curls

@BVWells wonderful that you will be taking a class with Melissa Coppel! I would suggest that you email her and ask her your question about which class would be the best fit for you. She might have additional questions for you but I suspect that this would be the best way to ensure that you take the right class. Enjoy!

More info about Peter Yuen and his expertise in Viennoiserie, https://pastryartsmag.com/people/peter-yuen-interview/.

You're welcome! I was surprised to see them at the store before I saw them on eGullet. Usually eGullet is my early warning/reminder system for the Hatch chiles. 🙂

Hatch chile roasts have begun at the neighborhood Wegmans. I picked up a small box of roasted mediums. This year's mediums were less spicy than last years... might have been safe for me to work with the hot peppers. Made a batch of @Jaymes' enchilada sauce with the hatch peppers and a jar of homemade canned tomatoes. Added some to a batch of chili and put the rest in freezer bags to for later inspiration.

A 9"x13" pan of Paul Young brownies that I baked to bring to a potluck party. This is a chocolate batch, no additions. I'd love to make a batch with a tahini swirl... just need to make sure that there are enough people around to help me eat them!

Great memory @Jim D., wasn’t expecting you to remember that I go to Staunton for their glass festival. Interesting information about Zynodoa, I’ll try to check it out next time. Excellent that they are offering your chocolates!

@Jim D. Staunton's customer base is starting to be interested in quality and the prices are going up -- that is if the acclaim that The Shack, https://www.theshackva.com/sample-menu, is getting is drawing in locals as well as out of towners. For pricing, I would go with raising the pricing to $1.50/piece now (vs. staggering your price increase). If you can, sweeten the deal for your favorite customers by giving them a little something extra (lagniappe) with their purchase. You decide the criteria for being a favorite customer (close friend, family, regular customer, large order, etc.). For example, I have some smallish resealable food safe bags (https://www.uline.com/BL_5561/Resealable-Polypropylene-Bags?keywords=Resealable+Polypropylene+Bags) that I can write a presonalized message on (Sharpies are your friend) and tuck a treat into that I add to my favorite customer's purchases. These treats are usually something that I do not offer for sale, they are made with the same Valrhona chocolate that I use for all my bon bons, but the treats can be reimagined "mistakes", chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate bark, small mendiants. I try to make this treat the equivalent of eating 1 to 1.5 bon bons. One lagniappe per applicable customer no matter the order size.

At what price will you break even? At what price will you begin to make a profit? Looks like you should find the price that allows you to keep doing what you love without taking a tax hit. @Jim D. it sounds like your goal is to not lose too much money... what price do you need to charge to meet that goal? That is the price to set and then see how your old & new customers react. Wishing you all the best.

Do you know what your costs are? Not just ingredient costs but packaging, labor, rent, utilities, insurance, taxes, licenses, etc.? Start by figuring out your actual cost for making wedding favors. Find out what the competition in your area is charging for wedding favors. Can you charge what they are and make a profit? Think about what makes your product better than your competitors. Find out if you can bring in enough wedding business to make it worthwhile for you. Good luck!

@Anna N thilled to see that you are home again and had a nice meal at home with Kerry! Enjoy eating what you want and sleeping in your own bed. Welcome home! Looking forward to seeing you post in your regular topics.

Sadly it looks like a breakfast put together from vending machine raids. Does the hospital have a functioning kitchen? Maybe they only reheat institutional food in microwaves. So glad to know your doctors and nurses are good. With this food, people will be running out the hospital doors as soon as they are well (and some will try to escape sooner than that)! Anna, I'm wishing you strength and some contraband meals.

@Anna N tons of sympathy for the hospital food. If that was breakfast, what will the rest of the day's meals look like!? Hope they improve. Glad to hear your family is supplementing your meal plan. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Sorry to hear about your tomatoes. Were they doing poorly or was this because of your landlord's dislike of your patio garden?

Thank you for sharing! As always I love following along with your blogs. Such beautiful scenery and fun experiments. Welcome home. Until your next adventures!

All the paellas are now out of stock. Two pans sizes still available.

Another article and video about Vivian Howard’s new show. I’m looking forward to it! https://www.eater.com/2019/8/1/20749271/vivian-howard-south-by-somewhere-trailer

Yes, the only paella left is the 35. Don’t know how much inventory they have left but based on today’s sales & sold outs I’d bet they sell out of everything by Saturday.

Joining the club! 35 paella. 20, 25, and 27 pans. Was planning to get the 15 pan but they sold out. Hopefully they package these better than the last batch.

@blue_dolphin you make some excellent points for the 20. While I like the idea of the 15 paella pan for individual servings we don't tend to serve meals that way -- we either put out pre-portioned plates or serving platters. One exception, individual chicken pot pies... but I already have dishes for those.

Anyone use the 15 or 20? They seem quite small, not sure what one would cook in them. Tempted to place an order and trying to figure out what I should get. Ah, you enablers & tempters!

Perhaps instant clearjel will work for this application... https://nuts.com/cookingbaking/leavenerthickener/instant-clearjel.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=1o3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkuzy2ZPf4wIVhJ6fCh3OhwlyEAQYAyABEgKS-fD_BwE I have used it for pie fillings and fruit sauces. It works in cold or hot applications.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/dining/eleven-madison-park-will-guidara-daniel-humm-split.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Food

Haven't seen it and now I know that Kerry's Facebook ads are better than mine. 😉

Recipe looks good. How do they taste? Worth making again?

Picked up my first ribeye roll at Restaurant Depot. Tonight we'll have some steaks grilled on the Kamado Joe. The rest will be poritioned, vaccum sealed, and frozen. Found this site with videos to help me figure out how to deal with this primal. https://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/cuts/cut/2783/ribeye-roll If anyone has any suggestions for the rest of the beef, please let me know. Otherwise, I suspect will go with the less creatvie but still yummy, steaks!