That's Hot

Like Lady Gaga emerging from her Grammys Crazy Egg, I am poised to make my reappearance here. I know that once you've let your blog devolve into Internet detritus, it's tough to make a return. I also know that I'm not eating nearly enough good cheese, and this is as good a reason as any to start snarfing up the good stuff again.

It's not that I haven't eaten ANY cheese, though. I've had probably more than my fair share of some good stuff. So, in lieu of having an actual Fromage Savage post, here's some cheese porn to tide you over. Totally SFW, unless you're stranger than I think you are.


The cheese tasting at Kendall Jackson winery in Sonoma. Oenophiles, stop holding your noses: paired with these delish cheeses, KJ fronted some pretty great vino. Also, my sister is a chef there, so be nice.



Andante Dairy cheeses, the only place I've ever seen them available in a retail setting: at The Cheese Store in Silver Lake. Cheesemaker Soyoung Scanlan is basically my hero; her cheeses are among my all-time faves. If you ever see them available and you don't eat them immediately, you are a crazy person.



Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk: storage in the fridge all but requires putting it into a sealed Tupperware that goes inside a sealed Ziplock that should probably then be placed inside a lead-lined safe of some sort, unless you want everything else in the box to smell like this cheese, but oh my word, is it tasty.



Cheese and pate plate shared at Hotel Biron in San Francisco. Its deliciousness helped me ignore the person in the background who was wearing white shoes after Labor Day, and that is no mean feat. The bottle of Serra Barbera D'Alba helped, too.



My idea of a little afternoon snack: at the bottom is a grass-fed blue--essentially a roquefort. I am a big fan of stinky and salty blue cheeses, and this fit the bill. In the middle is a Sevre et Belle goat cheese, and up top is the super-crazy-delicious Ticklemore goat, aka best name ever. I am coming to realize that in general, goat cheeses are my favorite--I like the fresh ones that you've had if you've ever had a beet salad in a restaurant, but I am growing quite partial to those that are a little more aged, so they've got that slight funk/twang to them, but are still creamy without being sticky like a triple cream.



Toward the end of last year, I had a grin-inducing experience: a friend called to ask me for suggestions on cheeses to bring to a family dinner. I figured that means I've now firmly established myself as...well, as a person who eats a lot of cheese, I guess. The mantle has been bestowed, and dammit, who am I to demur?