Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Cookies, Ganache and Wholesale Produce Markets
First item of business.
Ayer con la Maria, no pude entender bien sus palabras, entonces le mande to heat up and melt the chocolate chips before she made the chocolate chip cookies. The resulting batter was a little peculiar, but the cookies turned out to be alright. A tad sweet and a little chewy, not in a bad way though.
Y el segundo
We were making ganache this evening, and for some reason it was becoming really dull and dry, almost like it was heated too long, but not long enough to cause the fats to separate from the chocolate. My suggestion to the baker was to heat cream and butter to the point of boiling, then pour that mixture on to the chocolate. I have made ganache like this in the past (but to be honest the internet helped me a bit today). The resulting ganache was perfect, and easier to make than the old fashion bain marie method.
y el tricero
I saw parts washer twice today. First time riding a red bike with big handlebars about 2 blocks from the liquor store (12:15 ish) than again riding a huffy into the parking lot of the liquor store around 2:30. I stopped him long enough to ask why, the first trip was to get a pre-lunch 40, the second to get a post-lunch 40. I swear those bike folk might just give restaurant folk a run for the money in the partying arena. Jer-i-zo told me that the aforementioned huffy was actually a pretty sweat bike, and I could see that. I imagine it to be one hell of a project to fix a beat up huffy to the point of awesomness, challenging to be sure.
I think I am mostly ready for the trip, I have a couple of things that I need to get done, but nothing crazy. My bags are packed, at least to a point. I am still waiting for my newest favorite pants to get out of the dryer before I close the bags and zip the zippers. Tracy was nice enough to loan me some bags for the week, that should be helpful. Most of the calls I need to do have been placed, and the bills are all current until the time I get back. I preemptively turned down the thermostat, right now my house is a chilly 55 degrees, thank Allah for wool socks, pullovers and flannel britches. I didn't feel the need to have my heat cranked up to 63 for over a week with no one living here, seems silly. Because of that though, my house is bitch ass cold...
I get to see my ex-sister-in-law Thursday, that should be fun, and hopefully not too awkward given the circumstances. I personally don't care that much, I am sure we can have a good time without bringing up little miss beckteria. I am trying to track down this big produce market that supposedly exists somewhere in LA, major distribution hub for most of the produce in the US. If anyone knows where it is at, feel free to contact me I want to know.
I did cut myself a bit today, and no not with my new knives. I was using my old chef knife at work and my knife slipped a bit off of the end and sliced my palm. I should be able to heal up just fine though, you can be sure I have cut myself worse on a number of occasions. I still have not put my new knives into regular use at the cafe, but I am slowly working to it. The 240cm gyotou (chef knife western style) does have a right handed bevel, so I am going to have to get that fixed before I am able to use it regularly. The knife just shoots away at weird angles when I try to use it, meaning I have to put a greater amount of force and pressure into each cut, which is inefficient and dangerous. I might as well be using a dull knife with how I have to treat it, you can tell even by how the knife sounds, you should not be able to hear a "crunch" when cutting onions. I am thinking about shipping it back to Korin in NYC, or just waiting until the next time I go out there, which will probably be in the next couple of months. They charge a 25 dollar fee to get the bevel fixed on a blade, but until then I will keep the knife in storage. I am using the Usuba often though, so it is feeling more comfortable in my hands and is still hella fast. Ironically enough, the little Damascus petty I bought at korin is getting the most usage, perfect for peeling, and small work.
Ayer con la Maria, no pude entender bien sus palabras, entonces le mande to heat up and melt the chocolate chips before she made the chocolate chip cookies. The resulting batter was a little peculiar, but the cookies turned out to be alright. A tad sweet and a little chewy, not in a bad way though.
Y el segundo
We were making ganache this evening, and for some reason it was becoming really dull and dry, almost like it was heated too long, but not long enough to cause the fats to separate from the chocolate. My suggestion to the baker was to heat cream and butter to the point of boiling, then pour that mixture on to the chocolate. I have made ganache like this in the past (but to be honest the internet helped me a bit today). The resulting ganache was perfect, and easier to make than the old fashion bain marie method.
y el tricero
I saw parts washer twice today. First time riding a red bike with big handlebars about 2 blocks from the liquor store (12:15 ish) than again riding a huffy into the parking lot of the liquor store around 2:30. I stopped him long enough to ask why, the first trip was to get a pre-lunch 40, the second to get a post-lunch 40. I swear those bike folk might just give restaurant folk a run for the money in the partying arena. Jer-i-zo told me that the aforementioned huffy was actually a pretty sweat bike, and I could see that. I imagine it to be one hell of a project to fix a beat up huffy to the point of awesomness, challenging to be sure.
I think I am mostly ready for the trip, I have a couple of things that I need to get done, but nothing crazy. My bags are packed, at least to a point. I am still waiting for my newest favorite pants to get out of the dryer before I close the bags and zip the zippers. Tracy was nice enough to loan me some bags for the week, that should be helpful. Most of the calls I need to do have been placed, and the bills are all current until the time I get back. I preemptively turned down the thermostat, right now my house is a chilly 55 degrees, thank Allah for wool socks, pullovers and flannel britches. I didn't feel the need to have my heat cranked up to 63 for over a week with no one living here, seems silly. Because of that though, my house is bitch ass cold...
I get to see my ex-sister-in-law Thursday, that should be fun, and hopefully not too awkward given the circumstances. I personally don't care that much, I am sure we can have a good time without bringing up little miss beckteria. I am trying to track down this big produce market that supposedly exists somewhere in LA, major distribution hub for most of the produce in the US. If anyone knows where it is at, feel free to contact me I want to know.
I did cut myself a bit today, and no not with my new knives. I was using my old chef knife at work and my knife slipped a bit off of the end and sliced my palm. I should be able to heal up just fine though, you can be sure I have cut myself worse on a number of occasions. I still have not put my new knives into regular use at the cafe, but I am slowly working to it. The 240cm gyotou (chef knife western style) does have a right handed bevel, so I am going to have to get that fixed before I am able to use it regularly. The knife just shoots away at weird angles when I try to use it, meaning I have to put a greater amount of force and pressure into each cut, which is inefficient and dangerous. I might as well be using a dull knife with how I have to treat it, you can tell even by how the knife sounds, you should not be able to hear a "crunch" when cutting onions. I am thinking about shipping it back to Korin in NYC, or just waiting until the next time I go out there, which will probably be in the next couple of months. They charge a 25 dollar fee to get the bevel fixed on a blade, but until then I will keep the knife in storage. I am using the Usuba often though, so it is feeling more comfortable in my hands and is still hella fast. Ironically enough, the little Damascus petty I bought at korin is getting the most usage, perfect for peeling, and small work.
# posted by Felipe : 4:38 PM
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