Tri2Cook

Luck, The Force or, more likely, the magic of the EZ Temper has been with me thus far. I somehow completely missed the part about waiting. I've been lining my molds and tossing them straight in the fridge and haven't had a single piece that was out of temper. But now that I've said that out loud, I've probably captured the attention of the chocolate gods and should probably start doing the waiting period from now on.

I think the PointZero, Abest, Pro and a couple others are all pretty close to being the same compressor. Lower cost made-in-China compressors that generally get high ratings in the reviews. I ordered the Pro which looks extremely similar to what you ordered. They have a version with the tank like the one you ordered but I went with the one without the tank. These compressors use 1/8" BSP fittings and most of the common popular airbrushes (including Grex) use NPT fittings so there's a good chance you're going to need an adaptor like this one. Edit: I just spent several minutes searching the internet for an 1/8" BSP to 1/8" NPT adaptor in Canada and for what it will cost + shipping, I can just order the Paasche D220R compressor (1/6 HP, up to 50 PSI) instead and be done with it. So I went back to amazon.ca and canceled the Pro compressor. So much for trying to be thrifty.

So the correct compressor has been ordered and the incorrect compressor is ready to go back to the post office. Anyway, the one I ordered is 1/6 HP, 20-23 liter/minute air flow and pressure up to 60 psi. Should be plenty for my airbrush (Paasche HS) so the only thing that should be holding me back with airbrushing now will be lack of skill.

That's awesome. I probably can't even imagine the hours and effort that went into getting it to the point where we first learned about it and you've documented some (but probably not even close to all, most likely just the bits you thought would make interesting posting) of the work and travel you've put into it since that point. I'm really happy to see it doing so well. That doesn't always happen even with good ideas or products... but you made it happen.

Dammit. Just went to the description page for the compressor I ordered (which should be in today or tomorrow) to refresh my memory on the specs. It should be fine as far as being powerful enough... but I just noticed for the first time that it's 220v. Guess it's gonna be doing a fast turnaround and go back and I'll look for another. I really have to start reading things more carefully.

I didn't go to culinary school. I walked into a restaurant that was looking for a prep person and said I'd take the job but was interested in actually cooking. I was hired, worked along the lines Rob mentioned above, paid attention, jumped into the cook's position if he needed to be away for a few minutes for some reason and when he quit, I took over. I wasn't really ready for it at that point. I considered myself an above average home cook and I knew the menu and how things were done but there are some aspects, especially the timing, that only come with doing it. So the job was probably more difficult than it would have been for someone with more experience, especially since one cook and a prep person was the entire kitchen staff at that place, but I learned quickly and survived it. When the new owners took over, they had a different focus for the place. A better direction but involving a lot more than I'd been doing (with less help, the prep position was deemed unnecessary so it became just me in the kitchen). So I had to convince them I was up to it and do some more fast learning. They were the fifth owners of the place in a 20 or so year period and we made it by far the most successful it had ever been. So I'd agree that hard work and dedication are the most important qualities you can bring to the job, the rest can be learned (in school or on the job if you're willing to start lower on the chain) The hours can be insane, the work can be hard, the financial rewards aren't as great as one would like them to be. You really do have to love it if you're going to look at it as a long term career plan.

While recipes can serve as a starting point and there's nothing wrong with substituting things, that's not really the same as suggesting a recipe may be wrong when you haven't actually tried it. The recipe may intentionally use a drier base to absorb the juice that will cook out of the apples. Even if it seems more dry than desirable right out of the oven, once those juices are absorbed and distributed it will have the same effect as using a soaking syrup. Getting a good result with substitutions or additions isn't evidence that there was anything wrong with the original recipe.

Interesting... thanks for the additional information!

Those are awesome. I may have to steal... errr... borrow!... that one.

Those are beautiful and they sound really tasty too. I still don't know enough about this stuff to picture in my head how you did that decorating even with the explanation included but I like the way it looks.

Yep. I can't even remember the last time I did use egg in marshmallow.

Exactly!

I'm thinking you're not likely to find many restaurants giving women a menu with no prices when dining with a man (who gets a menu with prices). That makes the assumption that he's paying the bill. A lot of women aren't overly enthusiastic about those types of assumptions these days.

Thanks for the recommendations. The My Weigh 7001 is available through vendors in Canada for a reasonable price (~$40 + tax and shipping) so that's the route I'm going. I appreciate the help.

Yeah, that's an option I suppose. I'd rather just not have auto shut-off though. I can remember to turn the scale off when I'm done much easier than I can remember to go bump it every minute or two when I'm busy. I may just end up springing for a more expensive one with an a/c adaptor if that's the only way I can avoid auto shut-off. It annoys me enough to be worth the extra money. Just thought I'd fish for options I may be overlooking first.

Due to clumsiness, I need a new scale. My small, accurate down to .00 grams scale is fine. I need a new scale for the bigger jobs. Something that can go up to at least 2 kg (but more is fine) with accuracy down to the gram. Yes, they are easy to find and not expensive. The problem I'm running into is they all seem to have auto shut-off with ridiculous short amounts of time before they shut themselves off. And even more annoying, no option to bypass the auto shut-off. Does a digital scale exist without auto shut-off or with the option to not use it without getting into the really expensive end of the scale spectrum? Oh, and in Canada would be preferred.

Yes, please!

Heston Blumenthal told us quite a number of years ago that chocolate and blue cheese get along very nicely... I think it's just taken a while for what he already knew to be widely accepted. No idea on the shelf life part but all of the suggested combos sound tasty to me.

Food porn and intrigue... what more could we ask for? And no, the lack of comma between food and porn was not a mistake.

I'm not doubting they're tasty but "more sweet, less sour" takes them right out of the range of what I like in a grape.

I've never used finely, or even coarsely, ground beans (I've found both require more effort to strain out than I want to spend) and always been happy with the results I get. I toast the beans ala Rob's suggestion above and then put them in a towel or Ziploc and give them a quick crush with a rolling pin or something just to crack them a bit and proceed as usual. I've never tried Rob's method with the whole beans but I'm going to. If he says it works, I have no doubt that it does and that's one less step in the process I'd have to mess with.

When I first met Rob on eGullet, I was a restaurant cook and half-owner of a catering business and he was running a gourmet grocery that he made desserts for and doing some really nice home cooking. A few years later Rob is a James Beard semi-finalist, restaurant chef/owner and now a published author working on opening his next restaurant adventure... and I'm still a restaurant cook. Just goes to show what hard work, dedication and motivation (along with a healthy dose of talent) can do. I think it's awesome and I'm looking forward to the book. But you don't have to put my name in the hat for the free copy, I'm fine with buying this one.

I'm not sure the drippings make a huge difference to the flavor but I figure it can't hurt and it sure makes cleaning the smoker drip tray a lot easier. It was a nervous 1st quarter for me but they settled down and it turned into a blowout by the end of the 3rd. It alleviated some of the quarterback worries I had going in but they're going to face some much tougher opponents than they did last night so we'll see how things go.

From the article... So still not really a race-specific thing. That was a decision based on their desire to maintain the integrity of what they do. Admirable but not a disadvantage based on race. If the white chef doing Thai cuisine says "my customers don't like the fish sauce, I'll work around it" and the Thai chef says "my customers don't like the fish sauce but it's supposed to be there so it will be there" and the white chef does better business, that's not a racial advantage. That's playing to your audience. Money vs. authenticity. Sometimes you can do both but if not, the choice to do one or the other is available to people of all races.

Can't give you a like for that one. Roll Tide! Been a fan since I was a young kid, not likely to change now. But I understand why everybody hates them... they do tend to win a lot. The food is smelling good but I got a later start than I wanted (had to work this morning). It's looking like this is going to be halftime food. Settled on tossing a pan of beans in the smoker underneath the racks of meat so they'd catch the drippings and have mac and cheese in the oven. Even made a salad so I could pretend I cared about how healthy the meal is.