Pam R

I've been thinking about this all day. I don't want you to run out of stuff - I don't know about you, but I'm always happier if there is some stuff left over rather than running out. What do they typically have at the Oneg and do people eat it? I know here, more often than not, it's the congregation that storms the food tables and inhales everything before the 'invited' guests get to them. One piece per person sounds too low to me. If you have stuff left from Friday, you can use it on Sat. right?

shhh.. promise not to tell anybody but yes. I am always searching for new produce because I am so bored with what they offer in the grocery stores. I commented today that I need to move to another climate so I can get more variety. I also find that I often try to decide what to make for a meal and find that I have no cravings for anything. It's hard to make a meal when you don't want anything.

.... sushi (rice and soy) and popcorn

I couldn't agree more. (though I'd have more rather than less ) I'm doing the same thing tonight and tomorrow night - I'll let you know what's leftover based on 3/pp

We generally allow for 3 pieces per person. It's hard to tell you what you may need... as different crowds expect different things and will eat different quantities. 3 is a good, standard figure. We find that when we cater bar/bat mitzvahs, and the family does the baking they usually have much more than they need - though I always like to have more than less. If you have approx. 4 dz. of each of your 12 items - you'll have 575 pieces - which is good. On Tuesday we did a KFP coffee and dessert after the Symphony here - there were approx. 300 people and we had just over 1000 pieces. Similar to what you're doing - brownies, cookies, cream puffs, meringues, etc. There were 2-3 dz. pieces leftover.

In my experience, many of the adults will eat the ice cream bar too How is it that there will be no overlapping of people for the 2 nights? Or is it that there's no overlapping of food?

I'd check on the time you have to be away - I went to university in the US, came home every summer - so was only living out of the country for 8-9 months at a time. When I drove back into Canada with vans full of furniture and whatnot, I was told I didn't have to pay any duty as anything purchased was done so while I was living there. edited to add that I wasn't bringing back any alcohol... so that may be different

I know I'm in the minority here, but I prefer using red potatoes for fries (I never rinsed the cut potatoes either). Like you, when I was producing fries in large quantities, I didn't have enough fryers to lower the temp. to do the blanching. But if you load the baskets up, when you plunge them into the oil, the oil temp. will drop anyhow. I always used Canola oil for 2 reasons - a. had to be kosher b. lots of kids eating the fries - couldn't use peanut oil due to allergies. After blanching, we always spread the fries out on trays and into the freezer. Once frozen we bagged them and they went straight into the fryer when ordered (without the bag that is . I love these fries.

Me too. Especially in another room. ← You are a wise, wise man.

I think what you're doing is great - it's all about getting your name out there. I did it completely backwards - no agent - got the book published - then started doing food demos, tv, radio and newspaper stuff. I'm now trying to get more recipes in papers outside of my hometown - and it's slowly working. If you continue doing what you're doing, people will not only be interested in your book, they'll be eagerly awaiting it.

Once again, thanks so much for reading and sharing my week with me - it was my pleasure and I was happy to have you along for the ride. I look forward to relaxing and looking in on the life of the next blogger. Happy holidays and Goodnight. Pam

My time here is quickly winding down. In a few hours this blog will be over and I've had such a wonderful time. I just went through the whole thing and I want to thank everybody for participating and wishing me well. It seems like it's been months since I started blogging, and at the same time I can't believe it's over! I want to thank Soba and all of the egullet behind-the-scenes folks who co-ordinate all of this. This forum is an amazing resource and I appreciate all the work that's put into it. Thanks. I'll be around for an hour or so - then we'll be shut down. I'm always happy to discuss anything that we started here or anything else about Jewish or Kosher food (or baking or anything else) in another thread - or in PMs. Don't hesitate to ask. Thanks again everybody. - Pam

Bless you

This recipe sounds amazing - did you try it? Depends - can you tell me which local synagogue he used to perform in during dances?? Pavlova: 5 egg whites 1/4 tsp. | 1 mL salt 1/2 tsp. | 2 mL vanilla extract 1 cup | 250 mL sugar Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment start beating the egg whites and salt until they are frothy and forming very soft peaks. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk. Slowly add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time while continuing to beat the eggs on high until they are glossy and stiff peaks form. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon all of the meringue into the center of the pan and smooth out with the spoon to form a nice, even mound. Use a spoon to form a well in the center of the meringue, pushing the meringue from the center to the edges of the Pavlova. (or pipe into small, individual meringues) Place the meringue in a preheated 250ºF | 120º C oven for 2 hours. Turn the oven off and allow the Pavlova to cool in the oven (if you can, leave it in the oven overnight). I prefer to bake these in a convection oven - reduce the heat to 225. There are other recipes that include corn starch or cream of tartar - but these things aren't allowed for Passover - so this is just a basic meringue recipe that we use for the Pavlovas

Last but not least, my last chance to throw in a passover meal: That's right! Salami and eggs. It ain't a french omelet, but it hit the spot. Tomorrow I go back to lots of salads and chicken. this last week I think I've eaten more beef than I generally do in a month - but it sure was good!

For lunch today I enjoyed a piece of cheddar vegetable kugel: And I got most of my father's birthday cake done. First I baked a chocolate chiffon cake in a sheet pan: I cut it into 6 equal squares and the first 5 layers got a thin coating of orange zested whipped topping, which was piped to form a border and filled with orange curd. (does anybody else have a problem getting orange curd to set up? I use the same recipe as I use for my lemon curd but it stays much looser) The whole thing got a quick crumb coat before going into the freezer to set up: After about an hour I added a poured chocolate icing to it: Alas I didn't have time to finish it. I'll end up piping something on to finish it off - but it'll be in the freezer until Friday.

A few days ago I promised to take a few pictures of my kitchen at work. This has been our kitchen for 15 years - but we only have another 2 months here, then we need to start all over again. It works well for us - divided into two main sections - the first picture is of the 'meat' section - it has a double convection oven, gas range and grill, fryers and our huge, ancient steam unit. We bought it used over 20 years ago and are leaving all of it behind when we move. The steam unit holds 8 perferated pans and the soup kettle holds about 100 L of soup. This next picture is the baking area. It as a triple deck oven (each deck holds 3 full sheet pans), another gas range, a sink for the baking area and 2 large hobart mixers. We're leaving the ovens but taking the butcher block tables. You can't really see, but on the left side there are more stainless counters and another sink - dairy. I was trying to show you the size of our kitchen in this picture - but I don't think it comes through well. We have lots of space - especially since there are only 4 of us who work there. Our kitchen also houses a walk in cooler that's about 10x10 and two walk in freezers - an 8x8 and a 10x15.

I'm off for a while - real estate agents need to be phoned because we have two months to get a new store set up with a kitchen - and we don't have a place yet!! It's also my father's birthday this week... so I'm going to try to bake him a birthday cake... but we'll see if that happens today or not. Talk to you later, -Pam

Guilty. She is an absolutely crazy child - and I love her! You're welcome We don't usually do beef with fruit, but many a piece of Apricot/Honey chicken is eaten at Pesach - and I like lamb with fruit... oh my other favorite is fruit compote with turkey. Nobody made fruit compote this year

This is it folks! Today is my last day to blog so I've decided to try to cram in some "passover" foods that have eluded the blog thus far. Breakfast was matzoh-brei or fried matzoh. Everybody has their own way to make it - some like it sweet, some like it savory. I'm a sweet girl. I break up a sheet of matzoh, place in a bowl and pour boiling water from the kettle over it. Let it absorb for 30-60 seconds then drain. Add one egg, pinch of salt and fry up in oil...or butter. Serve with syrop. On other threads I've seen people eat it with jam.. something I've never done and may have to try soon. This is the French-toast of the kosher for passover world:

Even though there was so much food, about an hour and a half after I got home, I wanted a piece of chocolate chip chiffon cake.... (I think it's because I lost my cookie!) Whew. It's been a crazy week. I'm almost ready to crash for the night. But tonight was a lovely night - I really enjoy spending these holidays with family - and it's nice to be cooked for!

On to dinner, which was fantastic. This was at my cousins - and his wife did a great job hosting her first seder. She did a modern take on a traditional menu - enjoyed by all. Gefilte fish (ok, not so modern... and it came from us - but it IS passover!) Then a celery and parsnip soup with dilled matzoh balls - this was fantastic. The spread: My dinner plate: (meatballs, turkey, potato kugel, sweet potato and carrot kugel, roasted vegetables - and I missed the asparagus but had so much food I didn't go back for any) Desserts were provided by her mother-in-law, my aunt, and were much the same as last night. Beautiful fruit bowl (behind Eliyahu's wine glass) And here's my plate: But this little sucker came over, was very sweet then stole my cookie:

So for lunch today I had a piece of roasted chicken and some roasted potatoes. No pictures -- it was all kind of.... monochromatic. I was asked to provide the seder-plate items, so after lunch I got to work. The Seder plate contains: Parsley - which we dip in salt water. The parsley symbolizes springtime and the salt water represents the tears shed by the Jewish slaves. Egg - it also symbolizes springtime and the potential for new life. Shank Bone - represents the sacrificial lamb. We try use a lamb shank - but I ran out of time this year. So, like many other people around the world, used a turkey neck to fill in. Bitter Herbs - usually horseradish - symbolizes the bitter affliction of slavery. Charoset - in our family it's a mixture of apples, wine, cinnamon and nut - pecans tonight. This represents the mortar used by the slaves to build Pharoh's cities. Charoset Ingredients: Final product: The beautiful glass Seder plate, for which my photo does not justice:

Good! I enjoyed your blog so much last week. You inspired me to try some different things in the baking department (non-Passover that is)... and I can't wait for the holiday and craziness to be over so that I can experiment. I'll also be visiting the baking forums much more. I know it's bad for the environment, but I find the plastic containers work well. Especially for things like the eggs. I seperated 40 dozen eggs in one go - using the deli-liter containers was great. I put their lids on and they were back in the fridge and ready to go for the next day. Plus you can stack them. The main reason for using them though, is that I jsut have much less equipment to work with during Passover. Because almost all my bowls are taken away, this is much better than buying all new stuff. It can be costly using the plastic stuff though... but as long as my dad isn't in the kitchen, I use them.... shhhhhh... ummm I assume you can. If you go into any kosher butcher, they will know the brisket - and I'm assuming that any other butcher will as well - but to be honest I've never bought a non-kosher one. Maybe somebody else can help here? There are two parts to a brisket - the flat (first cut, thin part) and the point (fattier and cheaper). You can buy them either attached (with a layer of fat between them) or individually. Some people feel that you shouldn't buy them too large - no more than 5 or 6 pounds - but we obviously use larger ones. For home I would get a smaller one - both taste great. For this method of cooking, you should trim some of the fat (unless you're using the lean part only). Don't get rid of all of it, because fat is flavour. I've never really thought about it, but I think we always cook it fat cap side up - which makes sense because it'll baste while roasting. OK. The secret ingredient that many Jewish cooks know... is onion soup. That's all. No other seasoning (other than tons of garlic).. it all comes in the soup mix. Like I said, it's not exactly 'gourmet' but it's so good! Try it and let me know what you think. We just discussed this during dinner tonight - we had 2 who like sinkers, 3 who like floaters and the rest of us like them in between - as they were tonight. I peak all the time. I think they sink for a couple of reasons - when you add liquid to matzo meal it takes a while for the liquid to absorb. I think people don't give it a chance and add too much MM - thus making them very heavy. The trick is to mix it up and put it in the refrigerator for at least 15-20 minutes. Some people like to use seltzer, thinking the bubbles add airiness, others whip the egg whites and fold them in. Since I don't like them too fluffy, I've never tried either - but it's something I may have to experiment with. Thanks! There are some baking books out there for the Jewish holidays, but I'm hoping there is a need for more (one day my Passover book will come out )

Elie, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog - I can't even imagine doing what you did at your company.. I'm assuming you had more people in the kitchen than the 4 we do I can feel for you though. I attended university in Northern Minnesota and while I heard several times that there was another Jew in town, I never met him. You can only do what you can do - and all I could do was avoid chometz. It was just as bad when I walked into my apartment one day after classes and my apartment had turned into a Christmas wonderland while I was gone. I was missing home so much I was on the phone to my mother crying and begging her to mail some decorations to me. Luckily I had great friends and we had a latke party and exchanged gifts around the Christmas tree and Chanukia - but it's hard not having anybody who knows your holidays and traditions around to share them. Chag sameach to you - my blogging ends tomorrow, but I'm happy to take up any discussions in other threads. It's been fun sharing and I'm happy to hear it's helping you as much as possible.