Panaderia Canadiense

It might be too hard for a coffee mill - I'd suggest a stone mortar and pestle, particularly if it's a small enough amount.

There's also my Aunt Rosalind's recipe, which was discussed over at The Nova Scotia Traditional Foods Thread. And up a couple of posts is another winner. Aunt Rosalind's cakes are wonderful - I made the first ones for this Christmas in August.

You're talking about the gold pearls that separate the words on the board, and are lightly sprinkled into the hoard? They're gold-leaf covered sugar decorator's dragees. I bought them like that; if I were making them, I'd be doing a sesame core and chocolate enrobing, then blowing them with various gold powders. I lack the requisite machinery to make my own sugar dragees. If you're curious about the icing itself, which is also gold-pearly? That's butter-yellow ICBM applied with a #2 round writing tip in individual roundish balls, then old-gold lustre dust applied with a #6 goat hair dragon calligraphy brush with all the sizing taken out of the bristles (makes it like a gigantic powder brush).

My menus for the week are entirely dependant on what is best in the big farmer's market on Sunday. I'll buy the entire week's veggies and fruit then, and after that I wing it based on how I want to combine those with the various proteins I have available to me. Meals around my house tend to be heavy on the veggies and protein and light on starch - I'll buy potatoes maybe once a month, 10 lbs at a go, and rice/pasta less frequently than that in 1-2 lb bags.

He's the son of a good friend; when it came up to about a month before his birthday, I sat down with him and we discussed what he wanted his cake to be. The Hobbit was the first "serious" book (by which he meant, a book where words grossly outnumber pictures) he'd ever read, and Smaug really made an impression on him. He was furious that Peter Jackson had "gotten Smaug completely wrong visually" - so I did some sketches and we arrived on this. He elected to save, rather than eat, the dragon.

Death by chocolate cake (5 of the best chocolates Ecuador has to offer), filled with dulce-de-leche and crushed walnuts, covered with dulce-de-leche flavoured ICBM and dusted in old gold powder. Gems are cracked Lifesavers. Smaug the Magnificent in fire-engine red vanilla-flavoured gumpaste with a dusting of old gold. Arturo was turning 10.

Cold water 5 minutes, use my handy-dandy cleaning spatula (basically the silicon blade of a spatula whose handle died) to remove excess gunk, then a cheap pot scrubber to finish the job. (Commercial bakery - I do 5-10 big stainless steel bowls of poolish/pre-ferment a day depending on demand.)

I'd bet they'd ship quite well from Ecuador to Iowa and Vancouver, via priority courier. I can make them in polymer clay instead, if you want them to be more permanent than pastillage. How many sheep do y'all figure are in a flock? They are indeed pretzel stick legs. Most of my sugar art is 100% edible, no wire frame ligatures or anything. They're about 1.5 to 2 oz each in total weight - I had to roll the fondant extra thick and let it dry completely so that it would support the weight of the flock; they're anchored with simple Royal.

I've been having fun with gum paste, myself. The full herd of sheep is 21 (the second ram was commissioned as an anniversary present.) but Kaamilah was turning 3 - this ensured everyone in her class could have one. I've also been breaking in my new piping tips…. I sure do love IMBC!

A touch of vodka or other neat alcohol seems to prevent mould in my panela simples…. Just saying.

jmacnaughtan - I'm in awe of your entremets, so I think we're even…. That tarte aux fraises looks stupendous.

I have a 14" and a 16" serrated from Tramontina with microban handles, but a quick check of their US site makes me think that these are only available in the Latin American market…. I've had no problem finding them in the professional chef's supply shops here in Ecuador - perhaps it's just a matter of changing where you look?

I've got some just flat silicone Silicopats from Silikomart, which are easy to cut to shape. http://professional.silikomart.com/Prodotti/Index.asp?Articolo=Mat&n=890&np=787&P=Mat&ecct_nodo=&min=&max=&color=#TopMenu

Well, here's why I haven't been posting a whole lot lately….. Wedding show! This is a dummy cake (so I'm not sure if it belongs here rather than in confections, but what the hey) with gum paste floral arrangement. It was originally meant to be on pillars, but then I found this nifty stand….. And along with all of that, a baptism and a birthday. I'm becoming very fond of printable fondant, let me tell you!

Ecuadorian Spanish is full of these neat little thefts/borrowings. But as is their wont, these things have been given their own special twists. One can order an Hámburguer, a Sánduche (pronounced SAN-dooch-eh), drink a Cocktél. The ones that really charm me, though, are the direct translations of English terms - Perro Caliente (hot dog) being my favourite, as it bears very little resemblance to the weenie on a bun that most North Americans are used to. A Perrito here is a large piece of chorizo in usually a sourdough roll.

I have Lagrimas growing in my garden at the moment - once they're in fruit I'll post a picture for comparison. As mentioned, chili heat varies greatly based on soils, water and also on available daylight and day length. I've got the great good fortune to be in an altitude desert at the equator with frank, volcanic soils which seems to amp up the capsaicin production…. So they might actually be Lagrimas but grown under differing conditions. Since all chilies came from Latin America originally, I wouldn't be surprised to find Ecuadorian or Uruguayan varieties in odd niches. Particularly not the Ecuadorian varieties, since the pre-Columbian cultures here were huge sea traders, not to mention the Spanish who came after….

Very similar to what are called Lagrimas del Dragón here in Ecuador. They're prized for their extreme heat, which is second only to the Luqutu (Rocoto) ajís.

I grew up in a household where family meals were always a collaborative affair - as soon as I could be in the kitchen without posing a danger to myself or others (ha! sometimes I still do - but I was about 2 or 3, I think, when I was allowed in) I was allowed to help out with preparation of meals and learn about what it was I was eating. If I wanted to be picky I could - anything I didn't like the look of I could leave on the edge of the plate, but I had to try everything once to know that I really didn't like it, and wasn't just objecting to it for an irrational reason. (Eggplant, I'm looking at you! I loved eggplant if Mom called it Aubergine instead, but had an extreme aversion to it under its English name, probably due to my severe egg allergy.) I credit this approach for my extreme non-pickyness and spirit of culinary adventure - I'll still try anything once, and if it's icky I'll still just leave it in a polite little pile on the edge of the plate and eat the rest. Mom never ever prohibited anything, but what she did do was this: she set limits. I could have all the fruit or veggies I wanted to eat, especially if I harvested them myself from the garden but even in the winter no holds were barred: if I wanted celery, I knew where it was. However, if I wanted chips (not normally available in the house, only on special occasions) or cookies or whatnot I had to ask first and accept whatever limit was put on them for me. So if I wanted cookies and she said "only one" I'd either take that one cookie, or none because I complained that one wasn't enough. The reminder was always "you need to eat your taller food, before you eat your wider food" - and since I wanted to be really tall (joke's on me - at 6' I'm a giant in Ecuador) I always made sure to eat the taller food (veggies, mostly, and whole grains, and protein) and lots of it. Side effect? No room left for the wider food (sweets, fried stuff, etc.) Oh, and really good dark chocolate was a staple, not a treat. Beside it, all other candy pales.

Barnes & Barnes - Fish Heads Charlotte Diamond - Je Suis Une Pizza The B-52's - Cake None of these can be disputed, surely?

The Arrogant Worms - Carrot Juice is Murder The Arctic Monkeys - Black Treacle The Lemon Pipers - Rice is Nice And I can't believe nobody's yet mentioned Supertramp - Breakfast in America

How cold is your dough when you're rolling it out? The chillier the better for the very sticky doughs (the gingersnap recipe I use is crazy sticky, and this works like a charm.)

Melon liqueur perhaps?

Sweet (Unsalted) Butter is the king of fats in my kitchen. After that, Sunflower oil, for frying and in some cakes and breads Extra Virgin Olive oil, for dressing salads and other raw uses, and for some breads A blend of Sunflower and Olive oil, for frying, some breads, and roasting Maní del Monte (Plukenetia) oil, cold-pressed, for dressing salads Apricot Kernel oil, for roasting potatoes with cinnamon, and some salads Avocado oil, for salads and other raw uses Linseed oil, as a machine lubricant Are we counting things like bacon fat as well? Because I use that when I'm frying things like potatoes. I keep the specialty oils in the fridge, and the remainder in my cool pantry.

Obviously, a bitter melon amaro is Double Trouble.

Bacardi White - the Ricky Martin of rums….