curls

Hassouni have you tried the bada bing cherries from Tillen Farms? You should be able to find them at Whole Foods and Balduccis. Not the same as the Luxardos but I do like them in a Manhattan.

Thank you so very much for sharing your trip. So many "Wow" moments! I need to travel to France & Spain. Hope you have an uneventful trip home. See you at the chocolate workshop in May! What were your favorite things from this trip? Did you come close to seeing & doing everything that you planned?

Thank you for all your suggestions. Unfortunately I was not able to go to Staunton this weekend but I'll try to get to next year's Hot Glass Festival and I'll keep your recommendations for that trip!

Hoping to go to Staunton, Virginia this weekend for their Hot Glass Festival. Any recommendations for lunch spots in or near Staunton, Virginia? Any other food related items we should check out while we are there (bakeries, vineyards, cheese, coffee shops, etc.)? Thanks!

Beautiful pate de fruit and packaging. I like to add a little bit of kirschwasser to my marzipan... see if that helps. There is also a nice pistachio liqueur (forget the name right now but can look it up if you like) that might punch up the pistachio flavor.

Jim D. FYI you can post your question on Rose Levy Beranbaum blog, she is very good about answering questions posted there. I haven't baked that cake so don't have any other advice. http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2014/12/ask_your_questions_8.html#c438838

Hoping that they let you take class pictures and that you will share. Wishing you safe travels home!

Pate de fruit molded on transfer sheets! I did not know that you could do that; I need to try that out. Everything looks amazing, thanks for all the photos.

Yippee! I was hoping that you were going to report on this trip. Hope you can find a way to enjoy this soul crushing assignment. ;-) Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

Bob, any updates on the Friday night dinner... cost? menu? ETA I can probably bring a melter to the workshop.

Enjoyed both last year. I vote to continue with them this year.

An update... Wednesday the bread was still good but it is getting more & more difficult to slice the bread. The interior is still soft but the crust is getting much harder. This morning, Thursday, it was a battle to slice the bread and while it was edible it has reached the point that I would recommend that it only be used for bread pudding or french toast. Next time I will wrap and freeze some of the bread so we only have two to three days worth of bread on the counter. Think I'll try the overnight white bread next, may include some whole wheat flour in those loaves.

Booked a room! FYI there is another event at the hotel on Friday the 15th so the only way to book a room is via our group code all other rooms are sold out. So... book your room soon or else you may have to stay at some other hotel in the area (and don't worry, there are plenty of hotels in the Vienna / Fairfax / Tysons Corner area).

Thank you rotus I am trying out your method. Hoping that the loaf will be good to the last crumb. Wondering how many days we have to finish it before it goes stale. If this does not work for me, I think I'll cut the next loaf in half and freeze half of it and leave the other half on the cutting board cut side down. Loaf two was given to family to enjoy.

I have been thinking about joining in for awhile, so glad I did. Made the Saturday white bread... delicious! So much better than what I can get from the local markets. Looking forward to trying out the other recipes in this book. So, what are your recommendations for storing the loaves (especially after you start cutting slices from it)?

Just to double-check, the dates are Friday 15 May - Sunday 17 May. Correct? Thanks for organizing this Bob!

Rob, Willow, and now Mette! So sad that you won't be at the workshop this year. Hopefully we will all see each other in 2016.

Very good to know if I ever graduate from melters to an enrober.

Bakon also has a mini enrober (http://www.bakonusa.com/enrobing-machines/mini-enrober). They are on the west coast, so shipping costs might be better for you. I have two of their melters and am very happy with them. I think Rob has the Bakon wheel temperer. There is also the enrobing line from Perfect (http://www.perfectchoco.com/en/perfect-equipments)... that is what Ruth uses. Looks like Perfect's pricing for a regular enrober is close to Dedy & Bakon's pricing for a mini enrober.

When I stripe a mould, I use colored white chocolate, milk chocolate or dark chocolate and put the chocolate in a parchment coronet or a disposable pastry bag. Have not tried used pure colored cocoa butter to make my stripes. No idea when straight colored cocoa butter would not work. Good luck!

Valentine's Day chocolates: passion fruit, muscovado sugar salted caramel, hazelnut gianduja and feuilletine, marzipan & cherry-raspberry pate de fruit.

Thanks Anna for bringing up this topic! I'm going to try out some of these recipes all of you have shared and check my bookshelves... I think I bought Cradle of Flavor when everyone on eGullet was cooking from it. Always meant to cook from that book, now might be the time. Anna, I'm looking forward to see what versions of nasi goreng you make.

CeeCee, actually yes, I like to reproduce the Dutch Indonesian food that I have had in the Netherlands but am very interested in the Indonesian & Malay versions too. Would you be willing to share your recipe?

A store with Dutch imports should have the Comimex brand of of spice mixes... They have many Indonesian spice mixes, including Nasi Goreng. Pulled out my packet and the ingredients are: onion, red pepper, carrot, leek, green beans, salt, coriander, garlic, sesame oil, yeast extract, mustard, malodextrine, potato flour, ginger, soy sauce, shrimp powder, beet extract, and lemon juice powder. You need to make the vegetables, rice, meat and eggs that go along with the spice packet. Might just be easier to make the whole thing from scratch. :-)

White chocolate with tart citrus or tropical fruits would be nice (calomandin, yuzu, passion fruit, carambola, kumquat, grapefruit). Riffing on grapefruit, grapefruit &Campari in white chocolate might work really well. Some other thoughts: - lemon curd - lemongrass & Thai flavors - key lime pie type filling - tapioca pearls, mango, pineapple - salty peanut or cashew gianduja - lime, coconut, and rum - IPA ganache - rhubarb Have fun with your new collection.