Bizarre things happen in commercial kitchens. And bizarre rules, too.Here is an example. Commercial cooking equipment have to be NSF certified. This is to ensure you're using food-safe stuff.Now, commercial sinks for washing wares and handwashing sinks that you buy from restaurant supply stores are NSF certified. Most of them, however, do not have a built-on splash guard (a splash guard keeps hand-washing water from contaminating dish washer, and vice versa).

So, our lease begins in less than a week! The kitchen is just about ready for cooking, but the dining room is going to take a few weeks. Here's what it looks like today. We haven't made any changes yet (though, the owners were storing a sweet scooter here and I'm sad to see it go!).

The space, formerly an Italian cafe (thanks to Yelp.com for the photo)Welp, it's official! Miss Rachel's Pantry is setting up shop at 1732 West Passyunk in about a month. Follow along and watch the space transform from a South Philly Italian cafe to a lovely little dining room for private farmhouse table dinners and monthly (first-come-first-serve) tasting dinners.Thank you to everyone who has supported our little business in the last few years.

The media is hilarious, isn't it? Ads for pies and stuffing and starches covered in cheese during the the holidays, then commercials for scarcely clad women in workout gear screaming at you to get your fat, shameful butt in shape after all that calorie dense food. Slimeball tactics, huh? There's no reason to be completely down on yourself, or to make the quick jump from rich comfort food to light yogapants fare.