Weekly Pairing

This week we are taking a favorite cheese of both staff and customers alike and pairing it with one of our new wines.

For cheese this week we have the Five year Gouda from The Netherlands. After five years of aging this cheese has a crystalline texture with pleasing notes of honey, caramel and scotch whiskey. Lovely on a cheese board or grated into your favorite dish.

But what to pair with this big cheese? Jan recommends one of the new additions to our wine wall. 2008 Bodegas Benaza Godello from Monterrei in the northwest part of Spain. If you came to our free wine tasting last Saturday you may have tried this handmade wine there.

This is a weighty wine that is all chalk and peaches. If you've enjoyed Albarinos in the past you are going to love this wine too. A complex finish and mouthwatering acidity make this wine a perfect complement to the richness of the Gouda.


We have a wine 101 class this coming Saturday at the store on Lake St., and next Saturday, October 17th we are having our Oktoberfest celebration at the Lake St. store. Seats are still available and can be purchased here.

Pastoral on TV!

This Saturday Night (After SNL) and Sunday Eve the late news---check local listings.

Pastoral is slated (and ELATED!!) to be featured nationally on LX.TV 1st Look this Saturday night, October 10, and again on Sunday night, October 11 If you're in one of the following markets, check your local listings! LX.TV 1st Look airs on the NBC network, typically after Saturday Night Live and again on Sunday late night. Watch us from these Metropolitan Areas on NBC affiliates: Chicago, IL* New York City NY/NJ/CT* Los Angeles CA* San Francisco CA* Philadelphia PA/NJ* Washington DC/MD/VA* Dallas TX* San Diego CA* Hartford, CT /Springfield MA* Miami, FL* Media segment airdates often shift, but we're hopeful that Pastoral will light up Late Nite television this weekend! Stay tuned

Also featured is one of our favorite local breweries, Flossmoor Station! Watch a cheese and beer tasting at Pastoral featuring some of the Chicagoland's best--- including Goose Island, Two Brothers and Flossmoor.

For more on Flossmoor Click here! 

New Events and a Call to Action!

A CALL TO ACTION!

HELP! Join With Illinois' Prairie Fruits Farm to Save Their Threatened Farmland

THE FOLLOWING IS A LETTER TO US ALL FROM OUR FRIENDS LESLIE COOPERBAND AND WES JARRELL OF CHAMPAIGN'S OWN PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM--Makers of delicious, sustainably produced cheeses & organic fruits we love & proudly sell.

Dear Friends of Prairie Fruits Farm: Thank you to those of you who have already hand signed our petition at the Urbana Farmers' Market to stop the proposed extension of Olympian Drive through our beautiful farmland. I have now posted the petition on a website called "IPetition."

This project is NOT a done deal as many have been lead to believe. If we can demonstrate opposition to both local and state government politicians and elected officials, we may be able to redirect their development energies toward more positive and environmentally sound endeavors. 

If you are a resident of the state of Illinois, please go to the IPetitions website and sign the electronic petition. It is important that we garner lots of signatures in the next few weeks before state and federal budget decisions are made. If you are highly motivated and you want to send a note or make a call to either Senator Richard Durbin or Congressman Tim Johnson, their contact information is below:

The Honorable Senator Richard Durbin 309 Hart Senate Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 9 am to 6 pm (202) 224-2152 - ph (202) 228-0400 - fx The Honorable Congressman Tim Johnson 1207 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: 202-225-2371 Fax: 202-226-0791

PLEASE CLICK TO LEARN MORE AND SIGN THE PETITION

NEW EVENT:

Come Meet American Cheese Legend Allison Hooper  and check out her amazing just released book entitled "In a Cheese Maker's Kitchen". It is a sumptuous collaboration of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company's recipes along with renowned chefs: Eric Ripert, Michel Richard, Molly Hansen, Raymond Ost, Alison Lane, Dan Barber, and author Mireille Giliano. Co-founder and cheesemaker Allison Hooper tells the 25 year story of building a business, making cheese and putting it together in the kitchen.

Allison, one of the pioneers in the American Artisan Cheese renaissance (and one of what we fondly refer to as "The Great Ladies of Cheese"), co-founder of famed Vermont Butter & Cheese and recent past president of the American Cheese Society, has a fresh, fun and unique perspective on how cheese has affected the way we live! One of her 1st book signings in the USA! 

Don't forget that our Fall classes, including our first ever Oktoberfest (sign up online) and don't forget to sign up for our Facebook Fan Page or Follow us on Twitter to hear the latest cheesy musings and get inside info.

Meet and Greet Event This Thursday!

This coming Thursday we are honored to be hosting a book signing and meet and greet with Alison Hooper one of the premier cheesemakers in the country.

Allison Hooper is the chairman of the board of the ACS and one of the co-founders of the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company in Websterville, VT (just a bit east of Montpelier). Starting out as an American college student in France she used self-determination and enthusiasm to learn not just animal husbandry and a love of terroir, but the craft of making artisan dairy products.

Today Vermont Butter & Cheese Company is one of the premier makers of butter and cheese in the country-winning more awards than we can count. They have helped bring goat cheese from it's obscure beginnings in this country to a "must have" on any cheese plate. There are even cheeses from Vermont Butter & Cheese Company in shops in France (an astounding accomplishment to be sure).

After working in the business for twenty-five years Allison Hooper has written a book called In a Cheesemaker's Kitchen: celebrating 25 years of artisinal cheesemaking & cooking from Vermont Butter & Cheese & Company.

Come to our Lake St. location this coming Thursday, October 8 from 5pm-7pm, meet and greet with one of the pioneers in the American cheesemaking world and get a copy of her book before it's official release!

-Agela