We kicked off the days festivities with our annual town hall meeting. A lively, informative session monitored by Steven Jenkins, we discussed and debated raw milk cheese and regulations, information availability, shipping strains and how to define terms like "farmhouse," "artisan" and "handmade." And you thought the ACS was all fun and games...
Sadly, our meeting did not include a cheese plate, so we were forced to wait until our first class, a tasting of Northwest cheeses, at 10am.
The clear winner: Dinah, from Kurtwood Farms in Washington
For lunch, we were back at Salumi, and brought our friends from
Sickles Market. The line was nearly 50 people long, but we were rushed up to the front by Gina Batali. Remembering our appetites, she knew that the cooked meat sampler is what we needed.
Meatballs, Porccheta, Roast Beef and real Coteghino. Cue Homer Simpson drooling sound effect.
And the perfect way to top it all off? A vertical cheese tasting! One of our favorite cheese people (really, just one of our favorite people, period.) Daphne Zepos, we worked our way through fresh milk, yogurt, fresh cheese and three varieties of older cheeses with cow, goat and sheep milk.
The sheep milk column was the clear winner
Our classes complete, Emilio and I hit the Taphouse Grill, which boasted 160 taps. Sound absurd? We needed visual proof, too:
I grew tired of counting, and just took their word for it.
And then off to Lola, one of Thomas Douglas' fleet of fine restaurants. A few quick snaps of our meal:
Pita with dill yogurt
Squid and Portabello Tangine
Pita "mothering" in Squid and Portabello Tagine sauce
Oregon Pinot
Tomorrow is our last day, and we are already starting to miss it. Check back for a full recap and conclusions.
The clear winner: Dinah, from Kurtwood Farms in Washington
For lunch, we were back at Salumi, and brought our friends from Sickles Market. The line was nearly 50 people long, but we were rushed up to the front by Gina Batali. Remembering our appetites, she knew that the cooked meat sampler is what we needed.
Meatballs, Porccheta, Roast Beef and real Coteghino. Cue Homer Simpson drooling sound effect.
And the perfect way to top it all off? A vertical cheese tasting! One of our favorite cheese people (really, just one of our favorite people, period.) Daphne Zepos, we worked our way through fresh milk, yogurt, fresh cheese and three varieties of older cheeses with cow, goat and sheep milk.
The sheep milk column was the clear winner
Our classes complete, Emilio and I hit the Taphouse Grill, which boasted 160 taps. Sound absurd? We needed visual proof, too:
I grew tired of counting, and just took their word for it.
And then off to Lola, one of Thomas Douglas' fleet of fine restaurants. A few quick snaps of our meal:
Pita with dill yogurt
Squid and Portabello Tangine
Pita "mothering" in Squid and Portabello Tagine sauce
Oregon Pinot
Tomorrow is our last day, and we are already starting to miss it. Check back for a full recap and conclusions.
