Darienne

Oh my!!! How wonderful.

However, YOU YANKEE TYPES CAN get pecans at Krogers and the ones in Moab were always fresh. Not as good as the ones flown in from Florida...I have written to my Moab friend to find out where they came from...but still better than most in our small city. The health food stores here with coolers have better ones tho...and way more $$$. I should do a concerted study.

The last entry on this thread was May 2004. We are now edging into February 2010 - six years later. The Foodsaver unit: is it still worth buying a Costco membership - $70?/year to buy one? What else do folks buy there now? Obviously the thread from 2004 says no fresh produce except for a couple of things are worth buying there. And don't go on the weekend. And do your homework. Etc. I am a Costco virgin...never even stepped into one yet. We have a new one in Peterborough, our closest city, and I am thinking of a short free visitor's tour tomorrow. All replies gratefully received.

Should make this list more complete by adding a classic on fudge: Lee Edwards Benning, Oh, Fudge 1990. Add: Peter Greweling Chocolates and Confections at Home, 2010.

"Any idea where she got them? I live in Miami and right now I get my pecans at Costco...wouldn't mind having another source for them" I'll email her and find out. "Do you think there is any added value to buying this book after buying the original Chocolates and Confections?" OK. If you own some good candy making books also, I might say no, especially if your budget's a bit tight. I have amassed all the best candy books as far as I can see, so perhaps it was a bit over the top. But I'm not really sorry. It's still an excellent book. I was shocked at first to read Greweling talking about using compound chocolate after the tone of the bigger book, but what the hey! PS. Check this topic under cookbooks for candy books you might own: Chocolate & confectionary Books . . . which are the best

Looked up all those recipes. Boy, if there is one thing I miss from Moab UT, it's the availability of decent pecans. They obviously don't grow them in Moab, but they can get them. We really can't get decent pecans where I live. My next-door neighbor/landlady/friend in Moab got her pecans from Florida, huge tasty pecans, and I bought bags and bags of them. I'm going to try the pecan buttercrunch. Thanks ps. As for the wiping the surface of the crunch to help the chocolate to adhere...Kerry Beal gave me the excellent advice to dust the surface lightly with cocoa. That really helps.

Thanks for the explanation, Kerry

Sounds wonderful. Any photos? Recipe sources? Free samples sent to my house?

Made the 'Coffee Truffle' (p.72) ganache yesterday, using Expresso coffee granules for the instant coffee granules and 70% Belcolade dark. DH loves it. It'll never make it to truffles.... No, I lie. I didn't use his method which calls for refrigerating the ganache for an hour and then beating it for 30 seconds. I don't know what this would accomplish. Perhaps someone could be kind enough to enlighten me.

We do have a Restore...Ed lives there I think. And we have a Costco but don't belong. I'll take a look. I've never been in one. Thanks.

Kerry is indeed a font of great ideas. Andie and Anna N also. So, where in Ontario can you buy a Foodsaver unit, please.

Thank you, Richard. What a display. Amazing. I particularly liked the chocolate terra cotta warriors.

O.K. Back in business. I hope. Haven't been able to make much for quite a while now. Made a few dozen Christmas lollipops and sent them down to Moab to the kids from the Multicultural Center where I was known as the Candy Lady last year. Then last week I managed to dip everything in the house and package it up to give to folks to whom I was in debt in some way or other: vets, computer tech guy, chiro, etc. Just made a few dozen butterscotch heart lollipops for our local library to sell and make a few dollars. Learned two things: butterscotch will stick like crazy to marble...I guess I had not oiled it enough although then there's that oily lolly back to deal with. But, much better this time, put the lollipop molds on a sheet of silpat (a woman cannot have too many silpats I have found) and they didn't stick at all, of course. Duh. I like to make lollipops for the kids, etc,...the part I could do without is the packaging. Next week it's chocolate coated toffee...and Enstrom alike recipe. And it's so good you can't believe it.

Well...we don't actually have to eat it, do we? I've never made a ganache out of any chocolate other than dark, but it might be worth a try for the other folks who like milk and white. Thanks

No answers here, I fear. Only a question. By 'white ganache', do you mean using white chocolate? Thanks.

Nothing much of note, but I did manage today to make a few dozen heart-shaped butterscotch lollipops for our local library to sell. They have made this lovely silver paper covered foam slab to display the lollies standing up and with their bright ribbons, who can resist. It earns the library some extra cash every year and I'm pleased to do something for the wonderful folks who have been so kind to me with the chocolate and candy books ordered for the library and also inter-library loans made by the score.

We eat hot dogs every now and then. Has to be all beef franks and charred. The buns have to be the cheap buns and heated. DH uses dijon mustard and dill relish. Ugh. I use French's yellow mustard...nothing else will do...and sweet pickle relish. Chips have to be Kettle style, very crunch, as greasy as possible, with salt. No low salt stuff, thank you. What a meal for near vegetarian, heavy on the raw vegetables, from scratch folks! Just asked the DH and he said: Shopsy's All Beef Deli Franks.

We have three freezers: two upstairs fridge freezers (son lived with us for a couple of years and had his own fridge in the garage) and one cellar chest. The chaos is never ending. DH is the biggest help but cannot attend to any...what to call them?...prearranged decisions about how to keep stuff, put it away, etc. I have been somewhat incapacitated over the past year which is making the usual routines quite difficult. How on earth to manage the freezer contents? We did a massage clean-out of the cellar freezer two months ago and I made a list of everything in it and quantity. I label stuff...DH does not. Typed up and dated the list and printed it out and put it on the kitchen fridge. Tried to attend to it. Did not really Just did a clean-out of one section of the cellar using a newly printed list with additions typed on it. There's a pile of milk crates (& gloves)down beside the freezer waiting for 'the day we do the freezer again'. We are on our way and it is working. (I also have a much edited printed shopping list and needs get circled in red, put on DH's clipboard which has a pen attached with these wonderful little Lee Valley pen magnet thingies. DH does the shopping now. Have I mentioned...only about a dozen times...that he brings me coffee in bed every morning before I get up? :wub: )

Wonderful work. I loved the mortar boards. Good going! I have been busy dipping...dark chocolate, of course...dried papaya (I didn't like it), two kinds of candied ginger, and homemade candied orange peels. Owed a number of kind and helping folks a number of little gifts. Nothing exciting, but still filled the bill.

Lovely colors and presentation. And next time...make lots more! We should all have these problems. You go, girl.

Sorry David and all, I will not be able to attend this year.

Peterborough. A local bulk food store, The Main Ingredient, carries Belcolade which Barbara and I use. He gets it from his rep obviously and I could probably ask him how you could find it where you are. You could PM me with your information. Etc. I know that Kerry Beal uses Belcolade and thinks highly of it. I agree. Also, when in Moab, I used Guittard chocolate which I had sent in from SLC. But then, you have to have everything sent in to Moab. I could not even buy lollipop sticks there.

You might try asking this question as a thread in the Ontario Cooking and Baking part of Regional Cuisine for a more useful answer than I can give you. Many eGulleters live in Toronto and know it well. I don't know Toronto well at all and the place I go to, Charlie's, I found because it's on Morningside across from Lee Valley, just north of the 401.

Got it! Kept wondering what I wanted to try in 2010. And then Simonne posted her wonderful Durian recipe and I remembered that more than anything I wanted to taste a Durian. We can get only frozen puree here...that's when our little Asian store gets it in...but that's my goal for the year! DURIAN...now if I could only smell one, just to have done it.

Dear Kajikit, My heart goes out to you and I hope your hand mends quickly. I have a different problem. Both my hands work about as well as they have for a long time, but I can't stand for very long. Now my DH is a good cook. But besides doing a large portion of the cooking (which is wondeful), he is acting as a sous-chef especially for the Chinese food. Maybe this is something your husband could do without cooking anything. I have typed many of our recipes in a fashion that Ed can follow for his part of the work. Bowl #1 contains:.....; bowl # 2 contains: and so on. He gets the stuff out of the cupboards and lines them up. He opens cans, washes, rinses, and chops vegetables and meats. He adds things by the 1/2 cup or teaspoonful or whatever is called for into the designated bowls. He stands there and fries the ground pork. He fries the green beans. He cuts the roasts. Everything but cook it. And all the bowls are lined up for my use. It has worked very well. I'll add a photo of one page of recipes.