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Chocdoc and Alleguede visit one of the Queen Cities. Charlotte, NC here we come!


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@alleguede and I will be flying out to Charlotte on Wednesday this week - first real trade show since COVID. We have a booth at the National Pastry Conference that we will be sharing with Melangers.com.

 

We have plans to share a meal with a couple of the folks who have been ambassadors for the EZtemper brand and really have no idea what's what in Charlotte - so I'm counting on the eG hive mind to help us out with some suggestions. 

 

And of course we will post to keep you up to date with what we are doing. 

 

You notice no catchy title - that's cause Anna is gone - she was my wordsmith and title generator!

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Anna was everywhere! Didn't know until now that all those great titles came from her but I should have known. Thank you for sharing that. Wishing you and Rodney all the best.

 

I just looked at the list of Advisors and Judges (https://www.pastrycon.com/advisorsjudges). What an impressive group! I hope that you get chances to network and to watch some of the competitions. Sorry, no recommendations for Charlotte but I have heard good things about the area. Looking forward to your posts! 

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Maybe try Midwood Smokehouse?  When we visit my sister in Greensboro this coming Thanksgiving, I plan on driving to Lexington for the BBQ there...I've had some darn good 'cue in various NC locations!

Edited by weinoo (log)
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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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And here we sit in the lounge awaiting our flight. 

 

Going to have to go over and check out the food - I'm without my tea this morning because I had to leave so early!

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So I lost two scalpel blades and a corkscrew to security.  Only one scalpel blade left in my passport pocket! and they left me my tiny little scissors in my first aid kit.

 

Apologies to those who don't like ketchup with their scrambled eggs. I should have looked at everything before I chose - wouldn't have bothered to put butter on a hot plate and might have taken only one egg course. 

 

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After the rest of the folks showed up - we headed out to the place where all our stuff had been delivered. Car was already full with our luggage so two of us Uber'd back to the venue and we put down the second row of seats to fit everything in. 

 

 

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Stinking hot day here in Charlotte at the Park Center (and everywhere else). 

 

Genevieve and I started the set up while @Alleguede and Karthic went to costco to get more tables. 

 

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We mentioned this to the rather disorganized organizer of the show and he said "oh, do you need a table? - you can have one of these". So now we have a surplus of tables.

 

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Coming along with the organization - a bit weak in the table cloth department. 

 

They had been looking for Chick-fil-A but it was too far out of the way - so they stopped at Bo Jangles 

 

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Chicken on a biscuit is apparently their 'signature' piece. 

 

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This was a rather cockle warming chicken sandwich, with equally cockle warming fries. But we were extremely peckish at this point and would have eaten just about anything, 

 

After we checked out our digs for the time we are here - we headed out to Aldi to get some necessities, milk for my tea, stuff to make sandwiches for lunch tomorrow as I'm sure we won't want to live on gelato and pastries all day. 

 

@Alleguede wanted to check out Jeni's so off we went - 

 

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Lemon Bar and Gooey butter cake for me

 

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not quite sure what all @alleguede chose - and neglected to get pics of the other two. 

 

A delightful fellow who had opened the door for us when we went in, asked about the flavours we chose when we came out. Seemed a little down on his luck - but jumped at the offer for me to get him a few scoops. We had a nice conversation about fishing in Canada and he mentioned a show that comes from the west coast that he enjoys called ? the Tin Shield? Counting on @rotuts to look into that one for me. 

 

So now we are just chilling and getting an early night - we need to be at the venue for 8 am tomorrow for the 'early birds' 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Kerry Beal

 

no bells ring re: west coast show , possible some fishing ?

 

this came up :

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3017438/

 

haven't seen it.

Think I misheard - try Tin Star

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So today was an early start!  And a long day cause the show was not very busy.

 

Good chance to network with folks I haven't seen for a few years though. I mentioned that I was lacking in cocoa butter - by the end of the day I had 5 lbs. The first 3 lbs came via a guy that Kriss Harvey contacted and he found a pail in his storage (apparently there is a shortage right now - and this pail had clearly seen better days given a big hole on the side). Then another two pounds brought by a friend of Genevieve who welcomed the chance to sneak in the back door and look around without the outrageous cost of a day pass for the show. 

 

As usual with all the running around I do I rarely take a lot of pictures - but here are a few.

 

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1 gram frogs

 

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a shirt I hope to win in a raffle but will buy if I don't

 

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Winner of the amateur cake decoration - actually the only competitor! I did see her in tears at one point in the day when her fondant wasn't doing what she wanted.

 

As we became bored and started visiting more booths - we met up with the Tahitian Vanilla Company folks - and decided to make an infusion of vanilla powder in cocoa butter and leave it in the EZtemper overnight to see if we can get a nice vanilla flavour.

 

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We have a PNG vanilla and a madagascar vanilla infusion.

 

 

 

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Bravo being the company that makes machines for gelato, pastry cream, jams...

 

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oops - goat cheese with mushrooms 

 

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As we were leaving we were informed that uptown at the Marriott there was a welcome party so we decided to drop by there for a drink with our new found chef friends who work for Unox (competitors to Rational) 

 

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G&T for @Alleguede, vermouth and soda for me. Bar tender had never had an order for vermouth alone before so decided to only charge me for the soda!

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I think I maybe want one of the small version of this oven in place of a Rational.

 

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They don't have a boiler which reduces the footprint by about 8 inches on the back - instead the water is nebulized into the oven. It requires cleaning every time it is used - but cleaning is only manual on the smallest of the units. 

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16 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

a shirt I hope to win in a raffle but will buy if I don't

 

Found on Etsy

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

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"A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which you realize that you are trapped in a world almost entirely devoid of reason. Laughter is how you release the anxiety you feel at this knowledge." -Dave Barry, humorist

 

Read to children. Vote. And never buy anything from a man who's selling fear. -Mary Doria Russell, science-fiction writer

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Posted (edited)

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Put together some sandwiches for our lunch so we don't starve or eat only chocolate and ice cream

 

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Got some colours from Chef Rubber and painted my cocoa pod mold with them.

 

 

 

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Checked out the beginnings of the chocolate competition - they had a lot to do in a short time - they gave them an extra half hour and many still didn't finish. Too bad they had to temper by hand!

 

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Had a look at the cakes and cookies from the professional competition assembled on site apparently. I missed the set up

 

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Gelato's made in the Bravo - the one with orange rind and Licor 43 was particularly nice.

 

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Don't know how well you can see it - but as we went to leave the venue - sun shower!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Kerry Beal (log)
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Never seen this before!

 

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Heading off the Midwood Smokehouse - ate in the outside annex - was finally warm for a while!

 

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A selection of sauces was brought

 

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Tableside guac - skipped the jalapeños 

 

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And a second sun shower 

 

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Shared a variety of meats and sides - burnt ends were the favourite. 

 

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Originally planned to hit Costco and return tables - wind, rain, lightning and thunder suggested otherwise!

 

So now I'm soaked, cold and ready to curl up in bed because that's the warmest place. 

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Neglected to mention - being that we sat 'outside' where everyone said it would be too hot - when @Alleguede flipped open the ketchup it exploded - likely due to fermentation in the heat. 

 

Upside of having ketchup all over your t-shirt and shorts - you get to take home other t-shirts. 

 

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Last day of the show - today's competitions included 3 teams doing showpieces. They finished up around 3 pm. 

 

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Not everyone completely finished their showpiece. This lovely couple - one a pastry type the partner an OB-Gyn. 

 

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Don Quixote 

 

 

 

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Lunch today from Chick-fil-A 

 

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Not quite sure of the theme of this one. 

 

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Time to pack up.

 

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Decided we would have dinner at Optimist Hall which is kind of like a big food court. 

 

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First you do the rounds to see what you might want to eat.

 

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Bao, dumplings, Aloo gobhi, burger and fries. 

 

 

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