What’s Moo ?

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From the dust, a grand new MP

As many of you know, we’ve just wrapped up a major makeover at the store. After 35 wildly successful years, we’re gearing up for more. Our “new look” features a permanent awning with roll-up doors on the California Street side… and sleek, efficient new cheese and produce cases inside [YESSS!! More elbow room!] Watch us keep growing and changing along with our “family” of shoppers!

P.S. if you have any interesting memories about shopping at the Milk Pail, please share them with steve@milkpail.com

And for those of you who weren’t here during our “Wonder [Bread] years,” you can read the story here on the MP web site.

See me, feel me

If you really want to get a “feel” for what Milk Pail Market is all about, take a look at our YouTube video by the sharp young crew at local alternative high school Freestyle Academy. Real MP shoppers will tell you why it’s a great idea to shop local, and owner Steve Rasmussen explains how your Lincolns can pack the punch of Jacksons. Go watch, now!

Get to know your local Red Cross

The Milk Pail participated in a Red Cross in Action education event in Los Altos, providing a large selection of unique cheeses to add to the community’s enjoyment of this face-to-face event.

About 90 of our neighbors from Mtn. View, Los Altos and Palo Alto watched Geoff and Ann Ziman, longtime Red Cross volunteers (and Milk Pail customers) re-enact how they respond to a phone call at 2 a.m. from a Fire Department dispatcher. When a local disaster occurs, it’s people like the Zimans who go to a fire-damaged apartment to pass out blankets and passes for a motel, provide access to replacement medicines, and issue certificates for groceries.

Dana Norris, also a volunteer with the Palo Alto Red Cross chapter, gave a wonderful presentation on disaster preparedness; the importance of learning CPR; and ways to help your family if we have a pandemic flu outbreak.

The event was so successful that I’d like to sponsor another Red Cross in Action event especially for our Milk Pail shoppers, including a cheese tasting where you could try 40 or more unique and exotic cheeses! If you’d like to attend, please let me know: steve@milkpail.com

P.S. Learn more about your local Red Cross chapter at their web site, www.siliconvalley-redcross.org

Are you on the list?

Open wide and say … Milk Pail*

Yep, we all scream for ice cream … but more than a hundred of you also Yelp for Milk Pail, to the tune of four-and-a-half stars. What’s all the yelping about? Well, three things mainly:

RISE AND SHINE — Our produce buyers hit the road at 4 a.m. to get first “pick”.

1. MP can be hella crowded (one Yelper called shopping here ‘a full-contact sport’) but it’s worth the crush. Check-out lines move amazingly fast and efficiently.

2. This is cheese heaven, folks — your one and only stop for all the uncommon artisan cheeses (the ‘stinky’ French ones!) at uncommonly friendly prices. Or, as one Yelper summed it up: at Milk Pail “The cheese stands alone!”

3. Produce with real flavor! What a concept. And you’ll fill your whole cart without draining your whole paycheck.

* It’s OK to call us Korovka instead of Milk Pail, if you prefer. Just be sure to tell your friends what you found here!

Milk Pail, pillar of the community

This holiday season, our customers’ contributions to the Palo Alto Weekly’s Holiday Fund counted double as the Milk Pail matched them dollar for dollar. [download PDF version]

The Milk Pail is happy to give back to the community that’s been so good to us over the years, and we appreciate all of you who shared our spirit of giving.

Choosy chefs seek better butter

The seeking’s over, folks. At the Milk Pail Market, the only question is which superb European-style butter you’ll bring home. There’s Beurre d’Isigny Ste Mère from the farms of France … or will it be the renowned Plugrá?  Schaller & Weber? rich Danish Lurpak?  Italy’s Montanari & Gruzza?  New Zealand’s Anchor?  Irish Kerrigold? or Oregon’s own Crémerie Classique?  Holy grail, Batman — this isn’t your average store!  Zoom into Milk Pail and put excitement into your eating.

The truth is out there

Do you get frustrated trying to find things on the Web? (Is the pope German?) Check out the pointers on Milk Pail’s Web Search Tips page! And if you have search tips to share, send them along to the address on that page. Thanks!

No car, no problem

And now a word for the thousands of you who carry the Caltrain monthly pass: Bravo!  That Earth-friendly little card is also your ticket to fun and adventure at the Milk Pail. Our market is an easy two blocks from the San Antonio Caltrain station [and also convenient to half a dozen bus lines, including the weekend Marguerite Shopping Express from Stanford]. So grab your sturdy, reusable canvas bag and take the train (or the bus) to Milk Pail!

Still #1

If your grocery receipts say “Greater Shmo’s #0081” or “Chainway 781” you’re letting someone far, far away decide what goes on your table. The Milk Pail Market on California Street is still the one and only ... we’ve earned our place for more than a generation by serving the needs of our own community. A big Thanks to the legions of locals who are keeping the Milk Pail Market “number one”!

Foodies on the Farm

Hey all you Stanford kidz: make your forays into the real world count… come graze the Milk Pail. You’ll find everything to fill your belly … from Haagen-Dazs to havarti, from broccoli to brie, from trail mix to Turunmaa … and oh yeah, the price is nice. Go Cardinal!

@work = qw(Milk Pail Market);

     #  surf MilkPail.com from the office!
     #  a message from your local perlmonger

Q & A with Steve

What is yogurt cheese ?

Quite simply, it’s yogurt that lost its whey :)  by draining through doubled cheesecloth in the fridge overnight. (Only works with gelatin-free yogurt, so read the label carefully.) And it’s pretty versatile stuff — standing in for ricotta in lasagna, for sour cream atop fresh fruit, and on and on. The article at Grand Times has more tips; you locals might also try the public library for the yogurt cheesecake recipe featured in the 20 June ’01 Palo Alto Daily News.

Where it all started

Just around the corner from Milk Pail is the equally historic Shockley Transistor laboratory site. The nimble minds who assembled there in the 1950s later fanned out <g> across this valley, making the silicon integrated circuit a commercial reality at bold startup companies like Fairchild, National and Intel… and igniting the computer revolution that’s bringing you these words.

Meanwhile, the Milk Pail has grown and changed with the times, maturing like a fine artisan cheese into the exciting European market you enjoy today. When it comes to real food and pioneering service, there’s “virtually” no place like Milk Pail Market.

Think global !

Y’know, sometimes it seems the whole world is beating a path to our little store — weekdays at 5 pm, or on Saturday mornings, you can hardly moo-ve. For a heavenly shopping experience, Steve suggests you “planet” ahead and drop by before noon on a weekday … that way you’ll have plenty of room to go exploring. Be sure to bring your big list — all the real food you need is right at Milk Pail, along with your favorite flavor treats from the far corners of the Earth.

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What kind of motorcycle are you most likely to see at Milk Pail ? Cow-a-saki !!

Good idea !

Some of the Milk Pail’s best ideas come from you, our neighbors. Do you have a favorite food that you wish we carried in our store? Is there some information you think we should post on our Web site? Did we fall short of your expectations in any way? Whatever’s on your mind, tell us and Steve will give it his personal attention. At Milk Pail, we’re here for you.