Artisanal Cheese Center
Cheese excellence at its best:
http://www.artisanalcheese.com/
They have a “Cheese of the Month” club, cheese tastings, classes on cheese, and even cheese internships.
The Artisanal Cheese Center was featured in the New York Times. Here are a couple of great cheesy quotes from the article:
In the last decade women in particular have been dropping their day jobs to devote their lives to cheese.
As the variety and quality of American cheeses have blossomed in recent years, the passion of American cheese lovers has intensified.
And, in the context of people who smuggle cheeses:
The Food and Drug Administration bans the sale or import of cheese aged less than 60 days because government scientists say it takes that long for cheese to develop acids and salts that prevent pathogens.
No Cheese Except on a Pizza
I haven’t had cheese other than on slices of pizza today. Well, I guess that counts for a lot of cheese, though. They put lots of mozzarella on slices of pizza, which is why I like them in the first place.
Pizza is probably how many children in the United States are introduced to cheese. It can be found everywhere you go. It is also extremely easy to make, because all of the ingredients are readily available. You can buy a ball of pizza dough for around $1.50, and then all you need is tomatoes and cheese at the minimum.
Brie and Triscuits
Triscuits are not the most appealing crackers to eat with brie. They are quite salty, and the salt distracts from the natural goodness of the brie.
Nevertheless, last night I ate many Triscuits with brie.
I’ve almost used up the large wedge of brie that I bought last week. It is sad because soon I will have no more cheese. Well, I do have some cheeses in the freezer that I can melt, at least.
Macaroni and Cheese with Cottage Cheese
Yesterday, Sloan and I made a box of macaroni and cheese into a bowl of macaroni of cheese. It was no ordinary macaroni and cheese, though, so don’t stop reading.
Sloan had bought a lot of cottage cheese, without realizing that his roommate had also bought a lot of cottage cheese. Determined to use it up, and knowing that a single box of macaroni alone would not be enough to fill our stomachs, he suggested that we add it to the macaroni and cheese.
He also found a bag of romano cheese in the refrigerator. We decided to add some of that too, for good luck and good taste.
I agreed to his experiments happily but suggested that we use the ‘white cheddar’ variety of mac & cheese rather than the ‘real aged wisconsin cheddar’ variety. I feared that the cottage cheese would seem too white in an orange bowl of macaroni.
The macaroni and cheese turned out to be very nice. It was very creamy and cheesy. We ate it happily, with two forks and a single bowl.
Cheese Loves Me
I was at the grocery store the other day, in the cheese section, of course. Remember how I bought a wedge of brie? That was the day.
As I was leaning over the cheese display, I noticed that some of the cheeses were jumping! I had no idea why, but I thought it was cute, so I didn’t report it.
A wedge of Coeur de Lion Le Brie jumped high enough to brush my cheek with a kiss. What a nice cheese! I just had to buy it, because it loved me. And so I bought it.
Brie Sandwiches
Today I made Brie sandwiches, using “Enriched Finger Rolls”. I grilled them like grilled cheese sandwiches.
They were delightful, like little puffs of clouds.
I accidentally burned them a little, so I had to scrape off the burnt part. But despite that, they were delicious.
Coeur de Lion Le Brie
I haven’t been buying cheeses lately. But today I gave in and bought a beautiful wedge of Coeur de Lion Le Brie.
It was on sale for $7.99/lb (normally it costs $8.99/lb). The wedge I bought was $5.57.
I was considering buying a piece of Havarti instead, because it melts so nicely. I was looking at the prices - $4.49 for a little block of Havarti, versus $5.57 for a superwedge of Brie. The superwedge was clearly the winner, for its largeness.
It was packed on April 18, 2005, and its “sell by” date is May 2, 2005. That leaves me over 12 days to eat it. I think it won’t be a problem at all.
Cheese
This blog will soon be filled with cheese! I’m not kidding. It makes me hungry just to think about it.
I love cheeses, and you probably do too, since you ended up here! So welcome to the cheesiest blog in the world.