gfron1

That looks great Ted! I'd put a huge dollop of cream on that sucker.

In St. L - check out Niche for sure and have a Ted Drew's. Make sure you go to the City Museum (if its not already on your docket) - that place is the coolest museum I have ever been to.

Our website is the bane of my existence! I've studied lots of restaurant and store sites to see what I like and what I don't. And I've explored the online sales software options. We pulled our site about six months ago because of glitches that our web guy couldn't fix. In the end we kept having product show as available when it wasn't, and as I mentioned above, then customers would try to buy them and we wouldn't have them. What I want to do is re-envision what our site could be like WITH the restaurant and not just the store. One of the things I've been thinking a lot about is having an ability to show daily/weekly/monthly food specials at the cafe, including nightly gourmet to go. And, I want the ability to receive orders through the web - but I need to know that they're there in a timely manner. All of this means I need a web person who is competent, responsive, but affordable. In other words, I completely agree with you that the web is key to the store, but also the cafe.

Did you see the article in the NYT today on the ultimate CCC? HERE'S the recipe. Their tips: -Refrigerate dough for up to 3 days (in fact they recommend 3 days) -Make them 6" across - allows for crisp edge, gooey center and dense middle -60% cocoa content chips, recommend couverture -40-60% of cookie is chocolate -Dorie recommends a sprinkle of sea salt at the end as well They didn't mention the eGullet trick of browned butter which my customers have been raving about. So, I'm going to incorporate these tips into Paul Raphael's recipe. I'll report back (but it will take at least 3 days )

Thanks for the well wishes! Hmmm...someone must know some inside info into gourmet stores In a way I'm looking at the restaurant being easier than the store, although my money is on being proven wrong after a few days. We've had this store for over four years now and get all sorts of national accolades, but we got hit hard by the economy and its hurting. As long as we can pay the bills, we can be patient for the economy to turn - and it will turn. I eluded to the biggest problem with gourmet stores - customers expect you to have every obscure ingredient that they see on the Food Network. And while we have argan oil, British bangers, bootleg Kinder eggs and pretty much any uncommon spice or herb that is required for international cooking, inevitably a customer will need something we don't have. That's not a good customer experience. That causes me immense stress. So for the restaurant, I believe that I'll be able to substitute and modify quickly enough with my wealth of ingredients that customers won't even know. We'll see. BTW - shameless plug - It really is crucial to support your independent stores because large stores can't/won't carry the diversity of products that we carry. I can't tell you how many times customers have requested products after the local mega store special ordered for them and never carried it again. Our shelves are full of those ingredients - and I can sell them because I know what to do with them. So enjoy your Whole Foods and City Markets, but remember the little guys...please! (or if every eGullet member lived in Silver City I would be rich beyond my wildest dream.)

The twists and turns: Volume 2 In principle we have decided to take over the cafe, but the current chef is causing some problems. You know how your motivation wanes when you prepare to quit a job, or graduate from school? Well, our chef is at that point. In her mind she is already giving birth and on that trans-Atlantic flight. In the meantime though, we need to keep the customer base to ensure steady sales. Our plan is for me to quit my day job, and start running the restaurant. We don't need millions, but we do need to replace enough of my salary that we don't backslide financially. We also need to make sure that our volume is either small enough for me to handle by myself, or large enough for us to bring in a part-timer. I've already thought about cost-savings measures, and income generating steps. I'll do nothing, however, until I've mastered their system and have tried it first hand. Together with the chef, we chose long ago to focus on carry-out lunches and gourmet-to-go. Sit down dinners may be a good revenue source, but I'm not looking to give up my life for that type of work. So this eGulleter is going to be happy making fancy grilled cheese and tuna fish. The carry-out packaging is a major expense because of our commitment to using compostable containers. We've been using them off and on for a while, but each re-order leads us to replace more plastic, more paper and more cardboard. But it has a price. We also committed to providing reasonably priced lunches. Every other decent restaurant in town is going to set you back $10-15 per lunch. Not bad in a big city, but too high in our small town. We aim for the rounded up $5 range. I'm confident that we could compete in the higher market, but that's not what we want to do at this time. So, customers get a no-frills $5 sandwich with the up-sells of drinks, desserts, etc. We can guarantee fresh, fast, and interspersed organic and local products.

Far be it for me to cause anxiety... Twists and Turns: Volume Pre-1 Friends and good customers often say, "I think its so great that you guys are living your dream." I say, "Thanks," but I think, "Oh yeah, making no money, working long hours to listen to customers tell me the one item I don't have instead of finding one of the 1,200 that I do have...yeah, that's my dream." Tyler and I actually have a very clear dream. Its to open a retreat center. You know, come hang out at our cool Earthship house in the middle of the mountains. Tyler will run spiritual workshops and write. I'll do cooking workshop and do outdoor programs for at-risk youth. We'll bring in artists in residence to create artwork for the center and conduct workshops. Warm cookies and port every night for guests. Wafting coffee essence under their door every morning. Its every man's dream, right!? Well, it is ours, and it will take more money than my non-profit salary will support. The store was a vehicle to move beyond non-profit salary to self-determined fate and property investments. We must be doing something right. We've been in the black from day one, and now in our fourth year, we own our own building, have a loyal clientele, and rightly or wrongly are viewed as the foodies of the community.

Its funny because that's what I was thinking, AND the only improvement that I haven't seen in my friend's kitchens. Convenient composting! What about some type of easy to access herbs. The counter top gardens are too small. The backyard garden is not convenient. I wonder if something more substantial could be done inside.

You'll get to read more about the faux heart attack soon. Trust me - I am more than okay!

I received a number of PMs from folks who were going to make it - how did they turn out? I also wanted to say that Calipoutine's comment about boxed cake mix - I don't know what Paula Deen was making, but the dough on this is nothing like cake. Its much more sturdy - you have to knead it. She must have been making one of those Pennsylvania versions

I thought I would give and not just take I think Verjuice's has the highest potential for being a meaningful, artistic food blog. Read back to the beginning to get the full extent - she has been busy lately. Fanny the Fairy's blog is the one that is most likely to make me smile. I love her artistry and the effort she puts into the blog. Jumanggy's blog is the first one I read every day. He diverges from food, but it is his combining of food and life that make it interesting to me. FX Cuisine is the blog that I aspire to.

[For transparency's sake, I thought I would share that I have been writing these excerpts for the past couple of weeks while all of this plays out, so what I am posting right now is a bit old, but you'll see when my writing catches up with reality.] The twists and turns: Volume 1 When we added our business partner, she actually became a kitchen renter. Our chef's reputation was rock solid when it came to food - inarguably the best chef in town (there are only three, but she really is fantastic). But, when we look at her longevity in any restaurant, you can count the time in months, not years. When she hopped to us we assumed that we would have her a year, maybe two. That was in February of this year. Fast forward to May. Chef comes in and says, "I have some news." Nothing good ever follows that phrase - that's the phrase that started my divorce. She proceeded to tell us about her being pregnant again and how that might throw some wrinkles into the cafe plans around August. She felt that her husband would pick up the cafe with some part time help thrown in. No problem we thought - that news wasn't bad. Jump up to June. "After I have my baby, we're going to take some time and move to England at the end of the year" (where her husband is from). Not great news, but we can deal with that time line. Days later. "We're closing the cafe at the end of June." Oh shit! "But, we can sell it to you or we can sell the equipment to someone else." We weren't interested in adding an unknown chef to our space - our trust was in OUR chef, and we knew and trusted her to care for our property. My spouse, Tyler, and I didn't say anything to each other but we both had many dreams that night. Business had not been great for the past seven or eight months. Our bread and butter is the regular customers, but the tourists allow us to have profit. Gas prices have kept the tourists away from our oasis in the desert. On top of slow sales are major HVAC upgrades that were underway prior to poor sales, which now have maxed out the store card and kept us inching by from month to month. We're in that nasty cycle of needing sales just to purchase more inventory, and not having the inventory to make the sale. We're pulling it off but we need no more repair bills for a long, long time. Did I mention that I had a faux heart-attack in early April due to financial stress? Turned out to be nothing, but it was a bit concerning.

Ha! I had forgotten that I supplied you with curry. You betcha there will be curry on the menu. I live for curry!

While I haven't set a timeline for blogging, I will be going as long as their is interest. I think the unique angle on this is that I'm essentially eGullet taught. And I can tell you that my recipes are eGullet driven. And no, I'm not sending eGullet a check unless I make my millions

Thanks for all of these suggestions. I just added a slew to my blog links (Blogquat).

Brunch is sanctioned morning dessert. Mmmmm....sugar (sorry, that was my candida talking)

When I joined eGullet in 2005 I had no idea where it would lead me. My first post a few days after joining was a pretty extreme jump into foodie-ism when I asked about the rather obscure Vin Jaune. After that I settled more comfortably into the pastry and baking realm, with a bit of cheese mania thrown in on the side. Before eGullet, however, I was the one who did most of the cooking in my house. My mom and I still laugh about when I was in high school - I used to run marathons and ultras so I was eating non-stop, which meant that with my mom working, I had to make much of my own food. I was raised on Julia Child and Geof Smith PBS cookings shows. Justin Wilson bored me - something about the color palette of the show. And in fact, my first cookbook was Smith's Italian cookbook. When I lived in a fraternity house in New Orleans in the 80s, I was always the one whipping up some "fancy" food. During that time I was also mentored by a dear old woman on Freret St. who tried to plump me up on all sorts of Cajun foods. Then during grad school, I had disposable income, time, and a decent kitchen (not things commonly associated with grad school) and my cooking really took off. The lowlight being a blackened beef tenderloin I made for a good friend's birthday. We spent probably $50 on the meat for three of us, and after one bite she ran over to the sink washed her tongue off and then rinsed the meat off so she could eat it (My first critic). With the exception of grilling, I can pull off pretty much anything, but am most happy at 5 am watching a pastry rise. That said I've become well versed in numerous ethnic cuisines and love making Thai, Indian, Malaysian, Moroccan, etc. I've also spent some time in the Restaurant Life forum out of plain interest. I explored non-schooled chef clothing. I shared my process for bringing on a Business Partner. And I've delved into the quality of major food suppliers for restaurants. So, why do I share all of this? Well, due to some interesting life twists and turns, it looks like I may be opening a restaurant/cafe in the next few weeks. I will be sharing my thoughts and experiences of this process over the coming weeks and look forward to the ever valuable wisdom of eGullet members as I make this very scary step of leaving a paying job with great benefits to self-employment in a time of financial instability. Should be fun!

Their dress code is a jacket, but I saw quite a range of formality among all of us jacketed men. You should give them a taste of their own medicine - make a jacket out of fruit leather or something - I think it would be appreciated

Be sure to check out the Cookbooks & References INDEX. There are many in there that will fit the bill.

Thanks - it was well balanced on sweetness. My non-sweet spouse and a non-sweet guest liked it much more than I and the sweet loving other guest, so it leans savory, but certainly worked as a dessert. I cut it in 1/2" slices.

Celery, White Chocolate & Olives Celery gelatin (just fresh juice, nothing added), white chocolate ganache (Callebaut) and Moroccan dry cured olives, dried, powdered and re-formed with cocoa butter (thanks to Kerry for the cocoa butter and Tri2Cook for the technique). I thought it was interesting, but wouldn't make it again. Tyler loved it. The funny thing was that I wasn't thinking of this in a playful way, but when I formed it in a sushi roller and let it sit, it looks like a celery stalk filled with cream cheese, and the ganache had a very similar texture. If I were to do it again, I would find a way to dehydrate the celery juice and make it into a nori sheet.

Lemon Macaron with Dark Chocolate Ganache & Fresh Blueberries Patric A did the macs (his piping skills are getting much better), and I filled with a quick 2:1 ganache and 3 blueberries set in the middle. Very yummy and of course sweet.

I've been doing the Italian meringue method for a few weeks now. I'm not as concerned about the safety issue so much as the textural improvement. I did a demo on my blog HERE. I think its an improvement, so here ya go!

MY guess on the 'why' is to give the soft cheese some travel stability, but like you said, we'll have to wait for the experts.

Peter - as always, I'm really enjoying your blog - you do good work! And I hate to ask about French cheese in a Thai blog, but I've not seen St. Mere before. Is that a stick in the middle of the cheese?