Precious Resources

We grow up seeking advice from friends and family. We tend to get very intimidated to ask "professionals", "experts", teachers and mentors basic questions for fear of being perceived as a novice, inept, or even "stupid". We use the internet as a cheat sheet of history, DIY expertise, medical/spiritual/intellectual guidance as well as dating and communicating.

I have amassed an encyclopedia of learning from health care, to child care, to recipes to politics. However, there is nothing more valuable I find, than VERBALLY, asking a question, to a willing "teacher"/professional .

As I mentioned earlier - I was not a baker, nor a chocolateteer (yes, kinda like mousekateer). I was an appetizer and entree girl - I never made it to the dessert round. POPARAZZI POP is the dessert victory lap for me. Baking is about patience, precision and trusting instincts - I find this serves me now and the baking part is all working. The chocolate is a defined science. There is no subjectivity in tempering and have had great success and not so great success. Unfortunately, this is an all or nothing proposition. It either tempers correctly and looks even, glossy and lovely or, it is "blemished" and by our standards, a bust..

No matter how many different ways I google "why" something happened, the info always come back the same. Temperature: kitchen, chocolate, cooling..

Back to resources. Living in LA, we are lucky to have some great cooking resources - Surfas in Culver City, being the most convenient and user friendly to the aspiring cook . I have bought product here for years, but have found immeasurable value in my visits lately.

I have learned to ask questions, regardless of how mundane they are - or basic in the food hierarchy. Each visit, has been an education and particularly the last visit which was a chocolate and coatings immersion. I was able to speak with one of the managers who took the time to address all my questions, in layman's terms and was also able to recommend more resources, not products or sales, to further my needs.

Surfas is having a chocolate demonstration this weekend of Valrhona chocolate - by one of the top pastry chefs in the country. This is FREE. I would have never known about it until I started asking questions, and putting my vulnerabilities on the cutting board. The more I ask, the more I get back..People generally want to share their knowledge.

I have stopped worrying about the judgement in asking the questions. pretty simple recipe..