Tri2Cook

Nashville hot chicken... destined to be topped with pickles on slider buns.

I've wanted to borrow (ok, steal) that one since you first posted the pictures. I really like it. Amazon Canada finally made the little strainers available here not too long ago. They're significantly more expensive on Canadian amazon (a set of 10 for $46 compared to $11 for the same 10 on U.S. amazon) but if I can eventually get a result anywhere close to what you get, it'll be worth it.

Yeah, I've been using the same Wagner Power Painter for over 12 years now for pastry work (with zero problems so far) but I'd hate to have to fill that thing with colored cocoa butter. The price of that stuff makes me consider the possibility of just working in straight chocolate and living with the colors I can get from that. But then reality sets in and I realize that just wouldn't be as fun.

I have the H-series gun with a Paasche D220R compressor but I don't have a lot of answers to questions. I haven't even sprayed colored cocoa butter with it yet. I've only sprayed chocolate thinned with cocoa butter and wasn't going for a full coverage. That's been mainly just to get a feel for using it and to make sure everything worked. I've gathered a few colors to start playing with but I need to set something up to help with mess first. I'm just playing around at home while I try to learn this stuff and don't want colored cocoa butter mist decorating the entire kitchen.

When I bought my Paasche, it came with 3 needles (.5, .8 and 1 mm according to their website). It came with the middle one installed and I haven't messed with it. Think I'll give the bigger one a try.

Definitely gonna grab this one. I know it'll be a great book and it also allows me to give back a little in thanks for the wealth of drink recipes and information I've harvested from your blog.

I have an unopened small (30 ml) bottle you're welcome to. I know that's not much but it might help if you need some soon. I ordered two when I ordered some other stuff from Vanilla Food Company and I've only made a smallish dent in the first bottle. Turns out I'm not really using it as much as I thought I would.

I use the Roxy & Rich. I'm in Canada so the shipping from Chef Rubber and chocotransfersheets.com is just way too much. chocotransfersheets wanted $113 to ship $100 worth of cocoa butter to where I live and Chef Rubber isn't a whole lot better. They both look like they'd be good options if I lived in the U.S. but for where I live, I haven't found a better option than the R&R. I can get it through vanilla food co. with $7 flat rate shipping or, if they don't have the color I want, I can get it from chocolat chocolat for higher but still reasonable shipping.

I've wanted to ask this same question but I've avoided it because I more than half suspected that knowing the answer would result in having to buy another book.

I strongly suspect you are just looking from the outside at an inside joke.

Yep. I don't have any marble or granite surfaces to need to clean but the heat gun seems to work pretty good for getting hardened chocolate off of whatever I manage to get it on. On a bad day, that can entail a lot of area.

Rainy, somewhat cool Sunday with no interest in getting too fancy. Seemed like a good day for a Cincinnati 3-way... With apologies to anybody picturing something entirely different and not, presumably, involving a plate. I actually made the Cincinnati style chili yesterday with today's weather forecast in mind.

I had black forest ham and Swiss cheese with horseradish mustard on garlic naan (not homemade). Still not particularly adventurous but outside of my usual breakfast fare.

I like burgers cooked that way. I usually dice the onions when I do it but that doesn't make much difference in the result, just personal preference. I've done it with a mixture of chopped onions and chopped pickled jalapenos too.

I keep things cleaned as I go at work. I try to at home... but there are those days when it ends up being "clean when I get around to it". But knowing I have to clean up my mess has taught me to not make too much mess in the first place.

We agree on the figs but I think we have slightly different views on the dates. I just like figs better, I don't dislike dates.

Is there an optimal ratio... or am I overthinking it?

My English muffin (not homemade) with butter and cherry jam that I had for breakfast seems positively boring compared to what everybody else is eating... but I enjoyed it.

Current (and usual) price for avocados where I live is $2.99 each. They were on sale last week for $1.99 each so I grabbed a few for the guacamole I'm making today. The cheapest I've ever seen them here was 3 for $4 and I've seen that exactly once.

With help from a friend, I got a bottle of the Saint James Royal Ambre we discussed above. And to my complete surprise and delight, when I opened the box, there was also a bottle of Rhum JM agricole blanc... which is not available through the LCBO. Through great generosity, I've gone from rags to riches with agricole.

Great idea! Not only does it serve as a notebook for those who attend the classes, it's also really nice for those of us unable to attend. I'm not really free to travel at this point in life... but I'm always happy to learn something new (or new to me, which is a big category).

I have a love/hate relationship with Brazilian steakhouses. Lots of tasty meat delivered to your plate as often as you desire. Sounds perfect until you add in my complete inability to say "no thanks, I've had enough" when they come to the table... so I end up eating entirely too much and become pretty much useless for the remainder of the evening.

That chicken sounds really good. Load it up with the extra hot sauce and park a nice, cold beer next to it...

Never heard of it. I'm sure I'm nowhere close to what it would actually be used for but it sounds like it would be tasty with venison.

If you really want to see a relic from another time, I've never owned (or wanted to own) a cell phone of any type. Just call me Captain Caveman...