JeanneCake

My son used a personal-sized, portable battery powered fan at camp this year. It was about the size of a small flashlight. I found it with all the other summer seasonal stuff so you might have to wait til spring or look for one in those camping catalogues....

Lookin' good! What's that you're holding?

In downtown, there's Eastern Baker's Supply - I've never been there because there are two others closer to home for me. Gerrish Peters is in Lawrence, and United Restaurant in Lowell (www.unitedrestaurant.com)

I like Sunnyland Farms for mail order pecans - I especially love their midget (aka junior) pecans for baking. The nuts (and everything else I've ever ordered from there) has been well packed, fresh and exactly as described. I usually get their home packs because I'm buying for myself, but my mother in law once got us a gift pack and it was just as good! Online at Sunnyland Farms

I got a catalog in the mail today and I'm intrigued by the opportunity to send something other than the usual tower of treats to far flung relatives for the holidays. The photos look great, of course, but I've never heard of this company before now. The URL if you're interested is Meduri Farms Fruit Has anyone bought from this company? What did you think? Worth it or not? ETA: the catalog is definitely geared to the individual consumer, the website looks like wholesale but the product line is the same.

Or dragees!!!

It was/is CherryBrook Kitchens. I had a wedding client on Sunday with a child guest allergic to eggs so we made a batch of yellow cupcakes from that mix. I'm embarrassed to admit that I messed up (not used to this sort of thing) and had to buy another box because I read the water measurement as oil and the oil as water. I dont know what I was expecting, but the brown sugar smell was very nice as it baked. One box made 12 regular sized cupcakes so I didn't get to sample any to know how it compares to cake in general. They also make an eggless frosting mix, as well as brownies.

Maida Heatter took Hepburn's brownies, and layered them with raspberry jam in one of her books. If you have any pepper jelly, you could do the same (it is off topic from your original question, which I would answer with adding a lot of freshly ground pepper to get the kick you want. Start with 1/2 tsp for the normal batch of Hepburn brownies in an 8" pan.) The technique is to make a batch (or a double batch), pour it into the pan and freeze it; layer on the jelly/jam/preserves and pour on the remaining brownie batter (or make a second batch while the frozen layer thaws). Bake as usual, but the toothpick tests with a few moist crumbs clinging as usual. If you like nuts in your brownies, you could always make a spiced pecan with the pepper powders and use those in the recipe....

then use the coarser texture to stuff cored berries with. Or halve them and put the pesto in the center...

Will you be able to add bottled water periodically to your rations? You could use powdered milk if you are concerned about the UHT milk. A two to one ratio of powder to water always got a better reaction from people it was served to... I've been known to eat baked beans from the can, but I'd never let anyone catch me doing it...

Cal Java has the best flowers and they also sell to Pfeil and Holing, which is close to you. Plus, P&H won't charge you for shipping - min order is $50 (the cost of the flowers is a little higher than CJ - if you register with CJ as a business you get a discount and it all sort of works out to the same price between the two places). You could also check out Avalon in NY - Avalon Pfeil and Holing is at P&H

Thanks! I ended up doing a holiday gingerbread house for a magazine photo shoot, which was fine (I found all the leftover candy canes from last year, good thing this was for show only!!) but I still have the bug about a haunted house, which I will attempt after Columbus Day. This coming week is too hectic with weddings. The patterns look great, and I'm looking forward to it, especially after all the fondant, lace, and gum paste flowers I'll be living with all week.

I love this cranberry walnut tart from Epicurious - it is a huge seller for me in the fall once the fresh berries come in. You could sub hazelnuts or pecans... Cranberry Walnut Tart I also like a layer of gingerbread cake with a layer of pumpkin mousse and a layer of white choc mousse and spiced pecans for garnish. Chocolate dipped gingerbread cookies (think choc covered graham crackers, same idea)

I'm about to join you in your search - I'm moving to new space and will eventually need/want my own oven(s), probably some time next year. For me, I think I might have to go electric - because I don't have to vent it and I'm still renting and not in a position to buy real estate. I'm going into my third place in 8 years. I'm still sharing space, I'm not ready to grow the business to be on my own (my child is still young). I looked into Doyon ovens - they are a Canadian manufacturer with a good reputation. Their ovens cycle through fan speeds but from what I remember, you can't turn off the fan completely. In fact, I have had mixed opinions on turning off the fan on a convection oven - some people tell me you shouldn't do it, while others say they do it all the time with no ill effect. I don't know what to think on this - the convection I have now is so old that if you look at it wrong, it would stop working. I've also been told that Deluxe Ovens manufactured in Florida is a good brand for me because it is electric - but it is not convection. I don't think this would be good for you because of the breads, but it can't hurt to look into it. I did ask the repair guys what brand they had to work on the most, and they said Baker's Aid, so that's a brand I'd think twice about based on that.

can you airbrush over a stencil on to the sugar piece?

I like the chocolate brown idea.

Congratulations!

I use Felchlin's Ultra Gloss coating for the cookies and it worked perfectly for the gingerbread house I needed to finish the same day for delivery.

What kind of heat sealer do/did you use? I'm considering getting one - I've bought from Spectrum Ascona in the past and he had a few in his catalog. Especially witih Christmas coming up, I'd love to be able to heat seal the bags for the different varieties of cookies we do. Thanks!

or melted white chocolate, for those times when you should have started earlier than you are and you need it to dry faster! It can be messier than royal icing, and is probably not a good choice for something very large, but for gluing walls, doors, etc, from the inside, it worked really well for me last Christmas season.

Try Crooked Brook - here's a link: Crooked Brook Chef Coats

Today, while on the premise of last minute school shopping, I succumbed to the urge to buy decorative Halloween candy thinking I would make a haunted Gingerbread house and these black and white caramel things would look great as tombstones, some candy pumpkins, candy corn in various dark colors; a whole big bag of black jelly beans! (that was really an indulgence since I am no fan of black jelly beans. At least I won't eat them while I'm imagining doing this project....) Anyway.... I've been searching around for some patterns. I have a few books on gingerbread houses, they're ok; but I was wondering what creations you have found or made. I thought Martha Stewart had done one a few years ago, but I haven't been able to find it with a google image search. I did find an interesting pattern at Franky's Attic page Sorry to rush the holiday, but these things take time ETA: Does anyone have the Martha Stewart magazine with the directions and/or picture of the Haunted House? It looked a little like the house from the Psycho movie (but this is going on memory and I could be very wrong). It's not on the MS site. I tried checking Amazon and I can't find it in the index of her Halloween book so I am all out of ideas on where to find this.... ) Thanks.

What's the turnover rate for the lower paid staff (the bakers and demi chef de partie). How could they possibly work 40 hrs/week there and not need another job to pay the bills?!

Well, now I'm on a mission to find it in Boston; I have client who wants napoleons on the menu so maybe this is the easy way out for me! And maybe if the pastry gods are smiling at all of us today (instead of rolling around on the floor laughing) it will actually be cost effective compared to wholesale.

Jelly, hmmm my Italian grandmother would make me a ricotta jelly sandwich when I was little (my grandfather used to hide blocks of chocolate in the dining room sideboard); sweet strawberry or grape jelly, on really good bread, and fresh, whole milk ricotta. Yum! Or Nutella from the jar. At the shop (where I'm surrounded by buttercream and cake) I've also been known to take a handful of craisins, milk chocolate callets, pecans and chow down.