Kerry Beal

The Grex likely - she's going to look at some used equipment today

Like deja vu all over again Ngoc Yen Spent the day showing airbrushes to a new chocolatier and she took me to lunch Chicken with coconut sticky rice. Bun with BBQ pork, chicken and spring rolls.

Not sure if this is the best topic to post on - but I spent the day at @Alleguede's production facility in Etobicoke showing a new chocolatier the different options for airbrushes (Fuji vs Grex vs my large collection of Paasch brushes). Poor @alleguede and Bianca had to take our rubbermaid spray booth through the carwash last night to make it presentable and suitable to bring over to the new facility. As you can see there is work to be done keeping the sides of the molds free of chocolate.

Last night I was the keynote speaker for a fundraiser to raise money for the residence that is being built by LUSO - the Portuguese charitable organization that runs the day program that Kira attends. There was an opportunity for vendors to sell various products before the dinner (the mercado) - lots of jewellery - some interesting socks, some live edge boards that were as smooth as silk, Portuguese wine and alcohol, a Tupperware vendor which I quite enjoyed checking out. There was one vendor who had dipped pretzels, liquorice etc - might get an EZtemper sale out of that - we shall see. They call it the Compass Club - and their little giveaway was a cute chocolate box with a compass attached. Didn't get pictures of the wines - the rose was my favoured one. I was exhausted and ready to leave by the time the port was served so I really didn't do it justice.

Odds and ends in the lounge in the airport - roasted beets and carrots along with cauliflower. There was other stuff - but failed to get pics

Walked around the neighbourhood. Dropped in to Balthazar to look at bread - One must stop at Rice to Riches to take some pictures. Stopped in to Lysee - but didn't purchase anything. Best part was dropping in to see B's friend who owns Cocoa Store - curator and purveyor of bean to bar chocolate from around the world. Covid forced her from her street level store to her 6th floor event space - and she's never looked back. Stick with Me Sweets opened too late for us to drop in.

Next iteration of the EZtemper.

Thai dinner for breakfast today Crispy rice with fried eggs Breakfast sandwich Khao soi with eggs and what’s breakfast without a coconut sundae

Indeed vast!

Dinner at Obao Apps included reimagined steamed dumplings What was called mushroom banh xeo taco's - was expecting the traditional banh xeo pancake - not expecting a corn taco. Fried spring rolls By the time the main dishes arrived to be shared I could have - as Anna would have said - eaten the business end out of a skunk we were so hungry. So I forgot pictures until it was too late. Khai Soi Pork chops Shared a mango sticky rice - completely forgot that picture!

We spent a bit of time measuring stainless containers - the lead up to a project I'm working on.

From the diner we headed off with Bhavani of Diamond Custom Machines to see his customer Roger who owns Vesta Chocolates with his partner Julia. It's located in an old bank with the most interesting vault door! He had us taste his two most exciting products - a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie made with his bean to bar chocolate and panela as the sugar. Not overly sweet - both the cookie and the brownie were excellent. The hot chocolate was wonderful as well.

This morning we headed out to the Port Authority Bus station to go to Moonachie - the home of the american outpost of Rondo - a swiss company that makes sheeters and lines for dough handling. The Starbucks in the bus depot - lots of left behind bevies that people must have had to catch their bus before they could pick up. once on the bus I tucked into my egg bites. I took a couple of videos at Rondo of their cutting and rolling machine for croissants. Will have to save our allowance for a bit. I'll see if later I can upload to YouTube and post here. Lunch at Montclair Diner - not the best - but have had worse. Can never go wrong with a milkshake Shrimp and grits with cajun butter sauce Burger California Club veggie omelet

Actually bread and butter pickles

So after a bit more walking - 19,226 steps today (most of them stairs I'm sure) - we arrived in Brooklyn. Doesn't look the same as last time I was there. Checked out Lucy's carousel. Then off the Frankies 457 Charcuterie and veg Freshly made mozzarella Cavatelli with sausage for B Pappardelle with lamb ragu for @Alleguede And gnocchi for me.

A little further walking around to get to Trader Joes. We ran across these sights

On the long complex way out to dinner - @Alleguede needed some ice cream - so we stopped at Carvel A little something for each of us for the long walk.

So today we headed out to Hicksville on Long Island to visit Empire Equipment to get some information on more effective use of the Mimac depositor we bought a bunch of years ago breakfast on the train - bagels from yesterday these are additional depositing heads - we came home with one with large brass holes for depositing heavier cookies. Back at Penn Station we got a quick bite - pickle icecream, fried pickles and these large slabs of dough they were calling biscuits.

We had planned to head out this evening and have dessert for dinner - but @Alleguede is snoring and we are pretty tired - so B and I broke into the cookies and called it a day.

So carrying all the stuff from Kereke's (as well as the bagels from this morning, and some italian cookies we had picked up) - we headed off to Staten Island for late lunch. Saw lots of these fresh fruit vendors after hours last night and there were a number at the ferry terminal - and churros vendors as well. Enoteca Maria is a restaurant that has been open since 2007 - initially only italian nonnas cooked there - then it expanded to include nonnas from other countries. Some focaccia and giardiniera to start Lasagna Oxana from the Ukraine made us these Deruny - grated potato with onion, eggs, flour and herbs with a mushroom sauce. Might have been my favourite of all the dishes. Japanese nonna Yumi made chicken yakitori and miso eggplant. And shared what they were calling basque cheesecake - seemed awfully light in colour to us.

Here's what we picked up at Kereke's - almost all from the bargain bin - one shredding blade for a robot coupe, parts for two rolling cutters, a really big bench cutter, some little card holders that can be stuck in product to identify what it is, and two books for a few bucks a piece.

Over to Brooklyn to Kerekes/Bakedeco

Second breakfast at Salswee Spinach danish for me, ham, chicken and cheese croissants for @alleguede and mushroom and suisse cheese for B

Krispy Cream Times Square

Likely!