Kerry Beal

Since my official photographer is not in attendance I may have some trouble with the photographs - but I will do my best. My plan is to video the process for my website. The 2 ingredient bean to bar guys don't want to add 'foreign' cocoa butter to their product and this is one of my hopes for a method they can use to make their own cocoa butter for use in the EZtemper. The other method involves making a slurry of cocoa liquor in water, then cooking off the water. The mixture splits and the cocoa butter comes out and can be poured off. Hope to video that process too. One of Anna's jobs in the video process is to remind me not to swear and use inappropriate language! Given the mess I'm likely to make - that is a very important task. The problems I think I identified in last nights attempt - not preheating long enough with the spirit lamp before starting the process and using the screw plug in the outflow track. I ended up with a solid plug of cocoa nibs in the waste end - nothing was moving and it was a bitch to clean out!

Put together some brownies last night - scale not working - not sure if it's a battery issue (have changed them but perhaps the new ones are no good) or if it's dead. Faked it a bit on the amount of chocolate and butter. I suspect they are going to be just fine. It's a very moist dense brownie - not the slightest bit cake like. Started fiddling with the Piteba oil press I brought up with me - made a god awful mess and no cocoa butter so far - but think I have identified a couple of the issues so perhaps today's experiments will be more successful (and less messy).

Oh yeah - I love it toasted as toast too. Nice and crispy for that. Perfect with a schmear of butter and honey. And it's perfect for a grilled reuben. Somehow though - just not right with the juicy tomatoes. Perhaps it's that the crispy toast rips your palate a bit and the tomatoes are a bit acidic when that happens.

Heated up - bit of butter and green onions.

If you check back in October on Chocolates with that Showroom Finish or Confections we have made - you'll see a few things. Chocolot does eyeballs every year!

I have a similar mold at home - I'll try to remember to look when I get home - but it will be a couple of weeks.

Terrible Love - for which I brought up the Suze and Mezcal. Watched Luke Nguyen make Masterstock Crispy Skin Chicken. Julia Child is now making Ham dinner. Perhaps I'll have a bowl of Kimchi jigae in a while if I feel like it - I've been snacking all day - seem to have ruined my appetite!

Kimchi jigae under construction.

I actually had to run back to the grocery store - apparently it's not safe to leave mustard in the fridge - there is a limit to the amount of stuff I want to pack away between trips. So my brisket sandwich. Very satisfactory!

A few items from the grocery store today - fortunately the Island Jar had some miso for my kimchi jigae.

Yup - rye flour based sourdough.

Rounds this am - promised Roy cheese biscuits Of course QC is paramount - the one with the most melty cheese bits with butter and red pepper jelly.

Here's the bread - it's a white bread with some whole rye and a rye sour. Stays nice and moist for days - but toasts up too crisp for a sandwich. I'd prefer just the squidgy 12 grain bread I use for most other stuff. It is however the perfect bread for the brisket sandwich that I will make later today untoasted.

Brought up some tomatoes supplied by the father of one of the nurses back home. She is newly pregnant - eating constantly. I made myself a toasted cheese, bacon and tomato sandwich at work one day - the next thing I know she is calling her mom and getting her to bring in the same! This would not be my first choice for bread for this kind of sandwich - but all by myself I'm not prepared to have more than one loaf in the house.

Indeed - a wonderful soup to make with kimchi that is over the hill.

Indeed - no booze for me tonight! I haven't unpacked all the bottles yet - was too tired last night to even open the premixed one that we had waiting for our first night. I suspect I'll just leave it for next summer's arrival. It will be barrel aged that much longer!

All set to make some kimchi jigae - realize there is no miso - wonder what my chances are in town tomorrow? Perhaps at the Island Jar.

So life is getting more settled! Brought up some coconut charcoal - lovely stuff - doesn't seem to have the volatile organic compounds that plague hardwood charcoal and take about an hour to burn off. Minimal ash, ready to cook on as soon as it's hot, seems to burn forever. A bit harder to light though.

Colcannon is doing yeoman's service - add a little cheese, a bit of onion powder, pepper and it fries up to a perfect lunch.

A miserable rainy day to be on call - hopefully it will keep folks out of the ER. Kosher brisket - picked up from Wegman's on Monday. Planning 12 hours at 80C. I've brought along beet horseradish. Sandwiches in my future.

pastryani - it's probably something like CW2207 from Chocolate World - an excellent in between size - falls out of the mold easily unlike the deeper similar molds - I've found it a very nice mold to use for demos because you aren't left bashing like an idiot saying "worked fine when I was home"!

Gotcha.

Welcome excv_ - those all look quite wonderful!

Crystallized ginger, orange buttermilk quick bread for work tomorrow.

What's an Aerolater?