alanamoana

from pcb. they have on-line shopping available on their website. the shipping wasn't too outrageous. i assume if you order more items, it makes it more worthwhile (until it gets too heavy).

i actually like milk chocolate with grapefruit. because the peel is likely more bitter than other peels, i think the sweetness of milk chocolate goes well with it. use a darker milk than just plain. i think valrhona lactee is 38% or something like that. it isn't too sweet, but won't fight with the grapefruit peel either.

check this out: Women Chefs and Restaurateurs The United States is probably the only country that has resources like this one for women. If other countries have them, they are probably not as big or influential. More of us should join (and I include myself in this, as I'm not a member) to make ourselves heard. Can't hurt, right?

i get the feeling from some of these posts that the more "nervous nelly" you are about things, the more likely something WILL go wrong. sort of a psychosomatic situation. these days, you should be fine traveling in thailand and vietnam. everyone's body is different and you know your body best, so use common sense and don't eat something just to be adventurous...if it looks bad or smells bad DON'T EAT IT. Better to eat things that are heated through, etc.

there is a technical questions thread which should answer your questions about posting photos. the easiest is to first upload them to imageGullet from your computer. then, copy and paste the url given to the photo in imageGullet to your reply or posting. that didn't come out very clear, but if you go to imageGullet, it might explain things a little better. good luck! hope to see some of your stuff soon... edited to add: this thread is just one of many which describe the process. there are many methods and descriptions...one of them should explain it in a way you can understand!

again, no food ideas...just wanted to say that fried chicken looks pretty good for gas station grub! i hope your trip is going well! weather looks great.

how about The Martha Stewart Baking Handbook? lots of basic information good for a beginner. of course there are a lot of professional books out there from the CIA, Wayne Gisslen, Bo Friberg, etc. but they are probably more expensive. this book isn't too much, but contains a lot of information and a lot of pictures. and there are probably about twenty threads on this subject in the baking and pastry forum.

it isn't in a restaurant, but a salad bar i used to love was in a market/food court in newport beach, california. a shopping mall called fashion island (fascist island). it was huge, had a great selection and decent atmosphere (you could sit outside). other than that, most salad bars in restaurants seem to be in the chain type places that supposedly have "home cooked" type food. the options are usually iceberg, grated dried out carrots and bad croutons. even places that are all salad bar like soup plantation or fresh choice are terrible. it is depressing because sometimes you just want a nice salad with a lot of choices that you don't have at home.

just because there's fat IN the vinaigrette doesn't mean that the acid can't balance out some of the FEEL of the fattiness in the salad and dressing . i'm never against some bacon dripping vinaigrette!

or taste buds... as in, it is all very subjective as mentioned above. not that i doubt that your chocolates are delicious.

and the really tart vinaigrette to offset the fattiness of the lardon and poached egg

i know this thread has gotten sidetracked, but i have to agree with the idea that kitchenaid mixers have gone downhill in quality. they are bigger (6qt) with more wattage than earlier models, but somehow don't seem to handle things as well as the old "professional" five quart. however, aside from that, i want to really push the idea of mixing dough less in general. it really seems to work well and why not try a different technique?

Thanks for the update Trish! I hope that blondie and her mom appreciated the dessert and that everyone was happy in the end. It sounds like it turned out great and sounds delish! You'll have to develop a whole repertoire of these desserts if you can get your son to marry blondie...hehehe in twenty years, that is!

In my opinion, Kitchenaid mixers are notoriously bad at mixing dough. The dough hook doesn't have a little "pig tail" at the end of it to keep the dough down in the bottom of the bowl...and what you experienced often happens. I wouldn't worry too much about it. It seems to happen particularly with drier doughs (wet doughs stay down due to their stickiness). But, I would also recommend different kneading techniques as offered by Dan Lepard and Jefferey Hamelman. They both seem to think that gentle and short initial kneading followed by bulk rise and the folding of the dough is better for flavor and gluten development in breads. I made a ciabatta (of course it is a wet dough to start with) with NO mechanical mixing at all. It came out great!

K8, there is definitely ambiguity in the terminology. A stage and a tryout are close enough to the same thing. The terms are often used interchangeably. Often though, a "stage" is a person who approaches the restaurant with the intention of working for free in exchange for the experience and possible references. It can range from one day to any length of time the restaurant allows. It can sometimes be looked at like an externship for culinary school, although those, by nature, are usually of a longer duration. The "tryout" is coming in to work for a day or two, as chefette stated, to get to know the restaurant, the staff, how things work, compatibility and etc. This is usually scheduled after an interview to benefit both sides (the employer and possible future employee). The "tasting" on the other hand is completely separate and this is what chefette refers to when she talks about finding a replacement PC who will be completely in charge of the pastry department, pastry menu and etc. edited to add: During a tasting, you're usually making food (of your own creation) specifically for the chef and maybe a front of house general manager or owner or something like that. During the "tryout" and the "stage" the individual can and will prepare food which will be consumed by actual customers. It depends on the level of the restaurant and the skill of the stagiaire(?) as to whether this will actually happen. I've done stages where I was used primarily to plate desserts. I've done other stages where I've done mostly production, not directly involved in producing food that was to be used during that service time. I think I've been lucky enough that all the "tryouts" I've participated in were only to determine my fitness for a position rather than using me for free labor. It would have to be a pretty slimy establishment for them to do that, and I hope I'd be able to discern that before even approaching them.

ummm, don't give them (the men) any ideas! the only really big name in "cake sculpture" is ron ben-israel...possibly some hotel pastry chefs as well, since they have the time/budget/staffing to focus on that type of stuff. but i think it might be correct to say that gender-wise most independent cake decorating businesses are run by women. i'm sure i'll step on someone's toes when i say this, but i think it is an area dominated by women because often, they can be independent with their schedule and frequently are raising a family at the same time. the only example i can find here on eGullet is Trishiad who does her chocolate business at home (and soon maybe Vanessa "Desiderio") both of whom are raising young boys while simultaneously running a business from their homes. they wouldn't be able to have the privilege (no sarcasm intended as i believe this is the best thing you can be doing for yourselves and your bambini) of staying at home with their children if they had to work "competitively" in a restaurant kitchen, or for somebody else.

WhiteTruffleGirl, Good Luck! It looks like you've definitely done your recipe research and your chocolates are beautiful. I'm sure you'll do well.

unfortunately, when i did that ride, i don't remember any great food places jumping out at me...of course i wasn't reading eGullet so closely back then so i'm no help, but i wanted to wish you a safe ride! it is such beautiful countryside and the roads are awesome. will you ride deal's gap? edited to add: checked out your web-site, so i guess so. off topic, but when i rode deal's gap (tail of the dragon) i had my motorcycle license for about three months and only ridden in new york city on a 500cc bike...we left new york city with me riding my father-in-law's bmw r1150gs that's some break-in period! but we made it to florida in one piece.

can you tell me what you don't do? i'm constantly amazed at the range of skills you have! i'm going to have to drive down to socal and do an apprenticeship under you!

the recipe that's in the cake bible contains corn starch instead of flour and is very liquidy. this doesn't necessarily mean that it is as ethereal as she claims, but i find it a very serviceable crepe for sweet items.

i feel the same way regarding "friend" pricing. now that i know how expensive it is (obviously for me doing it at home was different than when i've done it at work at a restaurant) and relatively time consuming, i have a better idea of what to charge. thanks for all the information. i didn't mean to pry too much! just curious. do you have a brick-n-mortar retail space or do you just do this out of your home? i'm just curious as to your background. i'm really just enjoying all the chocolate threads because even though i sometimes feel the market is saturated, it is one aspect of pastry that i've grown to really enjoy...so much so that i'm considering a business...but not sure when, how or what, yet. i'm a "retired" pastry chef and am just trying to figure out my next move. there are so many great people posting on these threads i just want to get as much information as i can from all of you! so, thanks for being so open and sharing all of your time!

whitetrufflegirl! those are just beautiful! congratulations on getting it all done, even with the stress of the box situation, it all worked out perfectly it seems. can you describe the chocolates and techniques you used? are the middle ones made with a magnetic mold and transfer sheets? it looks like they are all molded. do you find this easier than hand dipping? it certainly makes for an elegant presentation... did you charge (in other words, this wasn't for a friend, right?)...and not to be too nosy, but can you give us a ballpark if you're comfortable with that? i really like the look of the one that is second to last on the right. was that done with an airbrush? again, great job!

definitely would love to see some garden shots! my mom is a crazy gardener...never rhyme or reason to it...just go outside and pick some stuff and make dinner with it. tupac, i'm really impressed with you and daniel and bryanz, et al....all you young guys that are so in love with food and cooking. since you're all in the ny area, have you ever gotten together for a foodie blowout? that would be a great foodblog...the 25 and under set tag team foodblog! (i'm not sure how old daniel is, but i know you and bryan are under 25) i just think it is such a great passion, especially without the need to jump into the food business, which can just suck the life out of the passion you have. please continue with your blog...we're all just holding our collective breaths waiting for the next meal to materialize. oh, and if you hit norcal (bay area) in your school visits, don't forget about manresa for a great dinner (much cheaper and a little more relaxed-but still great bang for the buck-than the french laundry). and feel free to pm if you'd like any tips on the area.

vanessa, that's what the people did who are charging $185. they put a sticker on the tray that says "candy mold vibrator" and charge $120 for a $5 tray and ten minutes of labor. i think the dental vibrator (sounds a little perverted) is the way to go. somebody mentioned something about "frequency" or basically vibrating speed. anyone have any idea what the motor specs should be for good results?

in the united states, tipped employees are automatically taxed a certain amount. so the whole cash tip thing doesn't work as well as it used to (it was changed to this system about ten years ago or so?!), but i still think it is appreciated as servers and other tipped employees get creative about avoiding taxes i think that 20% is acceptable, but i'm a little disgusted by my own overtipping because service is usually so bad. only once have i stiffed a server and in that case i gave 20% in cash directly to the busser because he was the only one we saw during our meal. that was probably 15 years ago. i wish i could be a little more strict with myself. it used to be that 15% was for lunch and 20% was for dinner. i'm another one of those people who splits the bill equally and after everyone's thrown in their share, i always ask "is there enough for the tip?" to make sure that we didn't stiff the server. i kind of hate going out with large groups of people though just for that reason. i work in the industry (but in the back of the house, so i don't know why i care), and i always dread dealing with the check.