Pam R

Now for Passover ... things are different. There are many foods that are forbidden during Passover. Many people try to clean their homes completely of these forbidden foods. It's just unrealistic for a business to do so. What we do instead is pack up any of these items and fill the stockroom with them. Then all of the shelving in the store is washed down and sanitized and we restock the store with all of the Passover products. A side note on observance levels seems like a good idea here. This is what I've noticed over for the years. 1. People who don't care at all if food is kosher all year or for Passover. 2. People who don't keep kosher in their homes, but will by kosher meats and dairy for Passover. These people may or may not feel it's necessary for other items to be kosher for Passover. 3. People who care if their food at home is kosher, but will eat in restaurants during the year. These people will not eat in non-kosher restaurants during Passover. Their meat, dairy, processed foods and more ingredient items will be kosher for Passover. But they will buy certain items at the regular grocery store, as long as they open fresh bags/containers for Passover (like sugar and spices). 4. People who do not eat in non-kosher restaurants and will only purchase items for Passover that are stamped with a 'kosher for Passover' sticker. So we have people coming in for a few items, or they're coming in to get everything they need for the week other than produce. Here's some of what you'd find in my store: Matzo meal, cake meal, potato starch and farfel. The dairy cooler - we've had to restock most of it's contents daily over the last week. Milk, iced cappuccino, hard and soft cheeses, cottage cheese, puddings and yogurts. The ever-popular Israeli pickles and olives. The equally popular Canadian pickles and Israeli style salads (babganouj, cabbage, matbucha, schug, etc.) Cold cuts and hot dogs. Vinegars, oils and salad dressing. Breakfast foods, soups & side dishes in the back. Briskets and roasts. Veal, lamb and beef cuts. Chocolates - including chocolate covered matzo. And more chocolates, candy and gum. Dr. Brown's Soda and Prigat juices. Israeli Nesquik, coffees (Turkish & instant) and teas. Pepsi, 7-Up and Orange Miranda from Israel. If you squint, you can make out the Hebrew on the packaging.

Several years ago we were having difficulty getting kosher poultry locally - so we started bringing it in from Toronto for our own use. A few years ago the local, kosher poultry slaughter-house shut down completely and all kosher chicken, duck & turkey needs to be brought in from out of province. There is also limited kosher slaughtering going on for beef and lamb. What there is basically goes to the one kosher butcher shop in the city. Add to that the fact that not everybody in the city considers the local levels of kashrut to be high enough - there was a demand for meat to be brought in. Kosher Dairy- If you go into most of the grocery stores in the Winnipeg, the only kosher cheese you'll find are cream or cottage (and some chevre). For years we've sold hard cheese - cheddar, mozzarella, marble, Gouda, muenster as well as feta, string, slices and parmesan. In the last few months, after a lot of phone calls and a business trip to New York and Toronto, I've been able to add brie, camembert, romano, swiss, fontina and the more exciting Israeli cheese (keter, emek and the low-fat white cheeses). We're also bringing in leben, eshel, milkies (pudding with whipped cream topping - it's an Israeli thing), chetzo chetzi (more Israeli pudding) and I'm working on some more. Israeli Items: In addition to the dairy, we stock Israeli pickles, olives, snack foods, chocolates, cakes, cookies, juices, spices and cooking products. Regular everyday items: If you walk down the aisle of any grocery store in the US, you can purchase 100's if not 1000's of items that just happen to be kosher. In Canada, many of these same items aren't. Some examples include Oreo's, Kit Kat bars, baked beans, salad dressings and and taco shells. We try to bring in some of these items (you have no idea how many cans of baked beans we sell ). Ethnic Foods: Sushi ingredients (nori, wasabi), Mirin, coconut milk, chili sauce and rice noodles. Sesame oil, tamari, soy, sauces and vinegars. Then we bring in the "Jewish" items. Candles, matzo meal, potato starch, herring, horseradish, pickles, etc. If you think Winnipeg is a hotbed for the production of any of these items you'd be barking up the wrong tree. All of these items need to be "sourced". I spend hours each week phoning suppliers, emailing companies and going through product lists.

The name of our business is Desserts Plus - but it's really a misnomer at this point. My mother started the business in the early '80s. She baked for some local restaurants and would go into synagogues to bake for friend's bar/bat mitzvahs. Eventually she had people asking her to cater entire functions and my father quit his job as a commodity broker and joined her in the business. I grew up there. I'd walk over the our store after school and peel potatoes or just hang out in the offices. I have vivid memories from junior high of sitting at a counter in various synagogue kitchens on a Sunday evening studying or doing homework while the place was buzzing as my parents were catering a wedding for 350 people. We've discussed changing the name of the company to better reflect what we do - but our name is very well established here. Anybody have any suggestions? In the meantime, we've added the line "so much more" to our sign. Desserts Plus... so much more. Get it? But there are still Jewish people who have no idea of what we have to sell... and non-Jewish people coming in all the time.. who have no idea what we do. This picture was taken a couple of days ago. About 2 days before it was taken there was still snow covering much of the 'grass' area. In a few weeks, it will be much less... brown. We rent the whole building and then sub-lease a small part to a gelati store. Their entrance is to the right of the brick, and we're in the rest of the space.

OK. Sometimes I speak before I research . From the Star-K's website: I did notice another cheese today in my showcase - it's an aged goat cheese that says specifically on it "Rennet-free".

I've checked a bunch of labels in my cooler. The ingredients : milk, bacterial culture, salt and microbial enzyme. Being an animal by-product (and one can assume from non-kosher animals), it can't be mixed with dairy. So kosher cheese will not contain rennet.

We open in 5 minutes, and we've already had 5 customers. Auntie Ida arrived to help out today. Nice surprise.

Thanks for the links. I've bookmarked them for later perusal.

Today: I'll be in the kitchen this morning - trying to finish off any baking odds and ends that I can. I'll also take some pictures of what the others are doing. At 11 AM the store opens. We're not usually open on Sundays, but for the last 2 weeks, today and next Sunday our official hours are 11-3. Last Sunday the last customers left at about 6:30. I'm expecting a lot of people in here - and we've called in the reinforcements. In addition to the regular staff [me, mom, dad, Hazel (full-time) and Rachael (part-time)], my sister, a cousin and a friend will all be in to help. These extra helpers will be in over the next three days - along with one other helper who will do some delivering.

Thanks to all of you for your kind words - it does make me feel good. Especially this morning!

'morning all. It's been a crappy one. I overslept - finally got out of the house and was stuck for 15 minutes by a train. (Upside, it let me eat my fruit leisurly in the car while waiting for the train to pass.) Got to work to find that one of the breakers went at some point this weekend and a cooler was down. Not a large cooler - but I've had to throw out a bunch of dairy products and deli stuff - all things that had been put aside for my best customer. Not only did I have to throw the stuff out - but I don't have enough of everything to replace it with. If there's a funny note in this - it's that she left the stuff here because she was going to be out of town and was concerned that something might happen to her refrigerator while she was away. I've also lost a few batches of curd that I needed - and am taking a break while my lovely assistant Rachael juices more lemons for me. And I'm de-stressing (trying to) because there's a long day ahead. Oh Chris... time will tell! I'll fill you in a little later.

It's midnight here - and I need to be at work at about 8 am tomorrow - so I'll be going now. Please ask any questions you have - I'll be rather busy over the next few days, but after all the orders are picked up Wednesday afternoon, I'll have some actual free time to catch up. Hopefully tomorrow you'll see pictures of my store. 'night

Now. I can probably go weeks (though rarely do) without visiting a Japanese restaurant. But knowing that I'm cut off for a week, means that I have to get a visit in before the holiday begins. Japanese food is not very Passover friendly. As I'm an Ashkenazi Jew, I should not eat soy, rice or sesame during the holiday. So most (all?) of these items are forbidden for me: Tempura vegetables, yam roll and inari, sunomono salad, edamame, agedashi tofu , and a gift from our server - fruit flavoured sake (strawberry, blueberry & peach). Dinner was at Bimi. I always enjoy meals at Bimi. Friendly staff - good food. And they know that I don't like mayo After dinner we strolled over to the Kenaston Wine Market. It's located in the same strip as Bimi and always has a great selection of kosher wines. The salesperson who helped my out tonight was knowledgeable and really helpful. I have wine issues. I like wine - and if it didn't give me a rash, I'm sure I'd give it more thought. I picked up a bottle of white to take to a seder next week, and a bottle of red to use for braising some lamb shanks later in the week.

Pictures to come! And I think we'll be ok here. I lived in Northern Minnesota when the Red flooded back in '97. It was a nightmare. But I believe the river crested today - and they opened the floodway to divert the water a couple of days ago. A few areas are having issues but we're dry here. Chutzpah and guilt! That pretty much sums it up!

So. A lot has changed in the last year. We've moved our business across the city - we had to follow our customers. We've also (tried) to change our focus. We no longer have a restaurant and we were trying to get away from heavy-duty catering. We wanted to build our retail business. For a few years now, we've been bringing in kosher meats and dairy products and selling them out of our store, as well as supplying local hotels and synagogues. With our move, we wanted to fill a need in the area we moved to. Hard to get kosher products, prepared foods and some catering. The move has been great. We're all exhausted but business is booming. This week I'm going to show you some of the things we're preparing for Passover, I'll take you on a tour of the new store and I hope to be able to get a little home cooking in after the craziness of the next few days is over. On Monday I have something planned - but I'll wait for it to be done before sharing (assuming it goes well). I'll be back with dinner in a few minutes.

Thanks! I need all the strength I can get. The box of matzo says it contains a different form of gluten. All I know is that I seem to be able to eat it. I have a customer who is always looking for things for her husband who suffers from celiac disease - she was going to bake him some matzo using potato starch. If I see her again before Wednesday I'll ask her how it worked out. You keep telling me that and maybe I'll believe it! The energy is ... deteriorating. I just keep chanting "only 4 more days only four more days only four..." And then I'll collapse!

Who me? This link to the OU dicusses this. According to the link, romaine lettuce is the #1 choice (stalk over leaf). Of course, there's more than one choice (5 vegetables that can be used). As for the lamb .. how long does it need to keep warm? I'm off for dinner - be back later.

Michelle - I haven't seen those - but I love it! I was talking to somebody yesterday about the new Savion Matzo Sticks. We were wondering why somebody needs to buy sticks... matzo boards are already perforated for easy breaking. And we asked the question "Is this a new product that we need? Having said that - I find the spelt matzo breaks much better than plain matzo And I haven't seen the tins.. I kind of like them. More on matzo later... Aren't the blogs fantastic? I enjoy them tremendously and participating is such fun. Thanks.

I really am leaving now - when I return I'll fill you in on what's been going on the last couple of weeks - and what will be happening in the next few days.

I'm off to run some (non-food related) errands that have been piling up. Let me leave you with some links - in case you want some information and explanations about Passover and/or Kashrut. First of all - if you've seen the movie The Ten Commandments, then you know the basic story of Passover (well, the Hollywood version). For more... actual explanation, try these: Judaism 101's Passover page or the Chabad.org 's site For Kashrut (or Kosher): Judaism 101 again - but Kashrut this time or the OU's website And don't forget, there are so many wonderful sources here at eGullet - here are just a few: Passover, the thread How-To Seder Guide Passover Seder Menus Matzo Brei and Matzo Brei Passover Wines and if you have questions that you've always been afraid to ask about this crazy kosher thing, go here

It takes a lot more than -20 C to knock some sense into this 'toban! Thanks

Thanks folks. I'm happy to be blogging again - but I'm not sure where the energy is coming from! We'll see what happens . I hope you all enjoy. Breakfast. I love fruit. Breakfast is usually some fruit - on it's own or with something else. Often it's eaten in the car on the way to work . Today was the first day in a while I've taken the time to flip through the newspaper while having breakfast - and I took the time to make myself a little fruit salad. The strawberries were tasteless (I know - they usually are - but I can't stop myself from buying them -- and sometimes they surprise you) but everything else was great - especially the blueberries. Next to the bowl of fruit, on a lovely serving dish, a piece of spelt matzo lightly buttered. There are some people who will not eat matzo before Passover. I obviously, do. I actually have a slight gluten-intolerance. So while I do eat some foods with gluten in them - never in the morning. The spelt matzo is one of the best breakfast items I've found in a long time, so there you go. PS: Anybody find something better than papertowel for their matzo?

Even though y'all didn't know I was blogging last night - I did. So here's dinner: I wanted to share dinner with you for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was good. But also, it's the first 'real meal' I had all week. My mother took pity on the rest of the family and left work early (6:30) to make dinner for the rest of us. I arrived at about 7:45, just before sunset (or just before Shabbat started) and dinner was waiting. All week it's been grabbing fast food or a sandwich at about 8:30 at night - so it was nice to have a home-cooked Shabbat dinner. Barbecued rib steak, mushrooms and zucchini, each sauteed in olive oil with garlic and a rice pilaf. I'm going to grab something light for breakfast and get ready to head out.

Good Morning! Evidence #1 that spring is officially here - this picture taken from my kitchen window this morning: That's right. The Canada Geese have come home. Evidence #2 - Passover starts Wednesday night. And I'm tired. Some of you may recall that I blogged last year . You can read up on last years events over here. (in case you missed it ) This year many things will be quite similar to last year. I'll be in the kitchen baking and cooking most of the same items, probably going to the same restaurants for a quick dinner in the next few days. On the other hand, the family business has changed quite a lot since last April - so I'll share with you how I spend my time at work when not in the kitchen. And between now and the end of the week I need to get a couple of recipe columns in. As I share with you, I'm happy to answer whatever questions you may have. I might have some questions for you too - so let's get started!

You can do something similar to a dacquoise by substituting coconut or even grated chocolate. Or, of course, the pavlova. Flourless/nutless chocolate cake... Plum (or other fruit) kuchen.. or last year's discovery - if you're doing dairy - cream puffs/eclairs.

my cookbook is at home... but I believe Joyce Goldstein offers some thoughs (and if I'm not mistaken) a few Italian Passover recipes in her book Cusina Ebraica. I'll try to have a look and let you know - but this is my busiest week of the year - so it may not happen until after the fact. Perhaps somebody else has it.