Although difficult to make Rotel dip out of their top-drawer fromage, Senator Mark Leno will honor esteemed Cowgirl Creamery today as Senate District 3's Small Business of the Year.

Regarding the touted cheesemakers, Leno said, "Owners Sue Conley and Peggy Smith made Cowgirl Creamery an instant success by investing great ingenuity and skill into a creative business plan. Their small handcrafted cheesemaking and distributing business, which began in a renovated barn in Pt. Reyes Station, continues to boom with a new Petaluma creamery and cheese shops in San Francisco and Washington DC."

Opening shop in 1997, Conley and Smith managed to produce a product that sidestepped any contrived fetishism plaguing many local food fads (bacon-maple donuts, veganism/vegetarianism, etc.). Kudos to you, ladies.

In related dairy news, according to SF Weekly, Humphry Slocombe's Harvey Milk and Honey Graham Cracker ice cream, which was a huge hit at Saturday's Harvey Milk Day festivities, "will make its fabulous reappearance this Friday, and will go back into regular rotation through San Francisco Pride weekend (June 26-27)." The ice cream is made of blackberry "honey-tinged" graham crackers, milk flavored ice cream, and real ground up homosexuals.