curls

Try lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and use some oil and matzah cake meal for the sides of the pan. To lighten it up, I would add more whipped egg whites. Save the extra yolks for ice cream.

Kerry, please put me in as a tentative attendee too, hope to be able to join everyone in 2013!

Yes indeed Ruth, RobertM has some fun stuff in his chocolate workshop. Wish you could have joined us Prabha... maybe the bunnies would have come out better! Will have to try to get together with the DC area folks before the 2013 workshop in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

patti_h, very pretty chocoaltes! What did you do to achieve that effect?

The graffiti bunnies...

Here is a that shows you some of what this wonderful machine can do!edited to fix link

Thanks Bob, two weekends of chocolate making fun! That JKV does a great job with the chocolate, once you get the hang of it, it is so much easier to fill molds with the built in chocolate spout (vs. a ladle or spatula). We also made a few more bunnies that look a lot happier than that blue bunny. Milk chocolate bunnies are filled with peanut butter, dark chocolate bunnies are filled with raspberry ganache, and hollow molds (pigs and flop earred bunnies) are filled with jelly bellies. It will be a chocolate extravaganza at the family Easter dinner.

I learned so many more ways to get banana flavor into a ganache (use extremely ripe bananas, cook the bananas, add freeze dried banana powder). Now I am ready to try making a banana's foster chocolate or a banana ginger chocolate. Based on what I learned, I am planning to do some more with chocolate decorations (chocolate bowls, chocolate tulips, and chocolate showpieces). Hopefully we can continue to explore this topic at future workshops. Again, what a great group of people, what a wonderful time. There are so many ideas and images bouncing around in my head!

Hmmm... that must be because of the Canadian accent.

If you are referring to the Jameson ganache, Bob & I concocted that. Base recipe was Grewling's liqueur ganache and we subbed Jameson for the liqueur amount in the recipe plus 6 additional capfuls of Jameson (so, add the whiskey of your choice to taste). We are going to try to get together soon and document the final weight of the added Jameson.

Flocking is the process of depositing many small fiber particles (called flock) onto a surface. It can also refer to the texture produced by the process, or to any material used primarily for its flocked surface. Flocking of an article can be performed for the purpose of increasing its value in terms of the tactile sensation, aesthetics, color and appearance. In the case of flocking a chocolate piece, you chill the piece to be flocked and then spray it with a chocolate & cocoa butter mix (one could probably also spray the chilled piece with colored cocoa butter). This gives the chocolate piece a distinctive, flocked, texture. It really helps if you can see and feel the final result.

Bob, thank you so much for organizing this event. You did a fabulous job and I had a great time. So much fun to play in a kitchen full of such knowledgeable and enthusiastic people. It was great to see so many new faces this year and to catch up with those from previous events. Every day I learned a few new things! I thought that I had many more pictures from our Friday event but it appears that I only took photos at Artisan Confections. Hopefully Kerry, Ruth, and Mette will be able to fill in the blanks. In chronological order, Friday included visits to Albert Uster, Poste, Cowgirl Creamery, Co Co Sala, Ace Beverage, and Artisan Confections.

A teaser photo, the finished showpiece! Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Couture Chocolate: A Masterclass in Chocolate by William Curley

Prabha, not sure what time we will be at Albert Uster tomorrow morning. Why don't you PM me with your phone number and I can let you know when we are leaving the hotel. That should give you a better guesstimate of our arrival time. FYI we are just picking up some orders at Albert Uster, no demos scheduled for us tomorrow. Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow, another Northern Virginia eGulleter!

Sorry you won't be able to join us but thank you for reminding me about the cherry blossoms. Hopefully we will be able to swing by the tidal basin or Haines Point.

Do to a series of interesting events, the Friday pre-dinner event is a bit different from other years. Since it looked like we had a small group and one large SUV to travel around with, we put our heads together and came up with a tour of interesting sites to visit in Maryland, DC and Virginia. There are two more seats available in the SUV and others can follow along if they can provide their own transportation. Based on the interests of the group and the driving route that may be the most logical, we concocted the following plan: meet and pickup at the Woodbridge hotel (around 9:30 / 10am, start time based on traffic I encounter along the way) Albert Uster Imports Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Shop (it is next to Co Co Sala and has great cheese & other items) Co Co. Sala lunch somewhere in DC probably in the Penn Quarter area (near Co Co Sala & Cowgirl Creamery) Ace Beverage Artisan Confections around 4 pm begin return trip to hotel in Woodbridge So, who would like to join us? Either reply here or locate Kerry, Ruth, or Mette Friday morning to claim the last two SUV seats or to follow along. I can bring extra copies of the locations and their addresses if anyone will be joining us in a separate vehicle.

What is the address for the East Moon Asian Bistro?

Beautiful chocolates Chris and Robert! Looking forward to tasting them too.

Or they can get it while they are in Virginia for the conference. Wegmans has several locations in Virginia and Maryland! The closest one to our conference location is Wegmans Potomac in Woodbridge.

How does this book compare to his 2007 Fine Chocolates: Great Experience book?

Yes, that is a cake layer cutter resting over the tempered chocolate. Idea first seen here in a Chris Hennes eGullet blog.

Zeemanb, does povitica taste anything like strudel? The doughs look similar and the process for stretching them is similar. Wish I could have a taste.

Thanks for the tip Tikidoc. Alas, not every Michael's is running an airbrush clearance sale. I just checked the Reston Virginia store and they are still selling at full price. Can buy with the 40% off coupon but will wait and see if I can get a better deal.

Sounds good to me too.