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Some years ago, I took the Ontario version of your ServSafe course . Actually it was the year i joined eGullet and I had in mind becoming a chocolatier. The only thing that was really new to me was that the symptoms of Listeria can take up to four weeks to manifest. Who knew? Otherwise it was pretty much a known quantity. I would imagine that it would be somewhat tougher in post(ish)-Covid days. (I never did follow through with the chocolatier occupation, but spent the next five years meeting once a month or so with a friend to make a huge variety of delicious confectionary items. What wonderful fun we had. I still miss it. And I still eat dark chocolate in some form or other every day.)

If the bonbon has a dark color, the seepage doesn't show so much, but with the rose color in the photo, the chocolate was really obvious. I scraped it off for a few of them. Fortunately these molds make 40 bonbons per mold, so I had lots of extras. But for Christmas production, this is not acceptable. My "solution" for Christmas: I'm painting flowers similar to the ones shown and then shelling in Dulcey--no airbrushing involved, thus seepage will be invisible. Strangely, the shallower version of this same mold had no seepage at all. Work flow: Since I work alone in a very limited space, I have to color all the molds, then shell, fill, and seal the dark chocolate ones, follow the same process with the milk. I think the problem occurs between shelling and sealing, and I don't see a solution to the time it takes to make the fillings (depending on the recipe, I can do 3-4 per day). So I think my "Dulcey solution" is the only thing I can do. As you suggest, if I could shell, fill, and seal in a short period of time, the seepage probably would not occur. I can't do the fade trick with color as I ordinarily use the Fuji sprayer, which does not allow for such subtlety. What I lose with the Fuji I gain in speed--and, most importantly, with the lack of clogging of the gun. If I preheat it in a heating pad and keep it warm with a heat gun, it does not clog. I have frequent clogging with my Grex. With your much larger production, I think you would love the Fuji. No, I don't use cups. I bought trays so that I could stop using cups. Separating cups is a job I need to avoid for sanity's sake.

I forgot to add the seasoning.... Add 1.5T salt, 1/3t MSG and 1t chicken powder or mushroom powder to the mixture while being fried, just after incorporating the chilli/tomato mixture.

I saw this 7-layer bar variation from Claire Saffitz the other day and decided I’ll try them and if they’re OK, I’ll bring them along on Thanksgiving. It uses a Biscoff crumb crust with layers of crystallized ginger, cranberries, walnuts, oats, coconut and sweetened condensed milk.

Thanks. We’ve lived in this house in a pretty quiet neighborhood for 33 years, and we don’t really have grumpy neighbors, mostly just people who mind their own business and keep to themselves. I’ve wondered if our neighbors have noticed the car being loaded up for delivery, and if they think we might be selling food, but unless they’re Gladys Kravitz types, peeking through the window, I don’t think anyone has noticed a thing. The ServSafe courses are offered online, although I think I learn better face to face. We’ll see.

Gnocchi with charred tomatoes and bacon in a white wine reduction. Topped with parm and basil. FYI, I no longer boil the shelf gnocchi as directed; I simply add it to skillet making sure there's enough sauce/broth, put a lid on it and wait a few minutes.

Finally, a change of pace: drinkable Yoplait yogurt is being recalled for foreign matter (pieces of plastic). https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/yoplait-brand-yop-drinkable-yogurt-recalled-due-pieces-plastic

@pastrygirl Thanks for sharing your experience about some other ways to do samples! Very intrigued by the display case. I like the idea. I put some out in boxes but I think this kind of display would be more striking.

This doesn't happen to me to often, but it's a 'flaw' I let slide when it does. Couple thoughts: how spread out is your work flow? Same day shelling/filling/capping might help. If you concentrate the color on the top of the bonbon and let it fade out towards the bottom, the seepage won't be as obvious. And, I don't think you use cups, and cups are another step you might not want to add, but they would hide that bottom edge seepage.

samples really help sell but I agree that full size is expensive these are a good sample size but just about impossible to polish. https://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=67773&categoryid=347 I've also seen people give samples of just the ganache (no shell) on a mini tasting spoon you don't need to have samples of everything - for NW chocolate fest I brought 18 flavors of bonbons but only made sample size of 4 if you're letting people build their own assortments, consider a small display case - you can keep say 8 of each flavor out and re-stock from your larger bins as needed https://www.webstaurantstore.com/choice-3-tray-bakery-display-case-with-rear-doors-21-x-17-3-4-x-16-1-2/176BDC3.html

Some of you may have noticed that Costco is now carrying vanilla beans at 20 for about $10. This puts the beans in a price range where I am starting to think about making my own extract again. Is anyone else doing this currently?

I love reading about what you're doing and I know you are making a positive difference in the lives of the people you are serving. At some point you may well be facing scrutiny from the law of the land (or not) so I would encourage you to take that ServSafe class because if you are ever challenged by a cranky person or authority, you can show the certificate and while you may not be producing in a certified kitchen, you are following food safety guidelines. Takes some of the air out of the argument, so to speak. I think that's all the comment was about: be prepared for the challenge so you can flip the narrative from a position of strength (knowledge). Edited to add: what i meant by "cranky person" is someone in your neighborhood who sees what you're doing and wants to ruin it.

Chilli mince beef with black beans plus my simple accompaniments.

we've had tgis for years... it's great!!!!

I pick up my weekly fish share at a local brewery taproom. This week, I got ahi tuna so I perused their offerings and decided to try this Sticky Note Origami Hazy IPA which promised notes of mango, pineapple and tangerine. It’s a collab between Topa Topa Brewery here in Ventura county and Monkish brewery down in Torrance. Then I stopped by Trader Joe’s and picked up this Mango Pineapple Pico de Gallo Salsa. I doctored up the salsa with avocado, cilantro, lime juice, tossed in some cubed ahi tuna, scooped it up with chips and washed it down with the IPA. This was going to be a snack but I ate enough to call it dinner.

Grilled kimchi burger with gojuchang.

Stunning!

@RWood Gorgeous! You do fantastic work.

I was crazy taking a wedding cake right before Thanksgiving, but at least it’s done. Big cake is white almond sour cream cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream. Groom’s cake is chocolate cake, dark ganache and white chocolate buttercream.

@ElsieD In the description below the video.

@Pete Fred i just watched the video with an eye to jotting the recipe down but measurements were not given for some of the items e.g. baking powder. Where did you find the actual recipe?

I made a batch of the sweet potato and Chinese sausage fritters from Meyers+Chang at Home by Joanne Chang and Karen Akunowicz and used them as the base for an eggs benny-ish thing with the sriracha mayo dipping sauce playing the role of Hollandaise. The fritters include diced Chinese sausage, scallions and Thai red curry paste. In my hands, the fritters were very wet and difficult to handle but the contrast between the creamy sweet potato and crispy panko crust was nice.

Claire Saffitz's Dirt Bombs (YouTube)... She describes them as a cross between a muffin and a cake donut (hole). They're remarkably light and fluffy, so much so that the first one I dunked in butter disintegrated (hence only five in the bowl). I let the others cool a little more, but they were still fragile. They're nutmeg flavoured, but the cinnamon sugar coating dominates. I could taste the bicarb (baking soda) but that might just be down to the crème fraîche I used (instead of sour cream) not being acidic enough to neutralise. The Dirt Bombs were good. Recommended.

@ElsieD interesting questions if the rice blends ' cook up ' to your satisfaction , by your usual method ( being slightly different ) I they should freeze in the same manner , by the same method you have used for single grain rice. reheating ? if the bag is sealed , shy not heat up in a pan of hot water ? you thermapen the water when its lose to service time , and that's the temp of your rice . add more heat if the water cools dow, Ive microwaved ' refrigerator rice ' successfully , but id open the bag and put the contents in a dish ( covered ) if you want to micro from Fz. so the bag doesnt explode

I have ordered rice from a company called Floating Leaf and am wondering after cooking, how well the cooked versions would freeze. None of them contain white rice, and with the exception of riceberry, they are all blends. For example, one is a Jasmine Thai blend which contains riceberry (purple jasmine), red jasmine and brown jasmine. Another is a Wild Rice Blend containing red jasmine, brown caltrose, riceberry and long grain brown rice. There are also a few other varieties. I'm thinking that when I want rice for dinner I would cook up a double batch and freeze one of them. The question is: how well would they freeze? I have a chamber vacuum sealer which I would use to seal the bags. If it is okay to freeze, would I just zap them them in the microwave to re-heat?