start with quality ingredients," she said....One of Practical Gourmet's goals is to create desserts which complement a restaurant's menu each season. In doing this, Wong said they are always creating new varieties of desserts from quality ingredients, and the atmosphere in the shop is fun and exciting.

...Practical Gourmet's customers include The Benson's London Grill; Grand Vines, of Salem, who serves fine chocolates and wines; Silver Grill in Silverton, who specializes in "what's best and what's fresh" in the Willamette Valley; and Morton's Bistro in Salem. To complement their customers' menus, they create a different dessert menu for each restaurant each season. For the Silver Grill they are currently working on a number of dessert dishes that can be topped with fresh Oregon fruits. "We experiment a lot and have a lot of fun," said Wong. Although their clients have a new dessert menu each season, there are some items that they serve year round, including key lime pie, Tiramisu, and cheesecake. Practical Gourmet's desserts are made fresh from real ingredients, and do not contain preservatives or artificial flavorings. Desserts are made to order, and Wong said she prefers fresh products and doesn't mind delivering them to customers more often. Wong said she enjoys the business she started. "You start the day smiling . . . feel good about what you've done and had fun doing it," she said. Wong said customer service and marketing skills that she acquired while working in sales have influenced the success of her business and allowed her to earn new customers. The Benson Hotel is Practical Gourmet's largest account, and Wong said it was a challenge to obtain. They provide The Benson with confections including hazelnut and spicy chocolates and coconut caramels, and a large dessert menu. To incorporate Practical Gourmet's candies into its menu, The Benson's London Grill offers complementary chocolates at the end of meals as an amenity to guests. Wong said one of her goals is to increase her chocolate production. In order to do this she recently ordered new molds from Europe.

When she first started her business she started with desserts and used chocolates and confections as garnish for fancy cakes. She expanded her convection to include the 22 different candies Practical Gourmet produces today. In its current Aurora location, Practical Gourmet has room to expand, and Wong said in the future she would like to include a "Chef's Kitchen," to teach cooking classes. Wieweck teaches classes in Salem and said they are fun and entertaining for participants. He said classes are taught on a variety of foods including fettucini and quick but elegant dishes people can make in about 30 minutes, wine is often served, and people get to eat the food that they are learning to cook. Wong said the classes are "a fun thing to do," and she thought people in the area would enjoy them. Currently there are similar cooking classes in Portland and Salem. Wong said in making Practical Gourmet the business it is, she received a lot of help from her family, including husband Ron, who has spent hours shredding chocolate for the delicacies. Though Practical Gourmet's primarily business is catering to restaurants, Wong said they take special orders as long as they are called in ahead of time and picked up at the Aurora bakery. For more details ...e-mail gourmet@extremechocolates.com.