Make more friends, serve more cheese

Help! I need to impress my friends and look like I know something about cheese! What should I put on a cheese plate?

Not to worry, my dear. Putting out a good cheese plate is easy. Let me be of service and help demystify at trip to the cheese counter, or (heaven forbid) a trip to the specialty cheese case in the grocery store.

First, shop around. Every cheese counter and grocery store will have a different selection of cheese. Some will be better than others. Locally owned stores might have a few more locally produced products. I always start looking there. Don't be shy about asking for help. See if the person in charge of the cheese counter is available. I love asking for help. I want to know what's in peak form today. If everything is in shrink wrap, I want to see what's freshly cut. Cheese is a living food! It begins to break down and lose flavor the moment it is cut. If it has been enveloped in plastic for a month, even breathable plastic, it won't be very tasty. When I prepare to serve a cheese, I like to take a knife or a cheese plane and scrape the cut surface of the cheese. This takes away the dead, plastic-y taste and gives you a fresh surface to enjoy.

See if the store will cut you a fresh piece of cheese. Or see it they’ll open a package so you can taste the cheese. Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco is happy to let you try before you buy. That way you'll know how a cheese tastes. If you buy an artisan cheese regularly, you might begin to taste the seasonal variations. There is a huge difference between Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam made in the winter and a Mt. Tam produced in the summer. Eat more cheese and see for yourself!

How much to serve? It depends. Is this an appetizer course? Are other dishes being served? I figure an ounce of each cheese per person. Two ounces if it is the only thing being served.

Always serve aged cheeses at room temperature and each cheese should have its own knife or cheese plane.

When selecting cheeses for a party, I usually go for three or four cheeses. As a general rule of thumb, vary the milks and mix up the texures. Sometimes I'll go with a theme, like all cow's milk cheeses, or cheeses from Spain. But my favorite plate usually consists of a cow's milk cheese, a goat's milk cheese, and a sheep's milk cheese. If I'm feeling sporty, the fourth cheese will be either be a cheddar or a blue cheese.

For example, I might take a piece of Garrotxa, a Spanish goat cheese with a semi-soft, slightly chewy texture, match it with a buttery, French Triple Crème like Brillat-Savarin, and pick a sheep's milk cheese like Pecorino Foglie di Noce with walnut overtones. If I want to have the slam dunk crowd pleaser, I'd throw in a piece of Montgomery's Cheddar from Somerset, England. With this, I'd serve a full flavored honey; my favorite being a locally produced blackberry honey. A great cherry jam would work wonders, as well as some dried apricots and cranberries. Apple slices would be nice, too. I would serve everything with thin slices of a crusty, sweet, baguette and I'd call it complete.

Photo: Ticklemore Goat, aging to perfection.

Other suggestions: A cheese plate of the British Isles, a.k.a. the Neal's Yard Dairy cheese plate. Cow's milk: Trethowan's Gorwydd Caerphilly, from Wales. Bright lemony flavors and beautiful layers as it ages. Goat's milk: Ticklemore Goat. Why? Because I worked there! And the semi-soft texture with the slightly salty, mushroomy bloomy rind is sublime. For a sheep's milk cheese, go for Berkswell. It can have toasted nutty notes with hints of pineapple. Then grab a piece of Harbourne Blue, a goat's milk blue and you've got a party.

Photo: Sierra Mountain Tomme from La Clarine Farm, Somerset, CA.

How about Spain? Go for Mahón (cow), Ibores (goat), Zamorano (sheep), and Valdeon (blue). I like Spanish cheeses, so here's another one for you, all goat: Nevat (semi-soft, bloomy rind with a light, creamy, and tangy), Pata Cabra (washed rind with a chewy open texture, can have green apple, fruity overtones), and Pau Sant Mateu (wash rind with a smooth paste that can be slightly strong and full flavored.)

American Artisan Plate sampler to die for: Mt. Tam (cow,) Humboldt Fog (goat,) and Nancy's Camembert (sheep.) All bloomy rinds, all creamy, all luscious, and all the trifecta of milks.

The California Plate: Harley Farm's Van Goat – fresh goat cheese with edible flowers or Elk Creamery's Goat Milk Camembert de Chevre, Rinconada Dairy's Pozo Tomme - a semi-firm sheep cheese from San Luis Obispo County, and Vella's Mezzo Secco or Cowgirl's St. Pat, finish with Pt. Reyes Original Blue.

Oregon Cheese Plate: Willamette Valley Cheese Company's Brindisi (cow), Rivers' Edge Chevre's St. Olga (washed rind goat), Ancient Heritage's Hannah Bridge (sheep), and Rogue Creamery's Echo Mountain (cow/goat blend blue).

Photo: A cheese plate from the Cheese School of San Francisco

If you're wonderinig about the cheeses that I'd always bring home without hesitation, here are a few--

Sarah's Personal Cheeseplate for Today: Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon (Goat Gouda), Cowgirl Creamery's Sir Francis Drake (cow, washed rind, triple crème), Jasper Hill Farm's Constant Bliss (cow, bloomy rind), La Clarine Farm's Sierra Mountain Tomme (goat), Abbaye de Belloc (sheep, French-Basque), Cabot Clothbound Cheddar (cow).

My absolute favorites will change every day, depending on my mood and the condition of the cheese at my local cheese counter. I might go in with a list, but I'll make substitutions if I have to.

There are no hard and fast rules, if you like one cheese, serve a big piece of it on a nice cheeseboard, and have a big knife next to it so that others can enjoy, too.

Now you will make friends at every party if you just grab a few well selected cheeses and a fresh baguette and share with your friends.

Be True To Your School

Photo: Valdeon, a Spanish blue cheese.



In my fridge right now: a hunk of La Tur, half a wheel of Winnemere, a small wedge of Tarentaise, and a few small bits of Fiscalini's Bandage Wrapped Cheddar. This is in addition to the cheese Jim and I picked up last weekend at The Cheese Shop in Healdsburg. We grabbed some Essex Street Comte, a firm sheep's milk Ovejo Romao, a semi-soft washed rind goat cheese Cacio di Capra, and sheep's milk Tomme Brulee. Most of the comte is gone and we'll be devouring the Tomme Brulee this weekend.


Photo: Cheese School owner Sara Vivenzio and baby Mila

Staying busy is a good thing for me, particularly while I'm sitting on my heels, waiting for our creamery property to appear. Working at the Cheese School of San Francisco has given me a great opportunity to expand my horizons. I get to continue to work with cheese, interact with eager cheese lovers hungry for knowledge, and gain exposure to cheeses that I haven't worked with behind the counter at Cowgirl Creamery. What a great place to work!



Photo: Cheese and Wine Pairing with Janet Fletcher, Michael refilling glasses.

Two or three times a week, the classroom is a buzz with up to 30 people, ready and eager to learn how to appreciate cheese. Most classes sell out quickly. Clearly there is a huge demand for cheese education. While working at Cowgirl, customers asked for classes on cheeses of the world and cheesemaking all the time. Cheese is an ancient and mysterious food. Cheese classes help demystify a trip to the cheese counter.

Photo: The Cheese School's Ariel and the Pasta Shop's Juliana prep for the class - The Cheeses of Spain.

Here in the Bay Area, we are fortunate enough to have some very good cheese educators. Collectively our local cheese experts have owned cheese shops, worked in the cheese industry, published books and articles on cheese, and worked at creameries, cheese-aging facilities, and cheese counters around the world. Lots of them teach at The Cheese School of San Francisco. Also you can find the experts at wineries, hosting cheese and wine pairing classes. Wineries are great venues for cheese classes. So are brewpubs. I have a friend who will go to your house and bring the cheese and wine class to you.

Of course, classes are offered everywhere if you take the time to look. The cheese shops of New York City have some nice class offerings, too. Murray's as well as Artisanal both offer classes throughout the year.

Photo: Cheese plates ready to go for a Wine and Cheese Pairing.

Christine Hyatt, a.k.a. The Cheese Chick, offers cheese education classes at wineries as well as other venues in Oregon. She's even launched Cheese TV, web-based videos with a cheese focus. With all of my trips to Portland and the Oregon Wine Country, I have no idea how I haven't met her, but I hope to run into her soon. If she works with cheese, she's probably a kindred spirit. Not to mention that we both lived in Austin, Texas for a while. --Side note-- In what seems like a past life, I was in Austin in 1992-1993, living the slacker life, working behind the counter at Waterloo Records and as a production intern at KGSR. It took me a year to realize that no matter how cool and funky Austin can be, it is still Texas and that's not for me. I packed up and moved back to San Francisco, another wacky place and the land of my birth. But I digress....

Photo: Valentine's Day at the Cheese School of San Francisco, XOX Chocolate Truffles and Grandin Sparkling Wine.

The Cheese School offers classes two or three times per week. The class size is usually 25-30 people. For two hours, students get to enjoy 8 - 12 cheeses as well as 2-4 wines. The numbers vary with the class offered. The class called Basic Cheese Primer covers 12 cheeses and two wines. Cheeses of Spain had nine different cheeses. The extremely popular Cheese and Wine Pairings cover eight cheeses and four, sometimes five wines. In addition to cheese and wine, we put out a nice array of accompaniments: honey, jam, frest fruit, dried fruit, almonds, candied walnuts, as well a basked of bread (fresh baked Acme sweet baguette and walnut levain) are set out on each table for students to try with their cheese. Sara Vivienzio, the director of the school is meticulous and has a great eye for detail. When students walk into the classroom, they are always impressed.

Photo: Judy Creighton leading a Basic Cheese Primer class.

Each class takes several hours of prep work. We've got to set the table, go pick up fresh fruit and bread, cut the cheese, slice the bread, make accompaniment plates, fill water jugs, chill the wine, and then we're ready for the students. I like being a part of this enterprise.

Besides having some nice left-overs, I've gotten to meet some really wonderful people.

Where am I? How old am I? When can I eat that?

Scene from a bathroom in Dundee, Oregon.

Hiatus is over. I'm back. Now I'm older, possibly wiser, and still in San Francisco. Why the hiatus? Well, December is always a crazy month. Our calendar had stuff scribbled all over it. Every day there was something we had to do. My trip to Vermont kicked of the month and took up over a week of my time. Time very well spent, I might mention. More on that in a minute.

We took another trip to Oregon in mid-December. The weather was a mixed bag. When we arrived, it was gray, foggy, and misty. As we descended into PDX, I counted five distinct layers of clouds. There was no way sunlight could penetrate the ground fog, the low clouds, mid-level clouds, puffy clouds, and wispy, high altitude clouds. Hmmm. I'm seeing Oregon in its finest season. The week before, torrential wind and rain had wiped out the often flooded town of Vernonia, northwest of Portland, as well as Sheridan, in southern Yamhill County. Black Sheep Creamery http://www.blacksheepcreamery.com in Chehalis, WA suffered a great deal from floodwaters and mud. They lost much of their flock of sheep as well as their possessions. I hope they come back stronger than ever.

This youngster didn't do it for me.

Our realtor took to five places. We saw places in Polk County (just southeast of Sheridan) to Newberg, Yamhill, and Dundee. Nothing. Absolutely nothing to make us jump up and down, shout "Eureka!" and submit an offer. I could just spit. Why is there nothing that will work? Either the house is a trainwreck, or the property sucks, or both. Within a few minutes of walking around a place either Jim or I would turn to the other and say "Nope. I'm not feeling it." At one place, Jim stepped in dog poop and said, "I'm really not feeling this one. Let's get outta here." Now we've got to wait for more properties to come up for sale. We hope to return to Oregon in March. I'm not giving up. That's not in my nature. I'm kind of obsessive-compulsive that way. Once I make a decision to do something, NOTHING will stop me. I know what I want. I know it is out there somewhere. I just need to be patient and the right spot will find me.

Christmas came and went. We spent the day with Jim's family. Quiet and nice. I saw my mom on the 23rd and we swapped presents early. Didn't get to see my sister Shelby this year, as she is in Paris with her daughters. I miss seeing the girls open presents and getting all excited. Someday maybe we'll get to spend Christmas in Paris. I'd like that. Vacherin is in season at Christmastime! My other sister is currently not speaking to me. She's mad at me because I didn't keep my mouth shut when I disagreed with her. Oops! We've never been that close so the current silence isn't far from the norm. There is always some drama going on in my family.

We rang in the New Year by grilling raclette at a friend's party. I have my mother's old raclette grill (circa 1980.) I'm sure this thing is not up to code but it works great. We got a bunch of cheese to broil: raclette, gruyere, fontina, and jack. I stuck them in little, round grill pans and popped them under the tabletop broiler. In a couple of minutes the cheese melted and was sizzling away. I took the hot, molten goo and poured it over roasted potatoes, gherkins, and pickled shallot slices. Oh-my-goodness-this-is-better-than-anything-on-the-planet!!! It was a new experience for most of my friends. It is a fun party dish.

The festivities around here always continue through January 7th. Why? Well January 7th is my birthday. Jim and I hosted a party on Saturday, January 12th for my big day. We invited a bunch of friends over to share in some succulent, oak smoked spareribs, greens, beans, and coleslaw from Johnson's BBQ on San Bruno Avenue. My mother made her famous potato salad. We had Tofu Gra Prow Grob (fried tofu cubes with crispy basil in a tamarind sauce) from Thai Cottage on Judah at 45th Avenue for those of the vegetarian persuasion. Cupcakes from Destination Bakery in Glen Park were superb. Yellowcake with Chocolate ganache frosting! And who says cheese doesn't go with barbecue spare ribs? The cheese tray consisted of all bunch of my favorite cheeses that were tasting good at Cowgirl Creamery on Wednesday: Cabot clothbound cheddar from Vermont, Garrotxa from Spain, Humboldt Fog from Arcata, CA as well as a couple of extremely luscious and creamy Sir Francis Drakes from Cowgirl Creamery. Just to confuse things, the label reads "SF Drake." If you see this cheese in the shop, ask for a taste. If you're lucky, you'll be treated a very silky, creamy, sweet, triple cream. Another word for heaven.

What is Sir Francis Drake cheese? Once in a while the culture goes awry with Mt. Tam. When this happens, Cowgirl Creamery will wash this delightful mistake in a dessert wine like sauterne. Macerated currents are sprinkled on top and the resulting cheese is called Sir Francis Drake.

History lesson:
Sir Francis Drake came upon west Marin County when he missed rumored safe harbor of the Golden Gate due to fog. He spent part of a foggy summer in Marin, claimed it for Elizabeth I, named the place Nova Albion, and sailed away after fixing his ship and getting provisions from the local Miwok Indians. Today you'll find a few things named in his honor: Drake High School, Drakes Bay, Drakes Beach, and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard cuts across Marin County all the way to Pt. Reyes. Add a cheese to that list, too.

The party was a great success. I love our friends. We rarely have parties, so when we can gather so many folks together from different parts of our lives, it makes for a good fiesta. Seeing all of these friends in our house makes me feel very nostalgic. How can I give up everything and leave this? My roots are here. My family has been in Marin for several generations. I love it here. I know a lot of the history and stories of the Bay Area. This is my home. Hauling up stakes and moving to another state is not an easy choice for me. I know that I'll leave behind a lot of really wonderful people who have enriched my life in more ways than I can describe. Hmmm. I'm doing a very good job talking myself out of leaving. I better stop. I can only hope that they'll come and visit us.

Now I'm just biding my time, working at the Cheese School of San Francisco as well as at Cowgirl Creamery. Yippee!