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Those look really good @Shel_B

My sister sent me these salt samplers, which I receved yesterday. Opening the tins released an incredible and delicious aroma. Can't wait to try the samples ...

Looking forward to reading your blog!

I'll see what I can do. The lighting is crap and the kitchen is ugly, but I'll try to get a pic or two before I start packing them up into gift boxes etc.

Some clown has made a Luosifen Christmas Tree.

gremlins? conversely, sometimes those last few that seem really stuck come out perfectly 🤷‍♀️

Hi Pastrygirl, Thanks for the info, yes, I realized just last night that I was probably cooling too much. I saw a mention that it might be best to do the shelling soon after coloring the cavities so the chocolate and the butter both pull away from the mold together. I ran another batch this morning (with the compressor I got for Xmas, yay) and followed that procedure. I rolled a bunch of the shells and every one is perfect, below is one. I'm still very puzzled why in the past some of the shells that I've inspected before filling and capping end up sticking on de-molding, any opinion on that? Compression from the spatula while pushing the chocolate out when applying acetate? Also, what are you chilling with, a standard fridge or a humidity controlled unit? We are wet, but fortunately not torrentially like SoCal. I used to live down there and I'm glad I left... Cheers, Phil

If you could tease us with some photos, that would be appreciated. But, God forbid, I don't want to add anything at all to your tasklist!

Am I looking at bits of apple on top, or is that the dough?

Thank you @pastrygirl. Wish that I could take you up on your offer but those are not any of the chocolates that I work with. Good luck with Valentine's Day... just a short breather before production starts again!

@KennethT Another adventure ! Congratulations And , thank you for taking us along. and , of corse , the Menus I hope you have a fabulous trip.

I'm with you. I need a cup of tea and a lie-down. added: and I was responding to @chromedome's earlier post. Now I need a full nap with a cozy blanket.

The cookies are no problem. It's all the other stuff I have to do before I can get to the cookies that's the issue. For most of my freelance career, work has dried up in mid-December and then not rebounded again until mid-January, which as you'd imagine is a bit rough on the ol' budget. This year, with my three current clients, the shoe is on the other foot. I've cranked out three assignments for one client in the past few days, and have one more to do starting when I get to NS tomorrow evening, because it's due end-of-day on the 27th. Then I have three for another client which ordinarily would have arrived mid-month, but because of the holidays and various other reasons got pushed back. I need to get those pumped out by no later than January 5th (the official deadline), but in practice would like to have them done by month-end if I can, so I can invoice them in time to get paid mid-month. My third client has already dropped January's batch of 6 assignments, with "official" due dates ranging from Jan 14th to Feb 4th, but I want to have them completed before the 13th because that's my last day to invoice them before that client's pay cycle closes. At that point, I'll also be turning back to the first client I'd mentioned, to get a couple of pieces done before that second client drops the mid-month January batch, and... well, that's how a freelancer patches together an income. Add in the time I spend looking after our quail, chickens and rabbits, and the time I spend running to the feed store to keep them fed, and the other errands required for Christmas gift- and grocery-shopping, and throw in the occasional medical appointment for one or the other of us, and it's fair to say my days are rather full.

Hi and welcome Phil! Yes those back-to-back-to-back PNW atmospheric rivers have been super gross. I agree with Jim that 'repeatedly working' the stamp may not be helping. Cocoa butter doesn't like to be messed with too much once its in the mold. I also think you may be working too cold, and chilling too often. Unless it's summer and mid 70's in my kitchen, I only chill my bonbons after they've been filled to firm up the ganache before capping, and after capping for a few hours. 75F is not too warm for fillings, mine are routinely upper 80's. If you're airbrushing, the CB can be low 90's, as the cold air flow and agitation of being smacked against the cooler mold will temper it. Full disclosure, I don't take the temp of or formally temper my CB, I just microwave until melted, stick it in the fridge if I went overboard, shake it up, and use it at 'warm but not hot' when touching the bottle. I use Roxy & Rich pre-mixed colors.

I'm exhausted just reading this. I don't know how you do it all.

A snack.... Sambal ikan bilis bun... Filled with spicy sambal and small dried fish.

USA chocolatiers, bakers, & pastry enthusiasts - for various reasons, I have a LOT of chocolate in stock, if anyone wants to try any of the following for Valentine's Day, I can break cases and sell by the lb or kg. Shipping is usually $8-10 for the first pound, less for subsequent pounds and less for slower methods than priority mail. If interested, message me with what you'd like and your address so I can calculate shipping. Valrhona passion fruit inspiration - I had to special order a case of 3 bags, picked up yesterday. $201 for a 3kg bag or $67/kg Valrhona raspberry inspiration - also s/o picked up yesterday. $222/3kg or $74/1kg TCHO chocolate - made in California, cases are 25 lb each. Pretty long shelf life, I'm not at work today but iirc its mostly or all good until 2027 https://tcho.com/collections/baking choco blanco - a vegan white made with oat and cashew. I only got 1 case of this but don't know how I'll use it all $14.75/lb choco charms 60.5% $10.55/lb choco combo 68% $10.86/lb hella dark 81% $12.30/lb thanks for looking

"breakfast" .... Nice warm and flaky croissant. Also, the mango with yogurt parfait was good as usual. Black pepper ground pork with noodles (from the regular menu).

On the road again.... Singapore Airlines JFK-SIN, Prem. Economy.... Menus... Poke salad with avocado. The tuna was seared, but raw on the inside. Quite nice. Braised E-fu noodles with chicken (from their Book the Cook menu). Those chillies tasted really hot. Unfortunately the Chinese broccoli was cooked beyond recognition. Otherwise really tasty.

@Dr. Teeth looks delicious is this the crab dip ? how did you make it ? I did spot the salmon. how did you make that ? thank you

Merry Christmas all. Menu changed at the last minute due to a variety of factors. Final menu: Smoked oysters Cocktail shrimp Seafood salad Candied Salmon Bottarga egg Baked clams Crab dip Mussel, fennel and shallot pasta

Well, the initial royal-icing frenzy is completed. Just north of 15 dozen sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies are drying upstairs, on racks covering every free surface that's not a) pet accessible or b) currently needed for another purpose. Some are now finished, but others - like the snowmen and especially the Christmas trees - still need some detail work. The trees are the most fun, though it's fiddly making tiny bowls of blue, yellow and red icing to use for the decorations. I pipe on a white garland first, then once it's dry to the touch I dot them with the colorful decorations. Still have a batch of linzers and yet one more batch of sugar cookies to bake off. Part of the sugar cookies will become "faux linzers" for a friend who can't eat nuts anymore for medical reasons, and the rest will become sandwich cookies with a chocolate filling and probably (if I can maintain some modest level of gumption) a chocolate drizzle as well. If I fall short on the latter, I may dust them with powdered sugar. ...if I don't use up what we've got, making that second batch of royal icing. One good thing, anyway, is that between the quail and the chickens I had no worries about my baking this year being interrupted by an "egg run" to the nearest store. That feels like the only interruption I somehow missed, though I'm probably exaggerating. We haven't had any space junk land on us, for example, and the only power outage I had in the past week or two lasted just seconds.

Jim, Interesting that the over tempering can occur with movement, hopefully I can overcome this as I like the look of what I'm getting. With further research I ran across some mention of the fact that it might be a good idea to shell sooner rather than later, as it helps the CCB and the chocolate separate together. I'll try that along with the sylk and see if it helps. I may also mix new pigment in case the ones I'm using were overheated in the microwave (don't remember exactly but I know I got pretty warm on one of them previously). Yes I'm familiar with Virginia summers, I went to high school in Annandale and college at W&M back in the 60's. Don't miss those months although out here we have to deal with the rain in winter. Just have to find good indoor projects or put the rain gear on and head out... Phil

Date and walnut tart From Adam Byatt

The extent of my Christmas cooking/baking. I took this year off. Cinnamon Rolls and Blueberry Muffins. Having my Dad and cousin over for coffee and mimosas.