Trishiad
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Posts posted by Trishiad
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you can stay at the Madonna if you "must" but for goodness sake, don't eat any of the cakes. Even my 3 year old said they were gross.
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I know you said finger foods but from your list of meats my brain went off on a theme tangent.....steak, chicken, and shrimp Fajitas, rice, beans, margaritas, great mexican beer, dacquiris (many boozy options) a tequilla marinated fruit salad. So simple with salsas a plenty and stacks of tortillas. Skewer the fruit to make it easier to eat while standing or wandering.
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wowie! do i have to do a whole duck? can't i start with the breast???
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My son has asked if we can have duck because he's never "ate'n" duck before. I've never cooked duck before. What shall I do? Keep it simple please.
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I ordered some Burdick's chocolates at Valentine's Day and although I thought they were quite good, I have other favorites. I loved the rustic truffles, was disappointed by the mice and enjoyed the palets even though they were stacked upon each other and scratched up. I love Garrison Confections, there are things I love about Recchuti, La Dolce V is pretty great and so is Woodhouse in Saint Helena. I am spoiled by California and our fresh handmade products. All opinion, nothing more.
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Grammy was a home ec teacher. She started me early with Applesauce made with Gravensteins from her backyard, Bisquick pancakes, and oatmeal cookies. The earlier you start cooking the sooner you'll progress through the kraft mac n cheese phase, right? My three year old claims he can cook cake, and catfish.
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Sonoma County girl here but if I were you I wouldn't venture West much past Sonoma. There are great wineries in west county but why subject yourselves to a hot 2 year old tired of being strapped in and out of a car seat? Stay near Bouchon, little guy will love Sterling. Copia is fun and there are lots of little picnic areas along the way. Grab a picnic at Dean and Deluca or something so critter has some running time. There is a little park near the Safeway in St. Helena. The square in Sonoma is ideal for families. Great restaurants, ice cream, wine, shops, and a huge grassy park. Traintown is a nice bribe and is small enough that it only requires about 30 minutes. Look along the hills at dusk for deer. Check out the Grist Mill for another good picnic/running area.
I like to pick a route and stop at any winery that looks interesting rather than make a list. Be aware that you will be charged a tasting fee at most wineries in Napa County. Have fun and enjoy the dry heat.
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As you know, Sarah, each of us brings his/her own experiences and opinions to this forum. We are, after all, only a forum of opinions. Wendy made a valid point based on her experiences. Please do not discount her opinion simply because you believe you have more experience. Each of us has a different point of view, different ways of doing things, etc. No one needs to be singing the "i'm right and you're wrong" song here.
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Liquid Certo makes a soft pate. I have layered it with ganache and it is indeed tender but a bit more gelatinous than what I wanted. I wounder if certo and powdered apple pectin would work well together to create the right density/tenderness?
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It's pectin. I would like to make firmer pate de fruits and all the research leads to vitpris. I use a refractometer. I've tried the various pectins available and none of them are as firm as I would like.
Do I have to fly to France to get some? Can it even be transported home?
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Anyone know where I can find some?
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hmmm, partially hydrogenated fats?
wafers wafers wafers and REAL butter. I want real fat, give me real fat.
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Don't know if this applies but my hubby says Apple shaped cookies with rainbow stripes.....I married a Mac junkie.
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I have a friend who recently registered for a "shrimp butler"!
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peanut butter? are you sure you wouldn't rather make something for all the coffee junkies in the world?
not that i have a recipe, i just hate peanut butter cookies.
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why would you freeze it?
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I'm not a huge baker but is there any reason you couldn't just use a full bodied maple syrup?
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it's always our second or third round when our old friends are in town (thanksgiving is a drunken event at our house). we start with the yummiest but then scoot over the the less expensive, easy-to-drink-frivolously two buck chuck.
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"none of us wants to give up hope..." I love it! This has become such a philosophical thread. I'm glad I'm not the only one pouring over these questions.
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cute boxes and stylish ribbons bring the folks in the door, don't they? How can you talk average Jane into buying a $30 box of chocolates if they aren't in a cute box? If they don't look pretty? Sure it's the flavor which will keep her coming back and telling her friends but if that box isn't cute you better believe she won't be giving it as a gift.
The following of See's is a good thing to bring up. Packaging is weak, flavor is gross (my opinion) but the price is, at only $13 per pound, a huge selling point. Folks ask me to make things like rocky road eggs "like see's". See's says they don't use preservatives and that makes customers think they are SO much better than Whitman's or whatever. Still gross and people still take a number to buy it at Christmas.
I agree with Steve that with something truly wonderful in their mouths people will recognize that there is indeed a huge difference. I've seen this to be true. I've seen people be converted. I believe it when they tell me they don't buy Hershey's bars anymore because I've spoiled them. And, sure Steve, I'm scared, nervous, worried that they will buy that freakin box of Godiva because the machines made every little detail perfect. That they'll buy the chocolates in the custom boxes with the custom ribbons and pads and cups that I cannot yet afford even though they may not taste as good as mine.
Yesterday I bought a box of chocolates in a little resort town. Paid a fortune for chocolates that looked like lumps, many of them drizzled in Summercoating. Bought them for research, I always do. They are disgusting, made with chocolate, shortening, corn syrup and flavorings. Five people were lined up behind me to make their purchases. Lesson learned: They consumer will never care as much as I do about my product. People are fickle and varied. They will buy it or not. Make what I love, aspire to be only what I want to be. Spend less time worrying about what the "others" are doing and worry more about what I want to be doing.
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chefette, cotovelo is christopher elbow, chocolatier. lovely handpainted little yummies.
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In the backyard herb garden. Ganache with honey.
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I am just starting out (hence the brainpicking). I make chocolates for Holidays and special orders only, I'm still trying to decide where my storefront will be and how I will afford it (also waiting for the critter to start school). I look at some of the bigger producers and wonder what I would have to sacrifice to be them. The truth is that I do not want to sacrifice anything. I will not use preservatives, lesser quality chocolates, the deep freeze, etc. and I do require each piece to look perfect (which means the people closest to me eat a lot of free rejects!). It turns out that perfection is a whole lot easier to achieve if you don't have weeks off between each production! I, like Cotovelo, will turn away business if it means compromising my values. I am so glad that there are enough people in my area who will pay more for quality and do value things which are handcrafted. My mother and mother-in-law keep mentioning Oprah and Gourmet and my cookbook and then look at me like I'm stupid when I say that's not my goal. Friends look at the rejects and ask what's wrong with them. I show them the airhole on the side or the bent corner on the palet and they look at me like I'm insane. Maybe I am both stupid and insane but I need each little chocolate to be perfect and I won't sell them unless they are. I may never make a profit, I may cave soon and buy a guitar, followed shortly by an enrober, but the chocolates will be perfect GD-it!
As far as the look goes, I do prefer something slightly more organic in terms of color. I love the addition of a little gold and I do like to handpaint a bit of color but would never fill an entire box with colorful chocolates. I find the satiny browns and creams soothing, grounding, somewhat reasuring. I love the look of the flashy chocolates but they aren't what I want to sell. My two cents.
oh, and two more cents: I don't know how to make a croissant but I sure do each them, especially filled with chocolate. I would never know if the chef rolled the dough, used a machine, or bought it. I wouldn't notice if the powdered sugar wasn't sprinkled just right. I might pay $1.50 or $3.50 and never know why I was paying more or less. So, why do I put so much pressure on chocolates? Stupid and Insane!
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While I agree that perfection is indicative of mastery, I wonder how we KNOW what machinery is or isn't involved? Is using a guitar to get perfect squares cheating? If you design your own transfers do you earn enough "points" that the consumer overlooks the fact that you use an enrober? Or does the average consumer care at all?
I was reading a comparison of Mariebelle and Recchuti the other day. Being in California, I've never tasted MarieBelle but they looked SO perfect there in their box. Recchuti chocolates always look a little handmade to me and I suspect that is Michael's intent. In striving for perfection, beating myself up, and tossing inferior chocolates into the sink, I wonder if perfection is truly attainable when doing everything without machinery.
I asked a chocolatier how his molds were always the perfect thickness, "machines" he said. I was snooping around a certain store in St. Helena and noticed that when they opened the door into the HUGE kitchen I was bombarded by machinery noise. Tempering machines? Maybe. Enrober? maybe. What else? Still "hand made"? Maybe. I using an enrober like making a cake from a box? Or more like using an oven instead of a fire pit?
And do we want our chocolates to be flashy or just lovely? Josh says flashy, how 'bout the rest of you?
Bouchon Bakery
in California: Cooking & Baking
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3 year old and I had nothing important to do today so we drove over to Yountville for pastries. We got there just in time for lunch and started with cashew butter and raspberry jam on grilled brioche (son ate the entire thing, crust and all because it was indeed Yummers) and a ham and cheese baguette, also yummers. The baguette was really perfect. It was crusty without being so hard it makes tiny slices in the roof of your mouth. It had just the right chew. In retrospect, I wish I'd brought a baguette home. We also had: a green pate de fruit (kiwi I think), a couple of chocolate bouchons, a raspberry poptart, a giant oreo, two macaroons, an apricot tart and two eclairs, coffee and chocolate. With chips and lemonade it was a $40 trip. Not too bad for piles of pastry! Brought a great many home and we're still working our way through but so far I love the cookie part of the oreo and the chocolate bouchon. I wish I could have the bouchon fresh out of the oven!
The girls there are super sweet and the birds are "friendly".