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

Kerry Beal · August 26

@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!

**curls** · August 26

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!

weinoo · August 26

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 August 26 by weinoo (log)

rotuts · August 26

@weinoo

ref above needs update . thanks

Kerry Beal · August 28

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!

Kerry Beal · August 28

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.

Kerry Beal · August 28

Sitting in rocking chairs waiting for the other members of our party at the airport.

Kerry Beal · August 29

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 -

Lemon Bar and Gooey butter cake for me

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'

rotuts · August 29

@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.

Kerry Beal · August 29

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

rotuts · August 29

perhaps this ? :

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4607112/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_tin%20star

Ill look into it and give it a try.

its takes place in Canada .

that's a start

Edited August 29 by rotuts (log)

Kerry Beal · August 29

I think that's the one.

Kerry Beal · August 29

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.

1 gram frogs

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

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.

We have a PNG vanilla and a madagascar vanilla infusion.

Kerry Beal · August 29

Right now we are waiting for an uber which seems to be lost which is taking us to dinner with the folks from Bravo.

FauxPas · August 29

13 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Think I misheard - try Tin Star

Also here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_Star_(TV_series)

Filmed in High River, Alberta though it seems to be a British production. It's available on Amazon Prime in Canada (not sure about US).

Edited August 29 by FauxPas (log)

gfweb · August 30

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

taking us to dinner with the folks from Bravo.

Real Housewives of Toronto?

Kerry Beal · August 30

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

oops - goat cheese with mushrooms

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)

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!

Kerry Beal · August 30

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

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.

Alex · August 30

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

Kerry Beal · August 30

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

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

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!

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

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

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

Edited August 30 by Kerry Beal (log)

Kerry Beal · August 31

Never seen this before!

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

A selection of sauces was brought

Tableside guac - skipped the jalapeños

And a second sun shower

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

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.

Kerry Beal · August 31

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.