FrogPrincesse

I started curing guanciale with a couple of pork jowls (about one pound each) that I butchered myself (at a butchery class). I haven't made guanciale in a long while because it's quite difficult to find jowl. This was an acorn-fed heritage breed from Julian's Cook pigs ranch. Salt, sugar, black peppercorns, fresh thyme from the patio.

Sometimes simple is best. A classic Margarita on a large rock with an outstanding tequila, Ocho plata 2014.

I also love the booze-heavy chocolate mousse. Two ounces of Grand Marnier for 6 portions, that is my kind of recipe. I often make it to conclude a classic French meal. It's simple and can be made in advance. Of course as he explains it's all about the chocolate. Here I used Valrhona Noir Caraibe 66%.

I love the coquilles St Jacques with Champagne. Great dish! Now I need some asap!

I will have kids helping me with the booth, so that should do the trick! (Or I can always use my purse, I am sure it's at least 20 pounds). Seriously, the area where they hold the market is very protected and wind isn't a big concern. I will think of a plan in case it is that day; better safe than sorry!

@MelissaH I might although this is a paying event ($90).

Dorie's mustard bâtons. http://doriegreenspan.com/recipe/mustard-batons-from-around-my-french-table-beautiful-quick-and-easy/

Greek-inspired salad with a super crisp Japanese cucumber from my CSA, cherry tomatoes, feta, Italian parsley (also from my CSA), mint, shallot, za'atar, sumac, arbequina olive oil & lemon juice dressing.

That sounds great, @catdaddy. I am so looking forward to kumquat and Seville / bitter orange season, so I can make marmalade. I almost made a calamondin marmalade like you a few weeks ago; I was at the store with a half-filled bag in hand, but then someone who works there had me try one and indeed it was very sour and not as bitter as I would have liked, so I passed. But I regretted it a bit. I think it would still taste very nice.

Taste and texture wise, they are intensely chocolaty and have a soft interior like a brownie. I think I detect a bit of bitterness in the finish from the GF flour, but maybe it's my imagination. In any case, they are wonderful.

Snowy-topped brownie drops (made with gluten-free flour). They are cooling down as I type. My yield was 28 cookies instead of 20, so I guess they are a bit smaller than her recipe. They look a lot like @David Lebovitz's Chocolate crack cookies, but it's a different recipe.

I found a few articles (and videos) about setting up farmers' market displays and selling at farmers' markets. http://www.uvm.edu/newfarmer/marketing/marketing_resources/FarmersMarketDisplay.pdf http://marketingforhippies.com/fmms7/ http://www.newfarm.org/features/0504/farmmarkets/index_print.shtml There is a class in my area, but the next one isn't until January 2017. https://www.facebook.com/Vendor101/

The canopy I am going to borrow is actually 8 10 x 10*, so I am good to go. I am going to get it before the event so I can practice assembling it. And I found a second table. Next I have to figure out what I am going to use as a tablecloth, signage, and how I am going to arrange my booth. I am planning on going to farmers markets at least once or twice before the event so I can borrow a few ideas. *it's this Coleman model with swing wall

I finally tried the quince jelly I made a few weeks ago (before I made the quince marmalade), and that stuff is amazing. It's a little too runny but OMG the flavors are divine. It's quince flavored with a hint of cinnamon, orange & lemon peel, and cardamom. I will make this again for sure.

Oops, I got it confused with another store. The Paper Source is actually in a different neighborhood, but still pretty close to home.

I am. It's actually right next door to Homegrown Meats, which is one of the butcher shops I frequent regularly. I didn't even think of looking at a place like that because anything in the village tends to be very expensive. The price is right, but unfortunately these labels are too big. Two inches is the largest size my lids can accommodate. But I will contact them in case they can get my size. Thanks for suggesting them!

I am about to make a batch of the "Snowy Topped Brownie Drops" and would like to use gluten-free flour (Bob's Red Mill all purpose baking GF) instead of regular all-purpose flour. Is there any potential issue with that? I don't have any experience gluten-free flour.

I just received my additional mason jars from Amazon. It's starting to feel like a little food factory here! In other news, I am now able to accept credit card payments thanks to Square. It was super easy. My husband had a (free) reader he had never used; it took about 2 minutes to set up and it works like a charm! (I tested it with my own credit cards).

They are available in my area, sorry! http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Gold_Beets_260.php

I dislike raw celery, but pickled celery is pretty great and has a nice crunch.

Step one- make garlic confit! (I am sure it's not hard to make, but I don't have any in my fridge!) For the caramelized onions, I am pretty sure I can use my red onion marmalade that I was planning on selling as is. I could make a bit extra to use in the bacon jam. I cure my own bacon often actually, so maybe that'd be an even cheaper route than using commercial bacon, since I can get pork belly for quite cheap... It takes time though, so I'd better get started. Also I am not quite sure it's on the list of things that are ok to sell in my area (without special paperwork). Preserves are on there, onion marmalade is stretching the envelope already, but bacon jam?

On my program for this week Test at least one more batch of cookies to sell (I already tested Dorie's two-bite one-chip cookies and the "French" snacklettes, but I want at least 4 or 5 varieties). The difficulty with the cookies is that I cannot bake them in advance, so it looks like I am going to be in a baking frenzy a day or two before the event! Maybe I can make the dough in advance, freeze it and unfreeze it the day before to be a little more efficient? Make at least one more preserve to sell. Maybe the red onion marmalade since the fruit I want isn't available yet, which means that I have to look for a good source for organic onions. I usually don't pay much attention to the price of onions because they are pretty cheap, but now with larger quantities this is a different story! Usually I buy them at Trader Joe's but I might need to do a bit of comparison shopping this time. Make a decision on taster spoons. I was going to get the little wooden stirrers that @pastrygirlrecommended, but these wouldn't work so well with the onion marmalade for example... so I am thinking something like these small wooden spoons (currently $6 for 100) or these ice cream paddle spoons (only $1.31 for 100!). Confirm canopy dimensions and find a second table to borrow

So I made my first preserve for the market, a quince marmalade (the in-process pictures are in the Preserving thread). The yield was 6 8-oz jars, plus one jar that is almost full that I will use for samples (and personal consumption if there is any left!). I put them in the oven once filled (following the process described in the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook) since I wanted to be able to store them at room temperature (when I make them for myself, I don't bother but I store them in the fridge as an extra precaution). Lessons learned Don't start a batch at noon hoping to get out of the house in the afternoon. It took several hours to cook! It's not worth trying to recycle the metal lids. The only one that was a recycled one is also the one that has little spots of rust and a not completely perfect seal. In the future I will only use brand new ones for selling, and reserve the recycled ones for personal use. I ended up ordering more jars through Amazon for $7.39/dozen (for these). I went to several stores in my area including Target, and didn't find anything less expensive. Some places were three times as much! Labels / decoration For my own jars I use chalkboard labels that are reusable, but for selling they are not the best because they are expensive and also tend to smudge very easily. I was thinking a round 2-inch label that you could attach to the lid, but couldn't find anything less than $10 on Amazon or at Staples. I don't need a printable label because I can just write on them with a sharpie. I have decided to cut little rounds of fabric to put over the top of the jar for decoration (which will stay put with an elastic tie). My daughter is very crafty so this will be a fun project for her to do. This also means that I can use a label that goes on the side of the jar. Some of my jars came with a label, so that's probably the easiest option. But I will need to order more labels. Has anyone tried the Ball dissolvable labels and did they like them? As a side note, one thing I've noticed is that the 8-oz Ball quilted jars come with labels (and are slightly more expensive at $7.92/doz), whereas the regular/non quilted jars don't have them. But I think I prefer the non quilted jars because you can see through them much better.

It was my first time using one, and it worked like a charm! No hot spots... very even heating. And I got a fabulous deal because this was on sale on amazon for a very brief time at 35% off, and I managed to snatch one... Very happy with my purchase. It's the Mauviel 11 quart and it's a really good size, less bulky than I imagined.

Last Friday I successfully converted 3 large pineapple quinces into a quince marmalade that I am going to be selling at a small market together with some other homemade goodies. Thanks @teonzofor sending detailed instructions. In the end I used a much simplified version from @David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert. Still, it took more than 3 hours from beginning to end... not a fast recipe by any means! But it looks pretty and I believe it should taste pretty good. The yield was 6 8-oz jars, plus one that is almost full that I will use for samples. Grating all the quinces Cooking them in a sugar syrup (beginning) Towards the end of the cooking process Jarred and still warm The next morning