gfron1

On the wholesale end I can tell you that many of my distributors have increased prices up to 10%. Most are in the 4% ballpark. I, like many of my peers, have absorbed price increases over the past two years, but that is ending. We simply can't afford to keep doing it.

Alright - my turn. Focus on basics - I tend to dive off the deep end, and I really need to learn some basic principles. Finish that Amernick book! I'm only about 1/3 of the way through. And I need help with my decorating skills too. I know practice, but geez, do I have to

Good lead (as he rushes out to order!). Thanks.

I was just reading Ong's book and he says,

I would check out the topic on The Sweet Life Bakery. They did grass roots growth and after about a year they had a space. They did a great job of chronicalling their efforts.

I have a request for a white cake with "petit four" icing. What does that mean? Upthread I read poured fondant...what is that creature? Never heard of it. Oh, and by the way - I need to make it tomorrow! Thanks.

And my very basic question that I can't find in this topic - how do you color it? Is it just any liquid colorant...what about the gel colors. What I'm trying to do is live my dystopian dream and play off dystopiandreamgirl's recent buches. I want to create a juniper branch (cluster of needles) by pouring the isomalt into crushed ice. So, first, how do I color it, and second, do I pour when its hot and thin v. the conversation above about pouring it as cold as possible? Thanks

I have local artists making their interpretations of baby Jesus for me right now and will have the cakes ready just in time for Mardi Gras - thanks for another recipe to try out!

That's what I thought but Amazon listed it as a 2008. I just re-checked and it shows 2007...geez was I in Amazon.ca or something. Very odd.

HERE are a number of topics in the P&B Index that you might find useful.

Just a minor clarification. In the US "grants" for business start-up are virtually non-existent. They might be out there but you'll have to fit a very specific demographic. There are, however, "loans" that are specific to all sorts of groups. I always encourage folks to go to their Small Business Development Center as a starting point. Its free. Sometimes they don't have the most appropriate expertise, but sometimes they do, and even if they don't, they'll be able to point you in the right direction. Also, some loans require participation with the SBDC.

That is out of control! You have to post recipes for some of those components. What is the paper - a thin tuile?

I agree about the sweetness, so why not a "savory" waffle. I always think of curry first, but sage, rosemary...you get the idea. Then think of the ice cream play off from those starting points.

hey Mota - since I'm the only person in the universe who doesn't have that book - what is the filling? It looks really, really good.

We swish and dump right after use. If we forget, then we'll soak with water in the cannister for an hour or so and it wipes right out.

From my spouse's recent visit to Indy:

How dare my spouse eat a meal without me! Here is his review:

This is a passionfruit caramel - and maybe mango too - just fantastic!

I love the juxtiposition of these two pics!

and my motivation to create THIS gesztenyetorta.

I have not and do use mine regularly still. They also just released an electric version which is very cool, but even pricier.

And the chocolate class. Here are some of the chocolates that were made - transfer sheets with magnetic molds. Demonstrating molds and luster dust. Kerry in action and Kerry with Dustin, a local kid who has taken every one of our cooking classes - he's gonna be good!

The cheese party. There's always a crowd at the food table. Here's Kerry sampling some of the tamales that had just arrived. The tamale maker - Consuelo. Verjuice had a great conversation with my mad Hungarian friend. And the cheese. These are the cheeses that Kerry brought. Both were fantastic, but the one of the left was just over the top good! The one on the right was so strong that it knocked me backwards when I opened it.

Alright - relaxing in a hotel in El Paso where I'll spend the night until my spouse flies in. Kerry should be getting close to Canada by this time and Verjuice should be just about at Albuquerque. I'm sure both will have more info and pics to share once they get settled. A very busy and somewhat bizarre weekend. I'll start with the dessert. The key was the celery. How to get the flavor in, but keep it enjoyable and not distracting. I had juiced 4 C. of celery juice, which then boiled down to 1 C. of concentrate. It wasn't very concentrated, but definitely purer. I ran it through my fine mesh chinois to get the particles out, and reboiled with celery seed. I then restrained and added the sugar to make it a syrup, which I boiled down again. I brought it to softball and added it to the egg whites. Then I put it in a piping bag and that seemed like it didn't work as well as I had hoped. You can see it went from very silky smooth to somewhat broken. There was no delay between whipping and piping, so all i can figure is piping through the tip was the problem. But here is the final product. I'm still happy with the taste, just not the texture. The other problem was my mousse seemed to break instead of staying smooth. Tri2Cook - I would love to brainstorm - that's the fun part for me!

It looks like we're going to be providing delayed gratification on this whole weekend. The fact is - it hasn't stopped, and we just had no friggin' time to post much more than pics. The cheese party is over and I'm ready to pour myself into bed and wake up on Monday, but its up early for a dog walk and the long drive to the airport in El Paso. The good news is that I'll have most of tomorrow to catch up, post pics, respond to comments, etc. I'm used to the cheese parties, so Kerry and Verjuice can do most of the talking there, but it was a huge hit - good crowd and good cheese (unfortunately its rarely good wine). I'm off to bed, and I PROMISE great stuff tomorrow summing up the weekend.