Pam R

My thoughts are similar to all the others posts . . I don't think using the term 'kosher style' to describe the food would indicate to the diners that the ingredients are kosher, but the restaurant isn't. What most people mean by kosher style is really 'Jewish style'. If I saw kosher style, I would assume that the food wasn't kosher at all - but that you were cooking and serving Ashkenazie food (usually) made with non-kosher ingredients. You must be careful before getting into this sort of thing. As others have stated, if a person is observant, they are not likely to eat in a restaurant that has some 'kosher style' menu items, when the kitchen is also producing other completely non-kosher items. After years in the kosher food business, I'd also like to suggest that if there isn't a kosher restaurant within 50 miles, chances are there aren't enough people who care about kashrut in the area to support one. There's no reason not to add matzoh ball soup to your menu - many people enjoy it - but if it's just to gain the kosher market, I'd rethink it.

We have 8 pints as a test run. We want them to sit for another couple of weeks before we do a bigger batch. How would I smuggle a jar up to you? ← That I don't know - but you could start by telling me what you did .. and a picture or two would be great!

I'm getting the feeling that I'm under-charging for them . . hmmm.

What do they sell for out your way? I don't know that you're in the minority - but my concerns weren't an issue. We sell a bottle for 1.85 CDN, and they've become very popular, very quickly. I've restocked them twice and I'm almost out, so will be placing another order this week.

We've used Sysco off and on for years. More off than on. We're in a unique position - because we're kosher we can't use a lot of their products. We've been through a lot of reps and over the last few years I've been told that there 'used to be a kosher product list'. Used to doesn't help me. That's neither here not there - it's just annoying. What I have found over the years is that more often than not, items that I'm told about or given samples of invariably turn out to be special order items. It can take 2 weeks to get these items in from Toronto or Calgary, and quite frankly that doesn't work for me. We just got a new rep. yesterday, but when I was dealing with the last guy I was trying to give him business. I'd ask for prices on all the staples that we use - eggs, flour, sugar, potatoes, onions, carrots - and every item (but the potatoes - once) was more expensive than at the local cash/carry wholesale. As a small business owner those 2-3 dollars a case or sack are too much to ignore. Doesn't anybody else find them expensive?

I got some great berries at Vic's last weekend - they had saskatoon, local strawberries and blue. Also picked up a few things at Cramptons - like my first pickling cukes. Have got to make it out to the farmer's market - maybe this weekend, if it isn't going to be too hot.

7-Layer Squares Line pan with parchment and then layer ingredients in this order: graham cracker crumbs butter (truth is I mix these with the crumbs) pecans/waluts chocolate chips butterscotch chips (I never use these, but then it's a 6-layer square. . .) coconut sweetened condensed milk Bake until the milk has melted and started to brown. Cool, cut and eat.

Thanks, Karen. Very interesting link. I think the agency I'm working with is very similar. We're now trying to decide which 4 soups we want to work on. Our two bestsellers are carrot dill and bean and barley, so we'll probably go with them. The other two we're debating. We're doing vegetarian soups and staying away from any meat based soups for now - using meat makes a fairly simply thing into a not-so-simple thing. What soups are people just desperate for? (OK, maybe not desperate - but what soups might be nice?)

For some of us, the pickling season hasn't even started. Locally, pickling cukes are just starting to arrive. I was very happy with the last batch of pickles I made, which I finally tasted last night. They sat out on the counter for about 5 days before I tossed them in the fridge - but were only about 2/3's done. Good - crisp and garlicky, but I'm going to do another batch and play with the spices and leave them out for a little while longer. Is anybody going to pickle watermelon for me? I'm very curious about it. .

Having never lived there, I'm not homesick. I've passed through Kansas City several times, staying overnight but never spending any time. After this blog, I'll make sure I set a couple of days aside to explore (and eat!) if I get the opportunity. Thanks so much for sharing with us. (BTW - does the boy you're dating know that there are eggs in french toast? )

Have you made it yet? i wouldn't mix it together. I'd mix the brownies as the package tells you to. Then I'd mix a little cream cheese with an egg, some vanilla and a little sugar. Then I'd swirl all three of them together and bake.

This morning I had a Wyler's Light Sorbet Bar and now I'm having the raspberry. These are 'sugar free' and actually quite good (they do have 35 calories each). I'm gong to make my way through the 5 varieties I have here (sorbet bars, coffee, fudge, regular, no sugar added regular). It's hot here.

Great minds, and close proximity. I grilled corn this weekend. I grill 'em naked. They can go right on, or get a drizzle of olive oil, some salt and maybe a little pepper. The beauty of grilling them naked is the charring. Watch them so they don't burn, but when the kernels turn golden brown, even a deep brown - nothing can match it. Be careful though. Corn on the grill will pop. Little spurts or boiling corn juice flying into your face. But worth it.

I'm been dealing with food scientists/consultants recently. I refer to my recipes, they refer to my formulae. We're talking about the same thing, just coming at it from two different angles.

Hiroyuki - what type of noodles are those (wheat, rice, etc.)? It looks lovely.

Word. I'd say 90% of our customers use debit or credit cards - and I don't mind them at all. We pay an average 1.85% on credit card transactions and a flat 8 cents on each debit transaction. Yes, if a customer is buying one chocolate bar, the charge bites, but it averages out with the customer that comes in and spends $300 (8 cent debit charge on that is great). We've also set up our debit/credit machine so that it runs on a high-speed internet connection and processes the charge faster than the cash register prints the receipt (or faster than it takes to make change). I tossed $8 worth of cherries out two weeks ago. Since then I have decided not to buy the bags as they have them - I'll take an empty bag and go through the pre-bagged cherries and grapes to choose the ones I want now. The problem is when they come in the plastic containers and are priced per container - I haven't figured out what to do there. But, I do open the containers and check them before buying. Double word. I also hate finding containers of yogurt left out on the shelf, right across the isle from the yogurt cooler. Grr. We have a small store, nothing is very far from wherever a customer is standing at any time - why can't they put things back if they change their minds? And, why, or why, do things need to be tossed allover the place in the freezers and coolers? I get it - we all need to check for the best before-by dates - but there's no need to rearrange my shelves.

Scored some pickling cukes yesterday, so I just made another batch. All I added was sliced garlic cloves, fresh dill, kosher salt and water. I'll let them sit on the counter for at least 3 days. Question for those of you who do sours - what kind of water to salt ratio do you use? My last batch was way too salty, so I cut it back to 4 heaping tsp. of salt to 3 cups of water. Thoughts?

A regular customer who typically buys a lot, including all her meat, was in the store the other day. Instead of her usual full basket, she carried a few measly items to the counter in her hands. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow - international Jewish-Speak for 'that's it?'. She looked to her left, and then to her right. She leaned across the counter and in hushed tones I could barely make out, she said "I'm on the way to the lake. We don't keep kosher there." Call it whatever you'd like, she isn't the first person to say that to me. In fact, when I was growing up, my family kept kosher at home, but it was never an issue at the cottage. Call it a compromise between my parents - my mother coming from a completely assimilated family, my father from a religious, kosher home. A lot of us grew up with these strange practises. There were always disposable plates and utensils in the house - how else could you order in Chinese food or pizza? Please tell me we're not unique and share your stories.

I don't know how interesting it is, but we use one to make our own breadcrumbs. Use bread that you've dried in the oven - works really well.

You're not the only one. Some of them can be a little itchy. I choose not to think about it.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't worry about Thrifty changing, but if it helps at all, in my experience, Sobeys does take it's local population into account. They seem to realize that what sells in one market may not work in another. In Thornhill, Ont., and the south end of Winnipeg they've done a great job of stocking kosher items, being in areas with large Jewish populations. They sell completely different lines in other stores in the same cities. If there is a demand for Scottish and English foods, they would be smart to continue stocking them.

A little update. Last week one of my distributors was in town, visiting from Toronto. We spoke to him about our idea so we could get some input from a potential distributor. He was very positive about it. We discussed starting with salad dressings vs. soups (which we've been thinking about) - and soups seem like a better idea. Today we had our first meeting with a rep. from the FDC (food development centre) and he concurred. Apparently it's much easier to make something like jarred soup shelf-stable than dressings. (The soups get cooked, which means you have to make fewer changes to the recipe to make it last on the shelf.) He directed me to some government agencies that might have some grants available and walked me through the steps of getting this done. Basically, I take my recipes to the centre and prepare them with the centre's staff testing things along the way (temps., times, weights, ect.). For soups we'd jar them and leave samples. They will then do the shelf-life tests, checking the products every 1-2 days. This is also the agency that does the nutrition labelling for you. It turns out that it only costs about $100 a product (unless you use rare ingredients that aren't in their system). I was afraid it would cost a lot more. You can pay them to do everything - testing, developing, sourcing, buying, cooking, packaging, labelling, shipping, etc. Or, you can pay them for specific things and do the rest yourself. I can actually rent their facility and equipment and go into their federally inspected plant and do a 500 L batch of soup (with their staff there to make sure the equipment is working). All I have to do it pay to rent the space and equipment and then do the work myself. So this means to start off, I can do smaller batches and sell/give them out of my store to get feedback - and get them to the distributor to get their feedback. If it takes off, I can pay them to produce and package it, or go to another plant with the formulae and have them prep and pack it. So I have a lot of homework to do. I have to decide which 4 recipes I want to work on, work out exact weights, times and temps during cooking. I have to research containers (glass vs. plastic?), grants, kosher supervision, and many other things. But now I have a lot of information that I didn't have last week, so things are moving along. BTW - it looks like it would be about $1000 to get the UPC codes (and $795 annually after that), and apparently it can take a while. There's information about it here. (Here for Canada.)

According to an article in my local paper today, which I'm sure is something that ran in your local papers, (if you happen to subscribe to the Winnipeg Free Press), Thrifty stores will maintain their brand and operate as a separate, stand alone division of Sobeys. Most of the local IGAs have become Sobeys over the last few years and I like them.

There's a Martha Stewart recipe for Lemon Scented Ginger Almond Crisps that are delicious. You could eliminate the almonds and play around with the flavours (my favourite Anna's are orange-ginger).

And in related news (sort of) - Winnipeg was named Slurpee Capital of the world again this week. From canoe.ca, an article about Winnipeg's Slurpee' culture - we may be the only people buying them when it's -40: