Love is in the Air…

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Love is in the Air…

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Ah, February…the month that seems to be dedicated to love!

In this last week’s travel, I found myself in San Francisco surrounded by my cheese friends and family at the Fancy Food Show. While walking the aisles looking at display after display of cheese, I noticed a cheese that is not well known in the United States, but it should be, as it is quite unique and delicious.

When one hears of the term, “Neufchatel Cheese” here in the States, they most likely think of Neufchatel that is sold in “bricks” found in Cream Cheese section of your local supermarket….this could not be further from FrenchNeufchâtel Cheese which is produced in Normandy, France…

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Cheeseapolooza!

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Cheeseapolooza!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Tokyo, Japan may be the home of the 2020 Summer Olympics, but another “Olympic-Worthy” competition took place on January 19th that I need to tell you about. If you were to quickly look at the trophy pictured here, you might guess that it was for a blue-ribbon steer at the local county fair, but you would have guessed wrong…

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To Sir with Love…

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To Sir with Love…

Hello Fellow Travelers!

This week’s title is a slight play on words….No, it’s not a movie review of the classic 1967 British film starring Sidney Poitier and singer Lulu, but it’s about another European classic (cheese) that you may not have heard of…Paški Sir

If you know me well, you will know how passionate I am about cheese, and especially the protected cheeses of Europe and Switzerland…That’s why I wanted to dedicate today’s post to the newest protected cheese you may have never heard of…

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Building a Cheeseboard…

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Building a Cheeseboard…

Hello Fellow Travelers!

If you noticed like many, the six months leading up to the holidays were completely overrun with social media posts about cheeseboards, building cheeseboards, and using the word “Charcuterie” in as many sentences, headings, and posts as they could…Let me tell you, this will not be one of those blog posts!! Oh sure, I love seeing how creative people can be with designing beautiful displays with cheeses and meats, although many are not practical.

About six weeks ago, I was approached by a retailer that wanted to work with me to create a presentation on building a cheeseboard…

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Saffron + Sheep’s Milk Cheese = Spice of Life

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Saffron + Sheep’s Milk Cheese = Spice of Life

Hello Fellow Travelers!

As I travel, you can always find me at the cheese case…retailers large and small, specialty stores, and international markets. Sure, I am searching for cheeses that I am not familiar with, but I am looking for the opportunity to hear from the cheesemongers (or just the person that stocks the case) and learn their favorites, what customers are looking for, local items, and upcoming trends. Most of the time, I find cheeses that I readily recognize, but not on this last visit to upstate New York. I spotted a cheese that visually stopped me in my tracks – Pinna Brigante with Saffron. 

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Champagne, Triple Creme Brie and Friends!

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Champagne, Triple Creme Brie and Friends!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

As we close this decade, I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to remember some of my New Year’s Eves past…One came to mind that I wanted to share with you.

Twenty years ago, we were putting the finishing touches on our home (and the menu) for a New Year’s Eve like no other!…

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Raclette…

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Raclette…

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Raclette! – Yes, it is a cheese, but it can also be an experience…Let me explain…

The year was 1997. I had been the Director of Deli’s for Nob Hill Foods for several years when my good friend Jim Basta invited me (and other cheese buyers across the country) to Vail, Colorado to witness the U.S. Ski Trials. He invited us because he was working for the Switzerland Cheese Association at the time and they were sponsors of the event and even brought members of the Switzerland Ski Team to perform in the festivities. That night the Switzerland Cheese Association put on a large dinner for the skiers which, not surprising, included Fondue…

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Barefoot in the Kitchen…

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Barefoot in the Kitchen…

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Now that I am unpacking my kitchen, the time finally come to open the hundredth unmarked box to finally find my cookbooks!

Tucked away in these pages are years of memories of meals, parties, and experimenting in the kitchen. The pages are dog eared, stained, and paper clipped, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The desire has been so overwhelming to get back in this kitchen, that I literally have dreams of cooking once again. While I have a sizeable collection of books, this photo (and the recipes I include in this week’s post) will finally give away my celebrity chef “crush” – Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa…

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From Oregon with Love…

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From Oregon with Love…

While I enjoy the adventure of travels (and cheese!), I have been longing to set down some roots and purchase a home over the last year. 

I am happy to say that I purchased a home and the process of moving has begun. Box after box were brought in to the home that I had to find a new home for….and just when I thought I would scream if I saw one more box, this care package came from Oregon. Just the label on the outside of the box told me I was in for something special….

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Getting to the roots of a great cheese…

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Getting to the roots of a great cheese…

Hello Fellow Traveler!

While back home and preparing for some upcoming holiday meals, I knew that I was overdue for another culinary adventure down to my local International Market. While I found what I was looking for right away, I am always amazed to find those items that I didn’t even know I was looking for! 

Today’s find was a PDO Protected Cheese from Spain that I was not familiar with, so I decided to purchase it, taste it, and of course, do a little research to share with all of my fellow travelers!

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Comfort (food) and Joy…

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Comfort (food) and Joy…

Hello Fellow Traveler!

I am finally back home from a long trip. While out on the road, life can be a little different, unpredictable, and…well, lacking the creature comforts of home. When my best food options are as unappetizing as this retailer’s idea of “Charcuterie”, it is a better option to just go hungry and wait for the next city.

When I am traveling, I am not just looking at the cheese departments, but all of the specialty foods that are normally merchandised around them. I must confess that I literally dream of cooking, so it should be no surprise that when I find a new item that peaks my interest, I will find some creative (and delicious) way of using it. Just like in Iron Chef, when today’s “secret ingredient” is revealed to the chef, the wheels start turning to think up the best way to enjoy it.

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Good to Goat!

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Good to Goat!

Hello Fellow Traveler!

On the road this week…visiting new cities, new cheese counters and the amazing, dedicated cheesemongers behind them.

When I ran out the door for this trip, I did not know what I was going to write about, but considering how much cheese I was going to be around this week, I knew that I would find the inspiration en route.

I am a very visual person, so it’s no wonder that I found the inspiration in the samples that I carried with me!

Goat Cheeses have a very special story. While it may be true that goat cheeses may have been the first cheese to be created (due to the animal’s size, diet, and versatility), it was the French that took this cheese-making style and helped elevate it to a new art form. The different shapes, styles, ages, and treatments that they have used over the years are dizzying! That’s what the folks at ANICAP (L’Association National Interprofessionnelle Caprine) are trying to share with the Goat Cheese-loving public. This art form in France was truly perfected in the Loire Valley of France, where the terroir is so beautifully expressed in these cheeses….

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Some like it HOT…

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Some like it HOT…

Hello fellow traveler!

I guess this week’s post could also have been easily called “The Fifth Element”…Let me explain…Nearly every cheese contains four base ingredients: Milk, Starter Culture, Rennet, and Salt….The fifth ingredient (or element) could be added flavors or colors, such as: Annatto coloring, herbs, or in today’s post, Peppers!

So How Hot is Hot?

Back in 1912, an American Pharmacist named Wilbur Lincoln Scoville developed a test and scale to measure pungency or “heat” of various chili peppers. This test was originally known as the “Scoville Organoleptic Test”, now just known simply as the Scoville Scale, which measures the concentration of capsaicinoids and measures them in Scoville Heat Units (SHU).…

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Из России с любовью к сыру!!

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Из России с любовью к сыру!! 
Привет (Hello) fellow traveler!

 

Don’t speak Russian?...Don’t worry, neither do I, but that didn’t stop me from purchasing a Russian book about cheese. In all fairness, I thought the book I was purchasing was about cheeses in Russia…not a book about cheeses in Russian! Oh well!...It was still exciting to receive a book sent from the Ukraine, opened by the U.S. Post Office, then finally shipped to me. From the time I ordered it, until the time I received it took about 12 weeks…..

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Wonderful Wisconsin…

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Wonderful Wisconsin…

Hello fellow traveler!

Last week, I had the opportunity to head to Wisconsin. It had been a while since I had been there, so I wanted to rent a car so that I could go find some good cheese shops in the area.

Don’t try and adjust your computer screen color…That is the actual color of my car. Affectionately called “Sap Sago” (my cheesemonger friends will understand), this little car was perfect to get around in. I felt at ease knowing that I could always find this in a parking lot…and that no one would ever steal it! J

Charles de Gaulle, the late President of France once said:“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”….

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Island Life…

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Island Life…

Hello fellow traveler!

Several weeks ago, I was able to spend some time with a young couple that had never traveled outside of the United States, and yet here they were, ready to embark on a trip to the Greek Isles for their honeymoon.

Photo courtesy of http://www.greek-islands.us/crete/crete-cheese/

I realize that we are now into autumn, but there seems to be something about island life that makes me think it must always be summertime. Maybe it’s the slower pace...Maybe it’s the sandy beaches, or just maybe it’s because these destinations are a little harder to get there and they are isolated from the main land where the cities are bustling, and people are just too busy to think about those sandy beaches.

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Going Underground!

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Going Underground!

Years ago, I remember reading a story in Outside magazine about a team of modern day explorers who were mapping out a system of deep underground caves in South America. I recall feeling both fascinated and terrified as I read about the adversities that they had to overcome: darkness, dampness, creatures, and mold! I found this story inspiring and it made me realize that it was time to face my own fear of these underground worlds! Then an offer came to join a group of friends that were about to be led deep within a mountainside cave that had a small creek running through it. Here was my big chance!

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Protecting Europe’s Culinary Heritage

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Protecting Europe’s Culinary Heritage

Hello fellow traveler!

If you have read my blog postings from the beginning, you will have heard me talk about PDO Cheeses, that is to say, cheeses that have been awarded the “Protected Designation of Origin” status. Since this acclaimed designation is so important, and yet so hard to achieve, I thought I should dedicate this week’s post to this subject, as I have researched this subject in great depth and in 2015 wrote a book on the subject.

To fully understand the PDO story,…..

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The “Mite-y” Mimolette

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The “Mite-y” Mimolette

Hello fellow traveler!...I am sure that you have heard this one before…

The angry patron yells, “Waiter!...What is this fly doing in my soup??!!”…To which the waiter looks at the bowl and replies, “It looks like the backstroke, sir.”

Every restaurant, market or manufacturer does everything in its power to keep pests out of their facilities…That is, except for one…the producers of Mimolette. In the case of Mimolette, it is the power of the Cheese Mite that transforms these globes during the aging process….But I am getting ahead of myself…let’s turn back the hands of time and learn about the history of this cheese that became the favorite of Général de Brigade of the French Army(and future French President), Charles de Gaulle…

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