Good Morning, RVA: Drizzletown, USA

Cloudy, chilly, drizzly weather returns.

September 25, 2014; 6:57 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: The Nick Page

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today brings with it drizzle, clouds, and temperatures in the high-60s / low-70s. This is what I imagine life in Portland would be like–only with more people earnestly committed to anachronistic hobbies.

Water cooler

Fear not grocery store fanatics, the progress towards Wegmans continues, as Henrico’s Planning Commission OK’d most aspects of the planned development. Also, the stuff Planning Commissions need to care about is super weird: “The type of light fixtures you’re using, we’re going to be looking at that closely.”

For a quick second, we were due for two pumpkin-related festivals on the Boulevard: the Boulevard Pumpkin Festival and the Scott’s Addition Pumpkin Festival. As we all know from Highlander, there can be only one, and that one is the Scott’s Addition Pumpkin Festival. No pumpkin festival can be its equal.

Blue Bell, makers of unreasonably delicious ice cream in unreasonably large tubs, have plans to build a “giant ice cream facility” in Ashland. A couple of weekends ago I spent some time with the Blue Bell FAQ, and I recommend you do the same. I never knew there were so many intense and frequent questions about ice cream!

The governor announced that Virginia wine sales increased 2% over last year. Virginia is the nation’s fifth largest wine-grape producer and has over 250 wineries–most of which are totally worth a Saturday of your time.

ESPN has suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks after he called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar and criticized his handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence situation. He also literally dared ESPN to punish him for his remarks. Oops!

Sports!

• Nats and Mets were postponed last night and will face off at both 1:05 PM and 7:05 PM today.

This morning’s longread

Italian-style salami, made with American pigs, powers growth of a Virginia business

Style food writer Brandon Fox with a byline in the Washington Post!

They still start with pastured Boston butts and picnic shoulders that arrive already cut. (When I asked Colmignoli when I initially met him whether he butchered whole hogs on-site, he looked horrified at the prospect.) Once the pork is ground, mixed with spices and stuffed into casings, the fat sausages are hung on racks and sprayed with a benign white mold that fills the room like fog. White-coated, respirator-wearing workers move them onto tall racks that stretch to the top of the high ceilings of the fermentation rooms. They’re moved again to drying rooms, where they stay for about four to six weeks. During that time, each sausage loses half its weight. The salami is then packaged, boxed and shipped out.

This morning’s Instagram

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September 25, 2014 6:57 AM 0