Kerry Beal

Yup - just a melter. You will still have to temper the chocolate. After having dealt with a lot of similar melters in the past - I've found them to be inconsistent in holding a reliable temperature.

You could put corn in them if you wanted something worse!

Picked up one of these a few years back, used at a restaurant supply for a fraction of its original cost. It's been great when I buy a half wheel of gouda that needs cutting into wedges before I smoke it in my BGE.

Guess what - Punjab market has it for $3.99 (might have been $2.99). I was out running around picking up some juices to help one of my guys with his withdrawal symptoms - was in the right end of town - had to check.

I've seen fat straws with a little 'paddle' on the end - I assume to pick up the pearls. Here

It does indeed seem interesting. Report back!

Think I've seen those made of materials other than metal (of course I'm old).

Not for bubble tea is it?

It must be necessary to scrape the item - perhaps for something like watermelon or mango?

Well it appears to be a straw and spoon combination - meant to strain some kind of liquid so you can suck it through the straw successfully?

Might be a bit expensive!

Welcome @Kiwiross. I'd love it if you'd tell us a bit more about the cooling unit you have built in to your panner?

Welcome Katelyn - you've changed your name - I've enjoyed watching your career develop on Facebook. You were such a great help to us in St Louis. Strangely having gone over the thread from the 2019 we didn't manage to include you in any of the pictures. And it doesn't look like we took a group photo. Here's a good place to start scouring - Pastry and Baking Index - put together a few years back by Rob Connelly of Bulrush in STL - aka @gfron1 Feel free to PM if you need anything.

Garabaldi biscuits?

Chef Rubber has some glazes and polishes I believe. I tend to use whatever chocolate I'm partial to at the time - not the most expensive for sure. Looks like you've picked a couple of challenging items to start!

You can hook it up to a battery and take it with you.

A guy who started out doing kids parties (untempered chocolate into the freezer) just bought his 5th EZtemper.

Put it on the knife blade - then you can chop with the blade between?

Menu holder? Oops already suggested.

The untempered chocolate you add to it can be quite warm - just make sure that you don't go well over the working temperature when you add it. When added to over tempered chocolate you can take milk up as high as 32.5 and dark as high as 34.5

Should be dames who dine I guess - since it was dinner not lunch. But hey - this thread is looking a little lonely since @Anna N left us. Last evening I headed down to visit @patris and go the the RCI (Retail Confectioners International) which was being held in Buffalo this year. I haven't seen most of these folks since 2019 or before and it was a treat to reconnect. Made me realize just how many people I know in the industry. After the trade show today @patris and I headed out to The Dapper Goose in Black Rock Buffalo - a place we ate once before in 2017 and very much enjoyed. We opted for a few small plates instead of mains. Cheese plate - I've left the list with the cheeses on it in the other room - but one was the Barn First Creamery's Quinby (it's the brie like cheese). The one with the herbs on it is Good Mood Franz Berchtold - a very stinky but quite delightful cheese we enjoyed very much - (Ingredients: pasteurized cow's milk, salt, garlic, ramps, basil. oregano, marigold, rosemary, thyme, rose, cornflowers, cultures, vegetarian rennet). The third we recall was ash rubbed but beyond that... Blackened green beans with a very garlicy sauce - had quite a bite to them. Cauliflower with green goddess dressing Mushrooms with cheese sauce on polenta.

I freeze stuff in big yogurt containers - then put it in to the pacojet containers - so it's not fixed on the bottom - but it still seems to work fine.

Is it a pet hedgehog? If so - then I might not put it there.

While I'm thinking of it - one thing I'd like to feature next year is decorating techniques using coloured cocoa butter etc that don't require an airbrush.

Keep the dates. We are planning on the weekend of May 16, 17, 18 and we will be at the very brand new (not even built yet) TCF Sales facility in Cedar Park, Texas. This is a suburb of Austin. No shortage of hotels within walking distance - and I believe Tom has some sort of a deal with one of the favoured ones. But I'm sure @Chocolot will make it her mission to find us the best one! Airport 23 miles from Cedar Park. I see Tex-mex and smoked meat in our future. What do they smoke for vegetarians?