YetiChocolates

Patti that's fine with me, earplugs are a marvelous invention I'm going to get into town Wednesday night and leave Monday morning, so if you want I can make the reservation for us and then you can just reimburse me when we get there for the nights you'll be staying if that works for you?

When do we need to make the hotel reservations by? Is there anyone who is going solo that would be interested in sharing a room? Also, flights to Vegas from Jackson are actually quite reasonable so I've jumped ship on driving and am going to fly instead

Hey Steve, thanks for the quick reply, I actually did look at the callebaut banana recipe and have made some personal alterations to the formula to give me that banana foster flavor, to see if it works a little better for me (haven't tried it yet). We'll see how it goes, I'm planning on putting it on the holiday menu (if I ever get the formula right) to see how much interest it will generate.

Ok Steve, maybe I'm being an idiot here, but have been giving your banana ganache a go, and I'm perplexed by the boiling of the dark brown sugar. Are you adding any water to it? If not you are essentially doing a dry caramel, which when I try doesn't really boil it just starts to melt and then burns. Do you have the heat super low? And do you warm the banana/walnut mixture up any because it just seizes the sugar when I add it. Help!

Here's my latest back room finish lovely delight. I was experimenting on whether I could have my transfer sheet on the sheet pan and just slide the chocolate onto the transfer sheet after dipping to save time from cutting each square and putting it on top of each chocolate. Well as you can see, that didn't work out so well. Didn't help that my chocolate was a little cooler and thicker than I really wanted it to be (as I was doing a small batch I didn't pull out the melter). The one plus to the whole ordeal was that I finally used a wire across the bowl for scraping, and everyone is right, that works SO much better!

Here's what I've been working on this week, a new chocolate I've decided to call "foster the banana", a take on bananas foster. I'm really excited with how the airbrushing turned out, and the flavor is good, but I'm not sure if I'm sold on the texture of the ganache, so I might have to tweak it to get the creaminess I'm looking for.

Ooooh Ruth, I really want to give this a try, I've been dying to play around with nougat! However my week is filled with prepping for a chocolate demo I'm doing in Portland this weekend...hopefully I'll have a bit more time next week to give it a shot

Hey Gary I got that pumpkin mold from Chef Rubber, and I know that Tomric carries it as well, but I was in a bit of a rush and wasn't sure if Tomric would have it in stock and get it out to me in time as I sort of ordered it last minute. As for the comment you made earlier Jim D about chocolate having a mind of its own, in the last 6 years of tinkering with chocolate in the winter time, one thing I have learned above anything else is that chocolate is the master, not you

Here's the Halloween line-up for me this year: Bottom left is my Caramel Apple, top center is my Nutty Fluff (peanut butter cup meets marshmallow creme) and bottom right is my Pumpkin Spice.

Guess I better plan on getting there on Wednesday then!

minas, did you do a starch mold for the captain morgan cordials?

I do a 60/40 milk/dark blend. I also used an alder smoked sea salt that boosted the smoky flavor. I tried both dark and milk solo at first, but Kerry tuned me into the milk dark blend. Bark is one of the more simple chocolate things to make. And your peppermint bark plans sounds good, let us know how it turns out!

I do the same as Kerry, spread my chocolate out on parchment, add my nuts, or peppermint, or bacon, etc, then let it set and then while still a little soft I cut it with a knife into fun shapes, then let cool completely, scale the amount I want per bag, then add to the bag. I can make a very large amount of bark in a short amount of time this way. Seems as though the bar method would be more time consuming and labor intensive IMHO.

Thanks Ladies! I saw a Waring one online that looked pretty decent, but will keep Vollrath and Eurodib in mind. Already have people asking about me doing Halloween chocolates, so looks like I'll probably be decently busy when I get back and set up in Wenatchee One more question (for the moment), who do you think is the best distributor for the mold d' art melters? Thinking about picking up one (or 2!) this winter as well.

Question for you Kerry, I'm hoping to start construction on my own chocolate kitchen in my basement this winter. Reading about the possible crazy regulations for fire and venting when having a gas range, I'm also contemplating getting an induction cooktop (or 2) to spare myself the headache. Any suggestions on brands you think are better than others? Any that question goes out to anyone who works with induction burners, not just Kerry

Well Ruth I just decided to go for it. I've been dabbling in strictly chocolate in the winter for the last 6 years, so I hope I know what I'm doing by now . Just made my reservation for the workshop and the master class, so I guess I'm committed. I will still be driving down, but might be limited on what I can bring as I will already be working in Wyoming by then, so have limited space in my car for everything I need to take with me for living in Jackson for the summer, but will see what how much left over space I have and fill it with chocolate equip. Will check on the hotel biz a little later, just wanted to definitely nail down my spot for the workshop and master class. Thanks again for organizing all this Ruth (and Rob!) this looks to be another fantastic event

Couple questions Ruth, what are the dates for the hotel reservations? I have put in the hotel group code and the dates I assume you've reserved the rooms and it's saying there are no rates that match those dates... Also, for the master class, you mentioned it's for more "advanced" participants...in your opinion do you feel I fall under that criteria? Just trying to decide whether I should go for it, or if it's going to be over my head. Thanks! This sounds awesome, can't wait!

Sorry it's taken so long for me to reply, it's been a busy fire season so far as I'm sure you are all well aware of. I will need a room but a bit confused on earlier posts, are the rooms with only one bed or two? I would be willing to share if anyone would be interested, otherwise I'm solo. And I'll be driving as it's "fairly" close so will be able to carpool with people if need be and can bring whatever equipment is needed. Hopefully it will be within my budget this winter for a melter . Let me know if you need help Ruth!

Oh how right you are Ruth!

Kerry, that would rock, I'm sure my co-workers would appreciate it as well

Wish I had my Greweling's book with me here in Jackson, that looks like a fun delicious thing to experiment with...oh well, November will be here before I know it!

Ok Kerry, are they just shells filled with poprocks to make a monster pop rock explosion in your mouth when you eat them or did you mix the poprocks together with the milk chocolate? Your creative genius kills me sometimes (in a good way, I love it!)

So that's what the chocolate was supposed to be...I had a Russell Stover experience with all the chocolates I took away with me. Have to say I wasn't the biggest fan of this particular chocolate (sorry!). One suggestion I might have would be to make the bacon crispier, the piece I got the bacon was definitely too soft and chewy for my taste

Minas, I'm also going to gush about that apple, so beautiful and quite life-like. You truly have the midas touch when it comes to sugar. Sounds like the eg workshop is going to hopefully be in Vegas next year, you should come do a sugar demo!

Kerry, I was amazed by you before just from reading all the crazy cool things you posted on egullet, but my amazement of you knows no bounds you did such an incredible job with this conference! This was my first time attending and I have to say it was just a really great experience from start to finish. Everyone was so welcoming from the start, it made you feel like you've known all these people all your life. Saturday night dinner was a gut-busting experience in more ways than one ;-) and frogprincess your mixology skills are top notch! For me I didn't do much in the way of applying the skills I saw at the conference, mainly because there was so much going on that I just wanted to observe and soak it all in, as well as just chat with people to get their experiences on chocolatiering. It was all well worthwhile as I had so many "ah-ha" moments of just little things that people were doing that I'm going to apply in my own practices to save me a heck of a lot of time. Honestly I can't possibly list everything I learned this weekend, the list is embarrassingly long, but here's a few delicious tidbits - pate de fruit is extremely versatile (thanks lironp) - Steve Lebowitz does not have a blog on making dry caramel (that's Dave Lebowitz) - it's much easier to just put your dipped chocolates on the transfer sheet itself then cutting them into little squares and placing them on top - everclear and luster dust slurry makes simple elegant designs on hand-dipped chocolates - wearing a mask while airbrushing is really quite important The list really does go on but last but not least, beaver is really quite tender and delicious :-)~ Thanks everyone who attended for making this weekend truly enjoyable and I cannot wait until next year...Vegas baby!