ruthie jewell

The places in ferndale referred to upthread are the now defunct Xhedos, which used to serve Illy, and Java Hut. Java Hut always seems to be busy, but I think that's more for their internet and atmosphere because in my opinion the coffee tastes acrid, as if a handful of dirty nickels were infused into the pot. san, what restaurant do you manage?

Hey, you'll be at my old stomping grounds at Wayne State University. If you have the time, by all means don't miss visiting the Detroit Institute of Arts, just a block or two from the Inn. The Whitney is very close to you, but as you've already noted, it's closed on Mondays. However, Atlas Global Bistro, a very short ride down Woodward Ave., is open. It's not world-class, but it is very good. ← The exceptional Detroit Institute of Arts is, unfortunately, closed for an extensive remodeling until November of 07.

Sentiamo, see if you can navigate this site and maybe find a number to call and ask about recipes. good luck and post any news. Looks like fun. http://myfavouriteplum.blogspot.com/2005/1...airy-floss.html

Here are some muffins I made today. They are my best effort to date. butter 85g bitter chocolate 115g melt together pastry flour 240g white sugar 150g cocoa powder 25g baking powder 15g or 1 tablespoon baking soda 2.5g or half teaspoon salt 2.5g or half teaspoon chocolate chips 175g sift all in big bowl, add chips eggs 50g or 1 large buttermilk 285g or 1.25 cup vanilla x 7.5g or 2 teaspoons add melted butter and chocolate to milk mixture mix by muffin method. Scoop 175g into each muffin cavity (you'll need large-cavity pan) and referigerate for about 1 hour. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes and there you go. I scoop into "crown-top" muffin pans, which you can see the first of the graduated muffin top. I found at Williams Sonoma and it was $17 for the untreated 6 cavity.

yeah, that's the reason those muffins are so sweet-their cake mix!

I've been baking and searching endlessly to achieve the perfect huge moist muffin top for our bakery/cafe. I have finally seen the answer and it involves box cake and pudding batter mixes. Is there a way to get the same results from scratch?

Having worked with Brandon in the past, he is amazing. And what a nice guy. He was an executive chef in Thailand for a major hotel and he speaks fluently, among several other languages.

mrose, not getting anything on a google search for polar tech chicago. Can you send a link or address?

Boagman, thanks for the warm welcome! Ric (husband) and I are going to chicago this week for some industry stuff and are looking forward to dining there. We save up our "babysitting time" for big trips to nyc and elsewhere. I forgot to mention Annam on Michigan Ave in West Dearborn. It's a really incredible asian restaurant that is sleek seating, clean flavors, and authentic interpretation. When in GP, go to Vienna Cafe on Mack down in the park by Tom's Oyster. It's totally mom and pop, she makes the desserts in her spare time and will usually give them away even if you don't order them. She's just too sweet. Incredible homemade soups, sauces (although not trad. french style, heavier eastern european). Just go. Went to Toast last weekend and had a great (huge) serving of the french eggs with potatoes and cinnamon toast crunchies. Worth the wait.

Leonard Kim, has Crush been a few other things before this? Wasn't there something like Deep Blue and a Muir restaurant? Settle this for me and Mr. Jewell.

being from the GP and now living in Ferndale, a Schoolcraft grad, and pastry chic turned stay at home mom, I have a lot to say on this thread. Terapinchef did you go to schoolcraft? You're right, first year culinary at that place are timid! (tell tim I say hello and well wishes.) If you like Steve's Backroom you must must go to the Sahara on Harper between 8 and 9. They are labanese and the flavors far supercede steve's. Lamb shwarma is one of the best in town (My credentials, you ask? I rented in e dearborn for a while and my sittoo, god rest her soul, was a wonderful lebanese home cook). Moomoo's is getting a 10 thousand square foot place in Royal Oak and soon will not have a storefront in the GP. Lunchbox deli is on Mack Ave, not Charlevoix. Siam Spicy on Woodward and 12 is the place for tom yum. Everything else is super spicy without much depth. Has anyone been to Via Nove? I've been twice and think it's really pushing other Ferndale restaurants to up their game. SAVE XHEDOS! Caleb is trying to turn Xhedos on nine mile into less of a cafe and a little more of a vegan restaurant, if that's your preference. Detroit and beyond is anxiously awaiting the grand opening of Asian Village on the riverfront. Zingermans coffee at the cafe, noodles, dim sum, sushi, high end fusion restaurant with a highly talented chef at the helm! Taking detroit high-end cuisine to a "new york" caliber.

Referencing an earlier thread, Kareen mentions package nakazawa as a great source, and I believe that they send samples. Another question about boxes, I have nearly exhausted a search for large styrofoam-ish boxes that can either accomodate cavity layers or candy pads. I'm looking for shipping boxes to send across the country in large quantities. I purchased what I thought was this type of box from chef rubber, but it's much sturdier than I expected (at 20 bucks for the box and 4 for each layer, I should've known) so I use it for storage and it works nicely and keeps everything in one small place, instead of sheet trays all over. Thanks.

Not only is it well composed, it's packed with innovative techniques. Decorations of frozen materials. He pipes or spreads the chocolate onto a frozen piece of ss with something like antifreeze inside (kerry can direct you to www.dr.ca for the exact item). Then he manipulates the design into a bird's nest, a cannoli style tube, fragile hair, large fan, spirals wound around a frozen cream horn mold, dipped brass flowers, filigris. The creations are limited to your imagination, but remember to let the chocolate set up either on the frozen slab or in the fridge for about five minutes. He pipes tempered chocolate (tc) onto ice for a spider web design, pours tc onto tubinado sugar and scrunches it with his hands or leaves it in his intended design for a sparkly appeal. Makes an impression in cocoa powder (or you choose) with an object, pulls the object out (to make a template of sorts) and pipes tc into the impression. Pipe tc into a cylinder of freezing alcohol, different size piping holes result in varied widths of "tree trunks" or branches. Goes over some techniques to decorate polycarbonate molds: using a paint brush for powder colors marbleizing the mold with lines of tc that he smears with his finger egg molds Makes flower petals with the edge of a palette knife and then curves them in pvc. "glue" with tc at the base and add petals for the desired floral effect. -flowers with modeling chocolate -cups with balloons -leaves -showpiece advice and demonstrations -gelatine molds; how to make your own -using pastry equipment, ie airbrush, latex and silicone molds -how to achieve specific artistic styles when making a transfer sheet -curly arches, strips, coils -coral effect -large arches for showpieces -large waves for "" -cigarettes -woodgrain -stencil techniques -complex drawings That's pretty much each topic. If anything interests you, PM me and I'll give further instructions. Ruthie

Sorry Kerry, I think you're correct. My notes are super scribbley. And for the clarified butter bit, he may have been talking about ganache. I'm not bad with accents, but fast talking accents are a different story! The answer to the above question about the freezing alcohol is that yes, you freeze the alcohol in a large plastic cylindrical container with a large opening. Then, as thick as your hole in the chocolate bag is as thick as the finished product, so a larger hole will be more like a tree, a thinner hole is like a chocolate tumbleweed.

That's Dagueneau with his hugger buddy. He'll be one December 17. He's talking and moving so fast, it's hard to take a good picture of him. The rosette is a gianduja, and some of them had pulverized lavender. Kerry and I got it right away, but no one else seemed to detect it. from my notes, and not to repeat anything Kerry already wrote. - MyCryo= needs three times the amount if replacing with gelatin, melt no higher than 40 C. It's a great way to coat warm tarte shells without interfering with your flavor profile (as chocolate would), just sift on just baked shells. Also great to rub on rolled fondant to make a moisture barrier for cakes. -Chocolate is more pale when warm, darker when cooled. -To prevent fat bloom one can add clarified butter to chocolate, not in excess of 4% of the weight. Otherwise Kerry covered the technical stuff.

Okay eGulleters, Kerry Beal really IS the coolest lady on the planet! And what an invitation, of course I scrambled.....Hello!? WYBAUW! After making gorgeous bonbons, he mainly demo'd the garnishes from his book, Chocolate Decorations, which is a beautiful book and made great reading material on the plane home (yeah, I took a plane from detroit to toronto. what?). I took about 5 pages of notes on his demonstrations, but right now I have two babies on my hands (both 11 months but only one is mine) so I'll post more noteworthy information later....... Again I thank you, Kerry Beal!

Like Kerry said, chocolat chocolat has a huge inventory. While in Santa Monica last year I went to a high end restaurant supply showroom called Le Sanctuaire at 2710 Main Street, where I purchased a wonderful Italian polycarbonate mold. Her selection isn't as extensive but I love working with this mold; it's a convoluted heart shape.

Galette is a french word that means flat stone. This is an interesting read: http://www.peartreecreperie.co.uk/gandc/history.htm

The unexamined life is not worth living. Try it and post your results, although one would imagine your suspicions are correct; that the butter would separate and break the ganache, giving it a fudge-gone-wrong appearance.

What about achieving a smooth glassine finish with something like a white chocolate glaze? If the flavor of white chocolate doesn't affect the overall profile of the cake......? Haven't I seen a recipe for this using clear glaze? Chime in if I'm wrong, but I think it came from a LeNotre class......

Excellent information, thank you. I love the rubber stamp idea-ingenius! I really want to try the gelatin mold now. I'll be in touch.

Sidewalls formed when creating the outer shell in a molded chocolate. This woman, a jewelry maker, has an event of over 100. What kind of mold are you talking about making? Would it hold up to multi-use chocolate production and assist the shine of tempered chocolate? What about a custom metal cutter to cut chocolate from painted acetate? That would be ideal to have an applique tile in her logo form. Then it could be attached somewhat tilted on a round mold or elongated egg mold. Perhaps a flat caraque with the logo slanted. hmmmm, would it be cool or lame?

Some great links, thanks. I just called Chef Rubber in Vegas to see about having a polycarbonate mold made for a client's logo; whoa the price! So I inquired about possibly doing a silcone cavity mold. Can I make a sidewall in the mold or would they require dipping? How about having a cutter made of her logo and doing some bright appliques from transfers on a truffle? Suggestions and ideas welcome.

Hi Tammylc! This little place was the size of a large closet, lights off, manual fan on, and offered a choice of 4 or 5 chocolates in a table top case. Could it be Kee's? Just google image searched Kee's and it was definately not her. My woman was in flip flops. Sounds unkosher, but let me tell you......

I've noticed some people use invert sugars in their ganache. Is this for shelf life so sugars don't crystalize? I used to use trimoline in ice cream base. And glucose- for shine? Hello to everyone and thanks in advance for the input.