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Trishiad

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Everything posted by Trishiad

  1. If you're going to be in Sonoma, you would be remiss if you didn't go into the General's Daughter to visit Preston and Nicole.
  2. Wowzers! That's one slick shop. Thanks for the photos Truffle.
  3. I just got email from www.notterschool.com announcing their new 24 week pastry course. It's in Florida and is just under $18,000. Taught by Notter, Anil Rohira and celebrity guests. I met Chef Rohira in Maryland last year and really liked him. He is an easy personality and wants to share information and help his students succeed.
  4. I'd go with red velvet cake for something very american
  5. I picked up the Waring Pro at Costco for a song and absolutley love it!
  6. I'll be heading out with some girlfriends next Saturday night. We thought we'd try out the new West County Grill. It's the new restaurant opened by 4 bigwigs from San Francisco and New York. I heard someone refer to it as "Sebastopol Trendy" last night. Talk around town is that they're still working out some kinks. This place got more press before it even opened than any of the other restaurants in town have managed to get even after being open for years. There's so much buzz about the Napa Valley in this forum. I thinks it's time we paid a little attention to the Sonoma Valley. We're turning out some amazing Pinots and Syrahs and some pretty wonderful food to go with. I'll take some photos and report back. Devinf: You met the ONLY chef at Starlight. His name is Thaddeus Palmese. He is from New Orleans and brings a bit of that background to his menu here. Starlight was opened by Ted and Heather Van Doorn, a couple from LA who met working on the set of the Titanic. Chef Thaddeus is cousin to Ted. Total staff including the owners is only 8, believe it or not.
  7. corn syrup, cream.....what's the appliocation?
  8. For one of Aldens' birthdays we did a traditional 9 inch round decorated to look like a map. For another, we made cupcakes with plastic animals on the top. Desert animals were on cupcakes coated in crushed graham crackers, swimmers on blue iced cakes, land mammals on green coconut covered cakes, you get the idea.
  9. Well, I guess no one is eating in Sebastopol? I had the pleasure of brunch at the Starlight wine bar ( www.starlightwinebar.com ) last weekend and was delighted. Okay, normally I work there 2 nights a week so it's not really fair if I review dinner but I never work brunch and do enjoy eating it. This restaurant is in an old pullman car. It is swanky (for lack of a better term). It's perfectly lit, cozy, and oh so cool. We enjoyed locally made Sunshine Roasters coffee and the Touraine Sparkling Rose. We ordered a feast: German apple Pancake with cider syrup: Huge puffy pancake with local apples with lightly whipped cream and housemade syrup. So good! Not too sweet for breakfast. Biscuits and Gravy: Rich, Flakey biscuits made with duck fat covered in an andouille sausage gravy. This was creamy without being heavy and spicy without inducing heartburn. I am craving more and must go back next weekend. Eggs, bacon, fruit. Eggs Benedict: Potato cakes, crisp on the outside with big bites of red potato and chesse inside. Perfectly poached eggs, applewood bacon and a slightly spiced fresh hollandaise sauce. This is their best seller for a reason! Dinner is great too but should be reviewed by someone other than me. Anyone wanna pop in? Do say "Hello" if you decide to join us.
  10. I've been too busy and tired for typing lately but meant to say this: Alana, your dipping technique is superb! I am so impressed by your attention to detail.
  11. I made the meltaways a few weeks ago. I wanted something I could toss together quickly and bring to a friend that evening. I bought the coconut fat at Whole Foods and used a 70/30 combo of bittersweet and milk chocolates. I also increased the peppermint oil by 5 or 6 drops. I popped the pan into the fridge and they were ready in no time. They tasted a bit like Magic Shell. If I made them again, I'd want them to be creamier. They didn't melt away as well as I'd like. More milk chocolate next time perhaps.
  12. I've lived in Sebastopol for many years now but have just recently wandered into K&L Bistro. This is a small, quiet joint and I have a small, not so quiet child so I've been avoiding it despite it's shiny new Michelin star. The boy was in great form recently and my Mom was in town so we went in for lunch. Mom and I had a dry and unevenly cooked burger, husband had a lovely crab salad, boy had a really really yummy macaroni and cheese and we all shared a hot fudge sundae. The chocolatier in me was So sad to find that the hot fudge was grainy and crystalized. I always hear great things about K&L and was surprised that half of what we ordered was less than great. Anyone been to the new West County Grill? This is such a small town, I'm curious to see if they'll be able to support the salaries of all the mucho important men who opened the place. French Garden? Starlight Wine Bar? How's Alice's these days? With a small child, I must live vicariously through those of you who have lives.
  13. Funny, I made Ling's "Old" brownies yesterday also. I didn't use the nonstick and completely forgot to adjust the temp. They took closer to 55 minutes to cook at 325 in a regular cake pan with a parchment liner on the bottom. delish, and worth the wait. My 5 year old really enjoyed making them with me because the recipe called for the handmixer and some pretty easy stirring. He practically made them himself. And I practically ate them all myself. There is half a pan this morning.
  14. WooHoo Cheripie! Nice photo and great suggestion. Welcome to eG.
  15. I haven't ordered the pate from LA Burdick but I bet they're great.
  16. My copy finally arrived in the middle of a very busy weekend. I have just begun to skim through and am just thrilled. This book seems to hold all of the information I have been ferreting around trying to gather for years. It is more thorough than any other book and provides so many more answers than that online course I took a few years ago. It seems to unlock some of the secrets of chocolate that have been so difficult to unlock previously. And for practically free! It's almost a shame, all that info right there for just anyone to use. They don't have to work for it like all of us have. I said something to my online instructor about the secrets of the industry and she said there were no such secrets. hmmmm. time to blaze some new trails I suppose.
  17. The place I've been working in is a wine bar and restaurant. We offer both 2 oz and 5 oz pours. We do sell bottles as well but part of the fun is ordering different things. We serve small flights also. Our reds are dispensed from the frou frou wine keeper, our whites are simply poured. As a server, I would rather carry a tray with 5 full glasses than a tray with 5 empty glasses and various carafes or bottles. I should say that we are in a small town with a slightly different attitude about things and perhaps we just rely less on ceremony.
  18. Okay, so my first question is: What is high end? What kind of wine prices qualify as high end? My second question is: Are you all saying that if I'm serving a six-top and five order wine (often different wine) that I should be expected to bring a tray with 5 bottles and 5 glasses, pour each guest a taste, wait, and then a full pour?
  19. !!!! Hubby bought me this book as a gift and it was supposed to arrive 2 weeks ago. He said he bought it from somewhere special so I could have it before the official release. It's NOT here. I wanna make aero chocolate and sleeping beauties. What are sleeping beauties? jealous today.
  20. Alana is right, I do use a dental vibrator. It's the larger rectangular one. I wrap it completely in plastic wrap before I use it. I place the mold on top and slowly increase the vibration. I find that this helps the bubbles work their way up. I don't usually leave on tray on while I fill another because sometimes they bounce right off. They can move around quite a bit. Often, I tuck my pinky up into the corner of the mold so that it can bounce a bunch but doesn't fall off.
  21. I started reading this thread yesterday and, like John, was a bit miffed by the claim of deception. When I buy a package of cookies I am completely disinterested in the package weight. I want to know how many cookies are in there. How many snacks can I get out of that one purchase? When I buy ground beef I look at the package and try to decide how many hamburgers I can make with it. I have been trained to estimate hamburger count based on weight but my priority is How Many. When I eat chocolates it's the same. How many? 2 a day for the next week? Just enough for the weekend? Enough to share at a party? The weight would not help me figure out those answers. I personally sell some of my chocolates only by the pound and others only by the piece. While I often have folks ask how many pieces are in the 8oz box of truffles, I've never had anyone ask the weight of the 12 piece box of bonbons. If you called me right now and asked how much that 12 piece box weighs I wouldn't be able to tell you. I don't know because it doesn't matter to me.
  22. Kerry, I'd go with some nice California Pinot Noir, a Pinotage, Syrah, or Grenache for anything dark or bittersweet. A nice grassy Sauvignon Blanc will go well with a white chocolate with any kind of bright filling. Iron Horse makes a Cuvee R which is a bit like a cremant and would be nice with white and maybe milk. I'd pair sherry or aged sake with milk chocolate. **I'm moonlighting in a wine bar and my chocolates are on the menu so I have a bit of recent experience here.
  23. Oh you silly kids.....talking about chocolate somewhere other than the Pastry forum? You'll never get the right answers. Here's some help: Pish-Pish Confections Christopher Elbow Garrison DePaula Confections See's is just fine but they make very sweet chocolates and although they do use Guittard chocolate it is not the Etienne line. As a true California girl, I have eaten many pieces from See's but can't manage it anymore.
  24. tammy, I think you'll have a hard time finding a smooth cube or pyramid because it's hard to get a good finish on big flat surfaces like that. can you not cut ganache cubes and dip them for regular shaped dice? perhaps one of the flexi molds for pyramid ganache?
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