HELP: In Need of a Kitchen Space!

Well the search is on to find a commercial kitchen here in Tallahassee, Florida. I'm ready to take my chocolate making experience to the next level and right now it's illegal to make food items for retail sale out of my home. So, in order to get my business license to make chocolates I first must have access to a commercial kitchen. If anyone knows someone or is someone that would be open to let me use/rent their kitchen space to make my hand-made artisan chocolates please e-mail me! Thanks, Aaron

New Book Comes Home to Roost!

I am sooooo excited! I just received my Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner book from Amazon.com. This book is an incredible read! I collect a myriad of books on chocolates and confections, and must say this one looks to be the best out of my collection. Never have I come across a book that is this stacked in theory, formula and recipes on chocolate and other candies. I have to give it up to Peter P. Greweling and the folks at The Culinary Institute of America. 

Hungarian Fish Soup

Summer seems like an unlikely time to make or even want soup. This is especially true if one lives in Florida where the outside temperatures are a balmy 90+ degrees. However, since all I had in the freezer was some leftover seabass from my last offshore fishing adventure and I wasn't in the mood to swim though the humidity to the store for groceries, fixing soup sounded about right. 

I recently came across this recipe for Hungarian Fish Soup while reading through some of my favorite foodie blogs. It was a super easy dish to prepare and I had all of the ingredients on hand. The flavor was out of this world for something that took zero time to make. The secret is paprika and lots of it, not to mention using a light fish (not carp like what's called for in the recipe- who eats carp?). Also it helps to have the AC down in the lower 70's. 

Recipe:

500 g small fresh water fish, or fish head and tail.
1- 1/2kg fresh water fish (carp) OR SEABASS!
2 big onions
2 tomatoes
2 Tbls. mild paprika
1 tsp. hot paprika
1 Tbls. minced garlic
1 pinch of cilantro
2 bay leaves
3 cups of broth (I prefer chicken broth)

Green & Black's

Recently I entered Green & Black's chocolate challenge put on by TLC's very own Curtis Stone. You may know him from his popular TV show "Take Home Chef".  The rules were simple, come up with a recipe using their chocolates, include 5 ingredients and type up an essay about your inspiration to go green. I entered a recipe that I had been working on during the spring (a basil + honey 70% truffle) and posted it with a delightful essay on how we live in an exciting time which has embraced environmental issues in a mainstream market. So, yesterday I found out I didn't win. However, Green & Black's sent me a voucher for some free chocolate, so I guess in a way I did win. I mean come on free chocolate for taking time to e-mail a recipe and an essay, you just can't beat that....well....ummm unless you actually won the grand prize. 

The 5 grand prize winners came up with some pretty interesting combinations. I especially liked Melissa Moore's creation of Roasted Jalapeno Peppers Stuffed with Brie Cheese and Raspberry Preserves. I think what I liked about her recipe was that the chocolate wasn't necessarily the theme. She used only 2 oz of melted chocolate to compliment the dish. Now some of the other winners, in my opinion, didn't do anything new or exciting. There was even one winner who paired basil, chocolate and shrimp.....I shudder at the thought. I guess they had one hell of an essay.