On a drizzly fall evening, Stephanie, Eilis, and I schlepped through Cambridge to visit central bottle wine + provisions, and let me tell you, it was worth braving the weather.

After a brief tour of the facilities, we were entertained with three separate wine and cheese pairings. Cabra La Mancha, an aged goat’s milk cheese with an unbelievable texture, was paired with a 2011 Muscadet. My favorite cheese of the three, the buttery and luscious Kind of Blue from Woodcock Farms, was paired with a sweet 2005 Vouvray. Finally, a garlicky, creamy Fromage Fort made from cheese odds and ends topped a soft baguette, and was paired with a 2011 Lagrein Rosé.

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.

Attention Foodies,

Illustrator and wise-ass Dyna Moe has supplied us with a tumblr of hipster animal archetypes: the full-time Etsy crafter owl, the social media branding analyst bluejay, etc.

24 March 2011
Napa, CA

Even a gypsy eventually reaches the end of her rope, and I have. All the schlepping, buying, wrapping, TSA-ing, and airport shuttling has gotten the best of me, and I am ready to settle down somewhere delicious for a while... you know, actually live somewhere I can sink my teeth into. After Italy, what should a girl do?