Mozzarella Company Wins 7 Ribbons in Cheese Competition

Ms. Paula Lambert just dropped me a note to let us all know that her Mozzarella Company picked up 7 ribbons at the prestigious American Cheese Society Competition last weekend in Chicago. There were 1,149 cheese entered from 181 producers in 30 states plus 3 from Canada. Texas cheeses took home 18 ribbons. Another national winner in Big D. Jump for specifics.

UPDATE: Other local winners: Luckly Layla won five awards.Haute Goat won four awards. Latte Da won two awards. Pure Luck won one.

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Calling All Chefs: Go Texan for Dine-Out Day

Come on, chefs. We don’t need Sonoma’s fancy Cowgirl Cheese when we have the mother of all artisan cheeses (Paula Lambert’s Mozzarella Company) in our own backyard. This Oct. 1 is the inaugural Go Texan Dine-Out Day and the Texas Department of Agriculture is asking chefs all over the state to create special Texas menu items served with Texas wines as part of its Go Texan Restaurant Round-Up. October is also Texas Wine Month. The whole month. It will be your duty as a Texan to drink wine. When will you ever hear that again? Click here to sign up for the Go Texan Restaurant Round-Up. Why should local restaurateurs consider this? Follow the jump to see the perks listed in the TDA’s press release.

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Are You Cooking Burgers for the Holiday?

Hello, Sailor! What a hunk. (Sorry, I got a little carried away there.) On a more serious note, I’ve been following Kroger’s recall (Hi, GW!) of ground beef in other states, but I just heard on local radio that the Dallas Kroger stores are participating in a “voluntary recall” of meat. So, if you aren’t already shopping the chicken and figs recipe below, let me make a suggestion: Hit the Dallas Farmers Market tonight. It’s open late and the stalls are full of fresh local corn, tomatoes, and all kinds of vegetables. You can also find great meat at Texas Meats Supernatural, a co-op of farms in Shed No. 2 that sells chicken, lamb, and beef from Windy Meadows, Rehoboth Ranch, and Truth Hill Farms. Take the kids, buy a lot, help a farmer. It’s great food and great fun. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt if you signed up to be a Dallas Farmers Market Friend. (If you want to learn how to make a perfect bed of coals with from handsome dude, click here.)

What to Do This Weekend: Save a Farmer, Pick a Berry

If you must buy fireworks, you will have to drive out of the city limits to score. So, I say you go south on 175 towards Athens where they are zillions of stands and, after you’ve wasted some money on some silly things that go pop in the night and scare the beejezus out of my sweet doggies, head east to Echo Springs Blueberry Farm in Murchison, Texas. It’s a great place for the whole family to pick your own Britewells and Texas Big Blues. Sunday, I picked a whole bucket ($12!) in less than an hour–the bushes are thick with ripe berries. Inside the store, they have fresh blueberry pies, jams, jellies, and all kinds of kitschy stuff for sale. This weekend they’re having a sale on rose bushes (yes, they have gorgeous Jackson & Perkins plants at less than wholesale). Here are a few helpful hints:

Wear socks or something other than sandals. Ants like blueberry plants.

Go early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Full sun will make your kids crabby.

Pick the middle to the top of the bush.

Go to a row and go all the way to the end and pick your way back to the farm house. I learned this lesson the hard way.

If you don’t go this weekend, go before the end of July. My freezer is full of berries. And that makes me happy. (Photography by Dick’s Pics)

Hurry to Slow Foods’ Live Auction

Bid on great stuff here.

Bill “Freckle Face” Addison is a Weiner

Whoopsie-doodle, I mean winner. (What would I do without Spell Check?) Anywhoo, I just intercepted a secret DMN company memo announcing:

“Bill Addison will receive a national Association of Food Journalists award for restaurant criticism. The other finalists are: Will Ferrell for Talladega Dinner Nights and M.F.K. Fisher’s Recipes from the Grave. The ranking of the three awards will be announced at a conference in October.”

Kidding, so, so, so kidding. Way to go, Freckle Face, I hope you beat the pants off of your true rivals Lee Klein of Miami New Times and Tom Sietsema of The Washington Post-it.

Hey Lakewood, Want to Really Eat Local?

Tomorrow from 10AM until noon, the green-thumbed students of Stonewall Jackson Elementary will be selling the produce from their school garden in from of the Whole Foods store on Lower Greenville. I love it. Somebody take pictures and send them to me.

What Are You Doing On June 21st?

Here is what you should do: Join the fun folks (I’m talking to you Mary Kimbrough!) at Food Roots for an all-day outing that will visit several local farms, orchards, and vineyards. The timing couldn’t be better—you’ll be able to pick all kinds of berries, fruits, and sample all kinds of local produce. Can’t make the trip on the 21^st? Sign up for their newsletter and keep up with future opportunities.

RE: Pick Your Own

Here is my list.

Where to Pick Your Own Fruit?

A reader asks where she can go (locally) to pick her own strawberries/blackberries. I found this, but I’ve neither heard of nor been to anything listed.

SideDish Nation?