The Beehive Blog has MOVED!

The Beehive Blog has packed up the Hive and we are at our new digs on Wordpress! 

Please come and see us and tell us what you think of the new design!

Take me to the Beehive Blog Now

and make sure you update the links in your blogroll to

http://thebeehiveblog.net/

Caputo's Market - Foodie Extravaganza ... Seriously.

Since I have moved to Utah, I have heard about Tony Caputo's Market & Deli - an Italian market in Salt Lake City but the time and space continuum did not allow for a visit until recently. 

And what a visit it was. 

I wanted to pack my bags and just live there.  I could sleep in the Cheese Cave, right?  Yes, I said CHEESE CAVE ...

"Cheese Cave: Caputo's state of the art cheese cave is one of only a handful in the country. Many complex systems are set in place to replicate the perfect environment for aging cheeses.  It allows Caputo's to offer over 200 perfectly fresh farmstead cheeses. Cheese fanatics are welcome to drool as they peer through the huge glass wall into the cave."

 

If you look very closely, you can see the imprint of Queen Bee's nose on the glass.  The guy at the counter was great as we picked a few ounces of a number of cheeses so we could try as much as possible - this is what we bought:

Fontina Val D'Aosta, Quicke's Cheddar, Humboldt Fog (a goat cheese with a line of ash), Scoparolo (a combo of pecorino & goat cheese), Juni (with Juniper Berries!), Beehive Promontory and Beehive Cheddar (of course, I had to get the Beehive cheeses!), and Grotte Caputo.  A feast to be sure but what would a feast be without meat to complement my carnivorous palate ...

Off we went down the line to check out the salamis and meats ...

Capocollo, Genoa, Felino by Creminelli and Sopressata  all equal HEAVEN. 


And where does all the YUM come from?  "In House Salame Maker: With over 14 types of proscuitti and dozens of salami, including those made by the house salame maker, Cristiano Creminelli, Caputo's can claim the best cured meat selection in Utah and, possibly, in America. Cristiano's family has been hand making salame for over 400 years and their salumificio (salame shop) was named best in the entire region of Piedmont in 2006. In 2007, he came to Caputo's to make all natural salame with all natural Utah pork."

We continued our shopping by perusing the selection of chocolate ... yes, chocolate ... shelves of it and from some of the most delectable chocolatiers in the world.  We scooped some real caramel and then trooped over to the Deli because there was no way that we were going to make it all the way home without eating something!

I grew up in an all Italian neighborhood in the northeast so I am seriously picky about Italian food and sauce.  So when I say that Caputo's had the best meatball sandwich that I have had since I left the South Philadelphia area ... I mean it.  I would go back just for the meatball sandwich - it was that good.  We also tried the best pasta salad which was fresh and delicious and was able to tide us over as we drove back to Provo.

We chopped some apples and pears, gathered crackers, grapes and bread and set out all of the pieces of Paradiso from Caputo's - Our Feast ...

Our hands down favorite cheeses were the Grotte Caputo, Quicke's Cheddar, Fontina val D'Aosta and Beehive Promontory.  All of them were delicious!  The Juni with the juniper berries is a very unique taste and was the least favorite - definitely an acquired taste.

Everyone had a different favorite with the meats but the Sopressata gained a slight lead.

The Beehive Blog pronounces Caputo's Market ~ The Bee's Knees! 

We cannot wait for our next visit to Caputo's - they now have three locations so change it up and run, don't walk over to Caputo's and create your own Foodie Extravaganza meal!  If you are out of area, call them and ask about shipping ... it is worth it.  And don't forget to tell them that you read about them on the Beehive Blog!


Caputo's Market Main Site

Say Hi to Caputo's on Facebook

Tweet @CaputosMarket

Communal in Provo also serves Caputo's products so you can always sneak a fix in!  Here is the Beehive Blog review on Communal!

 

Bingham Canyon Mine - Cool Salt Lake City Day Trip

We spent part of our day in the center of the earth ... well kind of. OK ... we spent our day in the largest open pit excavation project on Earth.  The same open pit excavation that can be seen from the Space Station which does not really register until you are standing at the Visitor Center at the Bingham Canyon Mine (aka the Kennecott Copper Mine) and looking into that open pit.  The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres (7.7 km²).

Although it struck me as a bit surreal and a bit creepy, the boys loved it.  The Visitor Center offers a nice little mini museum and a brief movie discussing the history of the Bingham Canyon Mine and talks about the current day operations.  Which are huge.  Huge like the PIT.

We were there on Sunday and everything except the little gift shop was open.  You pay at the gate and then make your way up the winding road about 3.5 miles to the Visitor Center that is perched on the edge of the open pit.  Massive trucks make their way up and down the teeny (to my paranoid and vertigo powered perception) roads that hug the inside of the mountain and provide access up and down.  Excavation is continuous.

It is certainly something to see but I will admit to a slight sense of relief as we made our way out of the pit and back to civilization!  

Some cool facts about the mine:

• Bingham Canyon has proven to be one of the world's most productive mines. As of 2004, ore from the mine has yielded more than 17 million tons (15.4 Mt) of copper, 23 million ounces (715 t) of gold, 190 million ounces (5,900 t) of silver, and 850 million pounds (386 kt) of molybdenum.
• The value of metals produced in 2006 at Bingham Canyon was US$1.8 billion dollars.
•  Employing 1,800 employees and hundreds of contractors, 450,000 tons (408 kt) of material are removed from the mine daily. Electric shovels can carry up to 56 cubic yards (43 m³) or 98 tons (89 t) of ore in a single scoop.
• Today, as the second largest copper producer in the United States, Kennecott Utah Copper provides about 13-18% percent of the U.S.'s copper needs.
• The current mine plan will expire in 2019. Rio Tinto is currently studying a plan to extend the open pit 1,000 feet southward, which would extend the life of the mine into the mid-2030s.

h/t to Wikipedia - Bingham Canyon Mine