lemon curd

This is more of a 'moved' rather than an opening or closing... Richmond's Galloway's has moved due to their land being expropriated by Translink. They are now located at 7860 Alderbridge way (between No.3 Road and Minoru), near Ed's Linens.

At the risk of getting off topic...a copper bowl actually makes the whipped egg white less likely to denature/break due to a reaction with the copper. Scroll down partway in this eGullet thread for more details (the explanation is just after the picture of the whipped egg whites).

I wouldn't put tempered chocolate on silpat and cut it out, mainly because I would not want to risk cutting into the silpat. It would also be very awkward for making the 'collars'. While I've never tried it, I also suspect you would not get the extra shine that occurs when you use acetate.

I just read the replies about the Ravensbergen website and OMG I feel a road trip coming on! I've never heard of them before and a quick check of their website revealed many baking toys that I'd been coveting for a while but didn't know any place in the area that sold them. My new toys will hopefully include some silicone leaf and flower moulds and an ice bombe cake set. Christmas might come early this year!

I believe he is the pastry chef associated with the 'tilted entry'. I checked his picture out on the school website and I'm pretty sure it's the same person based on the picture. I know he was definately from NorthWest.

Sorry to have delayed so long to post on the competition portion of the West Coast Chocolate Festival. A coworker of mine from Chocolate Arts (yes I'm back 'chocolatiering' at Chocolate Arts) competed in the bonbons category and I was her official chauffeur for the event as well as chief taster during recipe development and of course, a grateful recipient of all slightly imperfect chocolates . From memory there were 6 competitors in the bonbons category, 2 in the showpiece and around 4-5 for the plated dessert. My apologies as my pictures are not the greatest and since the entries were only labelled by number I'm not able to identify all the entries by competitor. However this should give you a good overview of the bonbons and showpiece portion of the competition. My coworker won first place in the bonbons category. Her chocolates were done using three different techniques: moulded, enrobed and hand-crafted and her descriptions were as follows: Port & Raspberry: A Ten-year Tawny port is cradled by intense raspberry butter cream. A thin layer of fruity Manjari ganache stands up to both distinct flavours. Chai & Pear: Oven roasted organic pear accented with Valencia orange zest and Madagascar vanilla. Warm chai tea spices are infused with cream and a hint of Nicola Valley honey. In blending Tanariva milk and Caraibe dark chocolates, a balance is met between the sweetness level and the soft creamy texture of the ganache. Cashew & Caramel: A sea salted and roasted cashew tops bitter caramel moux. Three grains of Fleur de Sel bring out the richness of the cashew and dissipate the sweetness of the caramel. Intense Guanaja ganache melts easily, uniting the flavours. Here's a picture of her bonbons displayed on a small chocolate showpiece Bonbons and showpiece from ChocolaTas in Abbotsford. From Lumiere. From a chocolatier in Whistler. And two more bonbons entries. and last but not least In the showpiece category: From the pastry chef instructor at NorthWest (and my apologies as you will have to tilt your head to the left) And from a past AI pastry student (note that piece is carved) My pictures of the plated desserts did not turn out very well and many of the pastry chefs had not competed plating by the time I needed to leave the competitors room. It was the first year a chocolate competition was held in conjunction with the festival. I believe that the competitors felt the competition was well run and hopefully next year will see many more entries.

You are right - they are two separate things. Here's the website for Barry Callebaut and the website for Bernard Callebaut.

You are right Ling in terms of where they come from, but Callebaut and Cacoa Berry are now owned by the same company Barry Callebaut. BTW next time we are at an event together I can hook you up with some Cacao Berry extra brute, just let me know how much you would like.

I made the cornbread without the bacon a few weeks ago and it was really good just like that - IMO it was not too sweet. I highly recommend just using the same recipe w/out the bacon. The only small change I made was for soaking the cornmeal in buttermilk, I kept it in the fridge instead of leaving it a room temperature overnight. I've now made five different recipes from this book, namely the cornbread, pain de compagne, pane siciliano, focaccia and the sticky buns. I've been very impressed with how everything has turned out. This is really an awesome bread book!

Hi FiV, Canary seed is exclusively grown for birdseed but I don't think it's specifically just for canaries. Canada produces about 3/4 of the world's production of canary seed as reported here. I was also suprised to see the coriander seed field and according to here, Canada is also one of the main world producers of coriander.

Hey Junior, I didn't know about the baby powder and canary seed - quite interesting. I'll try my hand with your greek rib recipe one of these days soon. My aunt faxed me an article from The StarPhoenix on the upcoming Saskatoon Feast of Fields being held Aug 28 with Calories' chefs (including yourself) creating the gourmet meal. Best of luck and no doubt everyone will be very pleased with their meals given what I sampled two weeks ago at Calories. By the way my favourite was the rabbit pate - it was perfectly seasoned! I don't get to Saskatoon too often but when I do, I'll certainly dine again at Calories.

I visited relatives last week in Saskatchewan. I spent two days in Saskatoon and three days in Elrose, a small farming community about 2 hours southwest of Saskatoon. I checked out this one lonely eGullet thread on Saskatoon before going and thought I'd report back. We stayed at the Park Lane Hotel in Saskatoon and kept to restaurants within walking distance. We ate dinner the first night at Calories. It was a very busy night due to the Fringe Festival, but the great food made up for the long wait after ordering. We sampled Rabbit Pate with a mushroom sauce, a BC apricot and stilton tart, Grilled beef tenderloin with rosemary fries and bernaise sauce, as well as Gougere filled with fresh vegetables and a raw milk cheddar sauce. On one of the back walls at Calories they proudly displayed numerous letters of request from customers to Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazine looking for various Calories' recipes. There was also a letter that indicated "Fat Guy" had eaten there during his 2002(?) eating tour of Canada. I can't remember the exact words but they were suitably complimentary. I also wanted to sample Greek Ribs mentioned by Merlin - unfortunately I don't think we picked the right place to sample the gourmet version of Greek Ribs. We ended up at Nino's on Broadway, a family style Italian/Greek place. We had the Greek Ribs as appetizers and they were more like pork nuggets but the batter was certainly tasty/tangy (a lemon/oregano mixture). My aunt gave me a Greek Ribs recipe before I left that I will try and hopefully I can experience a more gourmet version of Greek Ribs. The last day in Saskatoon we went to the farmers market. I bought Buffalo and Elk jerky to bring back to Jeffy Boy, however Kumba (my aunt’s cat) ended up enjoying the buffalo jerky. See below for a few market pictures: Off to Elrose… My uncle Don took me out on a tour of the agriculture fields. We stopped and checked out fields of wheat, barley, oats, canary seed, coriander, lentils, peas, chickpeas, and canola to name a few. Here’s a few pictures… Farm scene Chickpea field Coriander field Canary seed field A few miles outside of Elrose is a Hutterite community. I was able to get a tour and it was a great life experience. The communal kitchen was meticulously clean (and that’s an understatement!). The families eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together and the women take turns preparing the meals. They had amazing high-end equipment – a gorgeous soup kettle, rotating oven, proofing room (for bread), and the HUGEST (and most organized!) walk-in fridge and freezer, I’ve ever seen. The women were busy canning peaches and processing beans, while the younger women were in the field picking beans. Everyone we met was most gracious and kind. I checked out my Grandma’s liquor cabinet and found a ½ full bottle of Cherry Marnier. I’ve never seen Cherry Marnier before – it was from France and came in a bottle somewhat similar to Grand Marnier. Despite my grandma not knowing where it came from or how old it was, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sample. It was pretty sweet and didn’t have the ‘alcohol fumes’ I associate with Grand Marnier. Quite to my taste in fact! There’s now a ¼ full bottle of Cherry Marnier at my Grandma’s. The second last day I was in Elrose, my grandma and I make perogies together. Her dough recipe was interesting as it consisted of three ingredients: flour, salt and sour cream. We made the filling with potato and cheddar cheese. Definitely a do-over! It was a great visit and I certainly have a new appreciation for the impact of weather on the various fields and how a few ill-timed rainfalls can cause big problems.

Jeffy Boy and I visited the White Rock Farmers Market today - it's our second visit this summer. The market is good for its size and is about 3/4 food stalls, with the others a mix between greeting cards, wood working etc... I went back mainly to pick up a second batch of organic basil to puree for the winter but the stall I got it from last time was sold out already. We did come away with great organic portobello and shitake mushrooms, eggplant, purple peppers, garlic, organic tomatoes and McLennan Creek goat cheese and blue capri. Afterward we headed out to Surrey Farms for corn, blueberries and peaches. We had the corn for lunch with Jeffy Boy's chipotle butter. Good eats!

I've only made German buttercream twice and both times it was at pastry school (Dubrulle in Vancouver, BC). I checked the recipe and it seems very close to the CSI one you described. We used 660g of pastry cream to 600g of butter, as well as 70g of icing sugar and a pinch of salt. We beat the pastry cream at high speed in the mixer to make it nice and smooth before adding the butter. However this type of buttercream is still not as smooth as other types of buttercream and is more 'chewy' for lack of a better word. Our instructor recommended German buttercream be used as a filling as opposed to finishing a product and we used it to fill choux pastries.

I did a number of the Serious Amateur courses at Dubrulle and liked them so much that I took the culinary program at Dubrulle in 2002 and went back for the pastry program a year later. I certainly enjoyed the time that I spent there, but was it really worth the money, I'm not so sure. However since I had always really wanted to go to cooking school, I took the plunge, not quite sure at the time where it would lead me. This was a 'second career' so to speak. I checked out VCC but passed on it due to the length of the program and the fact that it seemed to be more 'institutional cooking' oriented rather than 'fine dining'. I also toured PICA but thought it was unusual that they would not let me sit in on the lecture nor did they really give me an opportunity to speak with the students directly. Dubrulle on the other hand, let me sit in on the lecture, observe the cooking demo, and speak directly and freely with the students. Northwest was not around at the time I was deciding where to go, but the owners Chef Tony and Chef Christophe were my instructors at Dubrulle and I have no doubt that they would want their school to be the very best it can be. More recently other good chefs instructors have left Dubrulle to join them at Northwest (Chef Ian). My time at Dubrulle was most enjoyable due to the instructors themselves. While this came up in another thread, at no time did any of my instructors suggest that we would earn anything close to $14/hr when we graduated and they did their best to tell us how little we really knew and how much more there was still to learn. While at Dubrulle, I volunteered one night a week at La Folie in White Rock and ended up working there after I graduated. I agree with Sashavan that a cheaper way to get your foot in the door if you have no experience is to seek out a good place to work, volunteer for a while, and hopefully that will lead to employment.

The Boiron fruit purees are a very good quality product. I've used them for fruit jellies and fruit mousses. I don't know that I'd make jam from them as I would prefer to have fruit pieces in my jam, but I can't think of a good reason why they wouldn't make a good jelly if you don't have access to fresh fruit. There's a lot more information on the purees on the UK Boiron website. They have some recipes as well as some documentation you can download on how to make pate a fruits, sorbets, fruit ice creams etc... No recipes for jelly/jam - would be interested to hear if others have tried making jam/jelly from these purees. I first learned about the Boiron purees when I was at Dubrulle and volunteered as a student helper when Thomas Haas taught an evening class at Dubrulle. I believe he uses the Boiron purees for his fruit jellies.

In case Sugar Arts doesn't pan out (I heard today that Dominique may be currently out of the country), you might also try Qzina. I know they sell the transfer sheets (as well as LOTS of other neat things associated with chocolate) and they have a local office in Richmond. What I don't know is if Qzina will sell to the public directly. Qzina phone number from their website is 604-274-2626. Hope you are successful with one of these local sources!

I believe Dominique Jarry of Sugar Arts sells them or at least he used to. He is located in Steveston and can be reached at 604-271-8803. It's best to call ahead and make an appointment. I'll check at work tomorrow for contact info of some other places that sell them but I suspect they may be more bakery/commerical suppliers that you may or may not have access to - I'll PM those to you.

You can read more about this in today's Vancouver Sun. Unfortunately the full article is not available on-line. I quote a small section which I hope is OK.... "When eGullet, a food lover's website, posted a diatribe on what they saw as a lapse in judgement by "this giant of cuisine" and his need for a better manager, Feenie posted back:..." You never know who is reading what you post here

We had a lead up discussion about the same event last year here. I also searched to see if I could find a thread with feedback from people who went last year but no luck. I went three years ago and was very underwhelmed (!).

I made the Korova cookies tonight for a potluck lunch at work tomorrow. Of course I had to sample them first to make sure they would survive the scrutiny of a bunch of chocolatiers. I think they are by far my favourite cookies. For the bittersweet chocolate I used a mixture of dark chocolate, dried organic blueberries and chopped hazelnuts. My only regret with these cookies is that I didn't have any fleur de sel (next time!). I didn't take any pictures - Patrick S's pictures say it all.....

One minor discrepancy that came up a while back in this thread was with the cocoa cake (page 228). The amount of sugar in the recipe says "1 1/4 cups of sugar (150 grams)". I always use weight measurements when they are provided and noticed that the 150 gram amount seemed to be less than 1 1/4 cups. When I checked it out I found 1 1/4 cups of sugar weighs closer to 270 grams. I ended up using 270 grams of sugar and the cake came out great (both for the black forest cake and the pave). This recipe is now one of my staples!

Mia Stainsby's 2005 "Chef's night out" is in today's Vancouver Sun's Queue. To the best of my counting/recollection ability, restaurants that got more than one mention by the various chefs surveyed were: Bin 941/942, Vij's, West, Parkside, Rangoli, Chambar, Cioppino's, Go Fish, Provence Marinaside (brunch), Rodney's and Tojo's. There were of course many other restaurants sited. The two Bin restaurants appeared to be the most popular with no mention of Gyoza King this year.

I'm getting the impression that he doesn't sell pastries at Sugar Arts then....? ← That would be correct! Sorry I should have made that more clear in my post...