alanamoana

that's a great idea cocoa-lulu...i'm sure that's how transfer sheets started out...good ole' potato printing, hehehe another way to do it would be to stamp on acetate sheets and form your chocolates on the acetate. i think doing it in the molds only works if you have a large mold with a smooth surface (like the easter egg mold you are using). otherwise, the curves, etc. would make for a difficult surface to get a clear image. sounds like fun! very creative. now i must get some cocoa butter/colored cocoa butter to try this on my acetate...

if you have a good ganache recipe that works every time without the liqueur and you are adding the liqueur to taste, you might be adding the wrong proportion of liquid. in my swiss confectionary book (granted, they can be a little anal ) they list specific percentages of liqueur to add to different types of ganaches. chocolate is sensitive to how much liquid it will tolerate being added to it and maintain an emulsion.

Megan, once again, thanks for a great blog! looking forward to your last couple of meals. sometimes i get so stuck in the pastry and baking forum i forget that there's a whole world of eGullet out there (a real world too?!) when you posted the photo of the coffee cart what came to mind for me is the obviously acquired taste (or an unhealful activity) for "baconeggandcheeseonaroll" from your local bodega. why they don't sell this in other states, i'll never know. it is such a treat on a lazy weekend morning...that and a tooth-aching "light and sweet" all for the bargain price of $2.50!

hey rickster, thanks for the tip. i'll check it out as amazon has the right price and cross my fingers to see if it gets delivered!

on valrhona's web site, they have information for each of their chocolates as to their individual suitability to performing in specific situations: molding, ganaches, dipping, baking, etc. i wish e. guittard had the same information. it is helpful when the producer knows WHY they're creating a specific chocolate...not just to sell maybe they need a corporate pastry chef?! i'll apply for the job! hehehe

hahaha samgiovese! my husband and i have driven by "by-th-bucket" and joke about the name all the time!!! there's no letter E in their the on the sign so we always emphasize that the place is called "BY-thhhhhhhhhhhhh-BUCKET" we'll have to give it a try one day! we live on the corner of Stevens Creek and DeAnza so all of these places are really convenient! this is not food related but a little bit funny: having moved from new york where a car isn't necessary...i thought to myself, i'm going to walk to Valley Fair Mall...it only takes about ten minutes by car...it can't be that far... an hour and a half later!!! AND i walked home, no less!!! my friends in new york joked that if it takes ten minutes by car in new york, you've only gone about three blocks! my sense of distance has been completely messed up by moving here and driving again. so i checked it on google maps and it is about 5 miles each way! needless to say, i was a little tired and sore the next day thanks for all the welcomes! i'm excited to be back on the left coast!

thanks for the responses everyone! sometimes i feel that these smaller more homestyle places get ingored all too often for the French Laundries and Daniels of the world! where would we eat everyday?! i used to live in san francisco and having both coasts to draw from, i'm just pleasantly surprised to NOT be in a culinary wasteland... thanks for all the recs, keep 'em coming and let's show the world what silicon valley has to offer!

alexw, do you mean malto-dextrin? just curious...

for people who have been to both...how would you compare R4D with Chikalicious? i understand that R4D is serving more "avant garde" desserts on par with WD-50, el bulli, etc. as opposed to Chikalicious which is more traditional, but how would you compare the ambiance, service, concept, etc.? one of my criticisms with Chikalicious was that the desserts and petit fours didn't change frequently enough (in my opinion) for a place that only served dessert. i only went once, but from other people's posts and comments it seems that they all had the same things i did over the course of two years! if this needs to be spun off into its own thread, please do so. i'm not sure about etiquette with these things i'm sad i left new york before being able to give R4D a try!

I've recently relocated from New York City (NEW YORK CITY?!) to the lovely burbs of Silicon Valley. Cupertino to be exact. My husband and I are very impressed with the quality of food available at inexpensive ethnic restaurants in the area. As much as people tout New York as being a foodie's city, I've had better versions of many cuisines in unassuming strip malls here in the valley. The only downside being...NO DELIVERY!!! Yes, we're spoiled New Yorkers! Here are a couple of examples of where we've eaten: "House of Falafel" - Stevens Creek Blvd "Tandoori Cafe" - Stevens Creek Blvd "Pho Hoa" - El Camino Real (chain) "Fatima" - Islamic Chinese Food on S. DeAnza Blvd and to be honest...Baja Fresh makes decent "Mexican" even for a chain...better than most in New York...this could easily start an argument. So now I'm soliciting opinions and recommendations on restaurants in the area that serve good, tasty food for a reasonable price in the Cupertino, Santa Clara, San Jose area. What are some of your favorites? I'm NOT talking about Manresa and the like... Thanks in advance for your contributions

my pantry was noticeably warmer in the summer months and i did notice that my soy sauce began to get an off flavor. if your pantry is a cool room temperature and you use these items fairly quickly, i wouldn't worry about refrigerating. if, however, your kitchen and pantry warm up either due to kitchen use or summertime heat, i'd refrigerate both items. of course, this is opinion based, not scientific

from the color of the dough (although I could be deceived because of the photo) it looks like the bread might be whole wheat?! if that is the case, maybe there isn't enough gluten in the dough for it to develop properly during the fermentation/rising process...you might need to work with your formula and include some flour with a higher protein content...

On Amazon, there are two books by Dan Lepard. I notice that he has posted on this forum previously and other eGulleteers seem very impressed with his knowledge of bread. I'm wanting to get a bit more experience with bread and would like opinions on his two books: "The Handmade Loaf" or "Baking With Passion: Exceptional Recipes for Real Breads, Cakes, and Pastries" As it seems the second book deals with cakes and pastries as well as bread, it might not be detailed enough on bread to satisfy my interest. Is "The Handmade Loaf" technical or written for the layman? Thanks for any/all input. Regards, Alana

Thanks Ted. Since I'm not working right now, I noticed a promotion in the "Pastry's Best" magazine that offered free shipping with chefswarehouse.com If I can get them to ship me tons of chocolate for free...what a deal! I just have to figure out what I need. Even their retail prices aren't that much higher than their wholesale prices for the bulk items. I might get both to compare. Regards, alana

I use the E. Guittard 61% Lever du Soleil regularly as it is a good general purpose chocolate with a reasonable price. It seems that many people like the higher cocoa percentages...around 70% and up. My experience with some of Scharffenberger higher percentage chocolates is that they tend to be "dry" or "tannic". I don't particularly like them (personal taste of course). I've had some similar experience with Valrhona as well, but they are a little better...just a little expensive. So, I'm wondering if anyone has tried the E. Guittard 72% Cocher du Soleil. I know they also have the single bean varietals, but this particular chocolate is available through www.chefswarehouse.com (otherwise known as Dairyland to the East Coasters). Price is pretty reasonable as well. How does it taste? What is the melted consistency like...for tempering purposes, etc? How about in baked goods?

Megan, this blog is great and makes me a bit homesick! i just moved to northern california from 78th and York about a month ago. just in time to miss the blizzard and also in time to start reading your blog and to think about all the places i never went to or meant to go to when i had the time and now i'm gone!!!!! sooooo sad. my first homesick moments. have a great time bloggin'...we're all enjoying it...both the people getting their first real glimpses of nyc and those of us who need reminding of everything we've left behind! regards, alana

i think it is b.s. but in our litigious society, if one kid gets sick...there's reason for someone to sue somebody else. the school is just trying to avoid this and there was probably a case where this happened which set a precedent. their only control in enforcing the purchasing of packaged food is that the health department has supposedly deemed the commercial kitchen "clean and safe" or at least cleaner and safer than your home kitchen which doesn't have a health department certificate on the wall. it stinks that we have arrived at this point. no more bake sales either, i gather?

creme caramel, as ted said, already has caramel in the container. you pour a clear caramel which is just caramelized sugar (a little bit of water to get it started cooking if you're uncomfortable making a dry method caramel) into your ramekins making sure to coat the bottom evenly. when this cools completely, it should be hard and clear. then you pour your custard base into your ramekins and bake as usual. after cooling and refrigerating, when you unmold the cremes onto a plate, the caramel at the bottom should have dissolved thus forming your sauce and coloring the top of your cremes nicely. are you looking for another sauce to accompany the dessert in addition to this?

also, warming it up ever so slightly while beating will bring it back together. i've added fruit purees until my buttercream broke and just kept whisking and it all magically came back together. don't give up hope until all avenues have been taken!

there's a cake in the "cake bible" called buttermilk country cake or something like that. it is deelish and pretty durable. my friend and i used it for her wedding cake. we had a couple of huge layers and they held up fine. you can zip it up with lemon zest if your friend wants a lemony cake. my friend filled hers with lemon curd. her parents still rave about the cake. i also used it for another friend's wedding and made some with a partial substitution of cocoa for flour and made chocolate layers. i filled with raspberry jam and glazed with italian meringue buttercream alternating yellow with chocolate layers. that was also a tasty success. it is a pretty easy recipe to make.

just another quick note. some items which can be used, like the tin cutters or possibly a can with both sides removed are fine, but they can sometimes rust or discolor your food item. they might also add an off taste to your item. which then brings me full circle to the acetate...it will help protect your food product and the metal item. sorry to be redundant, just wanted to add a side note.

grease and then freeze and you can push them out, or you can use acetate strips to line the molds. don't heat the pvc as i think it gives off a toxic gas.

rather than keeping the cookies for a long time, can't you just make and portion the dough and store it in the fridge/freezer and bake off what you need each day? that way, it is still fresh. if they don't sell, you can keep them over for the next day and just bake off enough to fill your case. if you don't have storage in your coolers, ignore this post

is that a gooseberry?

Remember a few months back when the New York Post (is that Steve Cuozzo?) decided that they weren't going to "review" restaurants anymore because it just doesn't work when chef turnover or management turnover happens so quickly in the biz (there were other considerations, but that is a simplification...I think it was in response to some of the Bruni critics)? He (Cuozzo) stated it almost the same way Bruni has introduced his "blog"...a forum where he can discuss current events, trends, trendsetters, etc. in the restaurant world. Seems to me that Bruni is just jumping on the bandwagon. What the heck...get insight into the "life" of a food critic?! Didn't we get all of that with Ruth Reichl's books?! I guess the only thing lacking for Bruni is a purse in which he can hide uneaten food...