First Annual Summer Wine Festival

Mark your calendar!  The First Annual Summer Wine Festival is scheduled for next weekend, beginning Friday, August 18th.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday, Aug 18

  • 5pm  Open Hearth Dinner Under The Stars Featuring Chef May and Vara Wines
  • Live Music by Ry Taylor

Saturday, Aug 19

Taos Wine Fest Adult Activities (Included with Registration)

Taos Wine Fest Adult Activities (Additional Fee)

12pm

  • Wine & Swine! Wine & Pig Roast at Bavarian
  • Sponsored by Sonoma Cutrer
  • Live Music by The Trummors

5pm – 8pm

  • INDULGE : A Grand Tasting Event at Taos Ski Valley Plaza
  • 30 wines, 15 restaurants, 10 breweries, 3 hours
  • Live Music & Dancing By Sol Connection

VIP Tasting  Lounge Experience Sponsored by Gruet,  Edible Magazine  &  Brown Forman

Sunday, Aug 20

11am

  • Champagne Brunches Sponsored by Vara Wines, Steorra & Yalupa

Several local restaurants, including The Blonde Bear Tavern, will be participating.  See you there!

For more information, click here.

Kitchen sponges are festering germ dens—and sanitizing them doesn’t help

Some germy places in the house include the kitchen faucet and sponges. Typically people wash their hands after handling raw meat in the kitchen and frequently use sponges or cloths to wipe germs from surfaces in the kitchen. (Photo by Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images)

Scientists have long thrown shade at the unassuming kitchen sponge. The household staple skulks in sinks amid dirty dishes and soggy food scraps, sopping up and amplifying microbial forces capable of invading clean food spaces. The savvy kitchen-goer may think they have this situation locked down—a simple toss through a sanitizing dishwasher cycle or a sizzling swirl in the microwave… and done. Sudsy germsplosion averted.

Nice try, says science.

In a comprehensive study of 14 household sponges and their microbial inhabitants published in Scientific Reports, researchers confirmed that kitchen sponges are indeed domestic abominations. Moreover, any sterilizing attempts only seem to temporarily free up sponge-space for potential pathogens, which rapidly recolonize the festering scrubber.

I haven’t used a sponge in my personal kitchen for years.  Blech.

Read the whole thing at ARS Technica.

Further Reading:

The New York Times:  We Need to Talk Some More About Your Dirty Sponges