Kerry Beal

So a couple of months ago (when the weather was still warm) Alleguede has his assistant drop off some raspberries that he wanted me to freeze dry for him. Since they were IQF raspberries I assumed that they would be individual - but apparently when you leave them in the trunk of your car long enough to thaw, then put them back in the freezer - then take a couple of days to get them over to me - they are no longer going to resemble individual raspberries. So they have been sitting in my freezer awaiting a time when I was prepared to deal with them - I've told him several times that he isn't going to get usable raspberries out of this - just raspberry powder. I don't think he believes me! I started by removing the 3 grocery bags that were holding the 2 thick bags that had at one time held the berries. Struck by how much it looked like a placenta - bag and all! Of course the bags were frozen right in to the mass of berries so it was quite a painful struggle to get the mess to the point where I could hack off slices of the berries to put on the trays. So divided into 4 trays - couple of days from now we'll see what we get. Raspberry juice everywhere!

Think Anna N and I saw a few pieces of Brooklyn Copper at Homesense (like Marshall's) a couple of weeks ago. We were struck by how beautifully heavy the copper was - but I do recall thinking that it appeared to be tinned instead of lined with stainless and that would be an issue for me. Anytime I've tried to get something re-tinned it's been a huge problem. Toronto416 - are you aware of any re-tinning places in the GTA?

Definite RobertM Sue Casey Chocolot curls MelissaH Gwbyls tikidoc Robyn sarahdwyer Dilittante + 1 YetiChocolates dhardy123 Tentative gfron1 - not seeing a commitment to come above but seeing an interest in Morato! lambrecht gourmet prabha Mark Heim (strong tentative!) patris and sib Lurking waiting to decide DianaM

Making ragu in the Fagor pot tonight - not the infamous Kenji recipe though. Interested to see how it turns out.

We've found that adding it cooler means you can pipe it pretty much right away and you are ready to back off sooner than if you add it at 33.5.

Couple of pictures of our setup at the FCIA - we didn't need the hotel's monitor - it was not much bigger than the computer screen.

If your filling is a ganache - add 1% silk to it at about 28º C - and pipe pretty much right away. You should be able to back off even sooner.

My favourite - self heating butter knife - "pretty much winning a race that no one else was running"

Indeed - everything gluten free, non GMO... Ruth and I had a good laugh over free range, uncaged crickets!

I wanted to comment on what seem to be the latest thing at the fancy food show. It seems that everyone is making artisanal jerky. How did I miss that trend? Other things seen were sweetened condensed coconut milk and evaporated coconut milk. And of course cricket flower in everything. Smaller serving sizes also seems to be in style.

Well I know she's working on her Valentines chocolates. I'm sure she'll check in here later. I have let her know that her website is not working.

Delta - business class - so that we had the extra luggage and extra weight. It may have been a meal - but nothing to write home about. Certainly not like business class on any other airline!

Yes you do - you notice I didn't post those even though you sent them to me? Why do I have a silly ass look on my face every picture you take of me?

Anna N is a good proof reader - she'd kick your ass too! She's my own personal wordsmith.

Just updating this - got notice from Mark that the class is organized. http://pmca.com/short-courses/short-course/

I'd be happy to.

To be fair - when I went to that site initially it took me to the Dedy guitar cutting frames - I really had to search around to find those ones. I'll bet a few of your other bookmarked sites might have them too but they might just be calling them something odd.

Saw some made by Dedy the other day - nice and heavy - would have loved to pick them up. Here's a bunch at Vantage House - https://www.vantagehouse.com/chocolate-equipment-results/FRAMES/Frames And by the way welcome martin if we haven't already been polite enough to welcome you!

Dinner tonight at Souvla. Greek 'meat on a spit'! Chicken sandwich and potatoes roasted in drippings. More potatoes in drippings. Lamb sandwich. Lamb sandwich revealed. Smitten modernist ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. Just around the corner from Souvla - checked it out before we headed back to the hotel.

Frito like object made from bugs.

The look on my face has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't realize I was back to back with Tyler - just that I was eating bugs.

And I took a little break from the FFS to go outside and renew my friendship face to face with Alanamoana - with whom I shared a room and a course with JP Wybauw back in 2007 or 8. A great eG connection day all around!

Couple of shots of Alleguede demoing the EZtemper at the FCIA - in the video in the front on the computer screen you can see him making a foot for ganache.

Definite RobertM Sue Casey Chocolot curls MelissaH Gwbyls tikidoc Robyn sarahdwyer Dilittante + 1 YetiChocolates dhardy123 Tentative gfron1 - not seeing a commitment to come above but seeing an interest in Morato! lambrecht gourmet prabha Mark Heim (strong tentative!) Lurking waiting to decide DianaM