Cowgirl cheeses after Wings

Cowgirl cheeses

We sent to see Wings, the 1927 silent film, with live piano accompaniment by Andrew Simpson.  It won the first Academy Award for Best Picture.  The showing was at the Portrait Gallery, and since that is near Cowgirl Creamery, we went there afterwards.  All of the cheeses we got were very good.

Gabietou, an Alpine cheese made from French cow’s and goat’s milk, was a semi-soft cheese.

Colvander, was from Chapel Hill Creamery, in North Carolina.  I generally stay away from anything to do with Chapel Hill, but as this is about cheese, I’ll let it slide this time.  It was a firm cheese made from raw cow’s milk.

Baserri, from the Barinaga Ranch Farm, in California, is made from sheep’s milk.

California brie

California brie

While I was in Mountain View & Milpitas earlier this week I went to a wine & cheese shop and found a Marin French Brie which was from Marin county in California.  It was a triple cream, which we always like.

 

La Petite Reine Camembert

La Petite Reine Camembert

Camembert, poetry,
Bouquet of our meals,
What would become life,
If you did not exist?

We got another Camembert when we were at Cheesetique the other day.  As it says “Fabrique en Normandie”, it was made there, but since it does not say “Camembert de Normandie”, it may not be AOC.  La Petite Reine may be made from “lightly pasteurized milk”, which must be why it is not AOC, but it was good anyway.

Uh oh.  I can’t read French, but I think I’ve stumbled upon a cool site that has Camembert posters.  This could be dangerous, as I’m running out of wall space for all of my airline posters.

Abondance cheese

Abondance is an AOC cheese from French Abondance cows, and aged.  The recipe has been unchanged since the 12th century.  It was a little bitter (tart?), which was fine, as the other cheese we tried later tasted sweet by comparison.  Don’t eat the rind.

Prima Donna at Cheesetique

Prima-Donna cheese tray at Cheesetique
We were meeting friends at RTs in Arlandria, so we stopped at Cheesetique — in Del Ray, also on Mount Vernon Ave. before dinner.
We sat at the bar and had a mac-and-cheese with cauliflower, cheese, and bacon. The also have a large seating area in the back and a front patio.

Then the cheese trays looked so pretty, I had to order one — I chose Prima Donna, a Dutch gouda, aged a year. Nice, but not too salty. It came on a wooden cheeseboard with bread, crackers, cornichons and red grapes. The oniony crackers were a bit much with the mild cheese, but the rest worked. $8 for one cheese plate.

We had a North Carolina IPA with it (Brevard Brewing Company) — don’t know enough to know if a wine would have been better.

You get 10% off your store order if you buy at the restaurant, but I forgot to ask. I wanted to get a French and a German cheese for a friend. They had a ton of French cheeses, and only one German one —  Cambozola, a blue cheese.

Grilled Halloumi

 Halloumi is a fine grilling cheese.  It is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk and goat’s milk.  It doesn’t melt, but browns and turns a bit crispy.  Next time we should brush the cheese with olive oil.

 

latest cheeses

AKT got some cheese at Whole Foods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were clockwise from upper left:

http://www.gourmet-food.com/italian-cheese/cacio-de-roma-cheese-1000526.aspx

gran queso sole 2.0

Murray’s Cheese – Sole Gran Queso

 

www.murrayscheese.com/roth-kase-solegranqueso.html

This hybrid comes from the heart of it all in Monroe, Wisconsin. The format, texture, and general recipe are meant to embody the ubiquitous Spanish sheep milk 



caciocavalio mitica

Caciocavallo – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Caciocavallo is a type of stretched-curd cheese made out of sheep’s or cow’s milk. It is produced throughout Southern Italy, particularly in the Apennine 

 

Cheese from Calvert Woodley Wines & Spirits

 

CW Cheese in Springfield

 

Cheese from Calvert Woodley Wines & Spirits

We visit Calvert Woodley Wines & Spirits often: it’s within walking distance, and the cheesemongers let you try it all. The prices are good, too,  with great La Cheeserie specials, every Wednesday – Saturday. (They are closed on Sundays.) See the 140 cheeses listed.

The cheesemonger has even suggested the best cheese to take when I travel to Springfield, IL and Burlington, NC (you don’t want anything too stinky on the train or plane).

It’s rare to see local cheeses there, and you are more likely to get them at Cowgirl Creamery or Whole Foods.

Cheese from old receipts:
Fromager D’Affinois France; Saint Nectaire, France; Parrano, Holland; Tomme Des Pyrenees, France; Belletoile 70% Brie, France; petite Basque Cheese, France; Maytag blue cheese, USA; Caprini Robiola 2 Latti, Italy (cow and sheep milk).