RobertM

Some Port, Merlot and Cabernet Franc Truffles I worked on this week. The yellow ones are not yellow. I used Chef Rubber's Gold coca butter. I personally like the orange/red one's myself, they go well with the colors of the vineyard.

I posted the above from my iPhone and it corrected some of my comment. The two tables I have, one is FOR caramel corn and Toffee

I have 2 marble tables (one got caramel corn and tiffs, the other is the work surface for all my other confections). While I love my marble I think granite would be just as acceptable. To me, it's not just an issue of pulling heat out of the product but also how porous is the material your working with? With that said, a water cooled cooling table for the toffee would be a nice thing to have... I think the first question you should ask yourself is what your purpose of the stone is going to be and how big a piece do you need? Sometimes you can go dumpster diving at a stone facility and come up with the viroids for the sink which is a nice workable size. (I speak from experience as having recovered two or three pieces of granite in such a manner). Often they will give you the pieces; they are usually trashed anyway. If you ask, maybe they would polish all 6 sides for you to avoid damaging your existing table....

In my haste to say something (finally) about the school, I failed to welcome both Robdoc000 and Viktoria to "the group"; Everyone is welcome to join us, we have a great time together and we learn so very much from each other. Pat - when you say the last two weeks of March, is that the 24th and the 31st? We missed you a lot this past spring and are really hoping you can join us in 2012, it's not the same without you (I leave on my xtabentun hunting mission next Tuesday...)

I am very excited to finally be able to tell you that Stratford University (http://www.stratford.edu/) has agreed to host the 2012 Confectioners Conference at the Woodbridge, VA campus. I'm still negotiating on dates to hold the even in March, the school wants to wait after their November staff meeting to sit down and actually firm up the dates. With that said, I was thinking of asking them for the weekend of March 17 and March 18, 2012. Not to late in the month, not to early. There has been a great deal of interest in having a sugar demo during next years conference, according to one of the chef's I've been working with, Stratford has the equipment on hand to use for such a demo, I know that getting the equipment here to the DC area could have been an issue. There are a number of hotels in the area, I'll be visiting them soon to begin negotiating for better room rates for those of you coming in from out of town. Because we evidently have a few weeks before I can sit down and actually firm up the weekend plans, if anyone has any further needs, desires, equipment, etc., please let me know and I will do my best to incorporate that into the contract for the space. I know that there are many of you out there who are looking ahead to make reservations, travel plans, vacation plans, I'm sorry that it's taken up to now to get the commitment. I'm hoping that things will flow much faster now that we have a commitment from the school to host the event. Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene nolnacs lironp Prabha Robdoc000 Viktoria MariaP Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s) AnythingButPlainChocolate Genkinaonna chocoera YetiChocolates MarkIsComing

These are some Port Wine Truffles I made this weekend - just playing with different decorations

Virginia - I love the Ida Red apples just coming into market - wonderful to eat alone, great for caramel apples and cooking -

Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene nolnacs lironp Prabha Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s) AnythingButPlainChocolate Genkinaonna chocoera YetiChocolates MarkIsComing

Latest Update: I verified with Joe Sofia that he will be joining us in March (Courtesy of Joe and Wilbur Chocolate) to put on a demo and to assist with technical questions throughout the day. I've contacted Stratford University again and have submitted a second detailed request for use of their facility, I will continue to pursue Stratford, and other locations in order to allow for firm date(s).

I still haven't heard from the college and this is a 3 day weekend here in the States. On Tuesday morning I will contact them again to check on our status

The list is growing... Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene nolnacs lironp Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s) AnythingButPlainChocolate Genkinaonna chocoera YetiChocolates

Did you all think because of my silence that I was blown out to sea with Hurricane Irene? Not so.... I've had several very interesting conversations with the Dean at Stratford University here in Northern Virginia. They are very interested in hosting us (conversations continue). If we are able to come to agreements, I was told that they have chocolate tempering machines and sugar equipment (which will help Lisa with her demonstration on Sugar). They also have several chef's on staff who are often called upon by the White House to work on State Dinners and they may be willing to join us for some instruction. Wilbur Chocolate and Joe Sofia have graciously offered to sponsor the conference once again, Joe would be happy to come down and spend a day with us, also teaching and guiding. I'll talk to him personally at the Chocolate Show in Atlantic City on September 12th. There are lots more things happening behind the scenes, but I didn't want anyone to think this topic has fallen off the tracks. It's shaping up nicely.

lironp: so happy you'll be joining us, we truly do have a wonderful time and learn lots - Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene nolnacs lironp Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s) AnythingButPlainChocolate Genkinaonna chocoera

I'm going to be working this week to (hopefully) nail down some specific dates for the conference so those of you in the Maybe - pending dates - column can begin to start to work towards a definite time frame. Plus, those pending collecting their lottery winnings will be able to know how long they have to actually cash in their tickets... Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene nolnacs Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s) AnythingButPlainChocolate Genkinaonna chocoera

Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene nolnacs Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s) AnythingButPlainChocolate Genkinaonna

Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene nolnacs Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s) AnythingButPlainChocolate

Gene; glad you are planning on joining us - for sure we'll have a great time Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Gene Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s)

Lior - I am so hoping you'll be able to make it next year that I'm going to start buying lottery tickets for your airfare too - Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette Lior - pending Lottery ticket(s)

Mette - We would love to have you join us; truly, we are a group of people who enjoy sharing our experiences and knowledge with like minded folks. I'm still working/hoping on a "March" timeframe - more to follow in the near future. March is not to hot in this area that time of year and a good time for a visit. Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM Mette

Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH DianaM

You're correct, it's volunteer based. The fees that we collect are for the use of the space (Niagara-on-the-Lake) or the Culinary School and to assist in the off-set of any ingredients that we had to purchase for use in the "labs" I was trying to suggest that if we wanted to all pay for a professional instructor (and couldn't find a volunteer) than I would do my best to find one. I personally like the idea of trying to keep this volunteer and using the combined knowledge and experience of eGullet members to move us all forward in our skills

Curls; mkayahara and MelissaH - the instructing is mostly done by other attendee's, to try and keep costs down as much as possible; Sometimes, as was the case this year, the time of the professional was donated. I'm going to see if the Corporate instructor from Wilbur Chocolate can come down and spend a day with us. If everyone is in agreement as to wanting a pulled sugar session, is there anyone on eGullet that would like to take this on? I can contact some of the professional instructors in confectionery and see what a cost would be....thoughts? I know a couple of them, one or two are amazing people with a wealth of knowledge, but it all boils down to what we're willing to pay? Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin mkayahara MelissaH

Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls gfron1 Maybe mjx +1 Lisa Shock lebowitz prasantrin

Guess I'll start the list Pretty Definite Attendees Chris Hennes +1 Kerry Beal curls

I was thinking of March...how does that sound to the Confection Conference Community? It's going to be great to see you again Chris