Today I got a late start due to the weekly farmer’s market run and an appointment with a prospective wedding photographer, which meant I didn’t roll up my sleeves and dive into candy-making until nearly 2:30 pm. I’ve been working at it for four hours straight, and my feet need a break, so I’m stopping to pen a blog entry and eat something before launching back into chocolatiering.
Tally so far:
Completed:
- coconut tequila lime fudge
- coconut fudge (to be dipped in chocolate and topped with an almond tomorrow)
- lavender-white-chocolate-Meyer lemon fudge
Yet to do:
- jasmine tea caramels (with vanilla beans and orange blossom honey)
- chocolate-and-macadamia nut fudge
Botched:
- Dry out candied bergamot and Meyer lemon peels
By way of explanation for the last one, the candied peels tend to be sticky. So I stuck them in an oven at about 250 degrees to dry them out a little, then forgot about them. The peels still taste yummy but they are an unpleasant shade of caramel brown, and have the consistency of shoe leather. Can’t use that!
Fortunately I have another jar of the bergamot peel, but that was my last jar of candied Meyer lemon peel. Since it is one of my new favorite foods and I will not not not not send out my candies without them, this can mean only one thing: I need to start candying another batch RIGHT AWAY so they will be ready to dip by next weekend.
Tomorrow’s calendar is considerably more open, so I am hoping I can catch up on the candymaking – the only thing on the schedule is an appointment with the place that is doing our wedding cake, Fleur de Cocoa in Los Gatos. They have excellent desserts (says the extremely fastidious artisan chocolatier) and we’ll be doing a cake-tasting that afternoon. Choices are a white chocolate raspberry cake/mousse, a dark chocolate raspberry cake/mousse, a dark chocolate cake sprinkled with Cointreau, and a vanilla-and-dark chocolate cake. All of which I have tasted on previous occasions, and are excellent, but surely another tasting (or two, or three) must be in order? 🙂
I have some visions for wedding cake decorations – having custom chocolate transfer sheets printed with the eternity knot, the double-happiness character, and “Mike + Tien” inside a heart, and using those imprinted onto chocolate to decorate the cake. So I need to talk that over with the chef. I plan to bring dress fabric samples to give them an idea of what they’d be coordinating with, decoration-wise. (And because, let’s face it, I love showing off my fabrics!)
Weaving-wise, I have started winding a 27-yard warp onto the loom. I’ve only finished two bouts so far, but it seems to be going well; I’m pleased with the results. I’m hoping to sneak in some weaving moments during the week, in chunks of time too small for chocolatiering.