Kerry Beal

Use Tacky cocoa butter if you can - too warm just fills back in

You need the firmness - I tried silicone - it just suctions itself into the cavity and the golf tee pulls out! Yes upside down golf tee.

White chocolate

Hubby and I went out for dinner to Pintoh Thai Bamboo beer for hubby, ginger tea for me Spring rolls Thai omelet, duck panang curry and chicken pad prik geng

Lunch meeting today for me with a few of the folks from the Shelter Health Network - the midwife who prompted the meeting suggested a place called the Harbour Diner. Apparently everyone in Hamilton knows about it as it's a favorite breakfast spot. I decided on a Caesar salad as I knew I was going out for dinner as well Lisa wanted a Caesar but was told that the daughter had run out to the store to get more ingredients so she was SOL - so she opted for greek I think this might be the California Chicken Sandwich Dale (honorary lady) had the Apple Smashburger - an apple fritter split, 8 ounce burger, bacon jam, applewood smoked cheddar, arugala and red onion if I remember correctly.

That's what I saw too - a sad alien!

They did not get taken Mea Culpa!

I solved that one by getting molds big enough to hold the cherry! And they are huge

We need to get @Chocolot to teach you to dip the cherries on stems. @Matthew Hayday does a pretty respectable job as well! Far better than I do

Pretty sure there is a lot of discussion here around tempering for cocoa butter colours - but I must confess I've gone back to doing it the way I always did and still seem to have success.

I'm cooling it for finger wiping and splattering as I mentioned which brings it down to the lower temped temperatures - but find that 35 out of the airbrush works just fine and doesn't clog the airbrush the way that cooler does.

I usually start with 35º C - then pour a little out to cool a bit for finger wiping and splattering. I often use at 35 for the air brush.

Apparently not the plastic connector parts says hubby!

Well - here it is morning and the furnace is tits up again! And buddy took the heaters when he left last night.

You know - sometimes you just don't realize where the money is! Plumbing would have been my best choice.

Yeah right - mostly I treat urinary track infections and otitis media. Avoiding crises is the ideal.

Yes it is! They sent us two little space heaters though. Actually the missing part showed up 2 hours ago and the tech just left - I hear furnace noise and smell 'been off for a while' furnace smell.

Home safely - tea in hand. Furnace still not working (was out when I got home from Seattle last Monday) and the tap seems to be missing from the kitchen sink. Did I ever mention that I lived for months in our old house with the kitchen sink in the middle of the kitchen floor?

not smoked salmon

Looks like we are going to be in a lounge here for a while - a bit of a delay on our flight due to bad weather at the Toronto end. @alleguede provides croissants for the domestic express lounge in Toronto so he was able to negotiate a lounge pass for Bianca - so while she will be stuck in steerage for the flight - her luggage will arrive priority with ours and she can join us in the lounge. It's basically same shit different day in the lounge - and I'm sure on the flight they will offer us the 'smoked salmon' appetizer that we refused last time. There are cookies and soup there too - perhaps if we are here too long I'll get a picture. And of course lots of booze. I notice this time they have Old Fashioned glassware which was missing last time we were in this lounge.

I would guess quality olive oil, garlic - actually menu adds brandy and giandilla (?sp) peppers

Hotel breakfast - tiny bagels - but very good

Attendees jbates Chocolot Pastrypastmidnight lambrecht gourmet (a definite maybe) MelissaH* tikidoc Chocomonster Sue PEI and Jane Gwbyls Desiderio curls JoNorvelleWalker (we will find a way) Haley Diana D DayGameCandy Marmish +1 (maybe) Miriam G (tentative) david.upchurch SweetandSnappyJen *God's willing and the river don't rise

That would be correct - with the understanding that with the EZtemper you don't need to take it up to 45º or so initially - just enough above 33.5 to melt then drop it back down to that. Right now you are overkill - you only need to seed down to the working temperature - you are combining two methods of tempering and you could save some time by stopping at the working temperature.

Dinner tonight at Boqueria. In a party of 6 - you have no choice but to have the Chef's choice menu. We did ask for a menu to peruse. Drinks were brought for Bianca and I. First up lamb and flatbread. Dates wrapped in some nice crispy meat bits. Then some lovely mushroom croquette like objects. Of course @Alleguede finds it fun to muck around with the plates while I'm trying to take pictures so this one was badly interfered with and I hadn't noticed before it was too late to get another. Sweet potatoes Lamb skewers Octopus patates bravas (special order) Shrimp Paella Contained a number of creatures. Dessert is churros, churros and more churros - dulce de leche, Nutella and classic.