Bakery Sunday: Round Four

My recovery time/preparation time for Bakery Sunday has gotten progressively better.  I didn't even try to sleep before - instead I did the opposite - I went out about town.

I'm just going to give you the run-down via pictures.  You know the drill.

Began the evening with dinner at Pura Vida - William was in town for the weekend and our lovely cousins Liz and Becky joined us for dinner and drinks.

pictured: Becky and I

Serious business at the Righteous Room

The group

After dropping William off for the night, I ran straight over to the Irwin St. Market to bake.

Plum Frangipanes

Empanadas

Rolled out a lot of dough.

I've learned that dough is a challenge.  This last Bakery Sunday I've learned that vegan dough is impossibly hard.

It gets a little weird when we're all up this late working.

Sugared Brioche ready for the oven.

Our Sunday morning help - Bryan.  

William asking questions about the chocolate making process.  He was tired.  

A fantastically long line.

A New Space!

Sugar-Coated Radical is moving up in the world!  We'll be moving from the Virginia Highlands to the Old 4th Ward - and we'll have an actual kitchen!

The new shop will open up on September 1st ( I'm coming back for the grand-opening).  This week has been devoted to cleaning and figuring out the new layout of the shop.

While I've helped out a little with the cleaning process of the new shop, I've also been working a little with chocolate this week.  I made the 72% Ghana Blueberry and Pink Peppercorn bars yesterday.

I'll grab pictures of the new space next time I'm over there!  Get excited!

To Live and Dine in Atlanta

The Atlantan, one of a few magazines here in Atlanta featured Sugar-Coated Radical as one of their top restaurants - though I wouldn't call SCR a restaurant - and had us contribute to an event they hosted called To Live and Dine in Atlanta.

A lot of the top restaurants were there - and it was a great opportunity to see what is considered to be "the best."  I still think we brought the best stuff though.

What did we bring?  Each guest who stopped by our table got a plate with: a.) a dill lemon caramel b.) a grapefruit-szechuan-peppercorn sugar shard c.) a blood-orange patê de fruit d.) a piece of Venezuelan milk chocolate with toasted almonds and alderwood smoked sea-salt.

Bakery Sunday: Round Three

 Peach, Strawberry, Poblano Pies

 Peach, Strawberry, Poblano Pie (up-close)

 Sugared Brioche

Empanadas!!

It was a great Sunday (I do realize that today is Friday - it took me a few days to recover).  I wasn't able to get any sleep Saturday night, so I was more grumpy than usual.  I ended up going home around 6am to take a nap and missed all of the customers and rattletrap.  I did make it to the High Museum of Art later that afternoon though!  

The peach, strawberry, poblano pies were a big hit.  The Constant Gobbler, a food blogger here in ATL, said the following on SCR's facebook wall:  

"Taria, today is an enlightening day. I tried the peach-strawberry-poblano pepper pie. This is the type of food that makes my mouth happy, but then makes my brain hurt. The pepper was just as you said, the strawberry bridged the flavor perfectly to the sweet peach and buttery crust. It is a thinking man's dish. I have been trying to figure out how to explain the flavor composition, but I can not put it into words. This brings me both joy and fear. There are not many of thinking people in this world and I fear that most will not accept this type of food and your talents will disappear. I am so torn between what is happening now and what could be the future."

Another SCR fan said:  


"The peach | strawberry | poblano pepper pie is a revelation. It makes me want to cuss, it's so good."


Be sad that you missed it.

Sorry Sorry Sorry

Ted keeps telling me that I need to post more.  His internet up in Appalachia is unreliable, but according to him every time he can get online he checks here first!  I've sorely disappointed him for the past few weeks. I'm going to attempt to make up for the lack of posts over the next few weeks - hopefully.

This past weeks was a slow one.  I had two days of tempering failure - perhaps due to the excessive heat and humidity, or maybe just me.  Then had two days of tempering success - sigh of relief - I was afraid that I had lost my tempering Mojo.

Making patê de fruit is a test of endurance.  It requires constant vigorous stirring as the boiling juices become thicker and thicker - along with the pot spitting vicious hot blood orange.
It turned out beautifully - definitely worth it.

Bakery Sunday starts at 1am.  I'll grab some pictures.  I'm in charge of the peach-rhubarb pie!

Freak Out

I'm beginning to realize how quickly this summer is moving.  I am only going to be in Atlanta for another three and a half weeks.  THREEANDAHALFWEEKS!  While I'm really looking forward to being back in Raleigh - meeting up with friends, moving into my swank new apartment, starting classes, and all that jazz - I'm really going to miss it here.

You've probably noticed that I haven't been posting as regularly.  Part of this is because I'm running around Atlanta being cool (not really) and because I'm not so much learning how to make new things all of the time, but instead practicing and working on making them better.  I suppose I could change my job title from bumbling intern to just intern.

This past week I made a few ganaches, worked on making bars, helped set-up the facebook store (you can buy chocolate from us from anywhere in the world!), and did a lot of enrobing.  I missed this Bakery Sunday's bake-a-thon due to a very angry stomach and instead took a nap on my bathroom floor.

Feeling a little better today - can't wait to get back to the shop!

Oh, and those little ganache hearts - those are really hearts from hell.  notsomuchfun.

July 4th Weekend

Spent a long weekend in North Carolina.  Brought up the chocolates for Lilly and Alex's wedding.  Helped bottle some of Ted's first run of beer in Old Fort, and made it to two cookouts!  Also got to watch the Asheville fireworks with some cool cats.

Made two ganaches today - chipotle and cane syrup.

 Also got a new sponge.  While that sounds insignificant - I'll let you know that it was a gift and that I was really in need of a new one at work.  Cupcakes were involved.

Did You Miss Me Internet?

Vacation was great.  I wish I had pictures to share, but I left my camera behind.  This week will be a short one.  I'm headed back up to North Carolina for a wedding - and I'm bringing chocolates!  

Some pictures of our set-up at the Villa Christina Wedding Planners Event

The Bike Rack!

Five-Spice Ganache?! 

Wrapped Some Bars

Found out what happens when you leave potatoes on top of the fridge and forget about them.

ALSO:  The podcast is up!  You can listen online by searching for Out There Atlanta on Itunes, or click this link - http://outthereatlanta.com/

I may or may not have a slight lisp.  You can only find out by listening! ... I just get excited when I'm being interviewed.

Enjoy!

TBS and Wedding Jazz

I know - I promised pictures from the TBS filming.

Unfortunately, they don't exist.

 I was sent home early due to exhaustion.  Around 9:00am I got all dizzy and lightheaded and nauseous and shaky and lost color and overall scary - the "ands" were included for suspense.  AND, it was best for me to just go home and rest.  The crew at SCR applauded me though.  Apparently, once you reach this point you have actually entered the industry - officially.

So, I went home and fell asleep on all of my neatly folded clean clothes - which are no longer neatly folded.  Beth called me at 8:30 and I thought it was morning.  I think I actually said good morning.  Exhaustion.

After so much rest, heading back to work felt great.  Today we prepped for our trip to Villa Christina for a wedding planners party.  A lot of pink, green, and gaudy - all expected.

I was also named "Kendra" - Christopher Robin's big sister and was able to show off my "you must pay the rent" skit a few times.

All in all, a great night.

Headed to the mountains/beach early tomorrow for a short vacation!

FATHERS DAY

Happy Belated Fathers Day!  - I'm only a few minutes late (and I called earlier today).

Just wanted to take a minute to thank my dad for encouraging me to take this expedition into chocolate.
And also for helping me to fix my toilet via phone yesterday.

You should be jealous.

Bakery Sunday: Round Two

My Second Bakery Sunday was a success!  I did a lot of slicing and a little sleeping.  I got home at 2:30pm and slept for 4 glorious hours.  

TBS is coming tomorrow!  Hoping to get some great shots and write up a synopsis of the day.

 Beet and Goat Cheese.

 Irish Cheddar, Apple, and Onion Croissants.

COMING SOON!  A stop motion film by an up-and-coming film maker!

Pretend

I've been pretending to sleep for the past two days.  Thought this song might be appropriate.  Last night I "pretended" to sleep while my next door neighbor drunkenly sang the same song loudly from 3am to 5am.  Tonight I got to pretend again.  Candler Park, my neighborhood park, celebrated midsummer with a music festival.  The music stopped at 11- but my alarm clock goes off in 30 minutes.  Why pretend at this point?

The past few days have been long and exciting.  We're all rushing around getting ready for TBS on Monday and an event for wedding planners on Tuesday - and, of course, bakery sunday.

Learned how to make the Brooklyn ganache - whipped malted milk/white chocolate heaven ganache - and learned about the importance of a good kitchen-aid mixer.

Taria was gifted her mixer 22 years ago - and has been using the same one ever since!  It's a crayola green 5qt. mixer that her grandmother gave her.  It carries meaning and purpose...and I really want one!

Hint hint Mom and Dad.  What an investment!  I'll use it forever!

Made more lollis today and enrobed my little heart out.  I've been forcing myself to re-temper chocolate.  I have a tendency to let it get too thick and then compromise the end product.  If I make myself re-temper at the first few signs, I save good chocolate from being ruined by my avoidance of starting the process over.

More later.  Time to get up.

Look forward to pictures of bakery sunday prep.

WooHoo.

I'm really terrible without sleep.

OH MY GANACHE!

That's right.  I made ganache today.  I actually made two different kinds of ganache!  The first was a dark grapefruit ganache - really fun to make.  The second was a white wasabi - not so fun.  It started to separate during the emulsification process.  Taria saved it for me.  The wasabi went on top of a blood orange patê au fruit.  

I've been wanting to try a ganache for awhile now, so today was a bit of a milestone for me.

 ingredients.

 completed

 but then I cut my finger

 so I made lollis

 they turned out beautifully.

Rose and fennel.

Yum.

Lollis and Bars

Slightly burnt my first temper of white, but saved it.  Used it to make pistachio, candied rose petal, saffron bars (my favorite).  Then I had a perfect temper on a 72% Ghana - the chocolate was beautiful.  Used that to make blueberry pink peppercorn bars.

I also made two sets of lollis: orange mint and tart lemon.

Family Weekend

The video describes the weekend.  Just add this to the Atlanta Zoo, Coca-Cola World, Fernbank, and Stone Mountain.  Too much fun.

Bakery Sunday

Crazy Day.

2am:  Woke-up, late.

2:30am:  at Irwin Street Market trying to find a way inside - woke up a bagel maker.

2:40am:  tried to help make pastries - wasn't that helpful - sliced and peeled beets, apples, and pears.

6:00am:  at SCR.

7:45am:  went on a bike ride tour of the city with a very good tour guide - learned the history of multiple playgrounds and had a ride-through of Piedmont Park.

8:30am:  back at SCR.

8:31am:  Rattletrap arrives.

9:00am:  Shop opens.

9:01am:  Hordes of customers arrive.

9:02am:  Fell asleep in the kitchen.

9:30am:  Woken-up by pranksters.

9:31am:  Latte.

12:00pm:  Home.

Brought home a strawberry rhubarb pie and goodies.

Family arrives at 2pm!

Advice

The last few days have been wonderful.  So wonderful, that I haven't bothered to post.  Sorry blogging world, you just aren't as great as reality.

We've been working really hard on keeping up with events.  Tons of enrobing.  My tempering skills are coming together.  My failure rate has decreased - thank god.  It's nice to do something right without having to ruin it first.

This post is going to be a little different from my previous posts - it's an internal discourse more than the day-to-day happenings you've seen.

I am consistently surprised at the kindness of strangers.  At school and home, I don't experience this reaching out - I'm surrounded by people I already know.  But here I've been adopted.  I've found a huge amount of comfort in the relationships I've developed in the last three weeks and feel like I'm part of a big family.  Everyone at SCR, friends of friends, my roommate - I can't explain how thankful and grateful I am.

This evening I went to two events.  One was a kick-off party for a project in the business school at Emory (https://newsroom.goizueta.emory.edu/gnr/2011/04/20/student-carries-wine-project-forward/)
and was hosted at a professors home.

Besides being a great event (with a great cause) and great entertainment - traditional Ethiopian dancing and Dance Truck (http://clatl.com/culturesurfing/archives/2011/05/25/dance-truck-goes-way-gay - the image tells all ) - I was able to have some amazing conversations.

I met Keith of High Road Craft Ice Cream and Sorbet.  He's got a background in both culinary school and business school.  Told him who I was, what I'm doing, and what I think I want and asked him for advice.

Advice!  So much advice!

No matter how much I love the idea of chocolate or making chocolate now - I'm going to hate it when I make the 400,000th piece.  And when I hate it, I'll realize that it isn't the chocolate that I'm in it for.  I'm in it for the people.  I'm there for the communication and relationship and development with others.

And when I hate it, I'm going to need to love it.  And the only way I'll be able to love it will be to take it back to the beginning.  To understand it from the farm it came from in Venezuela or Madagascar and the economics and anthropology that take it all the way to where I'm standing with a completed confection.  That's what I have to understand and know in order to love it on that 400,000th piece.

AND, he invited me to visit him at High Road.  I'm going to check out their facilities and talk about what happens when chocolate is applied to ice cream.  Chocolate has it's nuances when it comes to tempering and ganaches, but what about in other products?

Ended the night at White Space for another event.  It was nice to see everyone in a different environment.

Exhaustion.  Ecstatic exhaustion.

Family Dinner

Yesterday was a blur.  I honestly don't remember what I did.  I know that I over-seeded a batch of chocolate and had to use the immersion blender - it still didn't temper.

I also remember helping to make white chocolate bars with candied roses, pistachios, and saffron.  Addicting and beautiful.

Today I helped with milk chocolate bars covered in tobacco and hazelnut, ACTUALLY GOT THE DARK TO TEMPER AND WORKED WITH IT FOR A GOOD TWO HOURS!, lost the temper, tried to re-temper, failed, enjoyed dinner at the shop, and polished molds until 9.

Today was a very good day.  I was so busy enrobing that I didn't have lunch until 4.

Beluga

Lazy morning.  Farmburger for breakfast.  Aquarium.  Hot dog stand lunch.  Swimming.  La Fonda Latina dinner.  Dr. Bombay's Underwater Tea Party dessert.  

The pictures tell it all.

Farmburger.

Aquarium.

La Fonda Latina.

Began reading a new book on chocolate.  Borrowed it from the wonderful Sawyer family.  It covers the history of chocolate.  I'll do a write-up once I'm farther in.  

SCR today!

What'll ya have?

Got up early this morning to go to the Atlanta Botanical Garden attached to Piedmont Park.  Didn't want to be walking around in the heat.  Saw plants and what-not.

Found a Theobroma cacao.  There weren't any cacao pods - if there were, I would have stolen them.  

Hooray for chocolate and plants!  Our two favorite things!  The cacao tree is native to Mesoamerica and is currently grown in :

Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Togo, India, Philippines, Republic of the Congo, and the Solomon Islands

...and Atlanta?

Had lunch with Lilly and Alex - Holla!

Stayed out of the sun for the afternoon.

Watched "Everything Must Go" in Midtown - I didn't like it.  Ted did.

And had dinner at the Varsity!