
Day two of the conference included a bit of an adventure outside of the cheese bubble with a morning charcuterie class (that's cured meat) led by Brooks Miller of North Mt Pastures in Newport, PA.

This year Di Brunos sent me as our ambassador to the 20th annual PASA conference in State College, PA. What is PASA you ask? The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture supports farmers throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, helps put consumers in contact with growers and producers of sustainable, local food and does advocacy work for a safe & sustainable food system in Pennsylvania.

On Saturday February 12th from 11am-2pm at 1730 Chestnut Street, Mr. Curtin himself will be sampling his caramel and chocolate confections!

We are proud to announce the delivery of the newest member of the family: “Di Bruno Bros. @ Ardmore Farmer’s Market” in Suburban Square, Ardmore Pa. Due Date: April 2011

Fall harvest season is one of my favorite times of year. The leaves are changing, and as the cool breeze releases us from the sweaty grip of east coast humidity, we look for ways to participate in the beauty of the season. Some people take leaf gawking drives through the country, or visit apple orchards and pumpkin patches with a hay ride on the side. I, however, luckily remembered that fall harvest season also applies to grapes, and thought our local vineyards and wineries would be buzzing with activity.

Last night, Di Bruno Bros was proud to participate in Feastival, a charity event benefiting Philadelphia Live Arts. While donations, auctions and raffles are still being calculated, it is not too early to conclude that the event was a huge success. Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell each auctioned a pair of Phillies playoff tickets in [...]

Last night we tried something a little different for Happy Hour...gotta keep those regulars on their toes! Instead of pairing three cheeses with three beers, we paired three cheeses with one beer. Using Cigar City's Jai Alai, we explored how one style of beer reacts differently to different styles of cheese. Forcing ourselves to think outside the box, we discovered some successful pairings in places we least expected to find them.

Many thanks to Gordon and Curt from Nodding Head Brewery for bringing three outstanding beers to play with. Of course, they seem to find themselves here every Wednesday night, regardless of brewery, so the only real difference is that they now stood on the other side of the counter. Anyway, onto the pairings.

Day four in Seattle was all about repeating to myself "I am not worthy, I am not worthy..." Our first class was a charcuterie tasting with the following quartet: Herb Eckhouse of La Quercia in Iowa, Christiano Creminelli of Creminelli Fine Meats in Utah, Paul Bertolli of Fra'Mani in California, and Armandino Batali from Salumi Artisan Cured Meats here in Seattle.

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...