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gfron1

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by gfron1

  1. EEEGAD! I ordered mine at the same time and they said it would ship this week, but I haven't heard anything. I've got an event on 2/10 and want to practice first.
  2. NOT the Waring Pro juicer. It is very powerful and easy to clean, but the darn things break down faster than anything!
  3. 3 year Gouda - I've got to say this was the most difficult (hard) cheese I've ever cut.
  4. Its fine - trim and enjoy. The only caution is if the mold is really funky colors like pink or orange, then cut even more off and enjoy
  5. Since this thread is fighting for a comeback Big Eden: I have long wanted to throw a Thanksgiving party that times each course with the this movie. Delicatessen: If you don't know anything about it, I won't ruin it, but the best line is, "they even eat money."
  6. Depends on the time of year. During the holidays we'll carry up to 100 different chocolates (everything from Ritter bars to Cluizel, Domori, etc.). Post holidays - I shoot for around 40. And I carry primarily Sharffen Berger and El Rey for my bulk. The latter being my preference, the former what the crowd demands.
  7. Thanks Franci - I appreciate the correction (already updated my site).
  8. I agree about their white - I find its so smooth and rounded with a fantastic aroma. I've had trouble melting it to my smoothness once, but I think it was an error on my end.
  9. I agree with RayNickBen, but I'll also share that a local couple recenlty opened a "martini bar" only to find that people want their food more than their drinks. Now they're complaining about having to focus so much on food. They also have the dilemma of sticking with their original plan which is getting modest but positive receival from the community versus scrapping it and going for the food crowd. Tough decision. PS I also watch for your updates so thanks for keeping us posted.
  10. Not a Canadian, but it is readily accessible here in the states. They are very easy to work with for wholesale orders - fast and typically well stocked.
  11. Just to give you a sense. I just bought an ISI soda siphon for $57.95 and the chargers for about .75cents per cannister which makes 3-5 drinks. We do fizzy water with Armenian fruit syrups almost nightly. Much better than canned soda, but the 75 cents are going to add up I fear. However, we love our siphon. And the ISI version is very sylish so we like it on our counter.
  12. I've been intrigued by this pie ever since I've heard of it. For those that have made them, does this recipe look like a good one? sugar cream pie ← I don't have my recipe in front of me, but it sure looks like the beast itself!
  13. Now I'm heading down memory lane... Up in W. Lafayette we used to get apple butter pizza at Brunos. Apple butter with provolone!
  14. OMG! I can't believe I forgot the sugar cream pie! This stuff will kill you but it is so amazingly good. Pic
  15. Keystoning (2x) is the standard and in fact most people say if you can't exceed keystone, you won't make it. The only other thing I'll add is that in the beginning you should bite the bullet and do an actual price analysis. Since you did this in the pastry thread, I'm assuming you're asking about pastries. So take your recipe and look at the actual material cost to make that muffin. Then calculate your monthly operating expenses. Finally, what percent of your sales are the muffin expecting to be? Then you can do the math to see how much that muffin really cost - .10 cents or $2.00. That should steer you in the right direction for pricing, which as zoe b suggested, then gets guided by the market. Since my intern starts today, let me offer option #2...have your intern do these calculations as a project. Owners says Intern says
  16. But again, I am suggesting that this places an undue responsibility on a purchaser. You're suggesting that I compare every ingredient of the thousands of items that cross my shelves every year...not just at time of purchase, but also for any changes to their legality throughout the year. That is an impossible task for any size store. I think you are doing the correct thing by being a responsible consumer and educating yourself to what you purchase. You then have the choice as to what enters your body or not. And as for your comment about attending the FFS, I do, and I do read the labels of what I pursue, but I buy far more things that what I taste at the show. If that's all I purchased, my shelves would be very scant. That, in my opinion, does not suggest that I shouldn't be purchasing for my store. Purchasing is a much larger job than that - it is about relationships with manufacturers, distributors and customers. All of whom have important knowledge and needs to share with me. And again I would suggest that self-responsibility is the best and most logical response to this entire issue.
  17. But again, I ordered the exact same juice in question (along with about 75 other products) in the same week when I ordered from 4 other companies (representing 350 products)...I'm not going to research each and every item, and then continue to monitor their legality going forward. Realize that I have to work really hard to get my banned Kinder Eggs (banned because of small toy parts being a choking hazard), because the FDA shuts them down before the enter the country. If the BBB juice made it in the country, then the FDA missed it. I can't imagine even considering monitoring the 10,000 SKUs the a big store would need to. Again, I choose to believe that they do care enough about other human beings that once informed, and once confirmed, they would remove the product if they needed to. And again, the letter is some lawyer dictating babble...not a personal message to you as a person, so no need to take it for anything more than it is. BTW, I don't think you've finished the story - did they remove it from the shelf or is it still being sold?
  18. Being an infrequent SF visitor, I'll need some help from locals with the name, but there was a French woman who opened a crepe shop downtown...I was staying near Moscone, and walked kinda of toward China Town just a few blocks. It was very small, but her personality and good food made it a great breakfast. I opted for the nutella crepe instead of anything fancy.
  19. At great risk I'll put myself out there as a specialty food store owner. We're small with over 1,200 items and we do try to catch any banned or questionable foods. We used to carry the juice you mentioned, and caught it when our distributor sent out a notice. There are so many notices that go out and I'm sure we miss some/many (I could have easily missed the Vegemite ban if wasn't for EGullet). We really do need customers to point things out to us that passes our radar. If I were a big corporation, I'd send out some lawyer created (CYA) letter like they did to you - I just apologize and pull it if I find it to be true. I wouldn't assume that your store was out to pull a fast one. More than likely its just trying to keep up on things, and that one was missed...or another way to pose it, how many items have they caught that you don't know about?
  20. Thanks for that info. Maybe I can use chocolate extract where I can move the chocolate flavor into something else that would be easier to work with.
  21. I am going to start practicing making a chocolate caviar using SA. Has anyone else tried this? My thought is to make the small chocolate balls, and serve them on a tuile.
  22. This was my first macaroon - I used the gingerbread macaroon recipe from the recent LA Times feature on best holiday cookies. This was Spago's recipe. In the end, the marmalade filling, and an icing I made with organic Spanish Mandarin juice never held the cookies together strong enough for me to set on their side, so we just ate them out of a bowl. I am interested in feedback since I've never eaten one before these and now I'm not as sure that I understand the details of feet, gloss, interior consistency, etc. Most of these were dry like a meringue cookie, but some were soft. Which should it be? Can the feet bulge out like they did, or do they need to remain verticle?
  23. I made gingerbread macaroons today and I want to fill them with a mandarin filling that is strong enough for me to set the macaroons on a tree - sideways. Any ideas/recipes? Thanks.
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