curls

I like using ClearJel. https://www.johnson.k-state.edu/health-food-safety/agents-articles/what-is-clear-jel.html Works perfectly and I get the texture that I want.

Thank you for the photos. Yikes, I'm surprised to see how much they are charging for the chocolates, barks, and fudge! Bark $22.95 per pound, chocolate 28.95 per pound, fudge $20 pound. They don't look like they are using high end chocolate. Even for a resort town, that is expensive. As for the chocolate covered gummy candies. They can be quite good. Not my favorite but I can understand why people like them. Chocolate cinnamon bears are huge in Utah and they are starting to show up all around the United States. https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/food/2018/02/13/spicy-and-sweet-these-chocolate-cinnamon-bears-are-a-utah-obsession/

Opened the Washington Post and learned that Chef Roland Mesnier has died. I never met him but have enjoyed baking from and reading two of his cookbooks. RIP. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/roland-mesnier-in-memoriam-1944-2022 https://www.chefrolandmesnier.com/about/history-timeline/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/27/roland-mesnier-pastry-chef-white-house-dead/

Nougat has a great shelf life — just need to keep it from drying out or weeping. Either enrobe it’s in chocolate or use the rice paper wafer sheets and seal in good quality wrappers or bags.

@DianaB those all sound tasty! I haven't yet done anything in the creami with praline paste or gianduja but no need to mix it in by hand -- just process your vanilla base using the Gelato or ice cream option and then add your praline and use the mix-ins button. Enjoy! Glad to see you posting again.

Another set of images that I am just getting to posting - cold smoking cheese & pecans from November 2021. I was very happy with how everything turned out. Favorite smoked cheeses from this batch were the mozzarella and monterey jack. Pecans were smoked for about 30 minutes and the cheeses were smoked for about 2 hours. Each cheese was chilled, then vacuum sealed, put in the fridge, and allowed to mellow for at least two weeks.

Some sourdough loaves I baked November 2021. Love how the one loaf opened up! I kept one loaf and delivered the second to a friend (gave her some sourdough starter too so she can start her own sourdough bread baking journey).

Goodness, I meant to post this months ago! Picture of some cream cheese I smoked on the Kamado Joe back in October 2021. Made this because I was seeing so many videos of smoked cream cheese. It was fine but I was definitely not as impressed as all the people making videos of this process.

I didn't add anything to the can of mandarins. I filled the container with orange segments and poured in the syrup, from the can, until it covered the oranges. Very easy and tasty. I would like more orange flavor. Might be interesting to add some orange juice concentrate (just the frozen stuff from the grocery store). If that doesn't do it I can start using specialized pastry ingredients. Just not sure how much I'm going to play with mandarin oranges. I am thinking of lemon sorbet with a swirl of lemon curd for another experiment.

Having fun with my new chamber vacuum sealer. Small and lightweight but so far, it is doing everything that I need and I can store it in the basement when not in use.

blueberry pound cake

First flavor done! Mandarin orange sorbet. This was so much fun! I want the orange flavor to be more intense but the texture of the sorbet was amazing. Sorry the pictures are a bit out of focus and have shadows. Mixed up a batch of vanilla from the Ninja Creami recipe book that I will try tomorrow. Haven't gone to the grocery store yet so I used Trader Joe's shelf stable cream and Philadelphia brand neufchatel cheese. Hope to do more experimenting this weekend.

After a few hiccups with UPS tracking and delivery, my refurbished Ninja Creami from Woot has arrived! It came with two containers — will probably pick up two more. For a trial run, I have put some Trader Joe’s canned mandarin oranges in one container and placed it in the freezer. Now I need to pick up ingredients for more batches of various flavors. Looking forward to giving my container a spin tomorrow night! 🙂

Refurbished 7 button for $109.99 on Woot.

Thanks Kerry! I'm looking forward to being part of the Creami group.

@liamsaunt thank you for journaling your vacation. Always great to see the Cape, sunsets, ice cream, seafood, etc.. Yes, I too would be tempted by those whales. Safe travels home. Looking forward to your next vacation.

How easy is it to climb the tree? Wondering if the lychee fruit higher up is harvested by humans or birds and other critters.

Gorgeous picture and landscape! Are you planning to enjoy some of the geothermal pools/springs?

Good to see you here again. Hoping that things are getting better and more manageable. Looking forward to seeing you on the confection topics.

Yes over four times as good! Back in the before times I would pick them up when they were on sale. Williams Sonoma would do certain color combos for various holidays and those that didn’t sell by the holiday usually went for 25 to 50% off.

Best Jordan almonds that I have had are the ones from France that Williams Sonoma carries. The candy shell is thin and the almonds have always been fresh. A bit of a splurge but they have spoiled me and I no longer like the US standard Jordan almonds. https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/medicis-candied-almonds/

Sorry about the crazy delivery but at least you got pistachio oil for free (sad about the door damage). Those gelatos and sorbet look delicious. I hope you attemp the strawberry sorbet again either without dextrose or with some new dextrose. I’m still resisting a pacojet or creami purchase but you are making it tough. 😉

Perhaps a gianduja instead of ganache? So just nut paste and chocolate. You can add a hazelnut praline to it as well.

Anova is running a Father's Day sale -- additional 20% off site wide. This does not include the Precision Oven but the code, DAD20, does work for their new chamber vacuum sealer. https://anovaculinary.com/

@Kim Shook not sure if you have been following and/or cooking from the Vivian Howard's "Deep Run Roots" and "This Will Make it Taste Good" topics but she has two newish restaurants in Charleston that are getting good reviews. Perhaps you can check out (and take pictures) at Lenoir (https://www.dineatlenoir.com/) and Handy & Hot (https://www.handyandhot.com/)! Lenoir appears to be serving dinner and probably requires reservations. Handy & Hot is open for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks. Here are links to the eGullet Vivian Howard topics: - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153816-deep-run-roots-by-vivian-howard/ - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/154028-cooking-with-deep-run-roots-by-vivian-howard/ - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/161585-cooking-with-this-will-make-it-taste-good-by-vivian-howard/