Wicked bad. . .

There comes a time in ones life where you have to come clean and admit to your mistakes, follies and wicked deeds. This will be my confession to follow. . .

I have done something bad. Like, wicked bad. Seriously. I made some hot sauce and its evil. The problem lies in the taste. Its hot, oh yea, it's hot, but it's not too hot. And the heat doesn't come at once. It kind of stings the tip of your tongue, then you get this sweetness, and a little tang. Then the heat sort of caresses your palate and then builds slowly. But it never over whelms your palate, cause its balanced. So you want more. And this is where you get into trouble, cause it will build, in layers, on your taste buds, until the sweat starts. . . next thing you know your moping your brow and panting like a dog on a hot July day.

So I've created this abomination of chile and garlic and spices, but I don't know what to do, cause I kinda like it. I kinda like it a lot. And I am betting that there are some of you out there that will like it too. So rather than say my Mea Culpa, I am gonna offer all of you free samples this weekend. We think that you'll find it just as wicked bad as we do, and as much fun. Cheers.

The Big Cheese . . .

People are always asking us about the big wheels of cheese we keep on the very bottom shelves of the cheese closet. Usually these are full wheels of traditional cheddar that we purchase from Neal's Yard Dairy in London. Neal's Yard is a wholesaler that buys direct from specific farms throughout the UK. They hand select all of their cheeses for specific traits and only cheeses that meet expectations are selected. So why are these cheeses sitting on the bottom shelves for so long? Well, as much as we appreciate what the folks at Neal's Yard do, we tend to trust ourselves on when cheeses are REALLY perfect. So we do some "extended" ageing on these wheels, coaxing out flavours that you will not find anywhere else.

Why do we do this? Because we can. Our cheese closet allows us the luxury to hold our cheeses in the perfect environment until we deem that they are truly "ready". Which is nice, because we're pretty picky about cheese, so you don't have to be. When you come in to Salumiere Cesario you'll know that every piece of cheese that you buy is about as perfect as it is going to get and you can always taste before you buy, just in case.

Right now we have the some Isle of Mull cheddar that we think is particularly good right now. The flavours are sharp but with a natural sweetness. Although this is a hard cheese the mouth feel is quite creamy. There is a hint of grass and flowers that really adds to the finish of this cheese. While this cheese usually sells for $33 a pound, we are selling this cheese through the end of April for $26. Come in today for a taste, we think you'll see why our cheeses are special. Cheers.

The Things We Do. . .and why. Earth Day Special Edition

So its Earth Day, and this is the day that you are supposed to stop throwing things away and be "environmentally conscious". Like one day out of the year will make a difference...well it does. But let's be realistic here, if you did this stuff EVERY DAY, it would make a BIGGER difference. So I thought today, I would give you an idea of what we do every day to help reduce our "carbon footprint" (you can tell I am not into the buzz words), or more importantly what we do to reduce our addition to the waste and land fill stuff that is slowly poisoning us all. I promise this will not be "preachy".

When we first opened Salumiere Cesario it was one of my main goals that we not create a lot of waste. In a town the size of Walla Walla, it is extra important to make sure that what we put into the land fill is absolutely not a recyclable, as we have limited space and what leaches from the landfill into the ground affects all of us. So we decided to use a wax sheet and butcher paper. The butcher paper is totally recyclable, where plastic wrap is not. We decided on reusable plastic deli containers that can be used in the microwave, so people would be less likely to throw them away. Our quart size containers can even be used for hot foods as well as cold, making them even more useful at home.

We made a conscious decision to limit the amount of "takeaway" food we did as this would help reduce the amount of waste we produce. When we did finally decide on takeaway boxes, we went with a natural 100% recycled content box. The box itself is 100% recyclable too. Even our lunch box is almost totally recyclable. The box, the tissue, the napkin, the condiment cup and even the flat ware. Only the wax sheet that the salame and cheese come wrapped in are not.

You'll notice that all of our beverages come in glass containers. Again a conscious decision on our part to make sure that we were not adding to the problem, and most people feel self conscious throwing away glass. Speaking of glass, we now recycle all of our glass. 100% of our glass is either reused in house or taken to the local recycling center. We started our Bulk Olive Oil program just to help reduce the amount of wine bottles that were being sent to the land fill. A 750ml (standard) wine bottle is sterilized and reused to hold olive oil for your kitchen, you can even bring in you own sterilized standard wine bottle from home and refill it, just remember to bring a T-cork. We even use non phosphate soap for our dishes.

Many people ask us why we don't do more take out food. Well, we think our food is better enjoyed here and we think that whenever possible we should try not to create more waste. So certain items will never be available to go, but know that its only because we are trying to do our part to make the world a better place. Happy Earth Day. Cheers.

The Palace of Pork . . .

Long, long ago in a far away land there stood the Palace of Pork.
And though the meats were divine, and it was open most of the time,
the Prince was a bit of a dork.
For he liked to make rhymes at inopportune times and disliked the use of his fork.

His meats were, agreed, the best of their kind, to be found anywhere, in his kingdom. With garlic and fennel, mace and clove, his salumi was flavored to perfection. Far across the land, would he seek these fine meats, and for his customers, go and fetch them.

With a knife and a slicer he would carve piles of meats and no one they said did it nicer. Carefully packaged and wrapped, with paper of white and a sticker placed just so, he would send out his wares, for those who did care, about what they packed on the go.

But he needed some meats, that were quite tasty eats, that could be taken on the run. Without slicing and wrapping, (someone started clapping), these meats could be purchased with haste. Creminelli! He thought, would be the right spot, to find some amazing salumi. Barolo, Felino, Sopressata, Cingale, all were fantastic and quite small-a.

So the Prince of Pork announced to his people that Creminelli would be his new staple. And the Palace of Pork was the talk of the town, but he's still not doing bacon with maple. . . Cheers.

The Things We Do. . .and why. vol 2

When I was a much younger man and just begining to learn about wine I was once told that wine bottles should be stored upside down or on their side (you see where the title SIDEWAYS comes from now?). I was also told that wine should always be kept in a cool dark place or at least away from direct lighting. So, when we decided to build the store I made a point of making sure the lighting for our store would not be directed onto our wines. I also made sure to find racks that kept our wines on their side and NOT standing up. We also made a conscious decision to make sure the store temperature did not fluctuate more than a few degrees, knowing that swings in temperature can really affect wine, in fact it is a constant 70 F year round.

So why do so many other wine shops and stores let their bottles stand often under bright direct light? I cannot honestly answer that question. Maybe they don't know, maybe they don't care. Maybe they think that selling a bottle is more important than building a relationship with their customers. I don't know. What I do know is that if I only sold you one bottle of wine, I would want to make sure that bottle of wine was not compromised by heat, light or oxidation, if there was a way that I could prevent it. I mean, I might only have that one chance to build that relationship with you and a bottle of wine that was bad could keep you from coming back.

We make sure that our bottles are kept under the best possible conditions that we can provide without having you look for wines in the cold dark basement. We also hand select every bottle, so that we know what we are selling to you and you know that you are buying a wine that we believe is both great and a great value. We can even help you find something to go with your wine or a wine to go with your something, we even do special orders.

So come in today and see why Salumiere Cesario is THE best place in Walla Walla to buy wine. Cheers.

RAMEN. . .say it with me now RA - MEN.

Ramen, is not what you ate in college. That was INSTANT Ramen the invention of a Japanese business man. Traditional Ramen is, more or less, noodle soup. While other major cities in the US are just discovering ramen, as a must have food, I was introduced to real ramen while living in Los Angeles many years ago.

While out on a tech scout for the TV series Power Rangers (yes, that's right), our director Koichi, suggested we take lunch at his favorite place, a ramen shop called Kouraku. Large bowls heaping with noodles, veggies and meat were quickly dispatched to our tables. The smell was enticing and the taste was new but yet somehow familiar. Needless to say, I was back a few weeks later with a friend and it became a regular stop for us when we were in little Tokyo.

Flash forward a few years. Because ramen shops are not as plentiful in the PNW as they are in LA,and there is no little Tokyo district in Walla Walla, (or anywhere else that I can think of around here), I have been craving some hot tasty noodle dish for quite a while. (Pho Sho has happily fed my addiction for the past few years). So in order to satisfy my cravings for all things Asian (more ANIME please) I decided to teach myself to make Ramen. And that is what I have done.

Our Ramen is a bowl full of udon noodles (we will be making our own REAL ramen noodles soon. . .), a cornucopia of veggies and some freakin' amazing slow roasted pork (belly and shoulder) all bathing in a luxurious, rich broth. This is my kind of food, simply and tasty.

We will also be serving our Albacore sashimi and house made pickled ginger. For those that need the heat, we'll have some Yuzu Kosho available too. We might even make a few other items to go with all of this. Why? Why not? With the economy the way it is all of Walla Walla should be spending their money here instead of in P-Town or Sea Tac. And we are happy to provide the extra service. So come on in for lunch this next week and see what were talking about. . . Cheers.

The Price of Tea in China. . .

We have just received a new shipment of tea. Many of you who are tea drinkers will be very excited as two of our most popular teas, the 15yr Puh-Er and the White Dragon Pearls, are back in stock. Many more of you will be pleased, I am sure, because we are now carrying some teas that we previously would not stock. . .

For those of you that know me, I am a bit of a stickler for quality. My thought precess goes something like this, "if you are going to spend your hard earned money on something, why not buy the best that you can afford?" So, while I was opposed to carrying teas like Earl Grey, Chamomile, and Mint Tea (because the quality is usually VERY poor), I have now found ones that live up to my expectations and are of the highest quality. Although the mint and chamomile are not actually "tea", but herbal infusions. Nonetheless, they are of the highest quality, as you have come to expect from us.

The Earl Grey is made from the finest Ceylon Black tea and Italian Bergamot. It is perfumy, but not overly so as most Earl Greys are. Chamomile has been known in China as herbal medicine, used to calm the nerves and aid in digestion. The mint tea has also been used to sooth and calm the digestive system.

All of the tea we stock comes hand selected from our tea supplier. They actually travel to Asia every year to hand select the best teas from the finest farms and growers. Yes, they actually buy tea from the actual grower. That is how good the tea is. And it is all for our customers. Because you deserve the best. . . Cheers.