Kerry Beal

Chocolot has invited me to her home in Utah - and has arranged for me to meet just about every chocolatier in Utah! They will run the gamut from mom and pop candy makers to bean to bar manufacturers. Our days are packed - and to add to the fun our evenings as well. A bunch of folks from the eG Chocolate and Confectionery workshops will be visiting too - so Chocolot's poor hubby might decide he wants to go out and sleep in the hanger! It appears that there is no business class lounge in this terminal that I have access to - so arriving early at the airport was an unnecessary rush. I got home from my overnight shift at a little after 9 am - the pickup was waiting for me 10 minutes later, no traffic - so here I am cooling my heels. Opted for a breakfast burrito from the closest vendor - "Nobel Burger Bar" - I've had worse.

Perhaps flogging a dead horse - but the butternut squash soup that I make is from Cook's Illustrated 2001 - it sautes the seeds with shallots and butter until saffron coloured, then adds water. You put the steamer basket in and steam the unpeeled squash over the water. The whole thing goes through the food mill to puree. Corrected with a bit of brown sugar and cream and there is no bitterness at all.

Yeah - that would not be too long.

Then I'm with everyone else - sugar bloom. Did they spent too long in the fridge at any point in their production?

What do the little bumps feel like? Crystalline or greasy? How high fat was the filling?

Ate there once - courtesy of a drug company that gave park passes to a bunch of Orange County area docs. I used to go down to visit my friend there every year and was invited to come along. A perfectly good meal as I recall. Totally agree that I wouldn't be interested in paying for the privilege of being allowed in a restaurant!

I found a pressure cooker in Value Village in Waterdown one day - I didn't need it - but I couldn't just leave it there so I brought it home. Got talking about it last year to one of the other docs when I was an examiner, as I am once or twice every year, for the College of Family Physicians. She is a wood turner - and she had need of one for one of her hobbies. I happily handed it to her on the second day of the exams - it's always wonderful when something I've found at a thrift store and don't need makes it to a good home. We also talked about the wood muddlers that I had turned a few years ago for Anna's birthday present. She thought it was a wonderful idea and actually made a bunch to sell at one of the big craft shows. So I showed up today for the exams and out of her bag she pulled this most wonderful bowl that she had turned for me - made from a maple that came down in the big ice storm in Toronto last winter. Now I just need to find a place to show it off!

Stuffed Figs Ingredients 4 ripe figs3 ounces grated semisweet chocolate2 tablespoons ground almonds½ teaspoon rumSauce3 ounces white chocolatedash heavy cream Method cut top off figs and poke holes in centre. Fill with the semisweet chocolate. Sprinkle over the almonds and rum. Bake 225 for 10 minutes. Don't let the chocolate melt. Mix the white chocolate with the cream, spread on plate.

Apparently I didn't post my reply a couple of hours ago - DUH! Here's what I made. The only ones I remember turning out well were the plump less dry ones. Not sure if you are going to dry your figs or not. I seem to have lost the truffle filling in the great hard drive crash of 2014 - but if you use the following recipe - swap out the amaretto and bitter almond oil for your favourite booze - you should come up with something you can stuff the figs with. Amaretto Truffles Ingredients 400 grams milk chocolate 100 grams bittersweet chocolate 165 grams whipping cream 50 grams glucose or white corn syrup 36 grams amaretto 12 drops bitter almond oil 50 grams butter room temperature Method 1.Melt chocolate in microwave or in a double boiler over hot water. Heat cream in saucepan or in microwave until bubbles. Stir together melted chocolate and cream until smooth. Add glucose, amaretto and bitter almond oil. Cool to room temperature and mix in butter. 2.Let sit at least overnight for use as truffles. Scoop out 1tsp amounts, let sit several hours then roll between your hands to round out. Dip in tempered milk chocolate and decorate with tempered dark or white chocolate. 3.To fill molded chocolates, cool just to room temperature and beat with a mixer until lightens in colour. Pipe into prepared molds (or in this case - pipe into the fig. Then dip stuffed fig into tempered chocolate.

I did something similar before - will try to link to it later and see if I can find the recipe I used.

I find if I use something like a blender or food processor for potatoes they get gluey. But no problem with the Mixmaster. I made something akin to a cross of colcannon and champ in the regular pressure cooker - made the mistake of forgetting to coat the potatoes with butter first - glued potato pieces to the bottom of the pot that got pretty brown.

I think purchased would be what he is referring to - I'm happy enough to make homemade hazelnut paste - but praline is ground sugar (either caramelized or not) and hazelnuts and very hard to make smooth.

A sad site - balcony with no BBQ Cleanish kitchen - a gift of chocolate bark for the cleaners left on the counter Driving down island. South Baymouth Ferry right side up Hamburger Deluxe on the ferry. Tomorrow the ferry will go from Tobermory down to Owen Sound with 650 souls on board - kind of like a one day cruise - then it will be drydocked for the winter. What is this white stuff on the ground in Owen Sound do you suppose? So I'm home now eating a bowl of popcorn and having a cup of tea for dinner. I did drop in on Matt Kayahara and Matt Hayday for a couple of minutes - was passing by and a stretch was needed. Caught up on the new menu at the restaurant the Matt K is sous chef in now! Some lovely looking dishes. Also picked up a copy of Matt H's new book.

Good fun! I left a few molds and some chocolate for her to play with - we'll see what she learned.

Just watching the ferry unload - a shiny new John Deere tractor just disembarked. Glad I'm not following it up the island!

I am able to get fresh yeast at a local European store - I freeze it and it seems to work fine. I love the speed relative to dried yeast.

Hurt the first day - then I hit the matching toe on the other side and it stopped!

Did I mention I bought a case of honey - I've found it twice in the dark. Headed back to the grocery store - again stared at the meat and found nothing worth purchasing - but discovered the butcher was actually there. He mentioned that he had cleaned the band saw - so I asked what he had that was boneless that he could cut me a decent thickness. So I ended up with a couple of pieces of rib end loin chop cut a couple of inches thick. Set up the Anova in what ever container had not been put in the closet. Dragged out the pressure cooker and induction - made something half way between champ and colcannon.

The part I hate - the packing (not a huge fan of the unpacking either) - "I'll Have What Phil is Having" is on the TV which helps a bit. Here's the closet so far - I managed to drop the CSO onto the little electric pot we use to deep fry here - broke the handle off the pot. Think the CSO survived. I have someone coming over tonight to play with chocolate so I can't pack everything away quite yet - so there will be a few hangers in the closet. I have a cocktail premixed for when she arrives - it's an Intro to Aperol - she found the Brother's Perryman with campari that I gave her last time to be too bitter - we know how to draw people over to the dark side!

Too much sugar is getting inverted i suspect. Can you add the reduced cider much later in the cooking?

Realized rather late that I hadn't - and I'm not on call! Comte de Sureau.

Try Mod Pak and Sweet Packaging. I can't find that exact one on their sites but I'm pretty sure I've seen similar at trade shows.

Me too - wonder if a little orange would be a good compliment to it. Or rum!

Took the first picture - then realized it wasn't really too honest so took the second.

Roasted Cauliflower with Kimchi cream.