Butter Murder: this time, it's not just your arteries.
February 7, 2011 - 2:58pm | by wfertman
Just came across a new entry in the annals of dairy crime: a murderous folie-a-deux in Sicily on the lines of the old Roald Dahl story "Lamb to the Slaughter".
In this particular case, though, the weapon was butter:
A Sicilian couple thought they had the perfect weapon to get rid of her ex-husband -- a slab of butter which would melt after they asphyxiated him, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported Saturday.
The Comfort Zone
February 4, 2011 - 5:45pm | by laurenberley
04 February 2011
Podere Conti
Macerie di Filattiera, Toscana, Italy
Red kidney beans were pouting in a plastic container on the counter tonight, a half-pipe carved out where a sausage one laid. I was on leftover duty again, having proven my chops at the helm of late. Frozen ground beef, puree of tomato, loads of thyme, chili powder, cumin, garlic, and oregano... Lauren’s almost-authentic-except-for-the-cumin-Texas-Chili. I plunked a whole onion in the pot as well, creating a completely stewed and flavorful item to grill when the chili is gone.
Valentine's Day Poetry Contest
February 4, 2011 - 3:59pm | by wfertmanIn honor of V-day, we are holding a contest for the best cheese-related love poetry in America.
Use any meter or verse you wish—sonnet or limerick or free-verse, and employ any muse, be it a fair lad, lass, monger, or succulent cheese—but your masterpiece must include both l'amour and le fromage.
Prizes will be awarded to the three best versifiers: a trio of Bourbon Chocolate Hearts ♥ ♥ ♥ from Capriole Farmstead Goat Cheeses.
We are clearly picking sides in this year's Superbowl.
February 4, 2011 - 8:00am | by wfertmanAlright, as if there were any doubt who we're backing this year, here's a clue:
The Professional Kitchen, the Foreigner, and the Leftovers
February 3, 2011 - 6:21pm | by laurenberley
Podere Conti Olive Farm
Tuscany, Macerie/Filattiera di Lunigiana/Pontremoli, Italy
03 February 2011
Sick kids and friend-in-residence at home with a cold all week + Regardless of weather, Spring is coming and so are guests + Newborn baby and four other boys keep Mom and Dad on high alert = Lauren digging through leftover ingredients and getting creative to use everything I pull out from deep within the restaurant’s fridge here at the Agriturismo.
I left the main house, sweeping past my room to grab the upside-down, nearly dry salvia (sage) from the knob on my kitchen cupboard and stuffing it under my arm. I grabbed a few other herbs from the side garden along the way: loads of thyme, rosemary, and oregano. In the restaurant’s kitchen there was an abundance of eggs, too many to use before expiry, and plates of miscellaneous well-grazed cheeses. Yep. Frittata.
Crescenza Stracchino: A Cheese for All Seasons
February 3, 2011 - 2:47pm | by Lassa
I just started eating Crescenza, in a serious way. It's actually called Crescenza Stracchino (or just Stracchino), and it's a soft-ripened cow's milk cheese without a rind that's bright, clean and quite undiscovered as a cheese. It originated in northern Italy and was named Stracchino because it was made from the milk of the "stracca" (tired) cows making their way up the mountains. Oddly, the resulting milk from this hard work is very rich. Domestic versions use whole, pasteurized milk that resemble this.
What's it like? It's halfway between cream cheese and fresh mozzarella in taste and consistency. It's simple and young, and it comes in sealed plastic because the whey hasn't been drained out completely (which is why it's so soft and runny).
How to eat it? On toast, with honey or jam. On pizza (put it on at the very end, like ricotta). Best of all, stir it into polenta, or put a dollop into tomato soup or on top of pasta. It melts beautifully, making everything it melds with extra creamy and luscious. Comfort food in all kinds of weather.
Who makes it in the U.S.? Belgioioso Cheese, from Wisconsin, and Bellwether Farms, California. Look for it!
MARY’S DAIRY DIARY - FEBRUARY 2011
February 3, 2011 - 12:22pm | by Mary Quicke
Everything has the battered look that comes from sitting in a deep freeze of a winter with several inches of snow sitting on its back. Since then, there’s been weather enough to get growth started - grass, snowdrops, catkins. Then we have frosts to remind us that winter has something else in store. Wild things get bolder as they get hungrier, in the hundred hungry days between Christmas and Easter. Owls fly on fine nights, a barn owl swoops low overhead on a starlit night. We collect the owl pellets for children to discover the delicate tracery of the skeletons of the little creatures the owls eat - death and excrement, enormously interesting to children. Although we are culling wild boar, they are still bold, facing you out if you come across them in the track, sniffing and snorting, eventually lumbering away, oddly nimble despite being so solid.
Terroir Exchange hijinx
January 30, 2011 - 2:09pm | by wfertman
Just a sampling of the folks (cheesemakers and fans) who showed up at the recent Terroir Exchange event down in Napa. Held at Taste at Oxbow, it brought together a dozen or so American and French cheeses and cheesemakers. You don't often have this much concentrated cheese-power in one room!
Karma Chameleon
January 28, 2011 - 2:18pm | by laurenberley
28 January 2011
Podere Conti
Lunigiana, Italy
This week at Podere Conti has been a vegetarian one, although thankfully not vegan, meaning that cheese was around in abundance. A group of Tibetan Lamas has been here blessing the farm with pujas and chants, teaching mindfulness meditation and sharing rituals. Naturally, it is an all-hands-on-deck scenario, an ego-free opportunity to offer one’s self to food preparation, serving, cleaning, and dishwashing.
'Keeps me searching for that heart of cheese'
January 27, 2011 - 11:21pm | by Austin
For my blog post this time around I was debating either cheese themed super bowl fare (Wisconsin being a cheese mecca and all) or cheese on Valentines Day. Although I am perhaps quick to the punch for Valentines Day, I am not much of a football guy; I have no bias towards any particular team or any cheese producing state for that matter. I hope my masculinity will not be jeopardized.
Everyone associates Valentine’s Day with chocolate but-- what about cheese?!? I like the idea of selecting 3-4 cheeses for you and your valentine to enjoy before, after or even as an alternative to a reservation at that ‘fancy pants’ restaurant. Do a little homework. Pick a few unique and contrasting cheeses with the help of your local cheese monger to wow your taste buds (and your date, of course). Even go as far as reading
