Darienne

Grilled cheddar cheese on light rye bread...cut into quarters for me, whole for DH, of course. That's it!

OK. OK. I've never even had a Heath bar and I'll find one and try it. If I might be allowed to mention a book on this subject, Steve Almond's Candyfreak; A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America is well worth the reading. The title is off base to me...it sounds like something almost unsavory, but the book is a good read, all about the candies which are no longer there. Really enjoyed it.

DH and I just had a small but serious discussion and the answer is there is no mass-produced sweet that we really like. Now when there is a thread on regional goodies, we'll have one to add that we truly love.

Keeping my promise to Lindacakes, Black Cake maker extraordinaire, today I was finally able to buy Mixed Essence and Burnt Sugar Caramel from a Caribbean market in Toronto. All steps are now in place. Unfortunately I started the entire project too late...but that's life. I'll make it anyway.

Gelato. Good idea. I still have a fair amount of the stuff left. We are eating the chocolate/failed halvah patties. Quite delicious. Maybe I've stumbled upon something new and wonderful and now need to find a name for it. Isn't that the way fudge and so many other things began...as failed something elses? Did not make Andie's 3rd halvah recipe today. Friend with the rose water is still under the weather.

Thanks for the replies. The Cheese Boutique is way out of our way, but I'll keep in mind the major grocery thingy. In Peterborough, you don't find stuff like that even in the 'major' grocery stores, but in Toronto you might well. We're stopping at a Caribbean grocery store just off the 401 on Morningside. They might have what I need, besides the two ingredients I need for a Black Rum Cake.

Where's the photo of this wonderful toy...oops...tool. Don't think I've ever seen one.

Right. In Andie's recipe for halvah, you need rose water...1/2 cup to be exact. I have no rose water and I also have no orange blossom water. According to my friend, Mel, who knows these kinds of things; I take it to mean that rose water is available everywhere, and orange blossom water is not. Not in our area...near Peterborough...anyway. Peterpatch is not exotic. Tomorrow DH and I are going from Peterborough to Etobicoke via the 401, south on the 427, exit Evans Ave, to Browns Line, to Horner. Can anyone please tell me of a source along that route...no more than 1 km or so in from the highways or in Etobicoke...it's a guy thing...where I can find these products? Thanks.

Learned something new. Cannot upload a photo in edit mode. These are the delicious chocolate/halvah patties

Next is Kerry Beal's recipe for halvah. Halvah #3, 1 November 09. In the meantime, took Halvah Failure #2, pulverized it real good, added 8 oz of melted dark chocolate, mixed well, and poured it into little tart pans. It has no name, but it tastes wonderful and we started eating it after supper.

Thanks. Metro Stores...never heard of them before...are a bit too much out of our way for this trip. A friend tells me this afternoon that she has both rose and orange water and we're going to make your recipe tomorrow. We'll get additional supplies some other time. Thanks.

Could be that Andie uses Meyer lemons. No rose or orange water for sale in our region, but DH and I are off to Etobicoke on Monday and maybe we can find somewhere along the way. There's a Caribbean grocery store on Morningside near the 401 (Lee Valley). Might carry it. Do you know of anywhere near the 401 or the 407 where I can get some? Thanks. Hope the 'reno confusion' is over. Hmmm...is it ever really over?

Hi Andie. Thanks. Your friend's recipe varies slightly from the one I was going to make next. I shall actually try 'yours'. We can't get Guittard chocolate easily in Canada, but I do have Belcolade Noir Collection Ecuador 71. Alas, it costs me over $12.00 a pound. Also. Although we both LOVE Polish/Israeli/NY/Montreal style halvah, this is far less about eating it on a regular basis, than about making it to see if I can. Thanks.

Hi prasantrin, No problem with your reasoning. As a Canadian and a Montrealer by birth, I am simply trying to assert Montreal's independence. Who wants to be only an arm of something else? But, truth told, you are no doubt correct. My forebears came to Montreal from the States as scab labor before the turn of the 20th and no doubt their pockets were stuffed with NY style halvah and bagels. But then where did the Toronto-style bagel come from?

Hello Scott. All good points. I think your limb just broke underneath you...I was born and raised in Montreal. That's where my Mother's family lived. (The long story is, of course, very long.) Montreal bagels. Yumm. Can't get them around here...only Toronto bagels. I have a recipe, amongst the many, which calls for egg whites. I was going to try the simple sugar and lemon juice recipe next, but maybe I'll go for the egg white version. Although our nearby town is not big, the turnover in tahini is rapi in our health food/bulk food store. We spoon it out of a large pail. I must ask the owner why he thinks this is so. He also carries blocks of halvah, but I don't know where they come from. The syrup stage is soft ball in several recipes: 240 degrees F/115 degrees C. I'll get back to the halvah in a day or two when I decide what to do with the last failed experiment. Tastes good, but is crumbly. I was thinking about stirring it into melted dark chocolate and using it as a ganache. Maybe. Or just tossing it. The DH likes it, so I guess I won't. Thanks again.

Who else can I tell? Christmas in October. Confectionery partner Barbara and I were just given 4...that's right...4 cardboard boxes by a friend who bought them for us as a gift at a yard sale for $5. $5.00!!! Two full boxes of chocolate molds, mostly the hobby variety, but a lot of them very strong (many Canadian made and probably quite old), and even some tin 3D molds. Every season, every theme you could think of, including some which would be considered...'adult'. The other two boxes were full of unopened stuff: LorAnn flavorings, candy colorings, dusts, plastic bags...dozens of different size unopened boxes...lollie sticks, 2 plastic cases of Wilton icing tips. I think that about covers it. I would love to have the name of the lady who gave away...yes, in my mind, they were given away...all her precious things, her former life. I would love that she would know that they are being given a good home.

Brilliant! Never even thought of that. You used to be able to buy a package of thingies in the grocery store. Then I never saw them again and had been saving motel shower caps and even buying some dollarama shower caps for that purpose.

I would add a small change to Kerry's excellent advice, bearing in mind that I am adding the words of the novice to those of the master. Rather than scooping up the centers from the slabbed ganache, I would turn out the ganache, cut it into squares, and then roll each square in your hands quickly to make the balls. This I think is faster and less trouble. Oh well, it's what I do.

Sometimes a large bottle of vodka will have two teensy bottles, either of vodka or something else, hanging around its neck. DH will buy this. The little bottles are just big enough to store little bits of other liquids. (Remember that in Ontario, a bottle of vodka, cheapest kind, starts at $52.00 I can hear the American gasps. You cannot get single distilled vodka in Ontario, only triple.)

from Wikipedia Question: if the halvah contains dairy, then it can be eaten with dairy dishes but not meat according to dietary laws. Well, yes. But Israeli halvah...the kind we are trying to make...does not contain any milk, but does contain saponaria. Can't yet get any ingredient equivalent for this. It makes me wonder if the recipe for halvah with egg white is aiming at this. OK. From Eclectic Recipes website: (I trust that I have done the above quotes and provenance correctly.)

Ilana. Thanks. I already have the Eclectic recipe and thanks for it and the other one. As noted in last post, I'll do a water and sugar recipe next. And I'll search around again about the milk recipe to see what I can find. It must be that I cooked it on too high a heat. Also that I am probably too lazy to make something on low heat when I can do the sugar and water instead. Or as the DH pointed out...they didn't have condensed milk in the 'olden' days. Hmmm...they didn't have sugar either...but they had honey. But then honey is such an iffy thing. So much variety. I asked at our health food/bulk food store a couple of days ago and they keep only clover and buckwheat honey. This is a small town and there isn't the wide range of stuff you could get in Toronto. (I'd rather do without than go to Toronto any more than I have to. ) Onwards and upwards...

Stu first. OK. Thanks. Bits & Bobs: Caramel: I have made wonderful caramel a number of times. Use Kerry Beal's recipe which is adapted from L'Ecole Lenotre, Vol.2, posted in her 101 eG course. Caramel recipes don't start out with milk, do they? Halvah: Never thought of halvah in terms of caramel. Halvah is so flaky...but you could be right. Never thought about the "not starting the crystallization process too soon". Will think about it some...later in the day. Big Problem: cooking milk for such a long time and not over a very low heat. If I had not stirred it, the browned/aka slightly burnt part on the bottom of the pot would have simply gotten thicker and more burnt. Tahini: it was warm...50 degrees...not actually hot. Lord, it is all so confusing when you are the in middle of the muddle. What I shall do is try one or more of the sugar & water recipes and see what happens. I can't burn it the same way. I'll be baaaack. and thanks again

Thanks for the added advice. Freezing the half-baked biscotti might well be the answer. And I do store my nuts in the freezer normally...it's the mix of nuts and liquids I guess.

As noted above, first try at Halvah ended up in the trash (garbage for Canadians), Recipe called for flour base. Second try, base of condensed milk, now sealed, in the fridge for 36 hours to 'allow sugar crystals time to grow'. This recipe is one of the four passed on above by stuartlikesstrudel. As I began to make the halvah, in my usual half-informed way, I realized that the instructions called for boiling sugar, condensed milk and flavorings until the soft ball stage, but gave no directions as to heat, no stir or don't stir, no pot size...very little. So I stirred, as the milk browned heavily and merrily on the bottom of the pot. On and on. I had no idea of what to do. Perhaps I should have used a very low heat? I used medium. Perhaps I should not have stirred? It was too late for second thoughts. Then I heated the tahini to 50 degrees Celsius while it too browned quickly on the bottom. Mixed the two together as noted, beating as directed. Turned it out onto a silpat to 'knead until the mixture begins to set'. It was HOT. HOT!!! Who could knead such a hot mass? And it was setting like crazy. Tasted good. So I kneaded it as much as my hands would bear. Now it's in the fridge and I'll be back in 36 hours to report. Anyone care to comment on my errors? Etc? Next try will be the sugar based recipe with lemon juice, etc. I can't burn it at least.

Thanks Rena. Our weather is cool and always near 100% humidity. Thanks for the information. I will google freeze dried fruit powders... And Jaymes. Thanks again. Rum balls will be on the list this year. I am working with an experienced confection maker and she will no doubt have made rum balls before.