Matsu

For individual creme brulees, you might consider using foil ramekins. Malco Manufacturing makes all sizes of aluminum pie plates and they recently started making the foil ramekins. I'm sure there are other companies as well that sell them in your area.

In terms of the pastillage, in the past, the USA team was deemed to have a slight advantage since they did not have to transport their pastillage very far. Also, since the pastillage was made ahead and brought to the competition, there was no way to verify that the team members had actually done the work. This year, all teams were required to come early (one team member only) and make their pastillage on Sunday to give the pieces time to dry. This leveled the playing field more and let them get more intricate details on the pastillage because the issue of air transport was eliminated. Some of the pastillage pieces were showpieces in themselves (e.g. Belgium). At last year's competition (which was only the USA teams), many of the pastillage pieces were also very beautiful.

Dreidoppel makes a product called 'Doppelgel A' which is based on carrageen (similar to agar). I've used it in the past and it is a very good product. I believe it's distributed by Eurosource Gourmet www.Eurosourcegourmet.com

For inspiration I visit other bakeries, go to pastry shows, browse through books and magazines, watch the food network, surf the web, talk to other pastry chefs, vendors and purveyers. I also attend the national RBA (Retail Baker's Assn) meetings when they are local and the regional CRBA (California Retail Baker's Assn) meetings. I've gone to the World Pastry Forum competition for the last two years and hope to go again this year. This is a great venue for inspiration as many of the the top pastry chefs are in one place. People do appreciate pastry buffets and it's a chance to try new things that might end up on the menu.

I work in a restaurant/bakery and we occasionally have small buffets for private parties in the restaurant and for offsite catering. This is usually in conjunction with hot food but the pastry buffet is setup on separate tables from the savory food. Everything is preportioned and I make several small platters of the same item and replenish when empty rather than making one large platter. This keeps everything neater because large platters can get messy as the evening goes on. This also helps to keep 'cold things cold' until it is on the buffet table. Smaller platters also allow for more variety as I am usually limited on table space. For our Thanksgiving buffet, we had one buffet table just for breads and rolls. I made different types of braided breads and bread dough animals, fish, starfish, etc. for decoration. The rolls and sliced breads were preportioned in baskets and cornucopias. People took the animals and whole loaves of decorative breads from the centerpiece. There was nothing left! They are lots of fun and very creative. On the flip side , lots of work and planning since this is in addition to my regular work.

Stick Blender, Microplane Grater and Blowtorch. Also ditto on the Lemon Juicer that looks like a giant garlic press. There's also a slightly smaller size for limes.

Roquefort cheese from France Green Tea from Japan Kirsch from the Black Forest, Germany Bourbon Vanilla from Madagascar

Another vote for chicken soup. My husband makes Mrs. Grasses Chicken soup (it's a box mix) for me when I'm sick and he adds some cubed tofu for protein.

I would have liked to see the scores of each judge not just the combined totals. Exceptional ingredients and great kitchen equipment.

St. Andre and Stilton are two of my favorites!

Mangos, Raspberries and Fuji Apples

I've never been to Joe's for brunch but I've been there for dinner and loved it. Don't think you'll be disappointed!

Ambassador Fine Foods carries Guittard Chocolates. Believe they have a warehouse in Chicago as well as in Los Angeles.