Pam R

I will, I will.... there's always tomorrow...

Thank you all for your kind words - but I'm not quite done yet . I thought I'd be on earlier today, but didn't expect the store would be as busy as it has been. We opened at 11, but I came in at 10 to price some things for sale. Any items that are only good for Passover were marked down today (cereal, cake mixes, a few baking items). A few more things will be marked down tomorrow - and then some more on Tuesdsay. I'm amazed at how little is left. We had no history to go on, just guessed at what to order. And we've done really well. I'll be back a little later.

Moving the business was crazy. We signed the lease on our new building only a couple of weeks before we moved - so all the construction had to be done once we were here. So we didn't have a working kitchen for a couple of months - and the whole place looked like a construction sight but we were able to sell things like the meats and cheeses from the day we moved. It was important to keep that area going because we have so many commercial customers as well as home cooks. We had to build a 10x20 walk-in freezer in our parking lot - so to hold us over we went to Costco and purchased a few chest freezers - and kept inventory at levels that we could keep in our 6 chest freezers and 3 dislay freezers. Of course there's time! Almost nothing is prepaid. A lot of the items can't be priced until they're cooked (chicken, gefilte fish, chicken fingers, etc. all get priced the morning of or night before). We get phone numbers for every order. We close officially at 2 PM on pick-up day, so start phoning anybody who forgot their orders around 2:30. To be honest, if we had anything left over we'd be able to sell it that day. The phone started ringing at 8 AM - people looking for prepared foods. But this year was the first time that nobody forgot to pick up their food (except for my uncle. his two sons were helping out that day and remembered to take deliveries with them for other people but forgot to take stuff home for their parents!)

Well... this little blog will be winding down tomorrow. I'm not sure what is in store for tomorrow - but I'll be at work for a few hours. I still have to test a recipe for one of my columns - theme is 'kosher Italian' ... and I have two good recipes for it (tested before Passover), but I'm thinking of adding a granita or two. We'll see. See ya tomorrow.

Thanks Michael . Chag Sameach to you too.

Dinner is served: Smoked turkey breast, potato/onion blintzes and a pear salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

I don't have my blintz recipe at home (I really should have a copy of all my recipes here) - so I had to play around with it. In the end the blintzes were good - but the bletach (crepes) were a little too thick. First the filling: Peeled potatoes set to boil and yellow onions sauteing in olive oil with salt and black pepper. The onions need to cook on medium low for a while, until they're really dark and sweet. Potatoes drained, mashed and mixed with onions and a little garlic powder - to taste. Set aside and onto the batter. The batter was 3 large eggs, pinch of salt, 3/4 C. potato starch and approximately 1 1/4 cups of water. It should be very loose and well combined: You can't tell if the batter is too thick until you make your first crepe. If it's too thick add some more water. If it's too thin, you can add a little potato starch. Lightly grease a non-stick pan, heat over medium/medium low and pour in enough batter to form a thin crepe (a small pan would work much better, but slim pickings at home). Pour out any excess batter: Cook until the top of the crepe is dry, but the bottom hasn't browned. Turn over onto a lined tray: Continue until all the batter is used - layering between sheets of wax or parchment paper. Makes about 12. Place the crepe onto a work surface so that the side that was up in the frying pan is down on the work surface. Form the filling into a long, narrow shape and place on one end of a crepe : Roll over once, then fold in each side: Continue to roll the blitz up and finish all of them: Before serving, finish the blintzes by browning them in a non-stick pan. I used oil here, but for a dairy meal they're great in butter.

Dinner is over. First the turkey. Seasoned and into the smoker: I definitely need a thermometer. It was on for about 3 1/2 hours. Off the grill and relaxing (tented). A little blurry: When I sliced into it, it was still juicy. So my mid-cooking slicing didn't kill it. But I'd prefer not to check it that way.

oh you know... couple of pounds. No thermometer ANYWHERE (not even on the smoker ). I had to do it - I had to cut into it to see where we were . Not long and it'll be done. I don't know if I'm the only person like this - but my home kitchen is very low on equipment. I do most of my cooking at work - so I'm winging it here.

Anybody know how long a bonesless, rolled turkey breast should smoke for? I can't seem to find a thermometer...

That makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately there is a movement to allow us all to eat corn and soy and some other items during Passover. (do a search on the Kitniyot Liberation Front) As for dairy - all year long items are available, as long as they are meat or parve, they contain no dairy. The Passover stuff is only available for about 3-4 weeks before Passover though - so I can understand the need to stock up. Come on up to Winnipeg in early April - we'll take care of you!

I've just started the coals - the wood chips are soaking and the turkey breast/roast is seasoned. Let the smoking begin! (Not sure what to make with it though.. must look through the kitchen)

Ah yes - turkey ham, turkey bacon, beef-fry. We try to come up with alternatives for all the things restricted. Some people love the stuff, some hate the very idea of it. I've had some good, some bad. As long as it tastes good, I'm all for it!

Lunch today was chicken schnitzel. Breading: I didn't have any cake meal - so I skipped that step. And I made my own matzo meal out of spelt matzo. Dipped in an egg, parsley, paprika, garlic, onion, salt & pepper wash - then into matzo crumbs seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika. Breaded: This is what we refer to as Panko Matzo Meal . A little course... but it tasted great! Fresh veg with some coarse salt - copious amounts of fresh lemon juice and washed down with Miranda soda. If you can make out the Hebrew lettering about the Miranda, it says tapuzeem - in case I wasn't sure it was orange

I know... that's why I'd like to see the pics!

I have had a terrible time getting online all morning. Now I'm going to make some lunch and I have to do little running around after. Later today I'll be smoking a turkey roast. I was going to throw something else on the smoker with it, but I just don't have the energy or the brain-power to decide what. We'll see what happens.

It's my pleasure. And what I should have added to the recipe is that it's imperitive that the first roll out of the oven gets slathered in butter. Then, later, one MUST fill another with leftover brisket. It's the rule.

There was a kiosk at the top of Ben-Yehuda How do they make the juices? They had no juice machines then - do you think I could just blitz the watermelon in a food-processor and strain? It doesn't seem like it would create what I remember... though it's so long ago - who knows if I really remember what I had . I also loved that we could go into cafes all over and just order 1/2 an ice-cold watermelon. It's just not the same here! Pomegranate juice for RH makes sense - I'm just starting to get more Spring juices in and available to me, so I'll keep a look-out for the SUmmer Fruit. I'm surprised about the gefilte fish - but the other foods are less suprising. It's not just what area your family comes from that influences what you have - but where they've moved to. Most of the items we do for Passover my Babas did. But neither of them made Shmoo torte! Well - I don't know how to explain the lack of farfel in your life, but I can tell you what we do with it. Of course there's the fried farfel - but if you just do the tossing in egg and toasting, it makes a great addition to chicken soup (in fact, I didn't use all of it up in the fried farfel so I'd have some for soup). People also use it for kugles - I'd guess any matzo kugle recipe could be made with farfel instead. It's good for matzo brei. If you have a recipe that calls for breaking up matzo - you can use farfel instead. OR you could save the extra shekels and just break up some matzo If I have time late I'll show you - if not I'll tell you.

Thanks - I can get the POM stuff here - I think Safeway carries it in all their stores. But I'm always on the lookout for a new Israeli juice - I've never seen it on my supplier lists though. I will definately get some POM juice and try the cocktail.

I never thought of that, but I it does. I am sure Spock and Captain Kirk would have had an interesting seder with it. ← My G-d. I'd like pictures from their seder.

Shmoo. A Shmoo is a cake that I believe originated here in Winnipeg. I've never seen it outside of the city, but it's at every bar/bat mitzvah and wedding - as well as several restaurants in the city. It's a pecan chiffon (see? perfect for Passover), with caramel sauce and whipped cream/topping. Simple but loved by many. Here's the recipe for the rolls - they are basically a choux recipe. In fact - if you replace the matzo meal with cake meal, you can make Kosher for Passover cream puffs or eclairs. Passover Rolls Combine: 8 cups matzoh meal 1 T. salt ¼ C. sugar Bring to a boil: 4 C. water 2 C. oil 16 eggs -add boiling mixture into dry ingredients – blend well -beat in 1 egg at a time -shape and bake at 375 for 50 minutes (I use convection oven) - Make sure they are golden brown before removing from the oven or they will collapse. This batch makes about 27 LARGE Rolls... obviously you can make a smaller batch - divide it by 4

I realized this year that I use more potato starch than most people. It's the one thing we have loads of leftover in the retail size. I will get some rest - promise. I may even take a few days off next week Charoset is just good! Mixing it with yogurt is brilliant.

Perhaps they were Sephardi recipes... or perhaps.. the writer is a member of the KLO (Kitniyot Liberation Front). (Haven't seen the article though)

Verdict is still out on the brisket - but the salad was exactly what I wanted. Crisp, tart and refreshing. Does Prigat make pomegranate juice? Or is it another brand? I must have your cocktail! I do love the mango.. but at the moment my favorite is Spring Lemonana . And I'm into the pear juices too. When I was in Israel last (long long time ago) I drank watermelon juice everywhere I went. A friend was there in December and said she couldn't find it (she was mostly in Haifa). Is it hard to find now?

hehe.. I am really tired. I don't remember being this tired last year - but then, this year was soooooo much busier than last year. There were more catering orders and the store is all new. I cannot believe how much work it is to stock everything! I had help the last week or so - but next year I'll get in some extra work earlier. Is there a large Jewish population in Amsterdam? I really don't know anything about the community there - are kosher foods easily available?