Well as far as books go there is:
Toba Garrett
Collette Peters
Both have great information in them.
You could also pick up a Wilton starter kit at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Their starter kit 1 will give you what your looking. As far as chocolate goes I would imagine it would be the same...
Top 5 huh, well;
(1). Cookwise Shirley O Corriher
(2). On Food and Cooking Harold McGee
(3). The Pie and Pastry Bible Rose Levy Beranbaum
(4). Cake Bible author same as #3.
(5). The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef Bo Friberg
The Professional Pastry Chef Bo Friberg
Joy of Cooking is good but the new edition came out with some errors that I believe they corrected. Mark Bittmans book "How to cook most anything" is good as well. But for the novice Joy of Cooking rates supreme no doubt.
The book can get a little technical for the novice cook but its a great reference book. Larousse, hey what can I say GREAT book unfortunately I do not have it yet. I would suggest Shirley O Corrihers book "Cookwise" for a novice just starting out in the kitchen has recipes and explains how and...
The Professional Chef from the CIA is a little beyond the homecook not saying that the homecook could not make the recipes but it is a little advanced. One book you should also checkout is "The Food Substitions Bible" by David Joachim great reference work for looking up needed substitions in a...
Well,speaking from expereince I lost a father to this disease and its not pretty. In order to help someone they have to want to help themselves first. Its all a question of mind over matter, they don't mind, and the bottle does matter. Kudos to you Corey for trying to help but be aware that...
Your best bet is to wrap them individually in wax paper and store them in an airtight container in a cool dry place they'll last up to a week this way. You have to remember also that cold is sugars second worst enemy next to moisture. The reason they go soft is because the fructose in granulated...
Well I work in a bakery and do not have that much of a problem with the heat but Claire is right do it for a summer and see if its for you.
Rgds Sugarcreations
Don't know, guess it depends on how often you use it. I would talk to the guy that does the sharpening he maybe able to give you some tips on how often you should sharpen them. Then agian its going to depend on the quality of your knife steel if they are good blades they should not need it has...
Do you have anyone in your area that does sharpening? I would advise looking in the local phonebook you might have some luck there.
Rgds Sugarcreations