gfron1

Not sure why but our church is doing a celebration of cake next Sunday and I said I would bring the communion cake. I'm sure I can whip up something that would not require a fork, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of a cake, maybe from another culture or country, that would be good for a communion bread. Thanks

The latest article trashing fancy shmancy dining, this time in Harpers. My simple response is - if you don't like it, don't eat it. If its not the style of dining you enjoy, then I don't care what you think of it. Believe me that you don't care what I have to say about Olive Garden. Reminiscing to Jordan Kahn and Irene Virbila, and the Dallas chefs last year. My more thoughtful analysis: Many chefs are artists. You as a consumer may prefer the kitty poster from Wal-Mart. You may prefer the Van Gogh print from Posters.com. You may prefer the $5M original. One does not negate the others. If you prefer the kitty poster, I bless you on your way. I will most likely not see you in Per Se...and you know what? That's okay for both of us. But please stop writing these asinine articles telling me how bad and overpriced these meals are. They clearly were not meant for you.

With the school intern idea I was thinking - hell, I can't even keep up with the training of the "professional" staff who have some level of commitment to the field, let alone a bunch of students who don't even know if this is how they want to spend their lives. It is a good idea, but less realistic than it sounds. I'm very fortunate that my staff has been stable for nearly 2 years - much different than my previous staff. I try to take care of them but at times it feels like a one way street - giving, giving, giving, but when you need extra coverage, "Oh sorry, I have other plans tonight." But I'm quietly grumbling because I have the stability that allows me to do my work.

My understanding is that while they can be printed in the US they are much much cheaper to print in China. But, I've also come to understand through my research that you need to print 3-5K to justify the shipping. If we self-publish and if we only print 1K as I want, then we'll probably do it domestically.

Honkman, I have thought about the branding impact, and I actually have a different analysis. Publishers are hesitant with this book. So, what if I was able to come back and demonstrate sales of say 3000 copies via self-publishing. It would show them that I can complete the project, have the ability to have decent sales, and show potential for future sales with their support system. Not sure if one perspective is more correct than the other.

That's one of the questions my agent asked early on. Yes, I do have a blog and used to update it regularly, but not so much the past few years. When I told them that I hovered around a thousand facebook friends and few hundred instagram friends, she stopped me and said "If we're not talking in the high thousands its irrelevant and actually a negative to a publisher."

I'm just fascinated by this. This comes from a major publisher. Its like they're going bust: The other item I want to have us both consider up front is funding. Any books that contain high-end art or photography are printed overseas and the production costs are much higher. We have to ask all authors to provide a subvention to offset a portion of the production costs. The subvention amount is based on a cost estimate we ask printers to provide based on trim size, the overall projected book length, and the number of images. I wanted to look at the proposal before I brought this up, but it is something I want you to know about because it is an unfortunate necessity for us in the current economic times. This is the point where I say - what are you offering me? You tell me I have to promote the book. I already have a designer, indexer, photographer. I've researched printing. Not much left for the publisher except getting the book out there, which again, they say is my responsibility. Its an odd time for this industry.

Ha! And at the 11th hour we got 3 bites! All 3 have very odd stipulations, all of which give an indication as to what's going on in the industry. One is asking that I buy 2000 books upfront to sell out of the restaurant. Another is asking for cash up front to cover printing costs, to be recouped later in the sales. There's more but these are known publishers - you've heard of all of them. Really crazy.

2005 and I don't remember what my first post was about but I know I lurked for a few months before I actually said anything. But then the flood gates opened. My spouse tells the story of when I really got hooked - Ling was challenged by Kerry to a pastry event, and then Ling challenged me to make a dessert with meat. So many recipes and friends later and here I am.

I have and most likely will include it in the process. Cuz with that, a $40 donation gets you a book but helps offset some of my upfront. I've been getting more and more gigs taking people out foraging and bringing them back to cook so I'll probably include some higher level donation options. For $10 I'll send you a bookmark

I've been silent as all of this has played out, but here's an update for the sake of understanding the process. First, remember the publisher that I had talked with for weeks, who pre-agent was a "done deal" who later backed out...okay, then a string of rejections. My best guess is still that the first publisher saw me without an agent as a good buy, but with the agent, not so much of a good buy anymore. The subsequent rejections have had a silver lining. At least 10 of them were a page or more of explanation, suggestions and encouragement - I'm told this is very unusual, that normally you get a line or two that says "no thanks." So that's a silver lining, I guess. The reasons were "too regional," "too national," "too big of a topic," "too small of a topic," ... everyone contradicted each other. Many were simply messages saying "we didn't have good luck on our last foraging related book." I empathize with that one. I paired back the proposal to remove as many distractions and red herrings as possible, but I think it was too little too late. I approached my agent last week and said that I was ready to move to the self-publishing phase, but would honor our contract through the end of the year. She said that since we all had put in a good faith effort she would let me out of the contract, and btw, she told her mom to self-publish her book a couple of years ago. So after this weekend, I'm on my own again. I'm very very much at peace with this, and here's why. I don't know what good sales are for a book (I'm told 8k would have been really good for this book), but I have a good sense of how much books cost to produce (labor, printing and shipping) because we had done quite a bit of research on that over a year ago. With a scaled back goal (since I'll have to front the money), I will print 1000 books. I know there are good price breaks at the 3-5k level, but again, I have to front the money. So we can sell 1000 books at my price of $40 and net around $25k. Going through a publisher after their set price and amazon discounts, etc I'm looking at a few bucks per book at best, so the math is easy. My sales will come from fans, friends and customers in the restaurant, and while we will put it out on Amazon, I know the bulk of the sales will come with my customers after they eat a meal. So that's where I am. Slightly disappointed because I wanted the notoriety of a publisher, but excited because now I hold complete control and responsibility on design and sales...and a much faster turnaround. Acorn & Cattails will get printed before Christmas or else!

Its certainly all of the above and a few more than have been listed here, but in the end its hard work and most people just don't want to do it.

Choux is probably right on, but just in case...shelling chocolate not quite in temper, poured too thin, storage temperature stress, but again, since you specifically have fruit fillings...fermenting.

I haven't posted anything new because I"m just waiting for reservations to open up. The 60 day mark is coming very soon. I think Torst is off my list and Cosme, Estelle or Semilla may be on it. So I'm still very open to ideas. My spouse is saying, "But what about shows, museums, blah, blah, blah" (I tune out quickly at the thought of not getting to one of my restaurants) So I may need to free up a night for a show but if I can make it a matinee...then its a win win.

Its been wetter than normal down here so that may have played into it. Prices down here are about the same running $20-25 a bushel roasted.

Thought I would check in a year later. Love my Bludnstones still (see above) with my ShoesforCrews insert. Not sure if the insert is anything special but its doing great. The only wear I'm having is on the heal of the shoes, but its cosmetic, not structural. I rotate my shoes depending on if I'm foraging or going straight to the kitchen, and I definitely feel the difference at the end of the day. So, good investment. My days still average 12 hours mas o menos.

Be patient with them and let them get good and dark on the cob for the best flavor. And yes, I'm growing in my greenhouse.

absolutely huitlacoche - congrats! I'm growing corn this year for the sole reason that I want the huitlacoche.

Its getting close to when I can start booking finally (most are 60 days advance). With all the research it seems the two I am most excited about is Empellon Cocina and Take Root. I'm still going to all the others but these are the two that most excite me. And yes, I'm still trying to figure out how to get a bushel of green chiles on the plane with me (dress them up and say its my smelly baby)

I'm too small to be helpful, but what I will say is that I resisted getting a dishwashing machine until the rep broke it down for me on a daily cost. A leased machine with chems is running me less than $4 a day plus utilities. The Sysco/Sham/US Foods rep certainly will help you but also know they are much more expensive than buying from a local store if you've got the time to shop yourself.

I'm certainly no success story for what you're seeking but a few thoughts. Eating is the absolute hardest thing for me to deal with. Very often I send my floor staff out to get me something, although I've gotten much better at throwing a couple of eggs in a skillet in the morning. I've also bought cases of Tanka bars (soft bison jerky) for mid-afternoon snacks. My average week is 65, and sometimes (like last week) I work 75. And yet, every morning I get my ass up and take the dogs for a hike to go foraging at 6 which 1. exercises the dogs; 2. exercises me; and 3. gives me some mental health by being in nature and fresh air.

I haven't been as excited about a beer in my memory - recently a customer brought me a gift of two beers from de Garde Brewing in Tillamook, Oregon. I had a sour saison and something else, but both just blew me away.

Now that I've mapped out my apartment, the event and some of the restaurants, I see your point. Is there anything specific that you're thinking of?

It was fun to read this article on tasting menus today as I thought more about my options

But I love a good mystery, so here's my best Ellery Queen deduction. Theory 1 - I won't name any restaurants... (mine) gets tons of press about our dinners, but our lunches, while good, are not at the same caliber as dinner (its meant to be an affordable workers lunch for locals), so we also have customers who don't understand what the raves are all about - mismatched perceptions. In our case I would like to think our lunches are very good, but not fancy shmancy like dinner. Theory 2 - bad day. Theory 3 - Locals love it and review it and out of towners don't get the same treatment (I throw this out because of the conversations you mentioned between staff and other tables).