Kerry Beal

Got to get some gummies! Have an order for 100 packages of bark - so decided that FD ice cream bark would go over well. Neopolitan again (chosen so I can eat a bit of it the regular way!). Meyer lemons, limes and ginger that was well beyond it's best by date. Wine sauerkraut - a success. Pickled artichoke bottoms - a failure. Binned them. Rice, peas, ground meat and onions. One of hubbies favourite meals. We'll see if it's a success rehydrated.

Tasted the yellow Chartreuse against the real thing. The smell was similar, mine was a bit cleaner and less musty tasting. Pretty close considering it has probably 20 herbs against the greater than 100 in the monk brewed version.

Lee Valley has a vase brush set that I really like.

The tofu was silky smooth and custardy. Didn't see any dancing though!

The formula suggests not colouring with plant material as it will discolour quickly. I think indigo and saffron are considered natural.

Got me - doesn't sound at all familiar.

Got some huge grapes today - we'll see how they work cut in half.

It was just standard primary blue and primary yellow from Chef Rubber - the water based colouring. Monks probably used indigo or prussian blue, and saffron or caramel for the yellow.

I have not - perhaps I should request a sample.

Here's a discussion about it before with recipe. I've been searching for the pressure cooker and sous vide experiments that I know we did - but can't seem to find them so far.

This mornings unloading. Jello for Alleguede, grapes and mushrooms. I declare the grapes a failure. I poked a little whole in each with a paring knife thinking that would be suitable for the moisture to sublimate out from - but I think the little holes got plugged by the sugar. The last of the kale and some of the strawberries I moved over cause they were a little thick. Yogurt and vanilla beans that had given their all to extract and are now going to be ground up for bark. Watermelon, strawberries and raspberries. The raspberries are also for Alleguede as the last ones he had have taken on water. Perhaps I should get that powder back and run it through Freeze Girl for him and see if that rehabilitates it?

Finally got around to finishing my green and yellow chartreuse - formulae from 'A Treatice on the Manufacture and Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors'. My green colouring is a little off - a bit too much blue! Requires some aging to round out the sharpness - but the green is pretty close to the original - don't have any yellow to compare to though.

I made it once accidentally when I put a stainless bowl of white chocolate over water in a slow cooker. It was the most fabulous thing - never duplicated it!

Oh no - worst comes to worst Ruth - I'll make you some. Matt - pretty sure Deryn's a her.

Well - it finally happened - way too long has gone by and it hasn't gone into the final drying cycle - so unloaded it this morning in order to defrost. The kale however was done. So pulled that out. Perhaps I should put a bit more back in when I put back the remaining stuff. The blanched version was clearly my favourite - tasted much meatier - not the bitter raw flavour of the unblanched - though both were quite satisfactory. Of course the advantage of the blanched is that it is much easier to get into the tray - and it still comes apart as individual leaves after it is FD'd.

Mine is the J.

Here's the FD'd jello and pop rock bark.

They are going to be gorgeous - thanks Rodney! Recycled the cones into a center today - don't think they will make the cut for the show.

That's my main milk chocolate these days. Viscosity great for moulding and dipping. Make most of my ganaches with it. Flavour good.

Must confess I haven't had a chance to taste the bacon yet. It was a rush tonight as Alleguede was coming over to help me with my prep for the Luxury Chocolate Show that Anna and I will be doing on Sunday - so I kind of bunged everything in jars and mylar to be checked out later. I did taste the ganache - crunchy but way too thick - I think in the future I'll make one with a whole lot less fat in it and spread it much, much thinner. I made a bark with neutral pop rocks and FD'd jello - I should have broken the jello into smaller pieces for the bark. Alleguede is a jello tart and he really enjoyed the FD'd version.

Finally back at it. This batch took quite a while to dry - then I prolonged the time further because I had to work and didn't have time to unload this morning. Mustard pickle and kimchi. Jello -batch plain, batch with sour cream. Bacon. Ganache. Butterfat from ganache.

Good idea - shall try some blanched and some raw - both salted so it can be eaten as a snack.

Big bag of kale dropped off to me this morning at work. Trying to decide if I should blanch it or FD it raw? Thoughts?

I have it - lovely pictures - a lot of errors due to translation. Some interesting recipes though I haven't made a lot of them. Some interesting decorating ideas. A lot of recipes call for anhydrous butter.

I suppose you could use a piping bag to make little mounds that you could roll between your hands to get rounds.