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Thanks for checking! I’m glad to hear they are still open. Great place for brunch & drinks in Adams Morgan if you want to sample a variety of bourbons.

Wow, didn’t know that Bourbon was closing! It has been a while since I went there but I really liked them the last few times I visited. Thanks for the information.

Chocosphere has many wonderful chocolates to choose from and they sell a lot of it in tasting sizes as well as chocolate making quantities. I sampled many brands and types from them before selecting the Valrhona chocolates that I use. I would recommend trying more selections from Cocoa Barry, Felchin, Valrhona, and eGuittard. There are, of course, many more but that should be a good start. Enjoy! 🙂

That burnt sugar taste of caramilized sugar can work very well in your praline paste. Try it again once your filling is in a bonbon or used with other pastry components and see how you like it. After that, evaluate the flavor and decide if you want the next batch of caramel to be cooked more or less. At this years eGullet Chocolate workshop, many of us in the master class made praline as one component for a recipe. Each group took their nuts and caramel to a different degree of cook. I sampled a few of them as praline and in the bonbon -- the results surprised me -- the praline I liked the best on its own was not my favorite bonbon. The one that I thought worked best as a bonbon was the one I thought was way too caramilized/burnt as a praline. The bonbon that was made with that just under burnt praline had the best flavor -- the nut flavor came thru and the bitter balanced very well with the sweet chocolate. Of course, this is just my opinion & my taste buds. Everyone has their own favorite... there is no perfect thing that everyone will enjoy. Figure out what you like, share, and see how many share your preferences.

Fascinating technique. I was thinking along the same lines as keychris. Melissa is definitely an innovator in decoration and flavors. Thanks for sharing Rob!

I wasn't quite sure the Pioneer Woman floral Instant Pot was a real thing... so I googled and it is real and there is more than one floral pattern available. Wow! https://www.today.com/food/pioneer-woman-new-instantpot-collection-walmart-t137392

Sorry Rob I sure didn’t mean to scare you! Thanks for the link. Looks like a great class! I was wondering if you were going to take the Hasnoot class (it’s the following week). Someday I hope to take a high end pastry class — I should start playing with the pastry books I have! 😉

Found some videos on Callebaut's website about glazing that may be of interest/help to others... https://www.callebaut.com/en-US/chocolate-video/technique/glaze#group-items-wrapper

Rob, I'm not seeing a class on her website for next week... what is the class and who will be teaching it? Hope you have a great time. As you already know, she is a great instructor and has an amazing classroom/workshop.

All on Kerry’s list sound good but I’ll second Kee’s since I have been there and like her chocolates. Also, you may want to visit JB Prince to purchase specialty pastry tools, moulds, etc..

It would be great if we could get demos from Rick Jordan and/or Nathaniel Reid. I would also be interested in behind the scenes tours of the local chocolate shops. Don't know if anyone else is interested but I would appreciate a demo/hands on workshop about sugarwork.

@gfron1 thanks for setting this up — maybe I’m missing it but what are the 2019 workshop dates?

There is a lot of fat. Think about cooking duck breasts or prime rib — it can also be fully cooked and have unrendered fat.

Looks like breakfast is bigger in Texas. Looks tasty but also like there might be lots of leftovers.

Thanks Okanagancook! Looks like you make quite a bit of your own bacon. I'm with you on the BLT's. I had BT's (BLT without the lettuce) for dinner twice this week!