Residents of the Meseta Vista section of Loma Colorado are in for a sweet treat on Valentine’s Day.
Rosa Maria Lopez, operator of Rosa’s Sweet Treats, is hosting a Valentine’s Day bake sale from 1-5 p.m. Tuesday in the park by the Meseta Vista sign. “It’s just something I do on the side,” she said of her baking.
She had a similar sale two years ago on Easter in an effort to get to know her neighbors after moving to the area. She made some really good friends from that experience, so she has decided to do it again.
“I won’t be here for Easter, so I thought it would be a good idea — and a little extra cash,” Lopez said. “Men at the last minute sometimes need something. Maybe this will help a little.”
She plans to use the money she earns from the sale to visit family in California for her sister’s 40th birthday over Easter.
Though it’s not Lopez’s full-time job anymore, she has an extensive history in the baking industry. She went to culinary school and did pastry at the Ritz Carlton in Palm Springs, California, as a cook and bakery tech. She spent 15 years as a decorator for grocery store bakeries, even training others in the department, in California for 15 years.
“Now I have a different job. I’m not in the bakeries anymore, so I just do it on the side,” Lopez said. She currently works for a broker as a customer development manager, working to get the brands she represents into various grocery stores, which she’s been doing for a four years. It brings her to different states in the Southwest, so she has to plan her baking events around her travel.
Tuesday’s sale will feature single cupcakes iced cookies, Rice Crispy treats, chocolate-dipped pretzels and six packs of chocolate-covered strawberries. “I’ll have boxes that will already be made so they can do grab-and-go, have name tags and box stuffers,” Lopez said.
She estimates it will probably take her about a week to prepare everything for the sale. “The cookies alone are probably a four-day process, and the strawberries are probably a two-day process,” she said.
So what does she enjoy most about baking? “The reaction people have from it, especially my son. He’s always begging me for stuff,” she said. She also said that it’s a calming process for her, now that she has the opportunity and time for it. “I have the patience for it, too.”
And, she plans on doing more sales for the neighborhood in the future, “probably around the major holidays,” she said.
Rosa’s Sweet Treats can be found on Facebook and Instagram @Rosas_Sweet_Treats. She accepts cash and Venmo.
