My perfectionist tendencies, mini-brains on the way, and a contest!

 The first shipment of Gothic Weekend truffles and other sales from that announcement should be hitting the post office tomorrow. This will be for orders received within the first day or so of the sale, with more shipping on Monday/Tuesday. So there's that.

Everything's still taking too long to ship, and in the whirlwind of getting the last batch out the door, there were a few errors made. I was fretting about this yesterday, and a good friend told me that it's inevitable that mistakes will occur in this beta-testing phase (after all, that's the reason for doing it) and that I've had an over 90 percent success rate, etc. But every mistake, every shipment that goes astray -- whether through my fault or the postal service -- is like a big stab in my frontal lobe.

Yes, I'm an imperfect perfectionist control freak. I admit this.

In other news:

• I've had to make an adjustment on the Shelley truffle. It was planned as a rose geranium/almond flavor, but there have been unexpected complications with supplies. To fill the orders in a semi-timely fashion, Shelley will now be a less exotic lemon-almond truffle, and rose will be shelved for a future concoction. A slip explaining this will be included with each box. This does not make me happy, but it's unavoidable.

• Also, I'm going to have to change the look of the Wrath truffles. I love the way they look with the paprika sprinkled on top ... when it works. But it doesn't always. As best I can tell, sometimes the paprika sucks cocoa butter from the chocolate up to the surface, creating bloom. I haven't been able to figure out what the factor is that causes this to happen (heat? Cold? Humidity?) but it's a gamble I can't afford to take. So future Wrath truffles will have a little red lightning bolt on top, not paprika.

• The molds for mini-brains arrived! So at some point next week I'll be experimenting with molded chocolates, so that I can offer bags of bite-sized chocolate brains filled with either caramel or mint fondant. These were one of the first non-truffle ideas I had when fantasizing about this business a year ago, and now that I have the molds in hand, I'm itching to get started. Mmmmmm, brains.

• As part of the mini-brain development, I have to finesse making caramel. I've looked at commercial caramel that's available, but it's all either too chewy, too runny, or too full of chemical additives for my liking. (See: "Perfectionist control freak" above.)

• I also purchased some 6mm pink sugar pearls, because they're so cool. They'll be the decoration atop ... something. Perhaps the rose truffle, once I get this rose geranium oil problem straightened out.

• Within a 24-hour period, I ran across a website for a confectioner who makes nothing but marshmallows in a variety of flavors, and bags of gourmet marshmallows at Trader Joe's. I seem to be part of a marshmallow renaissance, which is ... interesting. Funny how these things come in waves.

• And finally, a selection of Polidori Chocolates will be the prize for the monthly contest over at Antisocial Networking! If you haven't checked out the latest venture by Internet legend The Slackmistress, it's a delightfully cheeky site which offers relationship advice for geeks, as well as daily updates on all things nerdy. The contest theme is "My Nerd Crush" -- share your story by June 20, and you might win a box of Seven Deadly Sins truffles!

Comments

[Maggie]

Oh, please don't feel bad about forgetting my extra chocolate marshmallows - it's no problem - and you are doing a great job! (And those chocolate marshmallows are fantastic!)

[Mercutia]

Perhaps the paprika issue might be solved by brushing the tops of the finished truffles with just the absolute lightest coating of edible paraffin, then sprinkling the paprika on top while it's half-dry? This is the voice of experimentation speaking, not the voice of experience, just FYI.

Also I know they successfully pull off the paprika at Vosges chocolates, although I don't know how--would it be bad candymaker ethics to ask them the secret?