brokenscale

who are we making payments to? I should know by the end of this week schedule wise if it will work.

i practice daily already, but not my knife skills. I have a problem guaging temps on meat, so i go through a lot of meat and fish. But I will buy a bag of potatos and start practicing knife skills this week. That and I have been getting into a lot of pastry stuff these last few months. So Im usually doing something with chocolate cause its so fun. I cant eat any of it, but my freinds love it.

i am muslim and cant eat pig, but i have seen the candied bacon bits before and they went over verywell with the older crowd. You know what they say, everytyhing tastes better with bacon

Thanks for all the input, i called the local authorities and was told to get a food handlers certification through a company. I have the website written down but it was confusing as they talk about ansi certifications being what state mandate is yet they arent ansi? Anywho, I have called around and looked for positions, even for free in town. No one is really looking, most of the managers i spoke with didnt even know what a stint was. So I am at a cross roads, I think i am going to keep looking for some sort of stint opportunity and get a part time job. As far as if this is what I want to do...there is no doubt in my mind that this is the career I want to pursue, I find it funny that people are saying you should think twice about choosing this as a career. Are you really satisfied with your job? No matter what I make as a chef, i will be content, that much I do know

I have a kopykake setup and wanted to do this but obviously it would run if printed on acetate sheets. Has anyone tried spraying the sheet with gelatin cocoa butter and eggwhites and printed with a kopykake system as prairiegirl said. Or could i just buy the special acetate sheets and print them on my kopykake system?

EPIC Win, that is exactly what I was looking for, Thanks Richard. I will give it a try tonight and post pictures tomorrow

here is a picture of a cake that i found, is that what they are, pralines covered in chocolate? http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sugarliciousonline.com/cakes/wedding/images/fullsize/white_chocolate_cigarillos_and_purple_flowers.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sugarliciousonline.com/cakes/wedding/white_chocolate_cigarillos_and_purple_flowers.html&usg=__BJhuz7hz-hLnNBFpNb5thAGfiB8=&h=399&w=370&sz=31&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=pnMv6nHXTGe1KM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcigarillo%2Bcakes%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

I dont know what gave you the impression that I was a female. I am in fact a male, and Im not that old...I started in the cellular industry as a teenager and am only 28. My parents owned a restaurant which i worked in and am familliar with the commercial kitchen. Unfortunately what I did was turn out burgers in high volume which is way different from what I want to do now. You are right about my knife skills, they are no where near par for a line. However, most students who come out of culinary schools from what I have been told can not keep up with the line. What they learn, the french cullinary techniques, are sound and great...but when trying to turn a restaurant 3 times in one night, 99% of what they learned is not practical. These are not my words as I wouldnt know, but those of multiple chefs that I have spoken to in the last few weeks while searching for a job. Of course there are some things you will not learn if you dont goto class'. I am confident in my abilit to run a business as I have done it successfully for years. I just need the experience and no how of how to work on a line, how a restaurant runs(successfully), and to work with other people that have the passion for food that I share. As far as it not being practical...I used to be 315lbs earlier this year. Thanks to herbalife and my classes on nutrition, I have lost over 60lbs, with 60 more to go. However, I can run a half marathon and keep up with people half my age no problem. I hate being told I cant do anything, specially because of age or physical attributes, this is a limiting beleif. Im a big guy who can carry large bags of flour all day long. As for income, I know I am not going to make anywhere near what I was making in my former career as it was well over 6 figures. Im pretty sure I will make something like 30k as a chef. But to me this is an even trade. I will be happy with my days work, and I dont need money to be successful. I just want to be comfortable and satisfied with the work I do that day.

Is there another name for the cigarellos, the hollow sticks of chocolate that surround a cake? I am trying to find the process to make them and in my searches I cant find anything...So my guess is that they go by another name. Im trying to make them from white chocolate for my brothers birthday cake. Also what is it that they use to tie around the cake and hold the cigarellos in place? Sorry, im a noob

thanks, so how is it that those printers that print on chocolate work? do they use a powdered ink?

Hey Guys, I am new to this community and want to introduce myself. Sorry, this post is a little long but I think it might give a sense of who I am. I don't tell this story often but when I was 4 yrs old I made cupcakes with my mom. It was the first time I had ever cooked. My older sister had moved in with us. She is actually a half sister but I love her more than anything. I can attribute a lot of my life lessons to her. Well she had moved halfway around the globe to live with us. I think she felt lost and alone like she didn't belong. Her father had started a new family and had a new kid. Regardless I never saw her truly happy, most likely because of what they did to her hair as a kid (inside joke). But when those cupcakes came out of the oven and I put the frosting on it and the toppings, it was perfect. So perfect I didn't even want to eat it. I knew what to do, I ran to find my sister and I gave her the cupcake, it was the first time I remember seeing her truly smile and her eyes lit up. It was then I knew that you could touch peoples hearts with food. Create true emotions, something as simple as beef and eggs can remind my mom of childhood and make her hungry, the same dish can make my lil sisters stomach turn in disgust (save this story for another post). I'm not sure if my sister even remembers this story as it is probably an insignificant part of her life but for me it was when I knew I wanted to be a chef, everyone has dreams when they are a child but not everyone fulfills these dreams. Fast forward to the present. I have quite a bit of experience with food and it is a passion of mine. My career however is cellular. For the last 12 years I have been selling phones and running cellular companies. It has been a great tenure and I have met a few great friends which I will keep forever. I also met a few crooks along the way (98% of the people in the business). I have had my back stabbed, I have created greatness. I accomplished many things I thought were impossible and learned somethings I thought possible to be unattainable. I am lucky, I have achieved more success in a short span than most do in a lifetime. I have also lost more than most do in a lifetime. Recently, what I have lost is the drive to attain the simple goal I have had since the beginning, to be the best at what I do. I can't explain why that is due to lawsuits and stuff my attorney has told me not to discuss. However there is a passion I still have, one that has carried from childhood and is evident in the amount of food network, hells kitchen, and top chef I watch. The endless hours spent toiling in the kitchen, and even more spent entertaining. I have decided to not do Culinary school as I hear a lot of mixed reviews, I am a quick learner and I can learn on my own from just reading books what I would learn in class. I am more interested in feild experience. I guess my question is how do I go about starting this career? Specially in a desolate unemployable state like Michigan. I dont know where to start, who to ask for help and I need a job. I am too proud to go on unemployement and funds are starting to run low. I have been ofered jobs but none of them are in this industry which is where I want to go. I would work for free if it was a good place that could teach a lot. I think working 100 hours a week in my previous career has made me numb to working long hours and I could get a part time job to pay bills and float me buy till I find a real job. Any help in what to do, books to read, anything at all would be greatly appreciated Thanks, Omar A

I am in the transition between careers and trying to become a chef. Unlike most I want to be well rounded and versed as my love for foods includes sweets. I have an epson printer and kopykake edible ink setup that i print onto sugar paper for cakes. My question is that I have a special event coming and would like to do some chocolates as gifts with a company logo ontop. Has anyone tried or have any ideas that if i print onto blank sheets of acetate, will i be able to do a chocolate transfer? Im not sure if it will work and dont want to waste money ordering the sheets that would not get used if the transfer doesnt work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.