BOTW: Alfresco Dip

The Fourth of July weekend is all about Old Glory, backyard barbecues, hometown parades, fireworks, warm weather and spending time with friends.  But let's face it, the food is 3/4's of all the fun.....at least it is for me.

My 'Best of the Web' for this week is a little something I found on the Whole Foods website.  Something that would be perfect for any backyard barbecue.  It's fresh, healthy and with lots of flavor.

Alfresco Dip

All you need to do to enjoy this bowl of fun is..........

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Shhh! Don't tell the others & Whole Foods helps to protect farm land via MALT

On this overcast northern California morning as I was driving to town from the farm, I look to my left only to notice one Happy Boy. 

In this particular pasture that sits alongside the road, my father-in-law spends hours upon hours tilling the soil, planting oat hay seed and then in the early summer, cuts the hay, turns it and bales it.....to feed the beef cows during the summer.  No one is allowed out in this pasture right now.  The few that get away with spending time here are a group of pesky Canadian Geese who can't wait for that seed to hit the ground, only so they can try eating it up as quickly as they can......but today, it's this guy. 

His lucky day, I'd say.

He knows he hit pay dirt as he stands in knee high oat grass, standing quietly as he eats, his friends close by {where they're supposed to be} not even noticing.

Beef.  They're notorious for getting through fence {in my opinion}.  Ours are normally found on the golf course nearby if they've gone through some fence, but today,  the golfers are not to be disturbed.

Something for the Locals:

Are you local to Marin?  If so, here's something you may be interested in supporting and if you go, I'll see you there!:

Are you a Whole Foods Market in Novato Shopper that wants to help protect Marin County farmland? If so, Whole Foods Market in Novato will be donating 5% of all their sales to Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT). It all happens on Tuesday, March 22, from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm at Whole Foods Market, 790 De Long Avenue in Novato. Come do your shopping and help save Marin's farmland while you're at it! http://www.malt.org/

Photo by Michael Woolsey of MALT

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A Mission to Find Spring Hill Old World Portuguese Cheese

Ever since my girl's wine tasting day a few weeks ago when I found that Old World Portuguese Cheese made by Spring Hill Dairy at a little market in Sebastopol, I've been on a mission to find it in my home town. 

I've tried four or five different grocery stores including Whole Foods, with no luck.  The closest I came was Whole Foods.  They had Portuguese cheese but it was made with raw milk and by a different brand, not what I was looking for.  The manager at the cheese counter told me he was placing an order with Spring Hill later on in the day and if the Old World Portuguese Cheese was on the Whole Foods list of items that can be ordered, he would order it.

I felt good about making some progress in getting Portuguese cheese retailed in Novato.  Our Whole Foods is new in Novato, it's only been open a few months, this was only my second time in the store so Paige and I decided to buy something for lunch and eat it out on their patio.

Paige wanted pizza.  The slice was HUGE for $2.99 so I cut it in half for her.  She was super hungry after her gymnastics class and ate the entire thing.

I got a freshly made avocado and cucumber roll made with whole grain rice from the sushi counter.  It was really good and I ate the entire thing as well.  I guess I was super hungry after watching Paige at her gymnastics class.

As we were leaving the patio area, Paige asked to borrow my camera to take a photo of the "pretty flowers".

And the "painted birdhouses".

I still had that Portuguese cheese on my mind.....it is just that good!  If you haven't had it before, it's a hard table cheese with a nutty flavor.  I can eat an entire block of it with some crusty, whole grain french bread if I let myself.

I decided to go directly to the source, something I should have done to begin with.  The Petaluma Creamery is owned by Spring Hill Cheese Company.  They produce some of their cheese at this facility as well as on their dairy with the milk of their Jersey cows, west of town {Petaluma}. 

So now I know I can just head on over the the Creamery when I run out of the chunk of 'Portuguese gold' I just purchased!

Another bonus to visiting the Petaluma Creamery is, they also make ice cream right there at the creamery.  Paige and I both ordered a 'kid's size' to sample.....hers, chocolate and mine, lavender.

Creamy and delicious.

This was the first time I tried lavender ice cream and I really liked it!  I was expecting it to be a lavender color but it's white with a very apparent lavender flavor.  I will definitely order it again.

On the walls inside the creamery hang some historic photos that date back to 1913 when the Co-Op Creamery was founded.

So if you're ever in Petaluma, the Petaluma Creamery is a fun place to stop by to get a feel for some of Petaluma's dairy farming history.

Happy to report, my mission accomplished.

Happy Thursday!

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