Kerry Beal

Nope - just cut a little slit in the packaging.

Ok - thoughts on pasta please. I made a batch of modernist mac and cheese and sent it over to Anna's place. She said that she rehydrated about an hour before heating and that it stayed way too firm. Anyone have trouble with pasta? Any hints?

I've never been able to keep the solo cup over the demister - it blows off when the vacuum starts up. I have a piece of a plastic placemat that I use to test the door seal each time. I run it around all 4 quadrants and make sure there is nowhere that it can fit between the door and the seal. Then I have a look at the the drain line and make sure it is closed! And then a second look at the drain line. And then a last check of the door seal! The oil spray issue only happens if there is air getting in to the system either through the unsealed door or the drain.

I second having a read of Greweling - he goes into the differences in detail.

Welcome Scotch827. Can't wait to hear what you are working on.

Indeed enough chocolate would probably round out the raisins - but there wouldn't be enough raisin to taste. The typical Glossette panned raisins have that nice lumpy look.

Too much sugar I'd bet.

Welcome Daymia - sounds like you'll fit right in here.

Mine will be delivered by Wednesday - I suspect actually today because it does show as being at the depot in my town already. Black.

Indeed - the dingy brown does need some disguising. Do you have any water based food colour that you could produce a grey to hide it?

Two of us were left this morning after we dropped Chocolot at the airport - so we headed off to 'Eat' in the old part of town right next to the container park. Shrimp and grits for me. Truffled egg sandwich for Ro. Grabbed a bottle of Laphroig at the duty free for the hubby. Food on the plane was not worth photographing (or eating for that matter)! Luggage totalled about 75 lbs and included a fair amount of panned product, a heat sealer that was a freebie with the freeze dryer but I had delivered to Chocolot, an extra set of trays for the freeze dryer, a bunch of mylar bags and oxygen absorbers, bottle of Lost Spirit rum, some transfer sheets and coloured cocoa butter, cheese and salumi...

Last night we had dinner at Pho Kim Long - Various appetizers. Pho for me. A chicken dish of some sort for Alleguede. A couple of bun were had as well as mayo shrimp. Too many people in the pictures.

A few more odds and ends that we produced. Raisins. Either cherries or cranberries. Malt balls.

The whole bowl rotates - the kitchen aid hub on the front of the machine provides the drive. You have your hand in there constantly to break up doubles, assess how the product is drying, whether it is getting lumpy etc. I can see what you mean by an inner bowl on the picture with the green M&Ms - but there is only a single bowl.

Put it in a nice chewy caramel - then don't take your blood pressure for a few days!

Cape Breton pork pies - did you ever just drag some memories from deep in the memory banks! I'm trying to remember if I ever did them while I was on one of my Manitoulin trips?

Polishing our M&Ms. An evaluation of each item. The final outcome.

I've been busier panning than taking pictures at the course. And a lot that I have taken have people in them so I'm not willing to post. It was wonderful to see a delightful fellow that I did the Wybauw course with in 2007 - report here. We are using the little pans that go on the kitchen aid that are made by DR in Canada. Maximum is around 5 lbs of product that you can get out of them. So while they are not practical for production they are great for working up a recipe. The first day we made some pretty lumpy product (too much cold air) and lots of doubles (adding chocolate too fast) - but by the second day we were starting to get the hang of it and most items were pretty round with a minimum of aggravation. So really only two pictures for you - Chocolot reaching in to the panner (you need to keep a hand on what's going on in there). Our hazelnut M&M like things - they have a hazelnut, milk chocolalte, sugar coating, more coloured white chocolate. We will be polishing them today.

Back to Lotus of Siam again last night - with 4 people you can have more dishes! Fried dumplings. Of course the crispy rice. Fresh rolls. And Garlic Pepper shrimp again. Crispy duck with drunken noodles. Fried rice with crab. Stir fried veg with pork belly chunks.

Last night's dinner at China Poblano - another Jose Andres restaurant in the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Chrysanthemum tea for Romina. Assorted tacos. Siu mai. When PIgs Fly - steamed buns. Another unidentified taco. Jiaozi. A poor choice of a cocktail - mezcal, cynar, grapefruit, ginger beer - sounded like it should be good - tasted like cleaning fluid. Returned to the bar. Vegetable fried rice. Shrimp Mojo. Dan dan noodles. Golden PIgs - fried steamed buns. Lamb potstickers - stuck on you. After a bit of a walk and people watching - we decided to hit Serendipity 3 for some ice cream. Ro ordered carrot cake sunday - not realizing it came with an entire piece of cake (actually only half a piece the server noted!) Alleguede had a cookie sundae with some long unpronounceable name. Frozen hot chocolate for Chocolot. Hot fudge sunday for myself. Gotta hit the sack now - will try to post today's meals in the morning.

I think it's a little more permanent than that - each retired container makes up a small store. Shared bathrooms and common areas. A bit of green space in there as well.

Day 2 in Las Vegas Chocolot and I headed out to hit just about every place we could think of - we were at Jinju's production facility, Chef Rubber, a couple of thrift stores (my tea mug had broken in transit), Ethel M chocolates, and I'm sure a few other places I've forgotten already. Oh yeah Lee's Discount Liquors. Breakfast was at Chocolate and Spice Bakery. An omelet and ham in a croissant. Had to try In and Out burger for the first time. Burgers 'animal style' with double fried fries for me. Root beer float. Dinner at Umami Burger - a Jose Andres restaurant in the SLS hotel and casino. Classic burger for me - parmesan frico, roasted tomato. Smooshed Potatoes to share. Onion rings to share. Jose Burger - pork, serrano ham and manchego cheese with piquillo pepper. Cali burger - avocado, caramelized onion. Two different ice cream sandwiches.

Chocolot and Alleguede from eG are with me in Las Vegas at a chocolate panning course in Las Vegas at Jean-Marie Auboine. Chocolot and I arrived on Wednesday (the course started on Friday). I picked her up at the airport - and shortly thereafter we headed off to Lotus of Siam for our first dinner. Crispy Rice. Larb - can't recall if we ordered pork or chicken. Garlic Prawns. Sticky rice and mango. After dinner we headed off to the new retail location of Jinju Chocolates in the new 'container park' that we had seen being assembled when we were down in May for our eG 2014 Chocolate Workshop. Thought the container park concept was a neat idea.

You need to pick a number and see were you are at. I have one of these but sadly it doesn't hold a steady temp. Melt overnight at a higher number - turn off when seeding - when it gets down to your working temp - turn back up just until light comes on. i usually then turn back until light just turns off.

Today's offerings - The mashed potatoes that weren't quite dry last run - and some chervil that was invading parts of the garden in which it was not planted! Sweet pickle slices - these are chewy, not crisp like the the dills - I guess due to the sugar content. Also some guacamole. A big old sour cabbage, cut into slices. Wanted bigger pieces than I would get with FDing a jar of the regular sauerkraut. I found the wine sauerkraut to be too fine once dried. Some mango chunks and a batch of modernist mac and cheese.