Egads! I've neglected to update the cheese-up from November past.
I do hope you can forgive my untimely post!
Yet again, the Queso Diegans set their sails for a scrumptious eve.
This go around?
A furious bout of pairing cheeses with beverages.
We had great success with pairing scotch with aged cheeses, mead with a honey chevre, coffee porter with a vintage gouda, berry kombucha with lemony quark, and as it turns out, homemade bacon jam goes with everything.
So many happy marriages in one little eve!
Membermade French country artisan breads were on site to accompany the mix-matched, flights of fancy.
I prepared two plates just for the occasion.
A vintage Gouda alongside a spiced, creamy, spoonable blue,
and a homewhipped lemony quark, served up with slivers of perfectly-ripened pear.
It's a young bit of fresh cheese made better with Meyer lemon zest.
If you've never heard of, nor tried kombucha before, it's a bit of a fermented science project. Our Treasurer Larry, is a champ at concocting the fizzy magic. Generally, it tastes of vinegary, tart apple cider. This particular batch yielded notes of sweet, berried refinement.
Standard staples were on deck, such as this fine Manchego.
We sailed a savory sea of beverages for pairing pleasures.
And even enjoyed this exotic beer treat.
Brian, our award-winning brewmaster created a porter for the occasion. It was aptly named Insomniac Taddy Bear Porter, as the delightful beer was infused with notes of coffee.
It went swimmingly with the vintage Gouda, as though the two were perfect bedfellows.
A homemade hefeweisen and commercial brews were included in the vast selection.
The Johnny black disapoofed almost immediately. I hear it went really, rather well with a few of the cave-aged varieties.
More homemade cheeses infused with fruit, herbs, and layered as such.
and of course it's never a party, until someone brings a sampling from the "Mysterious Mead Co."
This version berried for the masses.
With all these scrumpschulescent bits, it's no wonder us curd nerds are making some serious cheesy headway at the moment.
It's true, and I've just the publication to show for it. Yes, I have some fantastical news to report my lovelies!
I'm officially an international author! My article on how to start a sustainable cheese club is now in global publication, and was highlighted as a featured piece on cover of the Winter issue of Culture Magazine - The Word on Cheese and can be seen here.
Big ups for cheese ups!
Now onto the plotting and planning of the 2012 holiday party. You should know that I'm just seething with "cheesy" sweater contest inspiration now.
Cheese, cheers, and holiday happies to all.
x
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