eG Foodblog: Pam R - or Pam's Passover Plotz (Part 2)

[Pam R]

How on earth did you move your whole kitchen!? Was there much down time when you did it .... I assume you had to have the business closed for a while?

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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.

Hi Pam, I hope I have time to get his question in here before the blog is locked..... should've thought of it earlier. 

Of course there's time!

You mentioned that you have all these orders for pickup..... I was wondering if they're all prepaid, or do people just pay when they pick up their orders? Do a certain percentage of people forget and you have all this leftover unsold food?

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!)

[Pam R]

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.

[racheld]

Thanks, Pam...happy Holidays and GET SOME REST!!

[FoodieRD]

Pam, thanks for motivating me to cook beyond the seder meals. Everyone loved the brisket sandwiches on your rolls (served with the baked potato chips from the passover thread). Every time I have to crack eggs for yet another recipe, I think of how many eggs you cracked and realize that I've got it easy. After Pesach, you deserve a week of restaurant meals, and a whole lot of R&R.

[Swisskaese]

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!

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I think that they mashed the watermelon and then strained it, so a food processor should work. But, I would put it over crushed ice. Watermelon juice has to be cold.

I went to the supermarket on the way home to buy a whole chicken, a turkey neck and some chicken wings and they were completely out of poultry!!! Not one piece of chicken, not even frozen. I should have known better, the same thing happened during Rosh Hashana.

I am going to the butcher tomorrow morning to see if they have any chicken. Otherwise, we will be matza ball soupless for the rest of the chag!

Got any chicken you can send me?

Thanks Pam for a great blog. Who knows, maybe you will see another blog from Israel.

Edited April 16, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[Pam R]

Thanks, Pam...happy Holidays and GET SOME REST!!

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

[Pam R]

Pam, thanks for motivating me to cook beyond the seder meals.  Everyone loved the brisket sandwiches on your rolls (served with the baked potato chips from the passover thread).  Every time I have to crack eggs for yet another recipe, I think of how many eggs you cracked and realize that I've got it easy.  After Pesach, you deserve a week of restaurant meals, and a whole lot of R&R.

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I'm glad you/they enjoyed them! They do such a good job absorbing any brisket juices

oooooh... restaurant food...

[Pam R]

I think that they mashed the watermelon and then strained it, so a food processor should work. But, I would put it over crushed ice. Watermelon juice has to be cold.

I was going to stop at Superstore (grocery store) on my way home from work to get a watermelon or two (to juice, to make granita and to eat) but I forgot it's Easter and they're closed . Tomorrow I will do it - with lots of ice!

I went to the supermarket on the way home to buy a whole chicken, a turkey neck and some chicken wings and they were completely out of poultry!!!   Not one piece of chicken, not even frozen. I should have known better, the same thing happened during Rosh Hashana.

I am going to the butcher tomorrow morning to see if they have any chicken. Otherwise, we will be matza ball soupless for the rest of the chag!

Got any chicken you can send me?

I had lots of calls today for deli/hot dogs - the weather is so beautiful I think a lot of people want to bbq hot dogs - but we've been out of the stuff for about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks.

But chicken I got. We even got a shipment in on Monday - what would you like?

Thanks Pam for a great blog. Who knows, maybe you will see another blog from Israel.

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My pleasure - and I hope so!

[Pam R]

some random facts...

approx. 975 lbs. of matzo sold

1800 eggs used by me, at least 3600 eggs used total

34 varieties of cheese sold, 43 varieties of chocolates

You can NEVER have enough cream cheese, yogurt or cottage cheese to satisfy the masses.

People, apparently, cannot go without mayonnaise for 8 days. Order much more for next year.

No matter how many times I think I have enough varieties of Matzo, order more.

There is never enough matzo farfel. People don't like it when you tell them to "just break up some matzo".

If you bake it, they will come.

[Pam R]

I realized today that I need to start placing orders next week... the stock is low..

This is all that's left of the 1000 lbs. of matzo..

[Pam R]

It's a beautiful spring day today. 24 C and sunny. I was hot and tired when I came home from work - but a little snack revived me.

Matzo with melted brie and pears - accompanied by an iced cappuccino.

I was going to do something with lamb for dinner, but I'm just not up to it. It'll just be some leftovers later tonight.

By the way, I'm desperate for some popcorn. Only 4 1/2 days to go.

[Pam R]

Finally - two blogs almost over and I don't think I've shown you my home kitchen. Isn't that mandatory?

The working end of the kitchen. This picture makes that center counter look much smaller than it is. A great working surface - there are usually stools on this side. The kitchen is open to the living room - and I have lots of browns, so the white helps keep everything bright.

The eating end. It's usually much brighter (sorry!). I have no dining room - so rather than take part of the living room, the dining table is in the kitchen. Works well. The window on the left is actually a door to the deck - where the BBQ is kept. This means I can grill even when it's -20 outside.

[Pam R]

My Last Supper ... for the blog that is.

I took pictures, but you don't want to see them. Nothing fancy - just 'good food'. Smoked turkey, what were supposed to be new dill potatoes turned into parsley/garlic potato mash and sauteed zucchini.

There's a lemon granita in the freezer now - I'll have some when it's ready. (tomorrow I'll make watermelon granita.. mmm.)

[Pam R]

I'd like to thank everybody for the wonderful comments all week. I had a great time sharing with you and hope you enjoyed it as well.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter.

Pam

[Rebecca263]

Just as always, Pam, you're a treasure! Thank you for being such a joy to be around! (We love that you keep counts of things, it's so fun to know!)

[Kouign Aman]

Thank you. Fun and interesting blog. Good luck catching up on your rest.

[KatieLoeb]

Thanks Pam! You're amazing! I can barely manage on a day to day basis to keep up with my end of being a host, so your stellar efforts at blogging while doing your job so well at your busiest time is truly awe inpiring.

Happy Holiday! Now go get some rest!

[mizducky]

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.

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You can't be the only one, Pam--why else does there exist that time-honored saying "The shoemaker's children have no shoes"?

Thanks once again, Pam, for giving us a glimpse into your world at one of its most hectic moments. Rest well!