Anyone have recipe or know where to buy them?

By Panini (Panini) on Sunday, August 20, 2000 - 05:57 pm: Edit

My grandmother used to use this word for hard anisette cookies, like biscotti, but I'm pretty sure these are not what you are looking for.We all teethed on them.
I will make some calls and try to find out what they are.
panini

By Panini (Panini) on Sunday, August 20, 2000 - 06:07 pm: Edit

Jill Claire
There is a recipe at
soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/desserts/cookies/recipe1440.rec
I knew that they were baked at one specific time of the year, All Soul's Day in Italy.

By Ramodeo (Ramodeo) on Monday, August 21, 2000 - 07:58 am: Edit

There is a book called "Bitter Almonds", about a woman who grew up in one of the cookie/pastry-making convents of Sicily. I don't own a copy, and I know it's out of print, but I seem to remember a recipe for "ossi di morte". I found the book originally in our local library.

By W.DeBord on Monday, August 21, 2000 - 08:02 am: Edit

Hey Ramodeo,

How is the business going??????


Details, details????

By Ramodeo (Ramodeo) on Monday, August 21, 2000 - 08:31 pm: Edit

Thanks for asking! It's going gangbusters! We opened 10 days ago. The first week was good - very good considering we did no advertising. We just flipped the sign over in the window to "open" and unlocked the door. The first day we had a huge crowd at lunch and we managed, but it was absolute chaos! Almost all the customers were from the neighborhood, or were friends or family, so we were forgiven!

We got an article in the business section of our local paper a week after we opened and ever since then we've been full almost from open to close. We've done almost 250 people a day in a place that seats 50 and is only open for breakfast and lunch! It's been hard to even catch our breath, much less get organized. By yesterday, we finally got the prep/line area figured out and everything went pretty smoothly.

Our biggest challenge (as any of you who own businesses probably know) is to get, train and keep good employees. We've got some pretty good ones, but they're either quite young or they already have other jobs which hold their main loyalty. A few of them work for my husband at the restaurant where he is exec. chef, so we can't really even try to lure them away!

Overall, it's been really great. We are exhausted and there are a thousand things we need to give attention to, but we are very satisfied and happy. The hardest part has definitely been having time with our kids. Ever since the newspaper article it's been so busy it's hard for them to even be in the restaurant - there's not even a place for them to sit! They've been spending a lot more time with babysitters and friends and aunts and grandparents then they are used to. Once school starts in a week, it will be much better, though.

By W.DeBord on Tuesday, August 22, 2000 - 08:04 am: Edit

If your husband is still the exec. chef elsewhere are you doing all the cooking?

What kind of menu do you have? Are you doing desserts too?

Hopefully in the long run this will give you both more time with the kids....

By Panini (Panini) on Tuesday, August 22, 2000 - 04:48 pm: Edit

GREAT!!
The boat will eventually stop rocking.
Good Luck

By Ramodeo (Ramodeo) on Tuesday, August 22, 2000 - 10:43 pm: Edit

My husband goes in to our place at about 5:30 am, runs the line thru bkfst and lunch and then goes to the other restaurant at 2 or 3 pm. He gets home from there late in the evening. I pretty much run the dining room during bkfst and lunch and then supervise the closing til all the employees get out at about 4:00 or 4:30. THEN I get to do some cooking! :-) I am doing desserts - basic, all homemade retro things like puddings, pies, cookies, brownies, plus all the breakfast baked goods - cinnamon rolls, muffins, scones, etc.

The menu is pretty basic breakfast and lunch - eggs, pancakes, french toast, benedicts, omelets, salads, sandwiches, wraps, homemade soups, burgers, etc. We've got a really good kids menu - we hate it when we go out and can't get anything but hamburgers, hot dogs and various fried things for our kids. We decided to offer a kids portion of any item on the menu for $2.95, and it's gone over really well. Some things we don't make a whole lot of money on, but it is bringing in families.

The main thing about the menu is that it's all as fresh as possible, and as homemade as possible. I am feeling a little like a sellout, though - I had to go to a frozen pie crust. I really wanted to make them, but the time it takes can't be recouped in the price. Nobody's gonna pay $20 for a pie around here!