Kerry Beal

I use purchased hazelnut paste (Cacao Barry) with milk chocolate. Actually I make 3 different giandujas, one with milk, one with white and one with dark. With milk chocolate I use 350 grams of chocolate to 150 grams of hazelnut paste. I don't use praline paste because I find it too sweet. If I want to grind my own hazelnuts to make paste - I do so in my Sumeet spice grinder or the Thermomix - a food processor never got it smooth enough.

Had a good read through Dories Cookies on the Kindle on the way to Seattle. Saw a whole lot of cookies I'd like to try. Kept noticing Dorie's mention of the name 'Mardi Michels' - who writes eatlivetravelwrite. Mardi is the teacher who invited me to visit the school at which she teaches in Toronto - to show the Cooking Basics boys and the Tinkering Club (who had made molds) how to play with chocolate. Mention here. The boys had more fun with the IR thermometer I brought than anything else we did! Pleased to see Mardi is working on a cookbook herself. I'll be first in line to get one.

So today I am attending a retreat for the shelter health network in Hamilton. We are a bunch of docs who services the homeless population. Lunch is being catered by the 'butcher and the vegan' I was a little late taking pics

Pickling lime aka slaked lime - same thing.

Safely back home - sipping a nice cuppa before I head for bed. Tomorrow back to the grind. I had the pleasure of meeting pastrygirl in person and a number of other eG lurkers and posters who's onscreen names I don't know. I try to encourage the lurkers to jump in and start posting. I think we all fear that we'll ask stupid questions.

Lunches on the plane

Steaks for both!

Betty in Queen Anne Betty Draper for me - extra ice charcuterie

There was lamb on this menu (which can be unusual I find in north america). But I'd say it's fair to say pork unless specified - and the other option would be beef ribs rather than lamb ribs - they are as rare as hen's teeth in this part of the world.

I was working on posting these pics yesterday when I got a text from a friend to say that her rancher husband had sustained an injury a couple of weeks back and was now having complications. Having a really large Y chromosome he had resisted going to hospital. They do live in an isolated area in northern BC and the very small hospital is a ferry ride away. Checking with me allowed her to convince him to go and get checked out, But - I missed posting these. Our booth brunch from one of the festival vendors - obtained before the huge lineups! Willow took us to whole foods last night - today I have olives, chèvre and crackers!

It did have some contrasting texture. We were debating if perhaps one of the veg might be loofa - kind of a spongy slice. There was pineapple, perhaps a few other Asian roots/shoots. Tasted like an interesting cousin to hot and sour soup. I think there were cherry tomatoes there too. Did I mention that we were joined at dinner by @YetiChocolates? Willow came to Seattle for the show.

noodles green beans tamarind soup imperial rolls flank steak rolls ribs

Monsoon for dinner Hunter's Moon Sweet Adelaide

I believe it was an @FrogPrincesse suggestion on the Suggestion for Seattle thread. So when we were heading out of the venue after setup this am and told one of the organizers which direction we were heading to do a few things - he also suggested it. That's quite a the area for restaurants - got the impression that it might be where the food trucks settle when they graduate from mobile to brick and mortar.

At Chocopolis we visited with the owners of Charm School Chocolate, manufacturers of white, milk and dark vegan chocolate. Really good vegan chocolate I must say! The white is totally top drawer, not too sweet, heavy on the natural vanilla - apparently tempers very nicely as well!

Perhaps I should include information on where and what we ate? We started out visiting Chocopolis, We checked with How to Cook a Wolf - but first reservation would have been 9:30 at night and we were fading already. On the advice of the owner of Chocopolis we went down the street to Betty - but it would have been an hour wait. So we headed back to the place next door - Lloyd Martin. This was my drink before I asked for rocks to put it on. Bourbon, amaro, fig syrup and chili oil.

Coming to you live! We spent some time setting up our table at the NW Chocolate Festival. no cocktails due to the hour

Opted for Manolin - a suggestions made by @EMichels. It was a lovely night for the west coast and so we sat outside by the fire pit with a drink while waiting for a table. I opted for the Jabberwocky. @Alleguede the Help me Rhonda. Plaintain chips. The lighting of course left something to be desired and I'm not a big fan of using flash on my phone. Imagine our surprise when the mussels came already on the sourdough bread. The sauce was garlicy and wonderful - and unfortunately a restaurant with a bakery right beside it doesn't have any extra bread to soak up said sauce said the waitress as she snatched away the plate! Rockfish ceviche Grilled beef, radish, hint of potato and lardo. We left a little hungry from the restaurant but fortunately I'd picked up some curds at Beecher's at Pikes Place. They are delightfully squeeky being so fresh!

Of course we had to go to PIke's Market - I think the last time I was here was almost 20 years ago. It was a bit more of an actual market then, but it's still an interesting ramble. Lady making baked perogi (can't recall the spelling). Happened upon the loading of the ferry out to the islands. Then noticed all these fisherman - cheek to jowl on the jetty. And they seemed all to be catching things which was unusual. What they were catching was even more unusual. I guess I've never seen squid jigging in real life before and didn't realize it happened off public docks. When I think of how long I lived on the west coast - and all the fresh calamari I missed... A licence is apparently $17 - not sure how long it's good for.

I haven't found it to be an issue in the oven - just the Big Green Egg.

I know space is limited - but I wonder if some sort of cloche - be it cast iron, a pizza stone with an overturned bowl, clay - might help regulate that temperature somewhat and help with your crust formation.

Good to know. Thanks for the heads up!

My bad - shall go find it