Friday, April 12, 2013

Things I like to order on Azure Standard - Part 2

(For part 1, please click here)

One of the most critical staples that I order from Azure Standard every month is butter. To be more specific, the Rumiano brand butter

I love how the butter comes in randomly shaped blocks, just like good cheese. 


Rumiano is an artisan cheese company in Northern California. I highly recommend all their products.

Their butter is my favorite item, hands down. Though not labeled as organic, this butter is pasture-fed (as the rich yellow color also proves), free of growth hormones and antibiotics, and GMO free since the cows are never fed genetically engineered corn. The butter used to be labeled as such, but no longer is, simply because it is against the law for products to be labeled as non-GMO, unless they pay for organic certification. 

Forget about demanding labeling - it is actually illegal to do so of your own choosing! Insanity.

Anyway, several years ago I called the company and talked to some high-up guy, who explained to me that they work with a number of small dairy farms along the coast, where the cows have rich pasture year-round. Many of these farms cannot afford to pay for organic certification, even though their cows are raised according to organic standards. 

The quality of this butter speaks for itself. Our family's butter evolution went something like this:

regular butter 
(rBST, antibiotics, etc.)

organic butter from Costco 
(we later received a letter from a class action law suit settlement, as the butter and even Costco brand organic milk turned out to be the worst type of conventional. I had already suspected this because the butter was tasteless and white as snow.)

organic butter from Whole Foods or Trader Joes

Kerrygold butter from Ireland 
(pasture fed, presumably non-GMO because it's imported from Europe)


This butter definitely is the best that money can buy. The only possible step up is when I make my own butter from raw cream, which I cannot always get a hold of, especially not in the quantities in which we consume butter. 

One month, Azure ran out, and we got none in our order. It was such a shock to my system that I now always make sure to keep no less than an extra month's supply in the fridge. 

I spy with my little eye... 24 lbs of butter! Looks like it'll be time to order more soon.... ;)

See? I'm serious about this!! :) What is that you are saying? That it's people like me who make the butter sell out in the first place? Probably - I'll be the first to admit to that.

I can quit any time! Or not...


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Video Tutorial

Here is a very critical video tutorial of one of my most important homemaking skills... that of providing fresh whipped cream! :) 

If you do not have access to a Costco business center, you can find the iSi whipped cream dispenser here, and the N2O cartridges here (please note: I mistakenly keep calling it an NO2 cartridge in the video).




Come back tomorrow for another short clip on 

***drum roll please*** 

...  

... 

... 

how to correctly pronounce my name! 

Yes, it's blogworthy!