JeanneCake

I'm going to have to think about this...... I don't think my habits are out of the ordinary but now I'm going to have to think about it. I don't fold over the slice of pizza (thin crust) before eating it, I eat the crust too..... if we get Chinese takeout, I always eat it out of the container (my husband puts it in a bowl) and always always always use chopsticks (husband uses a fork) although I haven't had Chinese take out since the start of the pandemic I'll eat ketchup, or pickle relish or mustard on a hot dog. I do have a preference for certain spoon shapes for eating ice cream (but if I can't find "my" spoon, I'll eat the ice cream anyway!) I would rather have salad after mains but I'm eating it either way Hmm. When I eat cereal, and there's milk left in the bowl, I'll pour more cereal in until there's no milk left. Oh! When people eat cupcakes by splitting them across the middle, then taking the bottom and flipping it over onto the frosting to make a "sandwich" so the frosting is in the middle! I'd never seen a cupcake eaten that way until I became a baker. So, yeah. I don't do that

If I hadn't bought that Philips IR grill for Christmas last year, I'd be in tougher shape now! I don't use the IP much (except for maybe the beans) in the summer, but it gets a work out in the winter. That grill though, gets used every other day, sometimes even every day, much to the chagrin of the Breville Smart Oven . I'm sure if I told the husband and son that I wanted one of these ovens this Christmas (and I'm not saying I don't!) the first thing I would hear is "oh yeah, what are you going to cook in it"? and then, "where would we put it?"

I can relate. I'm hungry (because at the bakery I snack on cake scraps and ganache and cookies and I'm sick of all of it to be honest. I need protein! LOL. Plus I've gained 15 pounds ) but when I get home I don't want to cook. At the start of the pandemic, I was home by 2 or 3 in the afternoon and I would throw together a frittata, or baked pasta; or I would make the Fiesta Chicken in the Instant Pot or Rancho Gordo bean stews, meatloaf of different types. I was searching for Instant Pot recipes and enjoying making new things - some were keepers and others were duds. I made lists, navigated Restaurant Depot (I wasn't doing grocery delivery and curbside pick up wasn't a thing then), got fresh fish delivered twice a week, made menus and I looked forward to cooking. Flash forward to now: we are doing some small weddings, I'm working (every day) pretty much alone save for the high schoolers who come in one or two days when I am too busy to handle work and the dishes and I'M TIRED. I don't want to cook anymore. I'm repeating just out of boredom: pizza, grilled salmon (Rub with Love is a godsend!), baked haddock, grilled swordfish, peanut noodles with chicken.... Maybe when fall sets in and the weather is cooler I'll get more adventurous.

We had a customer order a birthday cake who wanted a Derby theme with a Happy Birthday message and to please include "I'll Have Another" on the cake as well. Apparently years ago, the birthday boy placed a bet on a horse - a very long shot to win - and of course, the horse won; big payoff. It comes to light that the wife FORGOT to place the bet 😮 ! I couldn't resist asking if they were still married (yes) and if this is a annual Derby reminder (yes). I didn't want to do a mean spirited reminder of their missed fortune, so I found a free watercolor image of a horse winning and used that as an edible image with some red roses and the client was happy with it but I so wished I could have seen the reaction when the birthday boy and wife opened the box!

I had never heard of them referred to as Moon Pies until I started talking about Scooter Pies (which is what we called them and it was what was on the package!) and wanting to make them from scratch. No one in the kitchen knew what I was talking about; we had to google it. We've made them with regular sugar cookie dough, chocolate sugar cookie dough and graham cookie dough. I like pumpkin - in pie. That's it. Not in coffee, not in cereal, not in Oreos, just pie. Although if I were hungry and there was a particularly good pumpkin bread around, I would eat it without fuss.

Are you near a Restaurant Depot? Or another type of distributor cash-and-carry? Restaurant Depot is selling to the public now (previously it was to the trade only) so it might be another option for you - the one near me is always stocked with multiple types of flour in sizes ranging from 2-25# bags, to 50# bags. You can also buy cambros/lexans to store it in if you don't already have storage.

No, I meant Gordon Food Service; I can get skinned hazelnuts from them. They're ok, not as good as what I would expect to get if AUI sold them (they aren't selling pistachios any more either ) but I can only get the chopped ones from Restaurant Depot and usually you have to ask for them (and pine nuts!) at the service desk because people were stealing them so they had to move them 🙄

Sunnylandfarms.com has whole raw hazelnuts, I've always had excellent quality from them over the years. I'm buying hazelnuts from my distributor in 5# bags but that's because I detest peeling the skins off. (The best method I've used for that is to boil them briefly with some baking soda, rinsing/rubbing in a towel and then toasting them. I still hate doing it.)

The bean counters are so busy counting they forgot to notice the beans

I didn't want to be one of those hoarding TP and apparently I am! Without even trying LOL.

So I have to admit something here (hanging head). I discovered contact free curbside pickup at the warehouse club and each time I've placed an order, I got a mega package of TP (32 rolls). Apparently I lost track of just how many packages I'd gotten (you don't know until you place the order if everything in your cart is in stock). As my husband was carrying two (score!) packages into the house a few days ago, he remarked that we seem to have enough, why did I get more? I replied that I only saw one package in the basement so this was to ensure I wouldn't have to deal with this in the winter, during a storm. When he came back down to get the rest of the stuff, he drily commented that even if we used one roll of TP every three days, we now have enough for 480 days so I do not need to buy any more 🤣

ahh, something to look forward to! 😊 they have a lot of ground to cover to make up for those tiramisu ones ....

I wonder if you sent that image/picture to Replacements, along with a picture of the flatware (maybe a set if you have one so they can see spoons, knives, etc) they might be able to identify it?

Welcome! We look forward to learning as much from you as you hopefully will from us!

This talk of fish markets makes me grateful I have a local seafood purveyor that delivers twice a week. For 20+ years he had a fish market in town then rents got ridiculously out of hand so he started doing "shore to door". He emails a menu twice a week and delivers twice a week; the menu is fairly consistent (calamari, arctic char, salmon, halibut, haddock, scallops, swordfish; shrimp, crabcakes, fishcakes) sometimes sea bass, striped bass, trout, sole; some years he's been able to get softshell crab. He also makes a great lobster dip (for which I have the recipe!) and every time we get it, I say to myself I should make the salmon mousse from the Silver Palate cookbook and then I don't. @Rotuts if you ever want yeast, you're close enough for me to bring it to you

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How COOL is that! Nice job :)! 👏

As I was scrolling through the "aisles" putting together a curbside pick up grocery order, I noticed they had Tiramisu Oreos. I took a chance (you don't always get everything you put in your cart) and got a package. They're AWFUL. Blech. yuck. going to brush my teeth these are TERRIBLE. save yourselves the misery that these cookies are

This is a great suggestion; and I would add that sometimes ice cream businesses are licensed differently/separately from other food businesses. Check the BoH page of the town you are looking at to see if this is the case. In our town, ice cream shops are limited to April-October operations - they can't be open from Nov 1 to March 30 (I don't know why). I mention it because even though the fees are likely to be different, the requirements for a different type of food business sharing ice cream shop space *might* require some additional stuff (again, not sure what, but you learn to expect the unexpected in life).

I shared kitchen space for the first 15 years I was in business, specializing in cake/cupcake/desserts (no bread, no breakfast pastries, no confections). A lot of what works and what doesn't depends on the type of kitchen you are sharing with (a coffee shop or restaurant has different "cycles" or rhythm than a catering operation or a corporate cafeteria kitchen that serves an office building and these are all different to a church kitchen, for example). Who you approach will differ in terms of what they are willing to do. In a time of Covid, places may be more amenable to sharing a kitchen because now you're sharing the expenses (such as utilities, pest control, trash removal) but then they have to make room for you - to store your ingredients, equipment, paper goods. You also have to know whether the powers that be (Board of Health, Select Board, the bureaucrats) will allow two food businesses to share a single kitchen (in my years of looking for space to share, I encountered one city that would not allow two businesses to share kitchen space; I found a caterer who had two other businesses sharing their small kitchen and it was utter chaos - I walked away from that). Figure out what kind of space you need to work in (how much table space, refrigeration space, storage space) so you don't waste your time or someone else's while you search. Maybe go with a limited product line for a year. Do not expect a long term relationship; if it works, it will play itself out like that. Tell prospects you already have business insurance, your ServSafe and Allergy certs and this will alleviate any fears they may have. And for those who might be trying to get around the rules, it shows you are serious about your own business. One place I talked ten years ago was going to have me work in an area that was *carpeted* (!) and charge me $1500/month - because I was going to be using the equivalent of 25 sf of space in his cooler and his cooler was on 24/7 (it would have been, regardless of whether he was renting space or not!) There are more opportunities these days in the form of incubator kitchens (which are expensive to rent by the hour) other kitchens designed to help launch food businesses and on social media to advertise that you are looking for space to share, or for someone to share your space; so leave no stone unturned. Ask your local BoH or kitchen supply store if they know of anyone who wants help with their rent or mortgage; ask at church kitchens (there is a church in my town that has a spectacularly outfitted commercial kitchen because they put on a 3 day food festival that draws hundreds and for that week, it is worth it for them to have such an amazing kitchen. While they were interested in sharing it, the town wouldn't allow it Good luck!

After July 4th, I feel like the year just flies by, like the downward slope of a roller coaster. Pretty soon it'll be Labor Day and then...Halloween will look very different this year, I agree. I feel like I want to set up a trough so I can line up candy or treats (like snack bags of chips or doritos) so the kids don't have to stick their hands into a communal bowl, and their parents won't have to worry about it getting handed to their kids. We don't get a lot of kids these days; when we moved into this house 25 years ago, we went through two or three huge bags of candy on Halloween night. Now we're lucky to go through half a small bag. We didn't call the night before anything special, though.

I've just now found this thread and yes, what a wonderful trip, thank you for sharing it. How lovely it must have been to see your family after a long time. Happy Birthday to your mum.

an acid helps to prevent overbeating; you can use cream of tartar, or lemon juice to accomplish the same thing. You add it when it's at soft peak (at least, that's when I add it if I'm using it. I tend to live dangerously when beating egg whites )

I had a dream last night, and all I remember of the dream is that I had forgotten a mask and I was panicked and terrified to go where I was supposed to be going. I must have awakened at that point because I don't remember anything else. I've been doing ok with all the restrictions until now; I had a follow up appointment with my dr two weeks ago and was very firmly told to stay out of stores, to continue to do curbside pickups and stay away from crowds. I think her admonishment pushed me over the edge. Like @rotuts I keep supplies in both my car and the work van: a box of gloves and a box of masks, a container of wipes and hand sanitizer. So I'm prepared. But now I'm thinking I need to do more; even though we tell people we are doing contact free curbside pick up; people are coming into the store. I spent part of today looking for acrylic shields for in front of our cashier's desk.

give them a nice long bath in some vinegar? then you can use it for flavoring .... something? I like Shelby's idea of pepper jelly, it's really good with cream cheese and crackers, or any soft runny cheese on crackers really ...