The other day I got some montasio cheese from the Italian market in Arlington. It is a very nice cow’s milk cheese from northern Italy.
Wood turning demonstration
On Sunday AT and I went to the Montpelier Mansion in Laurel. There was a woodturning demonstration there, and Jeff Bridges made AT a wooden goblet. It was interesting.
It started with a stick.
Then he started cutting it.
More cutting.
And more cutting.
They were from Chesapeake Woodturners.
And finally sanding.
And in minutes there was a goblet!
ripple cheese tray
Sheep
carr valley cave aged marisa aged six months; rich, sweet, round la valle, wi
abbaye du bellocq a level of silky caramel smoothness only benedictine monks can achieve, pyrenees, fr
Cow
*old man highlander naturally ripened for 6-9 months, semi-soft, creamy & buttery honesdale, pa
l’amuse gouda aged 24 months; nutty with crystaline texture; deep & complex beemster, holland
Blue
valn d’alos bleu d’auvergne soft & buttery; mildly spicy with notes of grass & wild flowers languedoc, fr
Meat:
bentons tennessee ham 14 mos tn
la quercia prosciutto americano ia
Salumi framani toscano
House Made — didn’t try any of these.
chicken liver parfait
pork butter
smoked lamb liverwurst
suckling pig testa
New find at Brookville
5-Spoke Creamery Redmond Cheddar is made from raw cow’s milk and aged for 60 days. A very nice cheddar that we think is from Pennsylvania. Also melted well for breakfast on toast.
Manchego – a regular.
Societe Roquefort, (which I think is one of the most common brands), is very nice, one of our favorite blues. As it is an AOC, it is made from raw sheep milk according to the rules.
Calvert Woodley 30% off all cheese sale
Belletoille Brie, a nice triple-cream brie from France.
Petite Basque, a sheep milk cheese from the Pyrenees mountains of France, near where Manchego comes from.
Parrano, a Dutch Gouda-style cheese.
Caseificio dell’Alta Langa Robiolo a washed rind (smelly) cheese from Bosnia
Maytag Blue – one that we’ve had before, but we prefer other blues.
Camembert du Bocage
When we went to Cheesetique the other day, AKT found a new Camembert that we’ve not tried: Camembert du Bocage. At least, the box lid was not in our collection so we had to get it. It was very good, of course. ‘Fabrique en Normandie’!
We also got Fontinella, a Wisconsin cheese similar to fontina, Grand Pardo Parmesean, and to fill the blue category, Gorgonzola a very nice blue cheese from Italian cows.
Cheesetique cheese at NA’s
We were in Arlington, so stopped by Cheesetique, of course. We got a very nice sheep’s milk blue from Wisconsin named Little Boy Blue, because the girls liked the name. It is from Tony and Julie’s Hook’s Cheese Company.
more Cornucopia cheese
I stopped by Cornucopia in Bethesda and picked up some Italian cheeses
Buffalo Mozzarella – a very nice, full-flavored mozzarella, is very nice when drizzled with maple syrup
Cantala (sp?) – an aged Italian sheep cheese, rubbed with herbs. very nice
Asiago – very nice, but not as good as the one ‘imported’ from Italy by someone we know
I picked up a load of bread, which led to a bread “crisis” (we have too much bread here).
New Year’s Eve cheese
The cheeses were all from Calvert-Woodley, a very nice local cheese & wine shop. (clockwise from lower left)
Fromager d’Affinois is a double-cream cow’s milk cheese. We’ve had it before, and it was still very good. Somewhat like the Saint Angel that we had last week, but milder.
Emmentaler, an AOC alpine cheese that was on sale. It looks like traditional “Swiss cheese” with the holes. It was a bit rubbery. Good for fondue (probably), but not the best for a cheese board.
Gruyere, also on sale. Another AOC alpine cheese, but a better texture, and no holes. Good for both a cheese board and fondue.
Maytag Blue – one that we’ve had before. Very good (for a blue), and featured in this month’s Culture magazine.
Thanksgiving cheese 2010
We took several cheeses to Burlington for Thanksgiving this year. I made cheese plates of all of them, which seemed to go over well.
Claudel Camembert, another camembert we found at La Fromagerie in Alexandria.
A cheese we got at Magruder’s in Chevy Chase.
Marisa, a very nice sheep’s milk cheese that we got at La Fromagerie.
Pecorino wrapped in walnut leaves, from Cheesetique, very nice. ($21.99 a lb).
Thomasville Tomme, from Sweet Grass Dairy, in Georgia. Crumbly, but very good. (Cheesetique, $24.99 lb.)
Buttermilk Blue, from Roth Kase, Wisconsin, very good. (La Fromagerie).