JeanneCake

Hello, and welcome! I own a bakery just outside of Boston; most of the interns we've had over the years have come from a local culinary school (CIA, JWU are the big ones then there are small local culinary colleges, and for high school students, there are technical schools with culinary programs). If you are going to school, see if you can access a program through them. If not, reach out to places you'd like to work (aim high, all they can say is no) and see what happens. If you are active on any FB chef forums/groups, you might post something; be careful and get multiple sources to vouch for any place you are exploring. The ChefTalk forums have a thread for interns but it isn't always active with posts so you may not have any luck there. While in principle I have no problem paying an intern, my experience is that there are *many* mistakes made - this is learning process after all - and it ends up costing me to have an intern. Be aware of what you know, and realize that you don't know what you don't know and *always ask*. I would rather explain something three times, or stop what I am doing to show what I mean by beaten egg whites for dacqoise than to pay you for the time it took, the ingredients (for the failed time(s) and the successful one) and the time lost in having to do it over. Best of luck in your search! Let us know how it goes.

I have had excellent quality nuts from Sunnyland Farms for many many years; their junior pecans in particular are wonderful. www.sunnylandfarms.com

wow. If I was on the fence about using Instacart before, this would have put me over the top. I've been stressing about the reality that I will have to go to a grocery store and/or a warehouse club in the next two months; when I was tossing some junk mail yesterday, the supermarket flyer for Stop and Shop fell and I saw they are now offering curbside contact free pick up. So I'm working on my first order for picking up tomorrow..... Based on what I've been hearing, I'm not willing to support Instacart treating their "employees" "contractors" whatever they want to call them, in such a terrible way. I feel the same way about DoorDash - they keep emailing me asking me to add our "restaurant" to their portfolio. Not. A. Chance.

I get something similar from Home Goods (when it was open); pepper jelly from Aloha from Oregon. They have mango/habanero and a few others (raspberry, cranberry, marionberry, apricot) I don't see the McCormick ones even in the Spanish foods section (because it's where I find the guava paste I like) of our grocery stores (likely because Badia and Goya buy all the shelf space?). If they have a Home Goods near them perhaps they'll find something similar until you can stock them up I just checked the Aloha from Oregon site; they want $8+ per jar! At Home Goods I pay $5 tops for a jar, on clearance it's even less.

I'm still able to get SAF red label and I have extra; in fact I bought a case specifically to send to pastry chef friends around the country because they weren't able to get it. So if you need some (in the future because I'm assuming you have some now) just message me. Our mail carrier can pick up a priority package from the shop so I don't have to go to the Post Office!

We didn't grow up with a strawberry shortcake tradition; it was only as a pastry chef that I started making them. I first used the recipe in Maida Heatter's dessert book, which was a true "short cake" - like a shortbread almost and I was told *that* wasn't shortcake. Now I get asked to make "powder drop biscuits" or I make my friend Wendy's sweet biscuits and bake them in rings so they rise straight (which makes them easier to split. Without the rings, they tend to lean, and that uneven-ness makes them hard to cut). I had never tasted Cool Whip until I married. I'm not a fan but I am a good wife so I buy it from time to time.

Can you post the recipe you're using? And a description of what's in that biscotti (I've not heard of it - but I'm in Boston which could be why ) I myself like biscotti recipes that are oil based; I've found they are less brittle than ones with butter. I can control the dryness with baking (time and temp). For the second bake, I just line the cut slices up on the sheet pan (separated by an inch or so) and bake that way; no turning them over half way as some recipes recommend.

I have been thinking of a rhubarb streusel coffee cake to make for weekend snacking ....... if you are into pies or tarts, the rhubarb filling from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is the absolute best I've ever had. I make extra so I can eat it right out of the bowl, it is that good.

the size of our grease trap was mandated by the Board of Health; I have 1200 sf and the minimum size for the grease trap was 100 pounds. We are also required to have a contract with a professional company to have it cleaned regularly and the BoH checks it (they have to fill out paperwork when they empty it and the BoH gets a copy). Apparently the town spent millions and millions of dollars many many years ago on their water treatment plant years ago and they are very sensitive about the whole thing So your mileage may vary! If you get an undercounter dishwasher (it looks like a home model), you might not have to vent it; but the door types do (at least, around here that's the rule of law. See BoH above

Frozen custard is soft serve? I've never had it and I was fascinated by the photo and description of "frozen custard" - there's a DQ in the next town. Will have to investigate it!

Thank you for taking us with you! I feel as if I've been on a stay-cation I've been to DC once, about 30 years ago so thank you for the trip!

I cannot tell you how much the kid loves that we have this grill.....it's going to get down to 38 degrees tonight and I didn't have to wrestle with the Weber outside so I am equally as thrilled 🥰

I have a vague childhood memory of my parents hosting parties where grape jelly and meatballs made an appearance but I cannot remember anything else other than the meatballs were sweet, and I got to eat them with toothpicks. Oh and my mother making parfaits - with what I'm pretty sure was canned cherry pie filling and probably vanilla pudding from a mix. My paternal grandmother was a phenomenal cook and she taught my mother while we lived in a two family house. Now I kind of want the grape jelly meatballs....alas I have no grape jelly, no meatballs and no recipe .... ETA that my grandmother did not teach my mother how to make grape jelly meatballs. That my mother got out of a magazine I'm sure! LOL

There's a FB eG Chocolate page?!

Tonight, I am eating a whole sleeve of Ritz crackers myself. Along with a runny Danish brie and some raspberry pepper jelly. Thanks Anna! It was a miserable trip to Restaurant Depot this afternoon and I am a little grumpy and hungry. Restaurant Depot was cleaned out of a lot of stuff but I did manage to get two tubes f 90% ground beef that I'm going to vacuum pack tomorrow, and a huge package of hot dogs because the kid wanted hot dogs 5# of hot dogs! ugh. They had no other beef, no pork, no lamb, no veal, no bacon, very little chicken (and rude shoppers had opened the few cases remaining and left the plastic bags wide open, exposing the meat. 🤬) I feel better now that the crackers and cheese are polished off 😉

Social media! I bought a case of SAF instant last week to send to friends around the country and then sold some to people in town who were posting that they couldn't find any. Yeast and flour is the new toilet paper

The Restaurant Depot nearest to me in MA (I don't go to the others so can't speak to whether this is a universal policy in our state or not for RD) opened to the public after a few weeks. I can't say I'm a fan of this idea. It was bad enough trying to navigate in there with cranky restaurant owners who thought they were the only ones who needed something and would bang the Uboats into you while shopping, or your vehicle outside; or leave them in the middle of a parking space because they're too lazy to move them remotely close to where someone else could use it.....they dump stuff out of the boxes and leave the empty boxes in the parking lot for the staff to clean up 🤬 anyway I digress. I only go at the end of the day, when it is less likely to be crowded and I take my chances on whether they'll have what I want. On Thursday I broke my own rule and went just after lunch. No beef, no chicken, little to no produce, lots of cheese, frozen stuff was ok, no seltzer, no yeast, fully stocked on flour and canned tomato products, fully stocked on pasta and bread; and they have a new brand of shell eggs and LOTS of big signs saying not to open the boxes. They say they only allow 2 shoppers per card, no exceptions but on multiple occasions while trying to get product off shelves, I was bumped into by other shoppers traveling in groups of 3. It was annoying to say the least. After shopping there, I now understand why cooks say bad things about owners. Sorry to hijack the thread a bit! But getting back on track, you should call the one nearest to you and see if they are allowing one day passes. The one I shop at does, and has a sign right at the registration desk saying so. Oh, and you need a mask and you should wear gloves (even if you don't normally. People are slobs.)

I am all over the place with comfort food. I find I'm craving something, I make it for a few days but then tire of it and move on. The only constant it seems is sauteed cremini mushrooms (I am buying 5# every other week to pad my order from the distributor), roasted broccoli, baked pasta (lasagne, baked ziti), tender boiled baby potatoes with butter and salt - and meatloaf (the recipe for Sister Helen's Meatloaf that appeared in the Ann Landers column about 40 years ago; I don't use the Accent and use half ground beef and half ground pork. You don't really need the bacon but you do need the tomato sauce on the top) until the husband announced he had eaten enough meatloaf to last the rest of the year Right now there's a frittata in the oven, which is tonight's comfort food. Stay well, stay safe everyone.

Can we get a WOW! emoji added to the list? (not embedded in text), that Toronto bakery story is one of many I would have used 😮 for!

Correct use of gloves is not pointless. The man in front of me was using a pen that was left on the counter to fill out the labels. He went back and forth three times while I was there. At the post office, if you need to fill out a form, it would be prudent to have your own pen or at least there should be sanitizer for your hands after use. The key pad also gets touched a lot during the day. If the staff isn't cleaning it between customers, washing your hands when you get home isn't going to help the fact that you touched the door handles to get out of the PO, the door handle and steering wheel of your car, etc. I own a bakery and our health dept is telling us to disinfect all surfaces (door handles, keypads, etc) customers may touch, after each customer. They send email reminders every week. We are doing contact free curbside pick up; we put the client's order on a cart, wheel the cart outside and then after the customer is back in their car, we go get the cart and disinfect it (handles, surface, each part of it) for the next order. I know that's not possible for every business, but I'm taking every precaution I can, where I can.

Yesterday I shipped out 12# of yeast to various friends across the country; the # boxes were $3.63 from the distributor. It cost more to ship than to buy 😄 I have 6 left from the case. It was the first time I'd been anywhere except the bake shop, home or restaurant depot. Utter madness; one man kept going back and forth to the counter (and I would move each time he did, 6 feet away means come prepared for heaven's sake), no mask, no gloves, nothing. I had to repackage two of the shipments (I had been reusing the Rancho Gordo boxes, my labels were previously filled out and I brought shipping tape) and when I got back in line, the woman ahead of me was holding a mask in her hands. No gloves. 🤦‍♀️ I myself had a mask and gloves on (I keep a box in the car), and for good measure, a clorox wipe to use on the keypad.

that was an interesting video...before they showed what the product was, I was thinking it was a chocolate financier. Your recipe is going to make a fudgy brownie; I think you need some cocoa powder in there. I lost track but I thought I saw liquid butter (at the start), then sugar, cocoa, shortening, liquid eggs - and molasses maybe? so if you're open to a different formula, maybe go with a chocolate financier?

@shelby where are you? i have two pounds of (dry) yeast at the shop, I will send you some eta: forgot the @ sign

It looks like there's some type of divider already in place, in that box. What if you took pre-cut deli paper or food grade tissue paper and made sort of a trough with it (so it covers both valleys in the box and just slides over the top of the divider); then you could simply put three truffles on each side? Or put them in a paper cup meant for mini cupcakes or confections (depending on the size of the piece) and no tissue....?

They're sold out of all three models so I guess I am safe for now