Oh Happy Holidays!
We feel the spirit of the season! I caught myself yesterday taking a deep breath in the car and having a mindfulness moment to just soak it all in. This time of year is so easy to run from one thing to the next, and I was doing just that. In fact, I was scheduled to lead a private tasting, when I got the call to go pick up sick kiddo from school. I glanced at my watch. Could I get it all done in time? Thankfully, a sitter could meet me at the house, then back to work... As I jumped into our loaner car (different story), I felt the panicked tightness creep up in my chest with all that I needed to get done - and then, I just consciously decided to pause... to take one extra minute for myself to reset. There's so much in the power of resetting. It's something our family practices constantly ...(especially after a handheld device has been denied our children! oh horrible parents that we are!) I caught myself thinking, "Everyone says to slow down and enjoy the holidays, but that's just impossible if you work in retail." The truth is, most specialty food retailers like us will do the majority of our business in November and December - hopefully enough to survive on the rest of the year. So it IS a big time of year for us to be on our game and committed to work. In fact, we had a record-breaking number of preorders before Thanksgiving, yesterday we made a record-breaking number of cheese trays, and we've broken all records on class ticket sales. And all of this record-breaking is very much needed after the dismal 2018 in our financial books. So maybe it's uncouth to talk about finances, but we like to be an open book. So to that end, thank you. Thanks for helping make this a record-breaking year. We need it to be. And it feels good. But with all this record-breaking comes some serious hustle and bustle. In the retail world, we love it. But it does make it a bit more difficult and challenging to take time to enjoy the season... but not impossible... sometimes, it just takes one minute to reset. One minute of gratitude. One minute of stillness. So here's to you and hoping that you will take the time to give yourself at least one minute - whenever needed - to just reset. And thank you all for making us part of your holiday festivities and supporting this little ole cheese shop that could. We appreciate you.

Raclette What?
Okay Kendall. You've written about Raclette Nights in the last two emails. Again, really? Yes really! Because you're blowing up our social media feed and inboxes with questions, mostly, when can you get into our next Antonelli's Interactive Dinner Series featuring Raclette?! GREAT NEWS! In an unprecedented move, we have posted our Raclette Nights from now through April. At that time, we'll most likely take a break for summer and start back up again in the fall. As a recap, we sell these tastings by the table. You can come solo or as a group of up to 6 guests. You get your own Raclette Machine, which melts the 3# of Raclette Cheese onto your plate of potatoes, pickled veg, bread, and cured meats if you choose. Oh yeah, and we throw in a complimentary cheese tasting to kick it off, because why not?! We have 4 tables in the main room, plus a side "annex" room with a picnic table. If the 4 main tables are sold out, we've just added the side room as an extra option. So if you're dying to get to Raclette Night, that may be available. We'll tell you all about this special cheese and its traditions when you join us. Holiday gift anyone? Check out our Raclette Night schedule here. (Or just book your own Private Raclette Party!) NOTE: January is already sold out, but we do have the side room table available for this Sunday, Dec 8 if anyone wants to claim it!

Gift a Cheese Class Experience
Thanks everyone for almost completely buying out our December events. As such, we added an extra table here or event there. See below. We also have listed the majority of our January and February events. Whether purchasing for yourself or as a gift this holiday season, you've got a couple options. You can purchase tickets directly to a specific event to make sure you reserve your seat (fully refundable up to a week in advance) or you can buy a gift card to a future class. We're also thrilled to announce that we've already confirmed our "Brunch, Bubbles, and (baby) Goats at Bee Tree Farm". These sold out quickly for the fall, so get in on the action now. Lastly, we've booked our first #CheeseyBusTour of 2020 for February 29. All details below...
Sun 12/8 - Raclette Night - side room table
Sun 12/29 - Prosciutto, Salami, and Cheese...Oh My! - JUST ADDED!


2020 Events:
Cheese 101: The Seven Styles of Cheese
Prosciutto, Salami, and Cheese...Oh My!
Antonelli's Cheese Date Night
Cheese & Chocolate Fondue Night
Raclette Night
Brunch, Bubbles, and (Baby) Goats at Bee Tree Farm
Cheese-y Bus Tour to Pure Luck Farm & Treaty Oaks Distilling
Cheese & Chocolate Pairing
...and so many more. (Hint: We've already listed many of our events for our 10th anniversary week in February!) Check out our full events schedule here. And remember, you can always view all our upcoming public classes or book your own private tasting.

Cheese & Beer Pairing
It's that time of the year for our annual benefit for Slow Food Austin! This will be our 9th consecutive year getting together at (512)Brewing. This experience is unlike many others. Not generally open to the public, we rent tables to line up and down the middle of the brewery, surrounded by tanks, while we enjoy 5 cheese and beer pairings. Abby Love is back with her delicious breads, Casero is jumping in on some charcuterie, and Confituras will be around. Only 20 seats left! Details here.

In The Shop
So much goodness here I can't keep up! And my office is just across the street. Highlights? Each of our shop cheesemongers got to choose one cheese we've carried before just to bring back during the holidays because they personally need it on their plates. While the cheese makes its debut, go check in to see if Nicholas' Friesago and Jenn's Cashel Blue made it into the case yet (and make sure to ask them about it!). We're also still rocking through our limited supply of Black Betty, Rush Creek Reserve, and Glarner Alpkase, with an occasional showing from Rogue River Blue. We've also got seasonal tastes of the holidays in, from Chocolate Peppermint Bark to locally-made Cranberry Cinnamon Jam. Come in for a complimentary tasting any day... Hours: Open DAILY from 11am to 7pm - Including Sundays!

Shopping Guides
Austin Dames - Holiday Gift Giving Guide
Around The World For Food - Holiday Gift Guide
The Austinot - Austin Gift Guide
Eater Austin - How to Gift Austin's Best Culinary Experiences

HOLIDAY TOOL KIT
Classes I Trays I Events I Gifts I Cheese Club I Teambuilding I Shop Hours & Location

Stay Cheese-y Austin,
Kendall & John
& The Most Amazing, Hardworking, Passionate Team of Good Food Advocates Around...