curls

Ha! I suspect that beef will be out of my price range. I'll happily buy their sandwiches and offcuts. And will definitely enjoy window shopping.

Very tasty. And I too was impressed by the aged beef. Perhaps better not to know the price. You know that old saying, if you have to ask how much, it's too expensive for you. 😉

Dinner tonight was at Cabalar Meat Co. I had their steakhouse burger with a local cider. https://www.cabalarmeatco.com/ They had a beautiful case of dry aged beef and a cooler of offal and other interesting cuts. May have to come back and visit their butcher shop.

No worries. I can get bahn mi and Bánh xèo in Northern Virginia. I still might try an open Vietnamese or Korean restaurant for lunch tomorrow. Lots of options in Lancaster even though a lot of places are closed Sundays and Mondays. Mainly I plan to avoid eating at a hotel restaurant. Will have fun looking thru the links you posted.

And they are open Monday!!! Will think of you and Anna when I have lunch there tomorrow!

Cool! I'll check tonight and that may be tomorrow's lunch.

Will plan for that next time. I had forgotten about Lancaster Mike. Do you have and restaurant recommendations?

Picked up some pastries from Barberet. Wanted to eat in their bistro but it is closed today. Pistachio eclair and their coco bomb (dacquoise, mango-coconut mousse, guava gel center).

Will do! I talked to them today about their new / non-light bulb heated little dipper.

Lancaster Pennsylvania at the convention center.

Yes they are. I picked up a few scrapers from them. 🙂

Brunch this morning at a cool cinema / restaurant / distillery. I had the sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit.

Trade show. Prototype 3d chocolate printer. Currently works with compound chocolate; they are planning to make one that works with chocolate. For chocolate printing they think they will need cooling and an enclosure. And some sample prints.

Ventured out to this year's candy show. Smaller than pre-covid but kinda local so easy to get to and attend. Attending the Artisan Ganache seminar.

@MaryIsobel will it be an open top / lattice pie? If so, if the pie is too liquidy after you have baked it and let it cool to room temperature, you can drain off most of the liquid, cook it up with some tapioca or cornstarch and add it back to the pie. It annoys me when I have to do that but it does work. One of the many reasons I switched to using Clear Jel. Not matter what it will be delicious. I like the idea of peach chunks instead of slices.

Yes, ClearJel is easier to use than flour / cornstarch / tapioca. It is a modified cornstarch. This website offers some additional uses and instructions https://hoosierhillfarm.com/hoosier-hill-farm-clear-jel-cook-type-1.5-lbs..html

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.