Swisskaese

I was totally prepared this year and started stocking up on bread three weeks ago. Now my (atheist/secular/high-holiday Catholic) household has 3 loaves in the freezer and two in the fridge. But as an outsider, I do love a holiday that involves so many macaroons! Your menu looks fabulously tasty, Pam. Good luck! ← Rehovot, I don't know if you noticed but Roladin is selling Pierre Herme-like macaroons this year. The come in a variety of flavors. I prefer those over the coconut ones. Tapenade doesn't like coconut, so sometimes I buy the peanut macaroons for him. I like the coconut macaroons stuffed with apricot or raspberry jam. What I am looking forward to are Mamoul and Mufleta for Mimouna. My neighbors are Moroccan and I am hoping they will invite us to their celebration this year. Pam, is there a Moroccan community in Winnipeg?

Is the dough suppose to be that wet? It is very humid here in Israel and I find that I have to knead my dough more than I did in the States and in Europe in order for the dough to maintain its shape. Of course the flour is also different here.

During the week of Passover, shelves that contain products that are not "Kosher for Passover" are covered with plastic and we are not allowed to purchase them. Most of the bakeries are closed during the week of Passover. I say most, because there are some that stay open to serve the Non-Jewish citizens and non-observant. You usually see people buying multiple loaves of bread and/or packs of pita a few days before the holiday. Pam, do you carry Kasher l'Pesach dog and cat food? Someone on a local yahoo group asked if fish flakes were Kosher for Passover. Some people are quite pedantic about keeping Kosher for Passover. It turns out that it is not; you can buy maggots to feed them for the week of Passover.

Manischevitz and other brands make Matzah year round, but only the ones stamped "Kosher for Passover" should be used during Passover. The ones that are baked year round could have come in contact with some sort of leavening. The machines and the room where the matzah is made are thoroughly cleaned before they are used to make their matzah for Passover and it is inspected by Kosher authorities prior to baking. BTW- This rule applies to any factory that makes products for Passover.

The bigger question is once they do have copyright protection, how are the chef's going to afford to police their work being stolen?

I wouldn't change the name. Your business is well established with the name. Why confuse everyone.

This is my father's apple cake and it is delicious. It has just enough batter to coat the apples. Fresh Apple Cake

Sorry about your cooler. I hope all will be better from now on.

Pam, I don't know if you know about this website already, but eLuna is a website for Kosher restaurants in Israel. The restaurants offer 10% discounts and they also offer an aution for dinner for two. The critiques are not written by professionals and I don't always agree with the writers, but that is another story. It also has menus and information about some of the caterers in the area. Have a look at eLuna One in particular to look at is Claudine. Until very recently it was a non-Kosher high-end French restaurant and now they are Kosher. The nice thing is that they are offering a take-out menu for Passover. Here is eLuna's Pesach page: Pesach on eLuna

Don't freak out, but I am not a big chocolate person. But....I do like dark chocolate and I bet those are fantastic. I know you are having a lovely time in San Francisco. It is my favourite city in the States.

Fair enough. If I am ever in Chicago, and you would be willing to make a Fishetarian tasting menu (I keep Kosher, but eat fish and vegetables in a restaurant), then I would be happy to try your food. As I have said before, if it is technology we are talking about (i.e. machines, utensils or dishes), and they fit the criteria for a patent, then by all means they should be patented. Steven, Some of the plating designs remind of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth sculptures. What happens when some of these designs are actually (maybe not consciously) taken from artwork? What if they are similar? Do you want to fight it out in the manner of the Dan Brown case?

Finally, a voice of reason. Thank you Nathan!

I sorry, but I still don't understand what you want. Maybe because you were yelling at me in the reply. Are you talking about food here or are you talking about some technology you have invented? My understanding is that this topic refers to getting credit where credit is due when another restaurant steals your recipe and plating technique and you are talking about Homeland Security and NASA stealing your food ideas? I am going to have to ask my friends in the Mossad if they are interested in El Bulli's menu and/or utensils and serving dishes for national security. I don't see anything wrong with creating a restaurant incubator. It would help people without restaurant experience gain knowledge from experienced restauranteurs. But, what is the difference between an incubator and someone doing a stage in a restaurant? As for eating in your restaurant? I live in Israel. I have never been to Chicago, but I did look at your website. I have read quite a bit about El Bulli, WD-50 and other restaurants such as these and it is not my cup of tea. I have been to plenty of top restaurants around the world that serve tasting menus and have enjoyed them. I know they require a lot of work and I do know something about the restaurant business. My uncle owned and was head chef of a German restaurant in my hometown. The restaurant is still in business under different owners, but he had the restaurant for 40 years. He is now 94 and I have the utmost respect for him.

Have you heard about the new easy-to-break matza? Matzot Aviv, LTD.is introducing in the US. They are also selling tinned matza that has artwork by Reuven Rubin and Menashe Kadishman on it.

Chag Pesach Sameach Pam!!! Yeah, your blogging again.

Most of everyones fears in this thread reguarding patenting things like freeze dried foods are simply not patentable. Its been in the public domain for too long. As CDH who is one of the only experts here on patent law has stated, patents are rare and hard to get. Of course there are bad examples of patent abuse. You will wind up paying more this year for increases in costs for beef than you will for licencing fees on food patents. You cant just go out there and start patenting the saute technique. Its far more complex and foolproof than that. The thought of holding the entire food world ransom for every technique is complete obsurdity. ← I really don't know what your point is anymore. Are you just asking for another restaurant that copies your food to put your name on the menu as the creator of the dish and plating or do you want them to pay you x dollars to make your dish? Or do you really want the Nobel Prize for Cooking? Which is it? Frankly, I don't care who makes the dish as long as it tastes good. I am not going to order a dish because so-and-so created it. I am going to order the dish because the combination of ingredients appeals to me. Some people are not impressed with floating food and paper sushi. Personally, I don't like my food to foam at the mouth and I can't stand jelly anything. If you need to have your ego stroked even more than it gets stroked by your patrons and food critics then write a cookbook or better yet, come to my world and get a job in hi-tech or at an incubator and invent to your hearts content. Maybe you will invent a new space capsule instead of a CO2 capsule. There are millions of people that invent new things and most of these people we have never heard of. I work with someone who has 20 patents in his name, does he ask me to stroke his ego everyday, no. He comes into work just like everyone else and comes up with some interesting variant and goes home to his family every night content that he did a good job. Well, maybe not every night.

I would like to recommend the Farmerhaus restaurant. It is located in a small town near Darmstadt and it serves African cuisine.

Here is the link: Orange and Ginger Gateau It is dead easy to make. I would suggest making it the day before and keeping it in the refrigerator.

Behatzlacha Rebecca!

I made the Orange and Ginger cake as a trial run for Passover and it is fantastic. It is moist, orangey with just enough of a ginger kick. I am definitely serving this next week.

Copyrights usually last 70 years, with the exception of Mickey Mouse.

Steven, how do you copyright popcorn dust? Is popcorn dust considered a new process? How different is it from me grating or powdering parmesan in my magimix and putting it on a plate? Olive gelee. Is the process different from making tomato aspic or jellied calf's foot? How do you copyright smoked shrimp? Smoking has been done for thousands of years. Okay, so they make pasta out of it. I am sure it is a very interesting dish, but I saw someone make pasta out of fish and tofu the other day on some cooking show. How do you copyright the plating of food? I think we have discussed this topic in another thread before. The way a dish is plated is just as permanent as someone's speech or gesture and can't be copyrighted as such. Intellectual property protection is in most cases for 70 years, with the exception of Mickey Mouse. I applaud creative chefs. I love good food and sometimes the food is so amazing it gives me an orgasm, but did they invent something that changed the world and therefore should be copyrighted for 70 years? It would have to be some spectacular process, not plating or presentation that would convince me that it warrants copyright protection.

My Dad's side of the family are originally from Verona, but they moved to Prague and then to Germany. We never had gefillte fish for our seder. My grandparents and the rest of the family didn't know what it was until they moved to the States and Israel. I introduced, my other half to Venetian Haroset and now he makes a variation of it. It is outstanding and we are not allowed to come to my cousin's seder without it. He won't let me give out the recipe . One of the ingredients is chestnut paste. I make matzah balls from the whole matzah. Here is a picture of the soup and the recipe for the matzah balls.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach Everyone! Tonight we are having: Artichoke with garlic mayonnaise Corned beef (My first time ever! I called my Grandmother for pointers) Roasted potato and cauliflower Red wine Challah Orange and ginger cake (I am testing dessert for Pesach)

This recipe is good. It is still a sponge cake, but it tastes great: Chocolate, Orange and Honey Cake You could also make a pavlova and fill it with lime, lemon or mango curd and garnish with fresh fruit.