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YOu could also just look at some major Hong Kong restaurants for inspiration Yan Toh Heen (desserts on P 13) http://hongkong-ic.dining.intercontinental...h_heen_menu.pdf Hutong http://www.aqua.com.hk/ Lung Keen Heen http://www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/menu_2198.html Summer Palace http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/hong...mmerpalace/menu

Just went to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hong Kong has a surprising number of excellent pastry shops. Some flavors I saw featured - red bean (ice cream, soups) - Mango (in and especially on cakes, soup) - green tea (ice cream, mousse, chocolates, and as tsquare mentioned, cakes) - sweet glutinous rice, especially paired with red bean, and deep fried. But not always fried, such as with motchi. A straightforward Asian dessert that would still appeal to Minnesota audiences might be a ice cream/sorbet trio of red bean ice cream, green tea ice cream, and mango sorbet.

Great Caesar's Ghost, that's a great find! Makes sense to avoid the summer melting problem. Plus, they're selling chocolates from a chocolate shop in my town that I didn't know about. Gonna take a trip. So double great for me, thanks!

Is she serious? That just seems so ridiculous to me. "I won't tell you" "OK I"ll tell you but minus one ingredient" "But I won't tell you the proportions" really?

Some cheaper brands that you can find in stores and you may still like (taste test to see if true) - Ghirardelli bittersweet - Trader Joe's pound plus These are ~$4/lb. Second thing is volume, as Lapin D'or says. Your recipe won't be perfect, but you can scale all the way down to 1/4C of cream, which is ~1/4lb of chocolate in many recipes. Then another ~1/2lb for dipping. So even at Valrhona $16/lb prices, you're only out ~$12 or so for chocolate, maybe another $3 for cream. If you decide you hate the flavor, you're not out that much $ or time. In fact, even with unlimited $, you don't have unlimited time. Who wants to dip a ton of chocolates for which you don't like the flavor? You can use that time experimenting with something else.

(double)

You may hear of Haymarket, which is supermarket surplus. I know a guy who has worked there many years. But it's great if you're a po' student, great value. seafood - I like the Asian supermarkets for fresh seafood, as in fresh killed from a live tank. Cmart in south end has a sparkling tank. chickens - to get a freshly killed chicken, go to "mayflower Poultry" in Cambridge, aka the "live poultry fresh killed" store (seriously, that's the sign). other meat - Savenor's in Cambridge and Boston. This was Julia Childs's butcher when she was alive. You can find the best beef here, but also ostrich, elk, rattlesnake, whatever you name it. Expensive. Marty's Liquors in Newton for 11 lbs bars of chocolate for $39, an awesome deal.

We were just in Hong Kong and can comment on some of these. - Nobu is very good, but probably doesn't belong on a top20 list. I will say it is probably better than the one in Vegas though. The raw dishes are not done as well in Vegas as they are here. One thing I found out is that all the hotel restaurants at the Intercontinental (of which Nobu is one), require hand washing by the staff every hour. Nobu also shares a live tank with Yan Toh Heen downstairs, so certain things are fresh killed. The famous cod isn't one of them (according to a hotel chef we spoke with). Service here is typical upscale Hong Kong excellent. - Hutong does not belong on this list at all. Wayyyy overrated. The food isn't really even Chinese if you ask me, more like Chinese inspired. Their signature dish (crispy deboned lamb) is really good, but one of their other big dishes (drunken raw crab) just tastes like crab in really bad wine. We tried a few other things , maybe the wrong things, but were not impressed in any way. The view is very nice though. Service was very good, but not excellent by HK standards. Maybe they (and Michelin) were impressed by the decor with all the birdcages. - Fook Lam Moon, we only went their for dim sum. Their har gow are terrific, with huge pieces of shrimp. Service was *outstanding* maybe the best I've ever seen at lunch. You lifted your head a little and people were their to pour your tea; you get up and somebody is there to put your napkin down on your return. Waiters spoke Mandarin and Cantonese and get by with English. Only the most popular dim sums are on the English/Japanese menu though, so we asked the waiter to pick. They also have their own tank. Great food, ridiculously awesome service, I would go back.

I got my first mag in the mail yesterday (12 weeks or so after order). I am not a student or even a pro, so anybody can get it. Have to say I like this way better than Pastry Arts and design. Definitely more howtos and pictures of technique than PA+D. Recipes have ideas that I might actually think about. To me, PA+D was full of plated dessert recipes like 'lemongrass with cardamon infusion and bacon granita' or some sort like that that - recipes I would never use or learn from. I agree with chefpeon - even though I can read this online, my subscription is there to support them.

While visiting Chef Rubber's store, I bought pomegranate powder on a whim. Anybody use this stuff before? Any tricks or anything I should be keeping in mind? Any suggestions are welcome. I do not use powdered fruit all that often so I'm not even sure what proportions to use.

To really grow, I think at some point an amateur has to buy "The Patisserie of Pierre Herme" or a similar book. In terms of techniques, flavor combinations, it really changed my outlook on pastry. When you read the cheaper Herme books, it's all about recipes. I"m going to make X, I'm going to make Y. When you buy PH's big books, it's about teaching you building blocks, showing some techniques, and thinking in terms of assembly. Basically teaching you the tools the pros use so that you can do it on your own.

thanks, nice get!

They have a retail store? Probably just as well that I didn't know that. I've ordered from them on-line. Seeing all that stuff in person could be dangerous to my finances. re: smoke-free environment. I'm fairly sensitive to ambient smoke, but didn't have a problem walking through the casino floor at Mandalay Bay to get to RM Seafood. The restaurant itself wasn't smokey at all. Is there really a problem with smoke drifting into a place like L'Atelier? I'd think that if there was they'd do something about it... ← I did not go in; I can only say the door was open to the casino at L'Atelier at MGM. The door was closed at Joel Robuchon right next door to L'Atelier (and at Nobu at the Hard rock, for comparison). After experiencing the difference in air at Nobu and Le cirque, I think the door should be closed at every restaurant next to the casino. If the casino smoke doesn't bother you, then it won't matter. Sensitivity to that is an individual thing, of course. It could also be that Le Cirque was anomalous, but why risk it? There are so many great places in Vegas that are not next to the casino with an open door. I don't think this is unique to restaurants. All the shows are non smoking. But except for Cher in the Colloseum at Caesars (which has a ridiculous ventilation system), the ones I saw all smell of casino smoke until they close the doors after the show starts. In the case of Jubilee, they never close the door and it smelled like smoke the whole way through. Chef Rubber has a retail store and a small kitchen where they teach classes. They have a kick ass enrober (40k) that can do 10k a day or something like that. It wasn't a selmi, it was something else, would have to check the pics. You need a taxi or car to get there, it's about 2-3 miles walk from the strip. But it is walkable if you wanted.

Both. I echo what David said. I stayed in Bellagio and went to JP Maury's 4-5 times. Terrific stuff. There's also a thread already. Like being in Paris, except maybe slightly less adventurous. the most 'adventurous' thing was JPM's version of the rose macaroon. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=59798 Payard's at Caesar's look similar. But it's right outside the casino, so don't bother with the express area right outside. I took some photos and will post when I get a chance. Also went to Lenotre in Paris a few times (Paris the hotel). Also great. Will post pics when I get a chance. Chef Rubber is also there if you like to make pastry and want to shop supplies. Frederic Robert at the Wynn was with Ducasse (I didn't try his stuff, and he doesn't have a shop). The plated desserts at all the places I went were all lights outs. Beth, L'Atelier is in the MGM casino with the door open. The first day, we went to Le Cirque in the Bellagio in the casino with the door open. It is not a non-smoking experience as you would get in NY, SF, or Boston. After Le Cirque, we decided not to go to L'Atelier or Mesa Grill or anything else we knew was in the middle of the casino with an open door. There's so many great places it was not worth it.

to add one more to this thread, I went to Chef Rubber's location last week. They were out of Paillete Feuilletine. The guy there (Paul I think) suggested two substitutions for a non pro like me who was using it in small quantities. The first was sugar cones for ice cream, ground up. The second, was tuile batter thinly spread out, baked for 30 seconds. He said that's what Paillete Feuilletine was.

some more of my observations after a week in Vegas - Reservations are SO much easier than in NY, SF, or Boston. You can get in most places same day. This is really huge. - Pastry is really lights out. The level of pastry here is so high everywhere. I don't think we had a disappointing pastry all week. - Everything is so close together. you can easily walk to 20 great spots all within a few blocks. You won't get that in NY or Boston, (maybe in parts of SF). - The copies didn't bother me so much. Is Cafe babareeba really better in Chicago? I don't know for sure, but having been to the one in Chicago, I do know the line is shorter in Vegas. - the smoking though. It's everywhere, even in and around the 'no smoking' restaurants. I don't think 'soul' is missing in Vegas. I think it's the dulling of taste from not being able to breathe properly.

My wife and I are in Vegas now, thanks to all for the thoughts and recommendations. On one hand, I am loving some of the food and (especially) pastry that I am trying. But I am really hating the smoking that is Vegas dining. We come from Boston where we are used to smoke free dining (like those in NY, California, Hawaii, or Boston). The restaurants in Vegas are non smoking in theory, but anything near a casino or near a mall (where people routinely ignore smoking rules) is not really a non smoking experience. For example, we went to Le Cirque and it was a smoking experience until they closed the doors 1/2 way through. We wanted to try Mesa Grill, but it's smack in the middle of the casino and the doors are open to the casino. The doors to L'Atelier are open to the casino. I do not know the strength of their filtration, but for the cost, I didn't want to risk it. The doors to Joel Robuchon are closed as they should be. The express area for Payards Patisserie is smack dab outside the casino and the air is terrible. The shows are the same way. Cher's show had a powerful AC creating positive room pressure and was smoke free. Jubilee was smoke infested the entire way through (even though it is a non smoking show). Given that there's so many good restaurants in Vegas, my #1 consideration is almost becoming 'is it near the Casino and casino smoke'?

If you're looking to just take a few classes, Chef Rubber does some pastry classes. I didn't see it on the website, but when I went there they mentioned it. They have a very nice kitchen setup.

I'll post my pics of JPM's after I get back from vacation. Called down to try to get a tour of the kitchen (was denied, boo hoo), but they do have a nice looping video of the kitchen internals

I can answer this, yes you can. You need a car to get there, or else it is a ~3 mile walk from the strip. You can take a cab there, but getting back is a little harder because you have to wait for the pickup. The staff is knowledgable and friendly and it is a pretty sweet inventory. I took photos and will post when I get back home.

great work! Are the cylinder molds as deep as they appear?

Callebaut in 11 blocks is ~$4 a lb not including shipping. Van Leer is slightly less (for dark chocolate only), but less available. For small quanitites of dark chocolate, Ghirardelli is pretty good IMO. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they have cheap Belgian chocolate that is decent, the pound plus or whatever it is called. ~$3.50 a lb.

Did you check the adjustment of the paint tip on the airbrush? I've had times when nothing was coming out, but if I played with the height of the paint tip I could get it flowing. ← Could also be a clog in between somewhere. Run hot water through it to see.

thanks Bummer the file is only allowed to be downloaded 10 times. But, shellac? really?