Posted by Lisa Mantineo This week Everyday Food is broadcasting live from the Villagio Inn and Spa for the Napa Valley Mustard Festival. Sandy and I have been having a ball meeting people and tasting all the wonderful food California has to offer.
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In the spirit of the Mustard Festival, two-time World Mustard Competition winner, Susan Maughan of Idaho’s Saucy Sisters sat down with us to share her award-winning mustard.
Susan explained how she and her sister Sally Jones got started in the “sauce-making” business, and gave Sandy a taste of her Golden-Honey Russian Mustard and Rich Cranberry Sauce.
Eileen Crane, CEO and winemaker of Domaine Carneros stopped by next to talk with Sandy about getting into the wine business and what it’s like to be a female winemaker.
She also shared some of her delicious organic sparkling wine with Sandy.
The Domaine Carneros wines she brought with her were delicious and everyone on the Martha Stewart radio team was able to enjoy a taste.
Sandy and I were thrilled to start our day with delicious California cheeses from the Oxbow Cheese Merchant in Napa.
We also learned about a great new magazine devoted solely to cheese called Culture!
Ricardo Huijon of Oxbow Cheese Merchant and Janet Fletcher, a James Beard award-winning food writer, helped Sandy choose great cheeses to take back to New York. Some suggestions were the Dafne, Goats Leap Cheese from St. Helena (Napa Valley’s only cheese maker!) and the Acapella from the Andante Dairy in Petaluma, California.
Janet and Ricardo explained that the reason for the Bay Leaves on the top of the Dafne cheese is that Dafne means Laurel Tree in Greek and Bay Leaves originated in Greece.
Sandy was amazed by Ricardo’s knife and how he easily -- and quickly sliced into the cheeses.
Albert Katz, owner of Katz and Company and grower/producer of Authentic Foods had an abundance of food for Sandy to taste. His “Branches” Citrus Blossom Honey was truly a treat!
Albert’s marmalade was out-of-this-world and a perfect follow-up to our cheese sampling.
Katz and Company also produce a variety of delicious vinegars that we were only too happy to try.
The extra virgin olive oils were also a must-try treat.
Albert suggested the best way to try them was with toasted bread.
We are licking our lips, patting our bellies and looking forward to eating more of California’s delicious cuisine!
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From: matt | 3/12/09 at 1:56 pm
You have no idea how much I wanted to head up and see Sandy and visit and eat cheese and mustard and all that other swell stuff!
Waaaaaa!
(but thank you for the great updates while you're out west!)
From: sandy gluck | 3/15/09 at 2:26 pm
Matt - we missed you!