JeanneCake

Yes, macaron are the new cupcakes I've been a big fan for years, and can't wait for next year. I'm going to lead the charge for a Macaron Day in Boston!

As an infant and toddler, my son would eat salmon, meatloaf, just about anything. His favorite mac and cheese was the Annie's Mexican (no longer made unfortunately). As he got older, he got fussier, and it is only now as a teenager that I see him getting a little more adventurous and it seems to correlate to whatever he is studying in his World Civ class. I hope it sticks! He has to be in the mood to cook (often isn't) but sometimes he'll wander over and ask if he can help.

The title of the book is the Whimsical Bakehouse cookbook; I tried to edit my post but at that precise moment, the computer decided to stop working....

I suggest using the recipe for House Buttercream found in The Whimsical House Bakery book. When clients request a sweeter frosting (our house buttercream is an Italian Meringue BCRM) this is what I use and people are happy with it. I have only ever used it with a high ratio shortening (I still have that stuff and I think this is a key to success but I don't know. Maybe the book is on amazon and maybe you can find it by glancing through the online pages that are available with some titles. Otherwise, do a google search and I'm sure it's been discussed in other cake forums and people have posted their adaptations and notes... When freshly made, it spreads easily, can be smoothed very nicely; I've never kept it for longer than a few days but I would guess you'd need to rebeat it if you chill it or have it stand at rm temp in a bowl for a few hours....

If you aren't able to get them in before Easter, you could also try using white chocolate vermicelli (aka sprinkles or jimmies but these are made from white chocolate) and put some in a small, clean, plastic deli container with a lid and a few drops of candy color and shake it until the color is well distributed. This works with coconut (use the macaroon or dessicated) and large grain sugar as well using regular food color liquid or gel....

Most chefs understand that an apprentice or new hire with little experience will need more guidance and supervision at the beginning; I hired a new culinary graduate last year who is coming along slowly but surely. Another thing an apprentice needs to know is that you don't know everything at the start, you must ask. When you saw the butter at the surface, it would have been a good time to find someone and say "this is the first time I've seen this. How can it be corrected? What caused it? How do I prevent it next time?" This way, a potential mistake can be a learning experience and it gives the kitchen time to plan to remake the dough, or do something else if needed. And you have the benefit of knowing what happened and why, and how to not let it happen again or how to fix it if it does.

I didn't think there was an objection to a service dog; I thought the objection was that clarification was asked for, and not provided until later. It wasn't immediately obvious that it was a service dog. If it had been a readily identified service dog, I don't think it would have been an issue for the Health Dept and there would have been no chance of a fine being levied. Because that's what the shop owner is trying to avoid: being fined for something he has no control over and if the Health Dept tried to assess a fine, he would have been able to show proof of the service dog's legitimacy.

Freezer storage is less drying than refrigerator storage I'm told (I have no idea why this is); perhaps because there's more freezer space it is easier to store things there and then have the cooler for finished goods. Three days is not a lot of time for a cake layer but perhaps they found that the cupcakes dry out faster if they are not frozen. I don't have a lot of freezer space so I use the freezer as a tool to help with production - I can put a cake in progress in the freezer to firm up a very soft buttercream so I can put the next layer of cake on without squishing the buttercream, or if I want a buttercream dam to be very firm before filling... or if someone cancels an order that I haven't assembled yet I can put the layers in the freezer to use for samples later or if someone else calls with an emergency order But mostly my freezer is for storing fruit purees, unbaked cookie dough, nuts, and firming up cheesecake lollipops! So it isn't that unusual to freeze cakes or cupcakes; but I am not militant about they'd have to be in the freezer before they cool.

Well, I'm intrigued. It doesn't take that long for cupcakes to cool; surely the cake layers cool longer. Is it all recipes they have you do this with the cupcake version versus when the same batter is baked off in layer cakes (round, square, any shape...)? Usually with extra batter, we always bake off cupcakes, and I usually put them into airtight buckets lined top and bottom with deli paper and then freeze. This way I can get a few days (e.g., baking on Wednesday means I can have these cupcakes for Friday sale when the bulk of the impulse purchases or last minute purchases happen). So, how long are you freezing them for? Overnight? Days? Do all your baked goods go in the freezer? Do you have more freezer space than cooler space? Inquiring minds want to know!

I have been in food service only 10 years so I am still learning; what was the rationale behind using sawdust on the floor? When I was a child, I remember some of the supermarkets my mom took me to had a sawdust kind of stuff on the floor but I never knew why and have never seen it since.

800 ramekins are a lot to keep track of and hope to get back at the end of the night! Tart shells would be more expensive but easier to manage (of course there's always the don't fry the edges of the tart shell when firing them..... What about truffles served on a skewer? You can roll them quickly and easily, there are lots of flavor options that can complement the other things (smooth creme brulee, crispy bruschetta) on the menu.

Sigh. We all need baseball caps that say "Board of Health" on them when we order food in person. Not that I think that will change anything. I wash my hands constantly and it drives me nuts when I see others who don't. I actually don't mind someone putting on fresh gloves to make my sandwich and then ringing it in and after the transaction, taking the used gloves off and tossing them. ETA: because the sandwich is wrapped or bagged before they start to handle the money...

Have a repair company look at it? See if they have done the whole auto paint thing or have any cautions about will it/won't it from an angle we might not think of...

Ah, then no worries! I've heard of people slathering on a quarter inch of curd or whatever and having the midsection of the cake start to slide and shift as a result. And then wonder what happened.... and why!

Can you elaborate on this a bit? How thick are you going to make the curd filling in between the layers? As an experienced wedding cake maker of many years, I would worry about the tiers sliding if it is just curd filling and it's anything more than a skim coat... even with a buttercream dam around the edge to hold the filling in ...

This tip from Rose Levy Beranbaum has never failed me: Boil them in water with a little baking soda, drain, rub in a towel then toast. The water becomes pretty black! ETA: Sorry for the repeat

If I were to think in terms of what I couldn't replace, it would be an early edition of Mrs Beeton's book of household management that I spent big bucks on 15 years ago (I should say pounds, I bought it across the pond). The thing I miss the most is what I can't replace - I have no idea where it went to (someone must have appropriated it!) and have missed it for 20 years. I called it the pizza pan; it was an old, very heavy and well used sheet pan but it wasn't the usual dimensions of a sheet pan (at least, not the dimensions found today). It fit in a home oven. It was bigger than a half-sheet pan, not as wide (but longer) than a three-quarter sheet pan and definitely smaller than the usual full size sheet pan... I made the best pizza in that pan. And the best California Fruit bars from Maida Heatter's book. Well, I still make great fruit bars, but I miss that pan. A lot.

The Wilton yearbooks usually have a section toward the back that lists the tube/tip number and a picture of the flower it makes; you can find these Wilton books (they're more like magazines than hardcover books) in craft stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, Jo-Anne Fabrics....

My nana didn't have a recipe, just a routine. I think everyone has a similar one - hers started with sauteed cloves of garlic in olive oil (but not til they were brown, just golden) then she added tomato paste and then puree (it was a big deal if a supermarket had a sale on Pastene tomatoes!!!) and then everything else but the kitchen sink it seemed would find a way in. She cooked the meatballs (which I was tasked with rolling - there's a picture in the family album of me at 3 or 4 in a high chair pushed up to the kitchen table, with the bowl of meat, a bowl of water and a plate of meatballs), sausage, bracciole, pork, etc separate and piled it all in. This was on Saturday and then after church on Sunday, she'd reheat it and we'd sit down to dinner at some point in the afternoon. And while it was heating, anyone would come along and pick out something and put it in the bread just like rooftop1000 mentions!!!!

This whole appropriating another "language" outside of the normal use makes me chuckle. I once dated a doctor who never used any hospital jargon outside of work; but when we were with a crowd from (his) work, then it was too much to keep up with. I learned a lot, though But this kind of thing probably happens across all industries not just the cooking profession.

When my kid was a toddler in day care for a while, the staff suggested parents use the wax paper sandwich bags to put their sandwiches in (rather than the ziplock sandwich bags or the plastic box thing); they were great. I haven't seen them for sale in years so perhaps not everyone is a fan. But I use wax paper the same way the others do: for quick clean up of just about everything I'm doing in the kitchen.

Do you have her contact information? Have your corporate attorney write her a letter, asking for all that information mentioned in the previous posts, and sending it regular mail and certified. This way, you're on record for requesting information that will help either prove her claims, document an issue with that batch of testing kits, or allow you to clarify any confusion. Good luck. I feel for you.

Seems like they have to say "something" to justify their position, and they're spinning it so it comes across as being solicitous of your health and well-being; but I agree it all comes down to: is it selling? If it's not selling it's taking up space that something else could be using and that moves faster! Their intentions to bring good spices at reasonable pricing was what prompted them to begin their business in the first place - they were the first place I'd ever heard of to get better spices than anything I could get locally from a store (grocery or gourmet) and they made it possible for other spice vendors as well as force the supermarket brands to upgrade their offerings. There's a Penzey's store somewhat near me so I've stopped buying mail order; do they still have that magazine (called One, I think)?

I've had the most excellent service from Sunnyland Farms; I mostly buy the midget pecans in the home pack, but everything I've ever gotten from them have been excellent quality, packed well, and arrived when they say it will. I've been buying from them for about 10 years and have never had a problem. I've also had excellent service from King Arthur in Vermont. I bought a Viking 7 qt mixer and the whip broke the third time I used it. They sent out a replacement whip immediately. The service I got from them was way better than the mixer's performance (we call it "dusty" because I just don't like it anymore, but I still buy from KA all the time).

I agree with xxchef about the differences in formulas to account for different results (we have four different formulas for ganache in our kitchen depending on what we are going to do with it); I also feel that most people thinking about the precision in pastry versus savory is more about whether a formula can withstand too much of one or more ingredients or the omission of a key ingredient. I am known for our carrot cake; and people are devotees to it. When I had a new cook last summer, she mistakenly scaled up the recipe and added 3.5 tablespoons of baking soda rather than 1.5. I didn't supervise her as she made the batter, but I knew instantly that something was wrong when I saw the cupcakes in the oven. She tasted them, and said they didn't taste bad, but I could not use them for sale. So for me, when I think of precision in pastry, it's more about accurately weighing/measuring than anything else. ETA the word accurately!