Really busy in the kitchen lately with these salted caramels.

The Ace Hotel is carrying them now, though currently only as amenities for VIP guests . Still, the work is good and fun, and I'm getting a lot of positive feedback from the hotel staff and from guests of the hotel who have tried them. It's really helping to build my confidence and is a great motivation to start pushing myself a bit more.

Also, without jinxing myself, I'm talking to a pretty major retailer on the West Coast. That's really all I can say for now. Maybe something will happen, maybe not, but the idea is pretty exciting.

Do I have any readers that have also started a food business? Especially in New York City, but anywhere, really. I want to talk to others who are in my shoes and facing the same hurdle as me - small, artisan food maker trying to get a business up and running. If anyone who reads this has any information or can direct me to any helpful resources (human, internet, literature, or otherwise), I'd greatly appreciate it.

On a different note, over the weekend I got a chance to make pastry. I really love making pastry. I especially love rolling it out. It feels like velvet. There's something so satisfying about watching the dough get larger and flatter, then brushing the excess flour off with a pastry brush - ohh! It's so wonderful. The filling for this one was blood orange custard. It came out pretty well, but it was mostly all about the pastry shell for me.

That's it for now. I hope to hear back from a few of y'all.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend - I did!