gfron1

Yesterday I learned that an article written about me for Gastronomica by Amy Gentry was selected for Best Food Writing 2014. The article is called Seven Bald Men and a Kumquat Tree. Very fun! There are regularly eGers in that publication - who else is in there that we know?

The Wabi Sabi apparently isn't even in the warehouse yet. I haven't seen any links. I didn't think i had mine yet but I checked and the orange and turquoise dishes in the pic above (top left) are Wabi Sabi - very nice matte finish on them.

Steelite just sent a bunch of dishes for me to use in my photoshoots. Bauscher did the same last spring. Very generous (and smart) of them. Apparently they're trying to get me their latest - WabiSabi.

It could work if you did your cuts lengthwise. With the rotary peeler I get a 15-20 foot strip off of one potato. All you need is enough to go around which would be maybe 6-8". Of course that's just for fancy plating...its not necessary.

The shell is a sweet potato sheet made with my Japanese peeler. The cauli is inside.

I use all parts of the cattail throughout the year. For that pic, the ash comes from the woody fronds - a byproduct of when I use the tender centers. But in early June I gather the pollen, and right now I'm heading into the time when I use the root and corm.

All of our dishes are local artists with the exception of a few Steelites. That one Is Phoebe Lawrence.

Here's another - Molé Negro Cauliflower. Pardon the cropping - its interplatform sharing.

I have no idea what pics will make it in but this one makes me really happy. I have a recipe for a wild grass seed risotto that we top with a cattail ash brulee. Here's one of the pics that Jay Hemphill captured.

Old habits...actually, just today I got my new EdgePro system and I am so much faster and happier! Like I said - BRoll

Yeah, I had all of my knives out on the front lawn (our beer garden) and was giving them a go over.

My photographer just uploaded 100+ photos - many of them BRoll stuff like the one below. We've been using DropBox as our storage so we can all have access to edit and move. Today I labeled all of the photos and created folders designating the 3 sections of the book plus front and back matter, and moved all the completed content and photos into the proper folder. Good organizing work that will make my designer very happy.

That's such a good, yet obvious, solution. Thanks for the perspective. I'll do that tonight....now back to the other issue. Seriously, thanks.

I'm on my third batch of failures so I need some help. The cocoa butter is sticking to my molds, not a dot here and there but 80% of the cocoa butter. After the first batch I figured the cocoa butter was sprayed too hot so I did a full temper on the cocoa butter - heated to 45 and dropped to 32 shaking every 30 minutes. I stored my two airbrushes at 32 the whole time with a light hit of the heat gun as needed. My chocolate looks to be in perfect temper based on my tests and spoon residual. Right now I'm trying to re-temper (45/32) and I'll switch molds. My domes have had no trouble but my non-domes are the problem. I've had success with these non-domes in the past so I know that's not really the issue but I've got to get some chocolates out for sale. Any suggestions?

Thanks Larry. I think you'll enjoy seeing the growth from when i was last highly active on eG to now. I went through that hydrocolloid phase and now my food is very modern but not showy. I'm really enjoying my work right now and putting it in a book is a blast - painful, but a blast.

Today we talked timeline. My editor, who is quickly becoming content coordinator, had it in her mind that we wanted the book out for this year's Christmas. She kept saying how there was no way and we should have had everything done months ago. I kept saying Christmas of 2015. She kept freaking. Finally I sent her a message with no distracting content of other topics and said, I need to make sure we're on the same page here. I am talking 15 months from now - Christmas of 2015, NOT 2014 in 3 months. She just sent this reply: I do to! I'll update you all here after she and I regroup on our timeline because she had some great info about book expos and such.

hot off the press. as of today we are 75% harvested, compared to 92% at this point last year. This is bad because weather is the cause of the delays in harvesting which is resulting in a few different diseases. More rain is expected so this year may not be so good.

I'm finally able to start getting some chocolates out now that its cooling. These are Willow's Foster the Banana and a sweet whiskey. Photos are from my cookbook photographer.

Asking the same questions over and over again. My first chocolates of the season were disasters because my old dehydrator was set way too high. I bought a digital and set it at 32ºC. A full day later and they're still not melted. I took it up to 34º and they're getting soft but not melted. At our eG Choco workshop last may JMA said he holds his butters at 30-32º all the time. So here's my question. Should I take them up to 45 and bring down to 32 shaking every now and then or just be patient until these finally get there? Thanks.

Okay, so you're definitely seeing what I experienced. If at all possible get an accountant first. Have them align it with tax forms for streamlining unless you feel you might need more data. And now let me contradict myself. Try to think ahead to when you're bigger with multiple departments and possible sub-businesses (carryout lunches, catering, chocolates) where you might need more data. Its not a fun process fixing this stuff after its already been set up.

Why do you say that? I keep my knives in good shape, with daily honing and weekly wet stone sharpening, so my angles are fairly consistent. Are you thinking that if angles are maintained one would be doing a lot of grinding when they switch over to an EP?

I actually agree with you, but as I delve deeper into knives (like any kitchen skill) I like to know the basics and then once I understand the theory and practice, then I move to the easier solution. I'll certainly be looking into an EdgePro in the future. Thanks though.

I have a very small staff so that's not an issue. They go home with me at the end of the night, and staff have my cheapies - Globals (pretty nice cheapies) so they don't use mine.

Hassouni - I really don't need any new temptations at this point. I need to make money not spend it

That's right. These are all doubles. I have some singles and I use them for specific tasks but these are general knives (veg) for my kitchen.