John DePaula

This was my primary market when I lived in the 15th, and I thought it was quite excellent. One thing to add to your list of criteria might be access to the metro. I lived on rue Dulac quite near Montparnasse (many many lines radiate out from there, of course) and easy to catch other lines, too.

Is this what you're looking for: Sumeet Asia Kitchen Machine Mixie Grinder (eBay)?

Did you try Kroger?

That's right, I got mine from King Arthur. It's really a lovely spice; wonderful in cakes, too.

I made the Philadelphia-Style Vanilla Ice Cream yesterday but with a slight variation from the recipe. Instead of the vanilla extract called for by the recipe, I used about 1-1/4 teaspoon of Pandan Essence*. I wanted something a little different to go with my Coconut Layer Cake. First of all, I have to say the recipe was especially creamy even though there were no eggs. I'd been wanting to try the Philadelphia-style to compare to the custard-style ice creams and personally, I prefer the Philadelphia-style. To me, the custards are just a bit too rich. Next, I'd say that making ice cream doesn't get much easier than this. Very quick to put this together. The pandan essence was just wonderful in this ice cream. And Wow! this sure went well with the cake. Next time, I may try this base with Fiori di Sicilia oil... * You can find pandan in the Thai section of your local Asian supermarket. You can also get frozen pandan leaves but I was never successful in extracting much flavor from them.

I believe the shop is closed on Monday and Tuesday....don't make a special trip on the wrong day! ← Currently, their web site lists the following hours on their 'About' page: Would be useful if they put that on the 'Home' page, eh?

RainDrop Chocolate 810 Waugh Dr., Suite 100 Houston, TX 77019 713-524-2864

That would be Mr. Tom Douglas and the coco cream pie is fabulous, although I have a special weakness for coconut cream pie. Maybe you can tweak it and put some Skor bits in the crust as well and some freshly toasted mac nuts in the filling to get closer to your elusive Hawaiian fantasy dessert? ← I was going to post about this pie as well; available at The Dhalia Bakery. The recipe is available, though I have not made it. The filling is at http://www.books-for-cooks.com/recipes/rc_...glas_kitch.html while it looks like you'll need the rest of the book to get the crust. ← Actually, here's a slight variant of the Triple Coconut Cream Pie that includes the recipe for the crust: Triple Coconut Cream Pie

LUV IT!

Oh, that just looks SO delicious! Mmmmm.

Do let us know what you decide!

There are many pastry school threads out there: My day at Le cordon Bleu culinary school Atlanta Choosing a Culinary School, Advice, Opinions, HELP? Pastry schools Choosing A Pastry School, Some advice please? Culinary/Pastry School Advice And of course, some advice from David Lebovitz: Should You Go To Culinary School?

I made a sorbet of Pear-William + Charentais Melon. Wow, the flavors are wonderful together!

How hot was your workspace? Temp does make a difference. ← I don't know why you can't just stick it in the fridge. (Though odors can be a problem. I have a separate fridge just for chocolate so this isn't an issue for me.) Why not try this: - Make your ganache - Cover with plastic wrap (film) and place in refrigerator. - The next morning (when it's presumably cooler) remove from fridge and allow to come to room temp WITHOUT removing plastic wrap (so that moisture won't form on surface). - Precoat with chocolate and allow to set (back in the fridge if need be) - Dip and then back in the fridge to set. If your kitchen is warm-ish, it may take too long for the chocolate to set after dipping and it will go out of temper. A few minutes in the fridge will lock it in.

Carolyn, I really enjoy Andina for Peruvian-inspired cuisine, and Toro Bravo for Spanish-style tapas. They are both SOOO good! Have a fun trip! --John

How hot was your workspace? Temp does make a difference.

No, it would then be something that you won't want to eat.

Well said. From what I can see, Kerry, it looks really interesting!

I always find that when the humidity rises to 54% or above, I'm gonna have a tough day!

I totally agree, Sondra. The custard style is fun to make and delicious but just a bit too rich, for me anyway. Glad you're enjoying your new ice cream maker!

Does anyone know where to get a comb with 1/8" wide square notches? The groute trowels are all 1/4" square and while that is great for cigarettes it is far too wide for these decoration curls. Ideal would be 1/8" wide and 2mm deep so a single pull through a pile of chocolate would spread perfect lines. I ran through several more trials last night and ended up with enough curls for my current batch. My success rate was only around 15-20%. A lot of the time the scraper just pushed up straight lines instead of curls, sometimes part of it would curl and others not on the same push. The V notches also left enough connecting chocolate that when it did curl I often ended up with a cigarette rather than individual curls. I can see that this is going to require more experementation and new tools before I get consistent results. I'll post a shot of my results on the Greweling thread later tonight since it's his recipie I made. Does the scraping tool itself matter? I'm using a drywall tape scraper with a fairly thin blade as opposed to a standard scraper which has a slightly thicker and stiffer blade. What blade angle works best for you? ← You may have to request further info from them since exact specs aren't given: Pastry Chef Central - ICING COMB & SMOOTHER JB Prince - Decorating Combs

I just saw your post, Kerry. The chocolate from the class was Anisette: 100g Heavy cream (35% fat) Glucose 75g Milk chocolate 500g Plugra 82% fat butter 100g Anis Liquor 70g

Thanks for your post, Tony. Yeah, you see chefs doing stuff like this and it just strikes me as being kind of irresponsible.

It’s probably true that for a healthy individual very small quantities are ok, but why risk it? You should also consider that many older people are on a prescription medication called Coumadin. It’s a blood thinner. Based on the spelling and the effect of the drug, it is likely related to Coumarin. So for a lot of folks, the combination / interaction may be a dangerous mix. I love the flavor of tonka beans, which I tried while living in Europe and before knowing much about it. But there are lots of wonderful flavors out there. I can avoid this one.