curls

Good to hear that Mitch's (weinoo) Lello ice cream machine sill works well. I purchased the Lello 4090 (2 quart) in 2007. Brought it out for ice cream making this season and it no longer produces ice cream in 40 minutes. Last batch took 3 hours. Still makes good ice cream just taking far too long. Have any other Lello owners had problems after a few years of ownership or did I buy a lemon? Want to stay with a compressor style ice cream maker but trying to figure out if this one can be repaired and if can't be repaired, do I stick with Lello or buy from another manufacturer. Any advice?

Tried the Mint Ice Cream with bittersweet chocolate stracciatella. Wonderful! Since I did not have the 2 cups of mint that were called for in the recipe, I went with an overnight cold mint infusion with the mint that I did have and added mint oil to taste (needed five drops of mint oil for this batch). Planning to make this again! Hopefully next time I will be able to try it with all mint leaves (want to compare the two).

They look great! I really like the frogs and the apples. Hope you continue having fun with color.

I would be interested in a transfer sheet swap.

Kelly - would you mind sharing your caprese recipe. Surprising how great that piece is (I usually don't like sundried tomatoes). I am running low on conference samples to share with my friends; would like to trying making this one myself. So far everyone has liked it. Just one person wanted more sun dried tomatoes in her piece; everyone else thought the balance was right. To my taste, the salted caramel was delicious, just the right amount of salt. Thanks Jim!

The conference was wonderful, so glad that I was able to attend and meet so many interesting people! Thank you Steve for all that you did to make this conference a success. Truly jazzed that I was able to take Kerry's class, and looking forward to incorporating her lessons every time I work with chocolate. Another great opportunity, working with Plus One and learning to airbrush. What a fun way to color molds! Glad for the update to Pringle007's initial post, your car damage is quite scary, very glad that you and your passenger are ok. And a followup... mentioned to someone on the first day of the workshop that I had ordered metal to use for caramel rulers online. The place I ordered from is http://www.onlinemetals.com they will cut to whatever lengths you like.

Originally offered to bring molds and a scale but sounds like you have plenty of molds. Should I still bring my digital scale?

I will have a car and can transport two (possibly three) people to the group dinner.

Steve, thanks for the agenda change, now I can attend "Flavor Dynamics" and "Introductory Chocolate Techniques"!

Yes, just guessing / hoping that one of the rooms at Addie's might be large enough for our group.

Two restaurant suggestions, don't know if you have looked into them already, the Dogfish Head Alehouse in Gaithersburg or Addies in Rockville. No objections to Copper Canyon Grill if that is what works best for a group this size.

I am planning to attend Kerry's basic chocolate skills class. Hoping there will be some way to find out what was discussed during the Flavor Dynamics session (conference notes, etc.).

Do we need any digital scales? How about mold vibrating tables (I don't have one but would like to see how they work)? I can bring my scale and some polycarbonate molds. No restaurant restrictions. Looking forward to the conference!

Robyn, what gorgeous chocolates! Next time I'm in California I'll have to check out your shop.

Kerry, thank you for the advice. I was stirring the chocolate but did not let it sit for a bit after hitting it with the heat gun. Will try that next time. Just posted the best photo... there were many more chocolates that went out of temper. Luckily my friends liked the cool patterns that the bloom made on the chocolate and enjoyed the chocolates. Since I know that is not the right way to do it, I want to get better at keeping things in temper.

Just starting to learn how to temper chocolate and having problems with the chocolate going in and out of temper during a dipping session. For this attempt, I tried to keep the chocolate in temper by occasionally hitting it with a heat gun. I think next time I will try nesting the bowl with the tempered chocolate in another bowl with a heating pad. Any other ideas on how to keep the chocolate in temper? Or is it just a matter of practice and developing a feel for the chocolate? Made the Dark & Stormies and dipped some orange peels and glaced apricots in the remaining chocolate. Would like a bit more ginger flavor in the Dark & Stormies. Thinking about replacing some, or all, of the corn syrup with ginger syrup for the next batch. Need a lot more work with dipping but rather happy with them as my first attempt.

I am a home baker who has recently started down the chocolate and candymaking path because of all the information in this forum. I have been reading this forum and egullet for a while but have just recently joined. Looks like your conference sessions will be helpful to a variety of skill levels. Please sign me up for the conference! Looking forward to meeting everyone.

I found that the nougat will last two to three weeks in a metal cookie tin. It might last longer if you put in a packet of silica gel (desiccant) too.