Wood Burning

One of the many ways Rick Stewart makes me Hometown Proud is by serving on the board of the California Grocers Association. Through CGA, Rick gets an opportunity to: 

• Meet with Legislators during Grocers Day at the Capital.
• Encourage young people working for us to apply for scholarships funded by the CGA Foundation.
• Participate in educational seminars. 
• Stay up to date on just about everything related to our business.

The final Board meeting for this year was held in San Diego, always a pleasure in December, I didn't wanna miss that. For year end meetings CGA hosts a spouse's event that is always awesome. Last year we all went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra and the year before we went to the Silverado Culinary School and made delicious food. I learned at the cooking event that thinly sliced Fuyu Persimmons are incredible on salads, a new staple in the winter for me. This years activity was wood burning and cheese board design. Some of you might remember the wood burning kits of the 60s, my brother had one, there is no way on earth I would give a 9ish year old a wood burning kit today but everyone did back then. I was excited to try this...as an adult. 

Since I have no measurable talent when it comes to arts and crafts I was hoping they had a failsafe way to make our boards cool. They did. In the center of each table were very rustic cutting boards and a power strip with several wood burners plugged in. For the folks like me they had stencils, pencils and carbon paper.  I can't draw but I can stencil like nobody's business! I chose a sweet little cursive 'blessed'. Carbon side against the board, stencil on top, I traced onto the board over to the side so it would remain visible when the  I set up my cheese. Then the fun part, slowly going over the pencil marks repeatedly until it was burned into the wood. I gotta say it came out really nice! This seems like a really fun group activity for anytime. Plus you can set up a fruit and cheese board YOU made. The instructor said to feel free to use pineapple fronds or herbs or berries and fill in all the blank spots to make your display really pop. 

I think I'll use my board for New Year snacks! UPDATE~I gave it to my kids for Christmas, just like all those projects they have given me.

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for supporting all of us at Susanville Supermarket this year as we do what we love, bring food to our community!

About CGA from their website~ "For more than 120 years, the California Grocers Association has served as the voice of the state’s grocery community. A nonprofit, statewide trade association, CGA’s membership is comprised of over 300 retailers operating more than 6,000 brick-and-mortar stores, and approximately 150 grocery supply companies.
The Association is recognized as the leading resource in the areas of government and industry relations for California’s food industry and its customers while also providing continuing education opportunities for industry employees and their children."