curls

A few of us returned to the Vietnamese restaurant (Pho Khin Do) for dinner. Enjoyed two appetizers -- which we forgot to photograph -- and remembered to take pictures after we started on our soups!

All set up & ready to go for Saturday morning kitchen time.

We visited Jin Ju's retail store for a bit of shopping & her production kitchen for a demonstration of chocolate decor. Jin is a wonderful instructor & makes beautiful chocolates. #JinJuchocoholic

Some of the early birds had dinner Wednesday evening at the scenic Mt. Charleston Lodge.

If you wouldn't mind sharing, what is the name of your niece's restaurant? Always nice to have another great restaurant to visit.

Sounds lovely but the workshop starts at 8:30am Saturday & Sunday.

Heading to Vegas soon for the eGullet chocolate & confections workshop! We already have reservations for a group dinner at Lotus of Siam. Any other places we should check out? I'm interested in quick & tasty breakfast spots... perhaps there are some local places with good breakfast burritos? Also hoping for lunch and dinner recommendations. Most of these of the more casual type but a few of us are staying a day or two extra and could go for more extravagant meals. Any good mixologist bars or tiki bars? We probably have the desserts covered but if there is anything new and innovative, please tell us about it. This will all be documented, with tons, of photos in the workshop report. (here is a link to our report from the 2014 event - also in Vegas)

Along with Grewling's book (that Kerry already mentioned), I recommend Ewald Notter's book The Art of the Chocolatier: From Classic Confections to Sensational Showpieces

@Jim D. could you please provide a link to the video.

Finally joining the party! Tonight I made Scarlett's chicken and rice. I have been intrigued with this recipe ever since I saw a episode about this recipe. Doesn't look like much but it is wonderful! Planning to have some of the leftovers for lunch tomorrow (I think they will reheat well). I did follow some of the modifications that are in the recipe that is posted on her PBS site (http://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/scarletts-chicken-rice/)... included an onion, bay leaf, and thyme (these are not in the book recipe).

@kriz6912 beautiful work. Thank you so much for posting your videos; very helpful to see the techniques behind your creations.

Wish I had started sooner like keychris and kriz6912! Some of my Easter chocolates... hedgehog - peanut butter, painted bunny - caramel, bunny - coconut. Still need to make large hollow bunnies & eggs.

Does it have to be steak... would you be willing to enjoy other parts of the cow and have a nice pot roast or brisket? Just trying to think of cuts that are braised or do best with long cooks. So a very tasty piece of shareable beef dish that would not be pink (or red) in the center.

Yes, I know! Hoping JMA still has a bunch of Sosa products so I can try them out during the eGullet Chocolate & Confections workshop and figure out what to order from Albert Uster. Those freezed dried caramel bits are on my AUI shopping list.

Agreed, not acceptable. Thankfully this has not happened to me & the majority of the molds that I buy are Chocolate World molds that I buy through Tomric and Chocolat-Chocolat.

Wow, now I want to try the Sosa. Freeze dried caramel. :-)

If you just take this class -- http://www.melissacoppel.com/workshop/viennoiserie-with-a-focus-on-laminated-doughs/ -- with Daniel Alvarez you'll learn how to make the Apple Carré and many more viennoiserie. Per this item on So Good magazine's website -- http://www.sogoodmagazine.com/pastry-blog/pastry-chef-articles/the-dough-specialist-daniel-alvarez-in-the-new-atelier-melissa-coppel/ -- Mr. Alvarez is planning to publish a book. Perhaps the recipe that you are looking for will be published.

@Jim D. I have linked to two posts from Wendy DeBord (a former eGullet member) with methods for determining the cost of your ingredients and the cost of your recipes. I have used her strategies for calculating the costs on some of my recipes (planning to figure them all out at some point!). Her site is geared to baking (not chocolates) but much of it is still applicable. http://www.fearlessbakers.com/how-to-cost-out-your-ingredients/ http://www.fearlessbakers.com/how-to-cost-out-your-recipes/

Who are the lucky master class attendees?

From the set of bonus recipes when you ordered directly from Rob... brownies. Sorry it is not a better photo but these are wonderful! Looking forward to sharing with with the folks at work.

When grocery shopping and saw turkey necks and backs for sale at a good price. They came home with me to make turkey soup! turkey parts in the Instant Pot with an onion, bay leaf, carrots, garlic clove, peppercorns, and a healthy pinch of salt. Let it cook on the soup setting for an hour & it went into keep warm mode for about an hour and a half more (was running errands while the IP was doing its thing). soup after its initial cook, then I removed the solids and let it boil on the saute setting to reduce. Separated the turkey meat from the bones and added it back into the reduced soup. Looking forward to turkey soup for lunch a couple of days this week.

@Choky no idea how large your planned operation will be... but curious about what other equipment you are considering... continuous tempering unit? cooling tunnel? packaging plans?

Joining in - I don't heat my moulds. @Choky are you just curious or are you having some issues with your chocolate that you think may be helped by heating your moulds? We might be able to give you a better answer if we knew more about your question. :-)

Thank you @pastryani! I did use white chocolate with red cocoa butter - add enough and you don't wind up with pink. Just saw that keychris answered too... and guessed correctly.

Valentine's Day is almost here... time to fill the heart moulds!