gfron1

Scratch - those are just about adorable! Here are a few things I whipped up today now that business has slowed again. Flourless Almond Orange Cake with Candied Kalamata and an Apple Tart with Almond Cream, Caramel & Sherry in an Olive Oil Crisp shell

HERE'S their website HERE are their auctions and their EBay store

Yeah, sorry about that. I must have been thinking of my shoe size at the time

I've bought from A Plus many times (only new items) and have always had good luck. They just sent me a discount coupon this morning which is making me want to look again. I've re-organized my counters and shelves to see if I really like the idea of a sushi case on top of my bar.

Looks great. What did you use for scoring? The cuts looks so clean. ← I missed this question til now - sorry. I always use box cutter razors.

Thanks. I didn't realize this was a common liquor or I would have just googled. I was led to believe it was a rare, exotic liquor. Can someone give me insight into the taste. I want to use it but won't be able to get it in the next few weeks.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that each month khymos.org puts on a challenge using this chart. The current challenge is HERE using malt and soy sauce. We just finished chocolate and caraway.

I'm doing an aphrodisiac meal for Valentines Day and someone recently mentioned this liquor to me, but I've never heard of it. Can someone fill me in. I hear its orange and sweet. Can I get more details than that? Thanks

Just in case you haven't already read THIS previous topic, there's the link. No recipes, but good leads.

Thanks all for the help. I'll pass this info along and see what he comes up with.

My version of what she said (she can correct me if she wants) is to do it on high in an open bowl/measuring cup until you start to smell it. With piñon this is 30 seconds or so, and whole almonds around 2 minutes. Works like a charm and I've not burned a nut since.

Kerry Beal taught me to microwave my nuts for a fast toasting. Changed my world forever!

that's so sad to think about, but you're right, I should be watching for the going out of business sales. And pastrygirl, I was eyeing the sushi cases. A countertop can be as slow as $2k, which might make a lot more sense. I'm thinking of my need-to-be-chilled stuff like mousse based cakes and entremets. I already have my room temp stuff wrapped on top of the counter, but if I can have both in the same case, that's even better.

The store and restaurant are one essentially. What I know is that anything I bake sells faster than it hits the shelf...when customers see it. If I had a case I could fill it pretty quickly and increase sales. The question is could I sell enough to justify the expense. But right now I don't know what I need or how much that expense would really be.

I just looked through all of our other topics on display cases and they're either for confections or non-refrigerated. I really don't want to shell out $10K...or even $6K. I've never bought specifically for pastries (I'm thinking humidity, temp, etc). What do I need to know when I'm looking for cases? And best sources?

Be sure to visit the Index that has a great topic on chocolate cake. Good info there.

The true nshima flour that the friend gave us was similar to a very, very fine polenta flour that I get from one of my Italian distributors - so more floury than mealy. And as your picture shows its white not yellow. For grasshoppers...if you have a Mexican market that specializes in Oaxacan cuisine, they may have something although I can't imagine anything dried/canned/boxed would be good...but who knows. And for the meat, again, not really in the repetoire as my spouse recalls, so I would go dougal's route. He experienced it there and regardless of whether it was for the locals or visitors, it was there, so think piri piri. Otherwise its basically chicken in stews.

Walking to work this morning I had an epiphany (it was to me, probably not to most of you). Again, I am in a very similar situation as the OP so I think this is relevant to offer for feedback here. I tend to advertise and market what is important to me in my business. Those are the things that I value and I believe what sets me apart. I have pushed three ideas: Quality fresh ingredients; Community support/charitable giving; and Environmental impact (using compostable containers, strong energy consumption policies, etc). These have been found in all of my ads from day one. In the good ol' days (say a few months ago), these stood on their own. But we're in a new economy right now - it may be changed in a few months or a few years, but right now times are tight. So the epipheny was that I should be marketing what is important to the customer...today. My ideals aren't gone, nor does it change how I run my business, but right now most of my customers (especially ones that I want to bring in for the first time versus my regulars) seem to care about just one thing - value. And much of that "perceived value" stuff goes out the window - they want real value. They want to know that they can get good food, in good quantity at a good price. My belief is that they are turning a blind eye to environment, charity and possibly even freshness to some degree. I'm curious to know what you all think about this. Remember that eG-land is skewed toward quality. There are only so many "foodies" in a town of 10,000 and so in times like this I/we can't rely on foodies keeping us going. The OP question is what are people looking for in a sandwich shop. And I'm asking, what should I be marketing to people about a sandwich shop...two different questions perhaps getting to the same place.

I'll take that as a No and keep on squeezing.

The meal for nshima is pretty hard to comeby in the US. We recently had a friend bring some from Zambia and I realized how different it was from any polenta that I had had previously. Also, spouse doesn't remember grasshoppers, but he distinctly remembers flying ants as a snack. Cdn - you better prepare your guests for this meal

For the Daring Bakers challenge - Buche de Noel (French style) Contained dacquoise, ganache, praline fuiellete, mousse, creme bruleè and glaze. Gut shot: A log version pre-thawed: An individual for a VIP customer: The one for me that I promptly dropped: HERE is the full write-up at my blog.

spouse suggests that piri piri is really more South African, although it may have found its way into hotels and such in Zambia. Kapenta...he screamed with a painful look on his face, "Oh yeah, those are really nasty smelling. You eat them like popcorn. More of a snack."

My spouse was raised in Zambia and says, "nope, he's got it all in that one post." Apparently you just don't get much meat, and never meat by itself ("that's what they fed the white people - kudu steaks"). He lived all over but most of his time was down South, and always in villages, not cities. At home we regularly eat the greens/nuts with nshima - our favorite.

Amazon shows it out early next week...I'll just be patient.

You'd be surprised. It doesn't matter how much advertising I've done, nor how many marketing strategies I've used, not a week has gone by without someone "discovering" my place.