So, the Mr and I are big beer fans around here. He has been homebrewing for a couple years and I swear that he has never made a bad beer. There has been one or two strange beers but nothing undrinkable. In fact, most of them have been highly drinkable! When I started getting interested in making cheese I felt like there was some kind of crossover potential there. They both relate to the science of applied heat. They both relate to farm life — beer is made from grains, cows eat grains and grasses. But, obviously, these are tenuous connections. The light came on, though, when I started reading about pairing cheese with beer.
The first step to coming to terms with the fact that you’re a cheese nerd is admitting it. The second step is getting something to haul around your cheese purchases. Before we went down to the Oregon Cheese Guild Fest at the Rogue Creamery, I bought a small Coleman cooler to stash our cheese purchases so that they would keep over the next day and the long car ride home. I threw in a little cold pack and then I didn’t have to worry about my cheeses.
When Nicole and I went to the Seattle festival, I brought the cooler then, too, but left it in the car. It was a hot, glorious day and I definitely would have needed to make use of it if we had bought anything. But, strangely, we didn’t buy anything at the festival. If we had, it would have been a bit unwieldy to carry the thing around and annoying to truck back to the car which wasn’t quite nearby.
So… delight! I just came across these insulated lunch bags from Mario Batali that would be perfect for a festival or farmer’s market. The Margherite Satchel in persimmon would be perfect for a few wedges of cheese and totally fashionable.
The Tufoli Messenger is understated and could go from farmer’s market to daily commute with no problem. It’s got a few different pockets so you could pack your lunch and hide away all your other daily stuffs.
The prices are great, too, ranging from $28 – $55. These would make great gifts! Oh, which one to get?!
I wonder if grilled cheese is the bacon craze of ‘09. I feel like I’m seeing grilled cheese everywhere! As a long-time aficionado, I support this trend. I recently came across Melody Kramer’s Flickr photo set of a grilled cheese party that she pulled off with some amazing ingredients.
She put together an array of breads, some fancy extras including the rather scary-sounding “lardo” and a staggering array of cheeses. What a great idea! Click the image above to get her annotated Flickr photo and more photos of grilled cheese heaven.
June 4, 2009 at 12:09 pm
· Filed under amanda, events
This is one of the most insane, hilarious, painful things I have seen in a long time. Apparently this is a real event held on the incredibly steep Copper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, England. It’s like Jackass meets… uh, cheese!
You can find out more about the annual Gloucester “Cheese Rolling and Wake” on their webpage.
Hubs was out with co-workers and I had the evening to myself plus I had just accomplished a small milestone so I was in the mood to celebrate and in no mood to cook. I’d been saving since last weekend a 6 oz. delectable puck called Seastack from Mt. Townsend Creamery — they are located north of Seattle on the Olympic Peninsula. I got a taste of it at the Ballard Farmer’s Market the day after the cheese fest and instantly opened up the wallet. It’s a soft-ripened cow’s milk rolled in a vegetable ash.
Nicole and I have eagerly been anticipating the Seattle Cheese Fest since we decided we would volunteer back in March. Finally, the weekend arrived and we headed up to Seattle. We stayed with Nicole’s lovely sister and boyfriend who have a sweet apartment in Ballard. Friday night we treated ourselves to some Serious Pie and now I have a very deep crush on that place. Not only were the pizzas excellent and our appetizers delicious but the desserts were sublime. It’s a good thing that I’m already married because their cannoli was amazing. If you’ve been, you know. If you haven’t been, put it on your list already!
We got up bright and early and stumbled over to Cafe Besalu for some excellent coffee and fantastic pastries, I had the pear galette and Nicole had the strawberry, fresh from the oven. I love Seattle!! Then we made our way down to Pike’s Place Market. I had not realized when we volunteered that it would be at the Market and when that dawned on me I realized that this was going to be whole different beast.
May 11, 2009 at 8:20 am
· Filed under amanda, events
This weekend, May 16-17, at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle is the fifth annual Seattle Cheese Festival. There will be hundreds of different cheeses from local and international cheesemakers. There will also be bakers, preserve-makers, smoked meats, a wine garden and lots of other goodies. The event is free (though they accept donations) and cheese will also be for sale. Nicole and I are volunteering at the cheese concourse Saturday morning so if you see us, say, “Hi!” Right now the forecast is sunshine for the weekend so don’t miss out!
May 4, 2009 at 8:36 am
· Filed under amanda, books
Tami Parr who writes the wonderful and informative Pacific Northwest Cheese Project has published a book, Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest, a guide to this regions cheeses. I was pretty excited to get my hands on an autographed copy today at her signing over at Square Deal Wine Co and Steve’s Cheese in Northwest Portland (they share the shop). However, by the time Nicole and I got there, a mere hour after start time, she was all sold out!! Congrats, Tami — that is what I like to see! I think I will order my copy online and stalk her at her next signing event. You can, of course get it online or go to one of her next events but get there early!
I haven’t had much experience with mascarpone. In fact, besides a few dessert recipes – think tiramisu – I didn’t know much about it when we decided to attempt it. It is in fact not a true curd cheese. It is often lumped in with the soft cheeses, but it is in the yogurt family. Like yogurt you make mascarpone by heating milk and then adding a culture. While there is some draining involved to get your desired consistency you don’t end up with curds like you do when making a true curd cheese. It is originally an Italian cheese from the Southern Lombardy region of Italy and while most famous for its role in tiramisu, it is delicious when used as a cream cheese substitute, both as a spread and in cheesecake.
We decided to give mascarpone a go along with another batch of yogurt – who knew they were so closely related? We did two batches of mascarpone, both from Ricki Carroll’s book. One used a packet of direct-set creme fraiche starter and the other with tartaric acid. Each of these recipes was very easy and something that could be tackled in your home kitchen in a few hours. The mascarpone made with culture required you to heat the milk to 86 degrees and then let sit for 12 hours. It can be drained in the refrigerator for a few more hours if a thicker consistency is wanted. The mascarpone with tartaric acid required a 185 degree initial temperature before adding a 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of tartaric acid (I added a little over 1/8 of a teaspoon). Once the tartaric acid has been mixed in thoroughly it is set to drain in a colander for 1 hour. I actually let it drain for about 4 hours.
I probably won’t post every time I make another batch of yogurt as it’s so easy and I have a feeling that I have a lot of yogurt making in my future. But, for this batch, we took the yogurt making another step further by using a starter from our last batch.
