Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

[Dan Gillotte <gm AT wheatsville.coop>]

Hello Lovely Wheatsvillagers!

It's the silliest of holidays! I hope that you are having a fun day! 
In this e-mail: 
Valentine's specials including very special Olive Oil fresh from Italy!
Meat department specials
Chinese New Year
News from the world of cheese
Other February Specials
This month's Community Action Wednesday Group!

Random Drawing!
Your board of directors is planning a series of dinner meetings with member-owners over the coming year in order to better understand your needs and satisfaction with your co-op.
If you would like to be entered into a random drawing to be included in upcoming board/ member dinners, please reply to gm AT wheatsville.coop with Dinner in the subject line and your name, member number and phone number in the body.

How about some Sweets for your friends and loved ones?
Choo-choo-choose Wheatsville for all your Valentine needs!
Valentine's Day is one of our favorites around here and we have a few different fun ways to celebrate! 
Chocolate!  grab a couple of chocolate bars for your soul.  All varieties of Chocolove chocolate bars, including the organics, will be on sale in February.  Stock up for the spring or delight someone you love with a rainbow of chocolate. We have a lot of organic and fair trade chocolate, so that your loved one(s) will know that you REALLY care!

Say "I love (or like) you" to that special Wheatsville person with our annual Valentine making station. We'll have this available at the member center soon, so keep your eyes peeled! Then, we'll post your Valentine on the windows for the world (of Wheatsville) to see! (so, keep it clean, okay?)

Niki Nash, our devoted Housewares Buyer is a secret romantic…dedicated to bringing silly or sweet or sincere or even sensual treats to the Wheatsville shelves for the delight of you and the one(s) you love.
Silly Treats: Love Rats! Pink or Red Devil Duckies, Sweetheart Duckies! A Life-sized Gummy Human Heart! 
Sweet Treats: Pink Elephant Cocktail Set! Chocolove Chocolate Bars!
Sincere Treats: Valentine Fun Packs-Sock Monkeys, Wild Things, Dr. Seuss, Curious George! Vintage Classic and Space Valentines! 
Sensual Treats: Kiss My Face Peaceful Patchouli Lotion! Weleda Wild Rose Body Oil! Nag Champa Massage Oil! Herban Cowboy Organic Aftershave!

Make a romantic dinner with special olive oil fresh from Italy

This year’s crop of Middle Earth Organics cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil is now on the shelves.  For the freshest Italian olive oil, look for the “September 2006” bottling date stamped on the back of each bottle.  Taste this year’s oil as soon as you can, before the intense fruity and peppery flavors of the young oil mellow.
The organic olives that are pressed to make Middle Earth Organics extra virgin olive oil are grown on the Cordero di Montezemolo estate located in the rolling hills of Umbria, Italy.  The olives are grown, harvested, and pressed using the same methods that have been passed through the family for several generations.  Because the Cordero estate uses a 19th century cold-pressing technique that is unique to their region, their extra virgin oil exits the press at a temperature of only 80º F (most cold-pressed oils are pressed at around 110º F), which leaves virtually all of the nutrients of the organic olives intact in the oil.
Middle Earth Organics cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil is especially high in polyphenols, the antioxidant compounds found in cold-pressed olive oil that can help prevent against cancer, heart disease, and high LDL cholesterol  levels.  While high quality extra virgin olive oils usually have polyphenol levels in the 100 to 250 mg/liter range, this year’s Middle Earth Organics extra virgin olive oil has a level of 394 mg/liter.
In February, Middle Earth Organics extra virgin olive oil will be on sale through the Co-op Advantage Program (CAP), along with the Middle Earth Organics Pasta Sauces.  All of the organic vegetables that go into their traditional Italian sauces are grown on the estate of Count Matteo Gazzola di Settima in northern Italy.  The estate follows purely biodynamic farming practices, and their organic vegetables are harvested within hours of pasta sauce production.
Impress your valentine this year with an organic, Italian dinner…  Bionaturae organic pastas (also on sale in February through CAP) with Middle Earth Organics Pasta Sauce and Middle Earth Organics cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil.


In the Meat Department
Bryan, our meat guy, has a few items that may interest you if you haven't planned your Valentine's Day meal yet (or if you are planning something for this weekend!)
We'll have B3R Natural Ribeye steaks in a butterfly cut called "Sweetheart style." They'll run $13.99/lb and will make a nice plate for your meal. You can call to reserve or we'll have them in the case.

We will also be featuring a natural grass fed lamb. This is a new product from a small farmer in Dinero, Texas. Loncito Cartwright has been raising natural lamb for 20 years and we are pleased to feature his product at the co-op. We'll have a variety of cuts available.


In the cheese department, look out for displays on featured cheeses. These displays will have information on the origin and production of
notable cheeses, and will feature recipes with copies you can take home in order to create a delicious dish at home using selected
cheeses.  The first cheese to get the WV spotlight is Emmentaler, which we carry in German, Swiss, and Hungarian varieties.  This is an affordable, flavorful cheese that can be used in lots of settings, so we hope you enjoy trying this out at home!

Also,  keep an eye out for Quark spreadable cheese.  This cheese is produced in Vermont, and has the texture of sour cream, but with a bit more flavor.  The cheese is made by fermenting the milk, and is packed in plastic tubs with all of the whey from the aging process.  It is delicious when spread on hearty breads, such as pumpernickel, or can be used to make delicious cheesecakes.  To learn more about quark cheese, you can check out the article on quark at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_cheese

Also, to ask for special cheese orders, custom cuts of cheese, or information on cheese products carried by WV, please drop a line to cheese AT wheatsville.coop!

Chinese New Year is this Sunday. Gung Hay Fat Choy! It's the year of the pig. Chinese New Year is one of the most popular festival in China (and all over Asia) and is also known as the spring festival or the Lunar New Year. Here is a link to a bunch of web pages that have recipes you may want to try: http://tinyurl.com/2fjogs We'll have some asian themed food in our deli case this weekend to help you out!

A selection of Co-op Advantage deals for February include:
Lakewood Organic Heart Healthy Juice for $2.99
Nature's path Organic Cereal fro $2.99
Larabars for $1.19
Bionatura Organic Pasta for $1.69 (My favorite, especially the whole wheat!)
Organic Coconut Milk 2 for $3

Freezer
Ling Ling Asian Appetizers in the freezer (good for a little Chinese New Year munching on Sunday!)
Cascadian Farms tater tots...umm, I mean Spud Puppies for $1.99
Rising Moon Organic Ravioli for $2.99, a good romantic dinner?
Purely Decadent Non Dairy Dessert 2 for $5 Have you tried Peanut Butter Zig Zag?

Refrigerated
Organic Valley Soy Milk for $2.99
Lightlife Foods Deli Slices $1.99
Wallaby Lowfat Yogurt 75¢

Lots more deal available look at our web-site for more CAP deals in February!

Safeplace will be our Community Action Wednesday group in February. They will receive 1% of our sales on Wednesdays in February (including today's!) SafePlace works to end domestic and sexual violence through crisis intervention, prevention, education, long-term support and advocacy. The Center for Battered Women and the Austin Rape Crisis Center merged in 1998 to create a unified source of assistance and hope for survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

Be our MySpace friend http://myspace.com/wheatsvillecoop

Have a great week!
Dan Gillotte
Wheatsville gm and e-mail guy and valentine fan