7 December 2011  Whitney Lamy of Castleton, Vermont, has perfected all natural, handmade, handcracked crackers that hark back to the day when Josiah Bent decided to make a lighter, thinner version of Hardtack, a staple of soldiers and seafarers.  After learning from that history, she set about mixing, rolling, and cracking by hand thin sheets of pastry.  The result— a superlative cracker with varieties named after Vermont towns.  (Is she aspiring to 237?  That’s a heap ‘o varieties just like it’s a heap ‘o towns nestled between the hills in that small state).  Florence Fabricant, reviewing Castleton Crackers for the New York Times (Feb. 16, 2011), states:   they are “sturdy enough for spreading and dipping but flaky enough for nibbling.”

Of the current five varieties of crackers offered, we chose three for our Specialty Foods Collection this year.  Rutland Rye compliments most cheese (best with Vermont cheeses, of course!), and it’s great dipped in hummus or served beside a homemade Lentil Soup.  Putney Pumpkin includes dried cranberries and thyme in its ingredients.  This cracker is great with a good blue cheese, or served with corn chowder or with afternoon tea.  Richmond Rosemary exudes the fresh taste of rosemary and is complimented by crunchy cornmeal.  This cracker is perfect with goat cheese.  Whitney has several recipes posted on her website; check them out at www.castletoncrackers.com

Gift Idea Number Seven:  Pair these Castleton Crackers with a Rill Soup mix and wrap them up with a bowl from our Japanese pottery corner, perfect. 

 6 December 2011  Just imagine beginning a business setting up shop at the local farmer’s market back in 1989 and now, in 2011, making the best-darned mustards this side of the Mississippi.  Well, that’s AJs Edible Arts, through and through.  They are a woman owned, family run business out of Pasco, Washington.  AJs uses fresh, high quality, locally produced ingredients to make all their products in an FDA certified kitchen in the Columbia River Basin.  They work around the harvest season, using Walla Walla Sweet Onions harvested in July, grown in Eastern Washington.  AJs is the home of the Original Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard.  Here at If Only…, we have three of AJs Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustards in our 2011 Specialty Foods Collection; whole seeds, horseradish, and chipotle.  If you read the ingredient label, you’ll recognize everything on the list.  It can’t get much better than that!  All of AJs mustards lend a unique flavor to meats and fish.  They are also good as a pretzel dip.

Gift Idea Number Six:  Pop a trio of AJs mustards into one of our Swedish towels and tie it with a festive holiday ribbon.  Or pair AJs with Fairbanks’ own Pretzel Mix for some kitchen fun and holiday good cheer.

 5 December 2011    Hotlips Soda is a small family-owned business in Oregon.  They’ve been bottling up some of the finest Oregon fruits since 2005.  Hotlips Blackberry Soda is made from Chester blackberries grown in Gaston, Oregon, on Ayers Creek Farm.  Chesters ripen later in the season and their flavor intensifies with cool nights.  The result, a rush in your mouth when you taste this sensational, pulpy drink!  The flavor of each bottle varies from batch to batch depending on the time of harvest.  Blackberry is exceptional paired with vanilla ice cream and for an extra kick, add a little vodka.

Hotlips Cranberry Soda is light, bright and clear with an enormous complex flavor complete with hints of citrus and vanilla.  It is great as a cocktail mixer, delicious with champagne, and it pairs well with meats and strong cheese.  Both sodas are lightly carbonated and are unlike anything you’ve ever tasted.  And, a little goes a long way.  These sodas pack a rich, natural punch.  We’re pleased that Hotlips Soda is supporting a farm that practices organic field management and that the business is dedicated to sustainability. 

Gift Idea Number Five:  Pair up a bottle of each and wrap them in our Santa Stops in Fairbanks First  custom towel for a festive holiday gift, or dress up a bottle with one of our felted gnome bottle toppers.

 You are cordially invited to attend our annual First Friday event with guest artist, Pauline Lian.  Pauline will bring a number of one-of-a-kind and special editions, both matted and framed with her.  She’ll also have her flower presses and tools  and will talk with you about her process.  We’ll be serving food samples from our Specialty Food Collection for 2011, plus there’ll be the usual door prize drawing.

 Join us for Patricia Carlson’s debut of her 2011 fall scarf collection.  New colors await you!  Also, you’ll not want to miss her jewelry which will be on display and available for purchase.  Patricia will be our guest for the evening, so come by and say hello!

Jill Marshall of Marshall Arts Designs will be our guest artist.  Jill is the designer of Alaska Wild Women cards and Alaska themed holiday cards.  Jill will have all her card lines plus some brand new bookmarks with her for First Friday.  Come by and visit with her.  She’ll be taking suggestions for the next series of Wild Women cards, and we’re happy to be able to offer our First Friday attendees the opportunity to share their ideas with Jill.  We’ll have refreshments and a door prize drawing.

25 March 2011 Because the days are warming, the sun is higher in the sky, and the last of our November ice is beginning to melt away, I reckon that’s the excuse I   give for having such a wild Maple dream the other night.  I dreamed I was upcountry in Vermont, in the Town of Cabot to be exact, when I come upon this powerful amount of steam pouring from atop a sugar house.  I pulled up to take a look.  The sign at the road read Goodrich Sugar House.  I moseyed on in to find a monster of an evaporator.  A fire-eating dragon, glinting stainless steel, with windows to view the sap as it made its way through the boiling process to become pure Vermont Maple Syrup.  That monster consumed 45 gallons of fossil fuel and produced 100 gallons of Maple Syrup in an hour’s time.  Add one more piece of information to the equation, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.  The Goodriches had 43,000 taps on a vacuum system to feed that hungry beast of an evaporator.  Anything of this magnitude has to be a wild dream, kinda like the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was a wild dream awhile back.  Anyway, I just kept right on dreaming.  Suddenly, I  was standing beside Burr Morse at the Morse Farm in East Montpelier.  He was keeping a close eye on his evaporator.  A much smaller operation, his evaporator was fueled by wood chips handily delivered to his shed.  3,000 taps supply his vacuum system.  On the other side of town at the Bragg Farm, the brothers were tromping through the woods hanging buckets and tapping the last of the Maples.  Their Sugar House was filled with split wood, their evaporator ready for action.  These men do it the old time way, waiting for Mother Nature to deliver the recipe for sugaring off.  No sir, they aren’t vacuuming sap out of their trees, nor are they using fossil fuel to fire an evaporator.  There’s not a sweeter smell on earth than when sap is boiled down into the ambers that top waffles and pancakes and provide the sweetness for a great  pot of baked beans.  Flash up to Cummings Road in East Montpelier where Burr’s brother has the sweetest little backyard sugaring operation you ever set your eyes on.  An arch fabricated just so, and a stainless steel evaporator the likes of which I’ve never seen.  Under the bright afternoon sun he was making liquid gold out there in his backyard.  Finally, I woke up and was back on Cushman Street where I belong.  I don’t think I need Freud or anyone else to help me analyze this dream; all I know is that at this time of year, everyone ought to get themselves some pure Vermont Maple Syrup and taste a little gold.  Spring is coming, you better believe it!

 Join us First Friday as we feature the stunning new work by jewelry artist Lori Lieske.  Lori, a Pacific Northwest native, creates signature pieces wrapped in Fine Silver and Sterling Silver wire with semi-precious stones, Swarovski Crystals and Fresh Water Pearls.  Her work is always evolving, and we are pleased to present her latest collection, designed especially for this First Friday event.  Refreshments and a door prize drawing.

These are foldable, reusable water bottles that can go where you go.  Put an end to purchasing bottled water with these handy bottles!  They are BPA free, freezable, dishwasher safe on the top rack, attachable with a carbiner, and identifiable with a place to write your name.  These bottles easily fit into pockets, purses and packs.  They are flat when empty and stand up when full.  Bright orange, blue, and purple in .5 liter size and 2 packs in .4 liter.

We’re celebrating Spring Cleaning during the month of March!  Come in and show your Super Special token to a Sales Associate and receive a complimentary pack of a variety of Caldrea Dish Soaps and a Sponge.  One per person and no purchase is necessary to receive this sample pack.  In your cello pack you’ll also receive a coupon which is good for $1.00 off every bottle of Caldrea product you purchase during March.  Plus for each Caldrea purchase during March you’ll have a chance to enter our drawing to win a great Caldrea bucket of cleaning supplies!