The culture team is at it again! We're proofing the entire spring issue before it goes to print early next week. Such a hardcore work day requires an epic lunch break, which is happening now, thanks to a local (and wildly talented) chef in Brooklyn - you may know her from her restaurant, Homemade

Here are some pics of what's going on in our design team's office today!

Brainstormin' takes a lot of energy, and Vignola Restaurant of Portland ME is contributing by cooking us a little lunch...

Hanna White of Vignola and Adeline Druart of Vermont Butter and Cheese. Hanna and her husband Chuck prepared us lunch, while Adeline brought a selection of her creamery's amazing nibbles. Thanks, guys! Click through for more deliciousness...

Euro USA's salumier Jeff Stout shows us how to quickly peel a hard salami casing with no fuss. Works on even the wrinkliest, most wizened sausages!

We stopped off at his place this morning to start prepping for tonight's Culture Yourself beer & cheese tasting at Market Garden Brewery. While Lassa and Shannon (from the awesome Heinen's) got started dicing cheese, it was Jeff's job to get enough Creminelli salami ready for 200 people. We were floored when he showed us this tip for getting the skin off, and decided we had to share.

The formula is simple: homefries topped with cheddar and broiled. Add guacamole, sour cream, salsa and an optional egg or two for a mighty brunch plate for just $6.

My only wish is that they'd use a nicer cheese; their foodservice shreds don't do their salty, crispy homefries justice. I've never attempted a home version, but a bit of quality cheddar would elevate the dish into the stratosphere.

Still, if you're ever at the Delta of Venus, and don't plan to do much with the rest of your day...

05 May 2011

Ha! Victory has been had in the war on finding the Middle-Eastern products I adore... I have found my Labneh, right here in Sonoma even, at Sonoma Market (http://www.sonoma-glenellenmkt.com.) Much to my surprise, I found it at a most abundant location, as opposed to the less-than-luxurious environments I had imagined trekking to Oakland or Berkley to a Middle Eastern specialty market and being pushed around by the regular customers as I have in the past. Those living in L.A. can relate if you’ve ever shopped at the fabulous Elat Market (http://www.yelp.com/biz/elat-market-los-angeles) on Pico Blvd. (Best Bulgarian Feta, btw.) But today in Sonoma is about both victory and convenience. Right on! So, what came next? Lunch.

Just stumbled across this post over at Joel Spolsky's programming blog.

The importance of eating together with your co-workers is not negotiable, to me. It’s too important to be left to chance.

15 Janurary 2011
Podere Conti/Pontremoli, Italy

Relishing at all the differences while traveling is, no doubt, a full-time job, and loads of fun. But it’s even more amusing to see the universal similarities in people. Italian children are no exception. Watching these four Conti boys has me in stitches, since I am the American guest who brought such wonderful gifts as four whoopee cushions and a bag of punch balls from across the pond. Yesterday at breakfast, I was singled out for a well-rehearsed concert, featuring “The Adams Family Started When Uncle Fester Farted…” complete with a fart-tone baseline using the new “instruments.” A lack of enthusiasm for vegetables is another universal trait, as is that of their parents’ endless mealtime negotiation.

Enter cheese, the miracle nanny.