Pam R

hmm.. I don't think of a double-boiler and a ban marie as the same thing... I always use a bain marie for cheesecakes and baked custards (ie: creme brulee). I generally use whatever I have in the kitchen that is large enough to hold the dish I'm cooking plus water - often a roasting (or hotel) pan - sometimes a foil pan. No way do you need a $200 special one. As a double boiler - like the one pictured in your link - I always use a heat-safe bowl on a pot. Nothing special there either. The one in your link sure is pretty though...

That's fantastic. If you don't have time for pictures while this is all happening, I hope you at least share the finished space with us. When we were looking to move our business last year we saw a couple of old banks - all the vaults were located in areas that it made the spaces unworkable for us. I'd love to see the transformed vault. I always thought they'd make great private dining rooms - for a table of two

Thanks for sharing this with me/us Jamie. Who knows? Maybe someday I (or somebody else reading this) will be able to take from your experience and put out an equally beautiful and tasty book as yours! What wonderful memories! I'd put your thoughs on a brochure! I wish I had the time to be able to take on this sort of project. But something like this needs a large comitment from the person/people involved and I just have too many things on my plate as it is. I also find it odd that we don't hear from more people from this area - I wish we could get more input from locals. But I think the conversations we have on threads like this are a great start. All great ideas. Along the same lines they could do a "Jazz Fest Weekend/Stay". Tickets to performances, stay at a downtown hotel and dinners at so & so restaurants. I no longer have a restaurant and am not a member of the restaurant association. Anybody out there a member? There are some great ideas here for you guys!

Jamie, I've admired your book for quite a while now. I've searched and searched but can't find the name of a book that was put out here a few years ago featuring recipes from local restaurants. I think they put more of an emphasis on the high-end places - rather than the ethnic ones. This is a great idea for a project - and if my parents ever fire me, I'll pitch it to somebody! Do you have a fill in the blank template available?

Megan - brilliant blog. Thanks so much. Your week was as far from my last week in NY (in November on a Kosher finding trip). I hope to get to even 1/2 of the places you've showed us on my next trip. I'm telling you - you should offer chocolate tours of New York. You'd make a mint! Thanks, Pam

Congratulations Dan! You must be so excited - and exhausted. Your plans to use local producers is amazing. I hope you share some of the trials and tribulations with us. Please keep us updated on the rest of the renos and the opening - and I second Lee's request for pictures (if you have any waking moments free to take them). Good luck!

While the article is interesting, the majority of it doesn't apply to the topic at hand. What we can take from that article - and may be major hurdles for the culinary tourism trend - are the weather and mosquito issues. Is the weather just too cold and the mosquitoes too nasty? Outside of Canada I don't know if this reputation is known - but definitely within Canada we're cold and itchy. If we're talking about visiting ethinic restaurants, this may not be an issue. If we're talking about visiting local producers it may. There are, by the way, many people who visit Manitoba's lake regions every year for excellent fishing. Hunting and wild berry picking are also draws.

Absolutely. But: - people coming in for Folklarama are likely to eat most of their meals at pavillians. - people at the Folk will be eating most of their meals in the dirt But the Fringe and Jazz festivals keep people in the city - close to many restaurants and bars. And I think they lend themselves more to people going out for a meal before or after a performance. Maybe we should start a maketing company

I don't know. Just because they don't seem to have any great restaurants doesn't mean that there aren't people who like good food. Remember all of North Dakota (642,000) has a population that's less than that of Winnipeg (approx 710 000). They just don't have the population to support good restaurants. When I was at university in Minnesota, as a resident adviser I'd plan trips back to Winnipeg. I took a few groups for sushi. Not a single one of them had ever tried sushi, but they all loved the new experience and the new food. The want may be there, just not the options. Right. I knew that's who you meant. It's interesting that while the population is going up, the sales are going down. I wonder what is responsible for that.. There is the Manitoba Restaurant Association - who you would think would take an interest in this... but I have no idea what they do to promote their members. Even their website only lists a couple of places where food is available under their 'shopping and dining' heading. Maybe they assume people will see pictures of all our lakes and just know that there's fish to be had This we do have. But I can't find a website. Dine Out Winnipeg was just a few weeks ago. Come on down... We'll host you.

I actually have about 5 never-opened bottles in my basement - with bags. I was just trying to be helpful to others. Then again, none of mine are personalized....

did ya take them?

so many great responses already. dare I ask... what can't you use lemons in? tarts, pies, cheesecakes, icings, salad dressing, lemon potatoes, chicken, granita, lemon/ginger cookies, cakes, curds, soup, rice, lemonade! or I just like to squeeze a wedge of lemon into some ice-cold water. Most refreshing drink there is. PS: Lemon zest freezes well. If you're only using the juice, zest them up and freeze in a baggie. Pull it out when ever you want to add a little zestyness.

Is Junior's known for working with the locals? The burger joint Juniors? I gotta get to the SN Art's center...

If a waiter doesn't need to write it down, but gets it right - great. It annoys me that so often they write it down and get it wrong. I could never work in a restaurant that required me to memorize guests orders. When I used to wait tables I couldn't even remember drink orders taken as I handed out the menus. In a place without a liquour license and only a selection of soft drinks and juices how many options could there have been?? As for places that require staff to not write orders - I don't know of any in myarea.

Finding some info on Crown Royal for a different thread, I came across What's your bag?. Now - I think some of your uses are more interesting - but I also think a Crown Royal Purple quilt might look nice on my bed... And over here you can actually order a personalized purple bag!

I agree - I don't think high end should be the target. Such as Fort Garry Brewing Company? Or Agassiz Brewing Co.? And don't forget about our local version of whisky... Crown Royal. Tess, you should come on up! Everybody should experience some Saskatoon berries. Though the ingredient consistency and availability is getting better - I think you're right. We have a diverse ethnic food scene - and I think it's one of our best selling points. When you get down to it - how many native ingredients are there? I don't know how many people would want to come on a canola tour. But if you combine the local ingredients with the ethnic foods - there's a lot to offer. These restaurateurs also shipped off stacks of flyers to North Dakota. Though we may compare the restaurant scene in Winnipeg to Vancouver, Toronto or New York and find it lacking in certain areas - we also have to remember that Winnipeg is the largest city in the region - from Alberta to the GTA and south to the Twin Cities. There are a lot of people in these areas who would consider a trip to Winnipeg for a culinary tour before heading to a different destination.

From today's Winnipeg Free Press: According to the article, Manitoba and Saskatchewan were the two provinces that saw restaurant sales drop in the last year. Local restaurants are advertising in North Dakota and Minnesota and culinary tours are scheduled. Are there enough native ingredients to bring people to the region? Do you think places like Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Brandon, etc. will be able to draw travellers in for the food or are these restauranters hoping for something that will never happen?

This thread on food gifts has many great suggestions too..

Thanks . That's a good question - I've never tried kashkeval - but I've had it on order since November! If I do get it, I'll try it. What do you think about Keter (Tara brand)? I have that - do you think it would be a good quiche cheese?

I meant just dipping the bottoms and then sandwiching two together while still melted. But I like your idea more! Ideally, it would just be the ganache - one step instead of two. But if I can't get that to work, I love your idea. Thanks!

We were just discussing this yesterday. A customer gave this simple advice for throwing a dinner party: Call a caterer. Except for #2, they can take care of everything.

I know it's odd! *sigh* ok. don't ban me from eGullet. The 'creamy stuff' is a non-dairy substitute. I'm trying to keep them non-dairy. I promise you - it still tastes good. How long did they sit out after you froze them? I left them over night, and they were a big mushy mess the next day. and I so love this idea.... in fact I was going to do orange and coconut ones too. I suppose it wouldn't be terrible if it was just dipped in some chocolate and sandwiched...

No gravy for me either! Even more eerie... What are we eating tomorrow?

No... as I said upthread - Joyva is the same type of halvah found in Israel, and North America. There may be (obviously) other types of halvah - but the Joyva type is very common (at least in the Jewish food world). I actually posted a few months back that I thought halvah had egg in it - but nobody's recipes seemed to have egg. I'll try to remember to look at the ingredients on a package at work tomorrow.

I've wanted to participate in this for a while but I don't have any eggs at home - and I keep forgetting to get some . So at work yesterday I put together an asparagus and Swiss quiche. Sauteed some onion - blanched asparagus - whipped (or beat) some eggs with cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg - poured over vegetables and cheese and baked.