Archive for Arts + Artisans

02.22.10

The Evolution of the Chocolate Tempering Machine

Posted in Arts + Artisans, Economy, Food And More at 9:33 pm by admin

During the time when there were still no chocolate tempering machines, professional chocolatiers used to temper chocolates by hand in three ways, through seeding, tabliering and the use of microwave. For sure, these big chocolate makers had regularly-calibrated thermometers and their double boilers nearby when making their confectioneries to ensure excellence in quality.
Even if you’re working with the automation of a microwave, tempering by hand remains to be irksome work particularly for most beginners as it can be a series of trials and errors. Because automated tempering where only for the big-brand chocolate makers who usually worked with huge volumes of chocolates each day, the regular enthusiast was effectively excluded from the wonders of these machines.
A computer specialist from New York, Skip Snyder, made it possible for hobbyist’s confectioneries to rival that of big-brand chocolate manufacturers’. Tempering has become as painless as placing one and a half pound of chopped chocolate into a machine. There are even other models that make possible leaving chocolates tempered all night.
This software-based technology underwent perfecting for several months to address the preciseness and intricacy of the chocolate tempering process. Fine quality chocolates contain cocoa butter. The difficulty in tempering presents itself when the wrong type of crystal is created during crystallization since there are six different kinds that can come about. The object is to let the Type V crystals dominate tempering by controlling temperatures. The best features of chocolate can be obtained with Type V crystals and these are the creaminess, glossiness and that sharp snap when you break a bar off.
Snyder acquired his patent for the new chocolate tempering machine and introduced it in 1996 as the Sinsation Chocolate Maker. Chandre, his investor, marketed the product on different culinary magazines, until it achieved such popularity in mail order channels
Then in 2000, the Sinsation, renamed into the New Sinsation, was being marketed by ChocoVision signaling new ownership. After awhile, they included the tempering machine into the Revolation line. Indotronix, Snyder’s original investor, maintained its interest in this venture as well.
ChocoVision repurposed their advertising to include news articles in Internet newspapers and very active participation on cooking forums and discussions. A larger fraction of total sales were by eBay resellers. Later, they branched out to industry trade shows and events like the World and Nationwide Pastry Competitions.
ChocoVision has also broadened their market reach beyond the regular focus on chocolate enthusiasts and housewives. Interest in the chocolate tempering machine also came from restaurateurs, small and medium-scale chocolatiers, and pastry chefs, among others. The Revolation can now be purchased from across the United States and across the world.

02.05.10

On How to Make a Free Banner for Your Website

Posted in Arts + Artisans, Web Resources at 12:47 am by admin

Web banners online usually fall into 2 categories. First of all, you have the well-known ad banner, normally utilized as a method to drive visitors to a website, as clicking on the banner takes one to the advertised site. The second form of banner is found at the very top of a typical website - the site header area. This section usually acquaints a visitor to the website with a main title, perhaps a secondary strapline, and some images to help theme the site. Both types of web banner serve important purposes in both delivering visitors to a website, and making a website retain each visitor for an extended period of time on the site - by informing them plainly with the primary premise of the website, and tempting the reader to read the site more, utilising compelling imagery / strapline text.

So how do you go about creating such web banners? There are numerous online services that are able to aid you with this task. Also many provide you with banner hosting as well. Simply type in a phrase such as web banner maker into Google and you will locate plenty of banner maker services.

What sort of information to put in your banner? If you’re selling products, it’s a good plan to arrange the payment providers your site utilizes for taking payment, because it leaves individuals a visible clue that you are selling products and also lets them see how items can be purchased on your site. Place some graphics of the products you are selling as well, as this is a further visible prompt as to what sort of products you vend. The strap line text is vital as well. Ensure the strapline clearly and concisely posits what the site is about in only four to eight words.

As evident as all this may be, a misapprehension many websites make is to take for granted the visitor will know such information before-hand. One should not take for granted that each visitant what your website is about in advance, so you must squeeze every visitor’s hand in those essential first 3 or 4 seconds they visit your website.

06.02.09

Taking Photos in the Land of Smiles

Posted in Adventures, Arts + Artisans, Traveling Tips at 11:33 am by admin

Are you a travel photographer? Looking for a photo opportunity? Then take a holiday in Thailand (”The Land of Smiles”) - your camera will be in your mitts the entire time! Why is that? Because there’s so much going on in daily life in Thailand Thunderstorms come along and vanish in moments, festivals are an almost daily occurance if you know where the next one is going to be, marketplaces popup out of nowhere, and general street life is played out in a way that lends itself to the camera’s eye. There are limitless opportunities to take photographs in Thailand.

Thailand is a “what you see is what you get” type of country - full of affable people, hazardous drivers, food stalls on every street corner, and dogs all over the place. However, guesthouses give you a service that’s a couple of stars about what you pay for. As a matter of fact, no matter where you go, anticipate a friendly and professional service.

So you want some examples of such photos of Thailand to inspire you? Then visit thailandimpression.com. Our site boasts pictures from all different types of scenes in Thailand : from countryside photos, to sunset photos of Thailand, city and urban photos as well as more traditional photos such as ones of temples. We show you our view of Thailand, not only through the lens of a photographic camera, but in manipulation of the resulting photo via photographic software - to bend the reality into sometimes subtle, sometimes fresh new views of what the camera saw. Maybe after seeing the photos on our website, you’ll consider a vacation in Thailand?! Even if for some incomprehensible reason you felt you’d exhausted all the possibilities “The Land of Smiles” has to offer you, there are the neighbouring nations of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia to observe too!