apronless

I stopped in here after wine and cheese at The Tasting Room because the decor caught my eye, and I am always one for cakes in tiny form. I had a chocolate/chocolate cupcake and thought the icing was pretty good but the cake part wasn't chocolate-y enough. I did like the fact that the whole product didn't taste artificial though, but 3.25/cupcake is a pretty steep price. Has anyone else tried out this place? Thoughts?

When I was little, my mom and I used to duck out to Bennigans for a mom-daughter lunch every now and then. They used to have a great pasta primavera (lots of vegtables with a great kick) but took it off the menu some time ago. I don't think we went back very many times after that.

We've got reservations at VOICE for Monday. I'd like to try *17 too. I've never been to Daily Review Cafe but their selection looks great for that week. Anyone else going out?

I saw a carton of those berries when I went grocery shopping and knew they were destined for a lemon tart. The filling is divine. Very, very silky. I've read that its hard to get the egg/sugar mixture up to temp (160F I think) when making, but I had no problems with it. I'll definitely recommend giving it a go.

(Originally posted in the confections thread because I got too excited about the prospect of sharing to make sure I was in the right thread. siiigh!) I've been working my way through my New Year's resolution of following a new pastry/baking recipe a week. Last week it was Dorie Greenspan's extraordinary lemon tart. Added some fresh raspberries too: I managed to goof up the crust recipe, but it turned out very well. I think I got one teeny slice of it before my husband finally polished it off yesterday!

I second The Cake Bible. Beranbaum includes conversions for many of her recipes into wedding-sized cakes. Her books are super-precise and have ingredient measurements by weight as well.

Mary, I purchased a Jorestech off of eBay a few years ago for the same purpose. It does not have a foot pedal, but works for me. I had problems with the heating element getting a bit too hot, but I layered another protector sheet over the element and that helped some. It takes a bit of practice to get clean seals, but once you have it down it looks great. My two complaints are that the little cutter that you slide over the poly bags doesnt always make a clean cut. I keep handy some scissors to trim any ragged pieces so it looks even. The other thing that bothers me is that my sealer does not have any type of platform on which you could put the filled bag to seal. This causes problems when I have arranged things in the bag (to fit or for presentation) because they move around. I found that I can put a round, flatish cookie tin next to the sealer and it brings it level.