Pam R

Malcolm, I know... We LOVE our slurpees around here. That's not even takign into account how many 'slushes' are sold at Mac's Sev even gives out bumper stickers about it being the Capitol.

I've been following this thread and I find it really interesting. I would say that I know nothing about North African food. Would I like to? Yes. I have memories of eating in a bedouin tent. We had platters of wonderfully flavoured meats and vegetables and couscous that we ate with torn-off pieces of fresh flatbread - am I close? I'd guess that the Arab population in Winnipeg is small (probably just a few thousand) ... There was one Lebanese family that opened a pita bakery / restaurant down the street from my family's own kosher place. But there definately isn't a strong presence in these parts. The more I think about it though, the more I realize that many foods that I have always enjoyed, thinking of them as "Israeli" are the same foods that you're discussing in this thread. (Though not all, or course.) In most cities in North America with a good size-Jewish population there tends to be a restaurant or two selling falafel and shwarma and tebuleh and couscous and hummus etc. Coming from my background, I always think of these things as "Israeli", which I realize is somewhat skewed. Since Israel is surrounded by Arab countries and has Arab residents it obviously has a large Arab influence (as well as a large Eastern European, Russian thing). My phonebook lists one Mediterranean restaurant - the Falafal Place - which is owned and operated by an Israeli. We have one Moroccan restaurant (which I didn't know about) and that's it. In a city of 700 000, there aren't many options. Anyhow, the point is I'd like to know more! I'm looking forward to chefzadi teaching me

CBC Radio 1 (and website) today: You can read the whole thing here . Something tells me it's not over yet...

What about a hazelnut something with a raspberry something? I like that combo.

Pan - is the onion board like a lavash? umm... good matzoh maybe? with lots of onion? Cali - I should be ashamed. Having been in both NY and FL (more than once) there is no excuse! I don't know what I did in either places... obviously didn't eat well. I promise to try to get to NY in the next year and only eat black and whites... and onion boards. My education has been lacking... maybe I could claim a trip as a business 'research' expense.

Oy. You Americans. I feel like I should know this... but don't. What's an onion board?

Thanks for all the black & white info. I think I may need to try making them for my customers..... bring a little more NY to Winnipeg. Have to start looking for recipes...

They must be all beef. They should be grilled over flames. They must be in a good bun. They must be garnished only with yellow mustard (no fancy stuff!!) and onions (raw and or fried). umm... if they're chicken dogs they should have bbq sauce grilled on 'em. but they shouldn't be chicken,

ummm... what exactly is a black and white cookie? Is it just the icing or is the cookie itself 2 colours? Is is a vanilla cookie or a chocolate cookie... or what?

Pan - I'm really enjoying this so far - the bakery looks fantastic - reminds me of our local Jewish bakeries. You mentioned earlier (and I've heard many times) that NY is the city that never sleeps. A few years ago I was in NY - staying around Radio City - and the one thing I noticed was that all of the restaurants within a few blocks (in all directions) of my hotel were closed by about 8. This made dining near the hotel a hard thing to do. What about the places near you? What are the typical hours of your neighbourhood restaurants? Will we get to see any street knish vendors?

We called that a flying saucer and used to make savoury ones - pizza's, grilled cheeses. Arriving at a camping site onc evening in the rain, my father put the dining tent up over the picnic table and we made these over a lantern. I haven't had one in years

We had several of these chip trucks in Kenora, Ontario as well. It was a treat for us to drive into town and each get our own container - fried in peanut oil - soaked in white vinegar that came out of an old 7-up bottle that had holes punched into the cap. I love them (and may need to take a trip out there this summer for some) BUT, is it distinctly Canadian?? I would guess that there are other places (UK perhaps) where you could get the same.... malt instead of white vinegar, but still...

Camping, Princess Style always meant staying at the Holiday Inn in Kenora Ontario for me. Unfortunately, the rest of my family LOVE camping. So I grew up in tents, trailers and finally a cottage in the Kenora area. We sold the cottage years ago and my parents now have a park-model in the Manitoba inter-lake region. (has wheels, doens't move) I'm looking forward to seeing what you get out of your oven, because I can't bake a think in ours! Do you use your kitchen table or picnic tables as prep counters or restrict yourself to the little space you have? I'd like one of those steaks right now please! THey always taste better grilled outside by the tent/cottage/trailer.

I posted my last post and then went in to the kitchen to take a look at the local newspaper (Winnipeg Free Press). Two guys were on a mission yesterday to buy a Slurpee in every (49) 7-11 stores in Manitoba. Here's their website . I told you we liked our slurpees/slushies here.

As discussed in this topic - I find the Dairy Queen Mr. Misty's way too chunky... and the American Slurpee is way too... airy. Now... here in Canada they are just perfect - right in-between . That could be why Winnipeg is the Slurpee capitol - they are so good here we can't get enough of them. I always look at all the purple, pink, green, blue, etc. slurpees and think "ooo... pretty... must make a layered slurpee with all flavours". Then I realize that I just prefer the pepsi or coke. I've been trying to stay away from sugar lately - so I've tried the Crystal Light 'no sugar added' flavour recently.... amazingly it's much sweeter than the other flavours and I just can't drink them! I wish they could tone down the sweetness so I could enjoy them more often .

Exactly. This is why I stopped using green onions in my restaurant for over a month - until my supplier brought in some green onions from elsewhere. Chances are I could have used the case of green onions I had in the walk-in with no problems, but I didn't want to take that chance. I'll second that.

I don't think I get what you want to talk about. Sorry. Wanna try again?

Must get one to celebrate the birthday. Haven't had a good brain freeze in a long time...

Ummm... I know I'm late for last year and early for this year... but I stumbled across this thread while looking for something else. 2 VERY Important things for great honey cakes: - use BUCKWHEAT honey. It has the best flavor for a cake. - add copious quantities of alcohol - rye or rum are good. I like a recipe that calls for strong tea vs. coffee I suppose we can take this up again in a month or 2

I just realized that we make a puff-pastry roll filled with a cottage cheese mixture. The PP is rolled quite thin - slashed to let steam out. Always egg wash the seam and place it on the bottom. Most recently we've been using Rich's puff pastry (and occasionally President's choice). It's baked til golden and then chilled. Sliced cold - it holds up really well. Then it's heated before serving. I don't know if this helps.. because it sounds like you've tried this. What pp are you using?

Have you tried phyllo? I make a 'strudel' with apples and phyllo when I don't want to do a stretch dough.

Last fall I went on a mini-tour for my cookbook launch. I was doing some cooking demos and tv shows. My publisher sent me a copy of an article in a Canadian newspaper listing all of the food handling mistakes that had been documented on FoodTV Canada in about a week-long period - it was a long list. Here is a perfect example of a way to get across to the general public how important food safety is, and they are falling down on the job. There are a few hosts (I think Sara Moulton may be one) who do a good job of teaching as they cook - but there are so many others who don't. Nullo - I wouldn't be too sure that the instances of foodborne illnesses in the US is low. Leading to death or serious injury? I don't know. But I'm sure there are numerous accounts of sickness that never get diagnosed - and even if they are, it doesn't mean that it's going to hit the news. I got sick when I was in Minnesota a couple of years ago - reported it to the hotel I was staying in (where I had eaten) and a medic was sent up to see me - but nothing was reported to anybody in the health department. Dont' forget this scary issue - no matter how careful you are, there are certain foods and organisms that can cause serious damage. About a year and a half ago there was a major concern regarding green onions. Washing them didn't kill off whatever it was that was in them - so eating them raw was out of the question. We stopped using them in our restaurant for about 2 months - until our supplier assured us that they were getting them from a different source. There are foods that grow with microrganisms in them - in contaminated soils. You take a chance every time you eat garlic or honey. Check out the CDC.

Yikes! I cringed while I read this. A homecook may feel this way, but I don't want to think that any professional kitchen selling food would have this laissez-faire attitude. Going to a restaurant shouldn't involve a risk - if I want to take risks, it's up to me to do it on my own time. Don't forget - it's a business.

If you were using disposables, you could probaby have both - kept in their original containers and let people take what they want. For those subscribing to the religion religion, the non-dairy creamer is a g-dsend.

I think keeping things 'kosher' can help with the safety issue. (We are not certified kosher but follow all of the laws and use only kosher ingredients.) The kashrut laws assist with the concept of cross contamination. Passover helps teach our staff about how clean the kitchen must be. Every year it's a great reminder that the kitchen should always be kept this way. (I'm not saying that all kosher joints are clean... but i know in my case it helps). I agree that the onus should partially be on the owner - unfortunately, many an owner doesn't care. Training costs money - in the long run I think it would save money (rotation so things don't go bad, getting things cooled, etc.) but for some people that up-front spending is more important. Heaven forbid somebody gets sick... see how much that would cost somebody. There was a restaurant here that had an issue - several people got sick - some hospitalized. They are lucky and have a very supportive customer base, but it hurt them for a while.