Kerry Beal

I don't think Anna has put up a picture of the loaf she made today - but here is the crumb! Kira is working her way through a piece right now and loving it. Kira misses Alleguede's Pain Chocolat - I've got some great pictures of her wearing it!

And that's why we love them!

For the cowboy on Bastille Day - Le Antoinette

Lunch today - re-thermalized quesadilla with guacamole made with a 'foraged' avocado. Foraged you say? - well it came from the tree of a sailor who was visiting from somewhere that is able to grow them.

Instead of I think.

New experiments are underway! I had a PM from Mark Heim, whom you might remember from our 2015 Chocolate and Confectionery workshop - suggesting that I test out whether the EZtemper would serve as a the perfect little incubator for keeping already tempered chocolate in perfect condition for instant use when decorating molds, etc. He mentioned that he had seen Joseph Schmidt use an extremely expensive cabinet to do this - and suspects that the EZtemper would provide a low cost alternative. Unfortunately I haven't brought any 3D molds up north with me - but I'm sure I can come up with a substitute of some sort to test the theory. Results to follow!

Made the dough for these last night - baked off this morning. Missing Map Cheese Wafers from the Nancy Drew Cookbook. Had them first at a neighbours home - had to find the recipe and try them. They would benefit from some pepper and perhaps pimenton or chipoltle powder.

Wow - that is a ton of stuff to make. How long did it take you? Have you got any pictures?

I've chopped them up and put them in dark chocolate bark before - they do go nicely in it.

Wait a minute - 10,000 Macaron? What's that all about?

We split the tiny end of the Guinness Ginger cake that remained - had it with the wonderfully thick Creme Fraiche that Anna had made.

3G tonight. They may not have been ortolan - but they were small enough to substitute! Chicken thighs and veg in a honey and lemon sauce.

Cheese biscuits for rounds this am. Coconut chocolate pound cake - discovered part way through that I didn't have any cocoa powder - so kludged it with 'real chocolate'. Seems not to have suffered for the substitution.

Food 52's Genius Recipes might be fun. Seven Spoons seems to be getting some attention. Marcus Off Duty: the Recipes I Cook at Home.

First rise 2 1/2 hours, second rise was only about an hour. It's bloody hot in this house today!

I wouldn't bother to sweeten it if you are making your own and you are happy with the flavour of it. The frozen puree manufacturers used to say they added up to10% sugar to help with the freezing process - now it looks like they add sugar and acid to "match the sweetness and acidity of naturally ripened fruit" - but also many are now selling unsweetened purees.

Getting ready to put the cinnamon mixture on the rolls. Rolling some cream cheese pastry for turnovers. Brushed with milk and sprinkled with turbinado sugar. Turnovers with cream cheese and black current jam. The finished cinnamon rolls.

Mother and child - beets with their greens, braised peas with lettuce and mint.

Sam Ross's Sunflower cocktail. Meanwhile Anna curses me while podding the peas - I swear she mentioned wanting some a few days back!

I might argue that Haw are never actually edible!

Along with egg free cinnamon buns we decided to make some cream cheese pastry. We made turnovers with the faux gras, a bit of cheese and some pickled onions. Drizzled with Trader Jo's Balsamic Glaze. Young Jess put faces on Anna's and mine.

Hey cowboy - you need to get your eyes tested - just cause it isn't baguette doesn't mean it's not bread!

Loaded baked potato - sour cream added offscreen.

In between trips to the ER today I've been playing with adapting my cinnamon bun recipe to eggless. The daughter of Kira's sitter wants some baking lessons. She is apparently egg allergic (we won't go into the diagnosis of allergies by people who wave a test tube over your child) - so I have added some chickpea flour and water to my standard recipe to stand in for the eggs. Doubled in bulk. Spread with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and bit of clove. Anna was able to get them baked during my last stint in the ER. They taste just fine! I guess a true test would be the egg version vs this version vs the same recipe sans any egg or egg replacement.

Used jam - it's half gone already - just got to work!