You might wonder what’s happening when I haven’t had the chance to post for awhile… “Is he in a coma from eating too much cheese? … Did he fall into the Canyon of Cheese? … Has he run out of ideas or things to talk about?”Although the first of these mused questions might be the closest to the truth, the actual truth is perhaps less interesting. Due to the economy I was laid off several weeks ago from my IT job, and have been frantically looking for new work. On the plus side, I no longer have to commute from Oakland, CA to Atherton on a daily basis. There’s been plenty to keep me busy besides looking for work; the theatre company I helped found has its latest play “Aaron Trotter and the Incident at Bikini Beach” opening on July 31st (click on the press photo for more information/link), so there’s much to do for that… and to keep myself sane (insane?) I might do something like create a Shadow Puppet Theatre for our cat Nikita’s entertainment (click on photo for a different view). Although she found it engaging, she did not take much action against the bird shadows I provided. Her reflective mode leads me to believe that she was questioning reality, perhaps much like the Plato’s Allegory of the Cave…

OK, OK, we’ve had enough, Bryce! Where’s the cheese?!?

Oh, sorry “Inner-Cheese Voice”, got carried away, as usual, and as the title of this post mentions, I’ve been sitting on a lot of content that I haven’t been writing about. Today I’d like to tell you a bit about the event I volunteered at for the California Artisan Cheese Guild; Sunset Magazine’s “Celebration Weekend”.

Just as with last year’s, 2009’s visitors were rewarded with excellent weather for their participation, and, like last year, the Guild’s cheeses and information were a huge hit.

With so much to do at the event from booths of tourism boards, to vendors, to chef demonstrations and live music, you’d think that it’d be hard to choose what all to try, do and see. The great many visitors, however, who lined up to taste some of the best artisan cheeses in California were no dunces; it was worth the wait.

The style in which people sample cheeses often speaks volumes about how acquainted they are with quality cheese. I’m the last to suggest that you should be a cheese snob when trying cheese, but I do appreciate it when people are surprised by what they are tasting (instead of the; “Oh; free cheese! I’ll shovel down as many samples as they’ll give me!”- method of tasting…).  With cheese there is such an amazing variety of possibilities of taste and texture, that taking a moment to understand how a cheese affects your tongue, your taste buds, and your overall enjoyment of life, can be very rewarding. It’s true that NOT every cheese is going to be a cheese that you enjoy, but life is too short not to take a moment and enjoy the bounty of what is offered, particularly when such time and care has been lovingly applied to cheeses such as those we were offering from the California Artisan Cheese Guild.

One of the cheeses which I was able to give samples of out to people was Point Reyes Farmstead Blue. Since for many blue cheeses are very strong (particularly after trying more mild tasting cheeses which were being offered: fresh goat milk cheese from Harley Farms, Shamrock’s Artisan Goat Cheeses,  Sheena Davis’ Delice de La Vallee and Sadie Kendell’s Crème Fraîche) the reactions were all over the map. I love how people’s tastes for cheese are just as individual as there are cheeses.

Plenty more content to get to work on, so meanwhile, enjoy the pictures (all taken by Kathy. Clickon any picture for a pop-up window with the full-res version)!

Whether you happen to subscribe  to Sunset Magazine or not, if you live anywhere near their offices in Menlo Park, CA (roughly about 40 minute’s drive south, and a little east, of San Francisco), I can’t recommend their “Celebration Weekend” more highly. It is happening THIS weekend (Saturday and Sunday, the 6th and 7th of June, 2009 from 10am to 5pm both days). Yeah, it costs something to get in, specifically $15 for adults, but as Kathy said of last year’s; “I got so much free stuff; magazines, cookbooks, chef demonstrations, products, etc. that it was definitely worth more than the $15!”   …but one of the best reasons to attend? Cheese of course! Cheesemakers and members of the California Artisan Cheese Guild, will be in attendance again this year sampling some of the best that California has to offer. Yep, that includes me (Sunday morning), helping out in any way that I can. Meanwhile, Kathy’s already looking at the schedule to see which booths, demonstrations and entertainment we shouldn’t miss.

Here’s Sunset’s information about this year’s (2009) event: CLICK HERE
…and here is my write-up of what it was like last year when it was new to me: CLICK HERE

Also this weekend, Kathy and I will be fortunate to meet another cheese blogger; from down under. Susan, the blogger behind “Something to Nibble On“ and a friend of hers will be taking a short whirlwind visit of San Francisco, and we’ve all agreed to meet up. Cheese bloggers of the world unite! 

…more on this, and the Sunset Weekend after they have happened; meanwhile let me know what cheeses you, dear reader, have been enjoying. Me, I’ve been eating cheese, but doing a lot of IT (Information Technology) job searching lately (let me know if you know of anything!). Hope to see everyone enjoying cheese in Menlo Park this weekend.

Here’s another recipe that I use when I have too much cheese in the fridge (besides the Formage Fort recipe by Jacques Pépin which you can find on this prior posting).

This recipe is best/designed for Cheddar cheeses, but can use almost any combination of semi-hard, and/or semi-soft cheeses. Today’s batch of Cheese Biscuit Cookies is a combination of New York Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Cheddar infused with Port-style Beer (thanks Randy and Annie!), some cave-aged Gruyère, and some Parmesan.  

…Kathy likes to tell people that at any given moment we have anywhere between 7 to 20 types of cheese in our fridge. Although this is primarily true, sometimes I need to look through them all, and clean out the fridge. I find what hasn’t been eaten, what’s been forgotten behind jars of condiments, and salvage what I can. REMEMBER; one of the best rules of thumb when buying cheese is to only buy as much as you know you can finish within a week. If you’re like me though, recipes like the one below can help you save any cheese that you just can’t part with by giving it a new life in the form of a cookie…

I’ve tried a vareity of recipies much like the one below, this one is still my favorite.

Cheese Biscuit Cookies

(to use as an hors d’oeuvre, or to be served with drinks)

•  2 cups flour
• 1/2 - 1 tsp. dry mustard
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 lb. butter, softened
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, firmly packed
  (or a mix of cheddar, Parmesan, Gouda, Edam, etc.)
• 24 pecan or walnut halves
• 2 Tbs. black and white sesame seeds (or just plain ol’ white sesame seeds are fine)

Place the flour, salt, black pepper, dry mustard, softened butter and shredded cheese in a medium-large mixing bowl and mix well.

Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. (Some people leave the butter and the cheese out at room temperature over night to soften and sharpen.)

You can add a few grains of cayenne pepper if the cheese is not strong.

Form into marble size balls, place on a parchment lined baking sheet, and press with a fork.

Place on the top of each cheese biscuit, a pecan half, a sprinkling of sesame seeds, or leave plain.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool a few minutes before removing from the baking sheet.

Extra notes from Bryce:
This recipe is excellent and I have made it enough times to give some solid advice about assuring that they come out perfectly:

THIS Saturday (May 30th, 2009) is once again the bicycle “Tour de Fromage” in San Francisco, organized through the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), and is FREE (except for any cheese that you might buy).

Here’s the write-up about last years event
[click here].

…and here is the the information from the SFBC’s website:

Tour de Fromage

 Sat., May. 30 | 11am-3pm | Meet at the Panhandle Statue, Fell and Baker

Due to popular interest, we’re riding this ride again! Goat, sheep, or cow? We love ‘em all! Join other happy, two-wheeled cheese appreciators for a visit to some of the city’s top fromage specialists. We’ll finish up with a cheese-sharing picnic at a nearby park. Don’t forget to bring cash for cheesy purchases from our local vendors. Info: jgallin@sbcglobal.net

I cannot recommend this event more highly for anyone who enjoys cheese, or cycling, or just plain having a good time! -Bryce

Too often when Kathy and I go somewhere, and I have the chance to enjoy a lot of cheese, I become almost overwhelmed… At least in what I can, or should, write about when I have SO MUCH that I could write about. This is even true of just a two and a half day visit in Brooklyn. Although I could go on and on about how wonderful it was to catch up with good friends, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend (and their fantastic dual birthday party),  I should write about the cheese we enjoyed… These blogs are also often influenced on what I manged to take photos of, so that I can at least provide some visuals. Although I did try a lot of wonderful cheeses while in Brooklyn, I’m going to concentrate on a few of the places where you can buy cheese there.

First off is a wonderful store where I have been before, Bedford Cheese Shop. This unassuming corner store has a large variety of high-quality domestic and international cheeses as well as a sandwich counter. The staff is both knowledgeable and helpful, and I was amazed (concerning their customer service), that the Cheesemonger who helped us actually remembered us from the last time we were there, once, over a year and a half ago. Sure, sure, we spoke with her about cheese, and Californian cheeses then, and did again, so it’s not that far of a stretch that she’d remember… Although their selection was excellent as always, I was unable to purchase any artisan cheese produced IN New York from Bedford Cheese this time. I was carrying around a short list of cheeses that Lynne Devereux had suggested I try while out east, but they were out of all of them (please, no Monty Python Cheese Shop Sketch jokes). What I did pick up while there were a few that were new to me:

Grayson from Meadow Creek Farms in Southwest Virginia.
This is a washed-rind cheese. If you are inexperienced with washed-rinds cheeses, I’ll remind you that they can be very pungent since this type of cheese making process often promotes the growth of the Corynebacterium and Brevibacterium on the rind. If you’ve ever wondered why some cheeses smell like dirty feet or toe-jam, Brevibacterium is most often to blame; it is the same bacterium which causes foot odor. When/if you’ve expanded your cheese experience to include a variety of washed-rind cheeses, you’ll find the odor to be almost welcoming since these surface, purposely cultivated, bacterium contribute to the overall taste of the cheese. If you can’t take the rind, avoid it, cut around it. I, however, try to have both the cheese’s interior AND some of the rind for the entire taste experience. Many “stinky” cheeses are also the most mild tasting. The Grayson hits your tongue with a quick snap, but them the butter-like consistency and creaminess heals any wound from the initial taste, and your cares melt away.

Another cheese we picked up at the Bedford Cheese Shop was a little medallion of Buure Weichkäesli. Buure is the farm or brand name, and Weichkäesli means; “soft little cheese”. The word Käesli, is very Swiss due to the “li”. In the German speaking areas of Switzerland, anything that is small, or cute (or small and cute), gets “li” added to the end of it. This cheese is a cow’s milk cheese, very soft, deceptively light for its 60% fat content, and hails from the Canton of Bern in Switzerland. If you gave me a bowl of these, I’d eat them like popcorn, but due to their creamy nature, I suggest having it spread on bread after reaching room temperature.

As the last treat for ourselves at Bedford, I asked the Cheesemonger what she was excited about lately, and she let us have a sample of Tomme Crayeuse, which is from Savoie, France. In the world of cheese, it is fairly new, only having been developed about 12 years ago. The complexity of these lovely semi-soft cow’s milk cheese left me reeling. It has distinct textures from rind to center… I’ve read the the rind on this cheese is best discarded as it does not add (in tasting) to the perfection of what it conceals. Yep, we bought some.

While Kathy went to have her hair cut, I accompanied Janet on a few errands to help prepare for her and her boyfriend Eddie’s party. When a town is as old as Brooklyn, you thankfully don’t have huge gleaming supermarkets, but instead, a wonderful hodge-podge of places which have their own character. One such place is Tops on the Waterfront, which through its rambling isles and rooms, has a huge “cool room” where all meats, cheese and chilled beverages are kept. Besides having a very respectable selection of imported cheeses, I was also really happy to see an entire shelf dedicated to mostly American consumer cheese (ie mass-produced/non-artisan). Click on the Cracker Barrel picture below to get a pop-up of the entire shelf.

Im staving off my “Inner-Cheese Voice” by warning you that what I have to say next doesn’t involve cheese. Janet took us to a fairly new “authentic” German Bier Garden in Brooklyn; the Radegast Hall & Beer Garden. Designed and decorated to look older and more traditional than it actually is, Radegast DOES have the charm and near authenticity of a German Beer Garden. They’re doing everything right at the place, from the shaded patio with long tables and benches to perfectly prepared wurst and hard-to-find German beers served as pints or whole liters. They may not be serving cheese, but there’s nothing quite like a Beer Garden in the Spring or Summertime.

Running more errands with Janet (yes, this is all part of the same day), Kathy and I accompanied her out to the Redhook waterfront area (from which you can see the Statue of Liberty), where there’s a huge supermarket named the Fairway (it’s on the bottom floor of the beautiful brick re-purposed building you see in the picture). Walking through it is akin to a labyrinth, ‘cept that if you keep going in one direction, you’ll eventually make it to the exit. Towering shelves of food and prepackaged foods make for a dizzying effect as you navigate the isles. Naturally I got stuck at their extensive “Cheeses of the World” cheese counter. Middle-aged men in white supermarket aprons gave generous samples of anything that was asked about, and they were making swift sales too. It was at this stop that I noticed a trend. Every place we had been that sells cheese by the pound has signage which states the price per quarter pound. Sure, the math’s not hard if you’re comparing prices to California’s per pound price system, but it did lead me to believe (briefly) that the Fairway had excellent cheese prices. We got out of there with me thankfully not overloading by buying even more cheese.  …before leaving Redhook, however, we did stop at Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies, which are said to be amongst the best in the world.

Jumping forward to a day later, we did make it to one more cheese shop that I had been hearing about; Stinky bklyn. This small shop (about the same size of the Bedford Cheese Shop) is also very well stocked with cheeses from around the world. Their Cheesemongers were also very helpful and knowledgeable (who knew that New York would have so many people who know their craft so well? Don’t you wish that your local shops hired people as well-informed as these specialists?). Again, looking for cheeses specific to New York, my search was awarded this time with Toma Celena made by Cooperstown Cheese Company of Milford, New York. The Toma, like other cheeses from Copperstown Cheese Company, is based on similar Italian cow-milk cheeses, but are produced in New York, and as they are distinctive to where they are from, bear their own names. Since I did have some trouble locating many New York Artisan cheeses during our brief visit to Brooklyn, this is a good chance to promote the New York State Artisan & Farmstead Cheese Makers Guild. They’ve got a brochure that I’ll be sure to use if I ever have the chance to take a cheese tour of New York State. Back to Stinky bklyn, the store its self, however– It’s an impressive set-up, and they have their own aging “cave” at which they help some cheesemakers by continuing the aging process on-site. Another thing I found interesting, was that the store, like Bedford Cheese, also had the traditional tin-plated ceiling. Perhaps it is something about Brooklyn’s architecture, but I love the “traditional” touches that both of these cheese shops have. Another offering that Stinky has above and beyond cheese is Prosciutto, thinly cut before your eyes in the shop to order.

If you have additional favorite places in Brooklyn to buy cheese, please use the comment section to let me know!

The answer to whether there is any cheese in New York city is a resounding YES! Kathy and I are fortunate that Kathy’s sister Janet and Janet’s boyfriend Eddie (aka Edmund; film critic for BlackBook Magazine) live in New York, and that we, on occasion, get to visit them. This coming weekend happens to be one of those times…

Celebrating both Janet’s and Eddie’s birthdays, we’ll be able to once again enjoy the true metropolis of New York (San Francisco is a great city, and I love it, but New York’s deep-rooted extended history causes the town to have a completely different vibe that I enjoy). To be fair, we’ll actually be spending the majority of our oh-too-short-trip in Brooklyn, where, I know from experience, has some incredible cheese shops such as Bedford Cheese Shop. My hope is to visit there again; a perfectly placed corner shop with well-informed cheese mongers and a beautiful tin-plated ceiling.

Murray’s Cheese, also has a Brooklyn location nowadays, but its original location, opened its doors in 1940 on Cornelia Street (Near Washington Park) in Manhattan. It’s current flagship store is close to the original location, at 254 Bleecker Street, and is well known throughout the states for its quality, selection as well as education of cheese.

Another current day New York mainstay of the cheese community is Artisanal Premium Cheese, also located on Manhattan, just about 2 and 1/2 diagonal blocks from the Empire State Building. Not only does Artisanal have an excellent cheese counter, and cheese “caves”, it also has a full-service bar (where you can have drinks AND flights of cheese) AS WELL AS an amazing restaurant featuring… can you guess? Yes; cheese! I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying dinner there once in the past, and is well worth the experience if you have the time and money.

all this leads me to my question to you…

With so many great, and historic, cheese resources in New York, WHAT type of cheese do I bring to N.Y. friends from California? The truth is, they can most likely buy any California Artisan cheese that I can think of in New York. So; what will/would be different (and tasty)?

and my second question;

What type of cheese should I try while in New York? Perhaps you have something to suggest, local to New York State perhaps, a cheese or two to keep my eye out for? We’ll be busy visiting friends and family, and will most likely spend the majority of our time in Brooklyn, but you can be sure that I try something, somewhere…

Thanks for any advice you can give in the comment section just below in the lower-right of this post.

Cheese and wine are natural friends, and there is an incredible art to pairing them well/correctly (entire education classes are offered at places such as at the Cheese School of San Francisco). When and why cheese and wine became synonymous with art openings, however, I am not certain. Very brief searches of the Internet did not yield anything (well, not quickly enough. I was hoping to find an article on the subject as a “first” hit in Google). I’ll take a few uninformed guesses; fine wine and cheese are traditionally (in America) not cheap, and were traditionally considered to be for refined tastes. People who might attend an art opening, are either often other artists, or people who enjoy, and can afford to buy, art. The wine and cheese, besides being excellent on their own, provide an art opening a certain air of sophistication due to the reasons I already mentioned. On top of that, it is perhaps more likely that a gallery will be able to sell art should the visiting patrons being both a little on the inebriated side, and fed.
When and how wine and cheese became an almost expected part of any art opening I am still not certain, but even in today’s economic climate, you’ll find them at art openings. This past Friday night (4/24/09) started a busy weekend for Kathy and myself…

First, a little history. When the Thunderbird Theatre Company decided to write and produce its first musical, “Rocket Girl“, we were VERY fortunate that local artist/illustrator Josh Ellingson came on board to help us with the graphic design elements for the musical. He designed the show’s logo, as well as several other print pieces for the production. Nowadays Josh continues to be a nationally (well; internationally) recognized and published illustrator, to the point that his art was even recently on display in space. Thanks to Facebook, Kathy and I were reminded on Friday that it was time for the; “Spring Open Studios at The Local 303,” home of Josh’s studio space. We see Josh, and his new work, too infrequently, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Uh, Bryce; Cheese?!?

Yes, yes, “Inner-Cheese Voice,” I was getting to that, but to be honest I plan to stray from cheese quite a bit on this particular post… so as I was saying; open studios are an excellent chance to not only see new art, but also to have some wine and cheese. While in college we paid close attention to when art openings were almost exclusively for the wine and cheese… The Local 303’s  open studio was a treasure trove of art (and cheese). We also got to meet one of Josh’s studio co-tenants, Jason Dryg, who has a very distinct style which mimics commercial art. As to cheese, there WAS cheese, AND there were hot dogs! It was refreshing to find both the tradition of wine and cheese being met, but also in conjunction with the pop-art feel of some of the work we saw, I was pleased to find the heartier down-to-earth fare being offered. Art without pretension.

Will you write home about the cheese that was offered?

No, but I will mention it here. A respectable quality variety of sharp cheddar, dill Havarti and Dutch Gouda were present, all tasty and all most likely purchased at Trader Joe’s; which is an excellent place to find and buy a variety of cheeses (both foreign and domestic) and prices which are at least 1/3 cheaper than the inflated prices of “gourmet” (ie non-consumer block cheese) cheese at larger grocery chain stores.

Wandering the halls and studios of The Local 303, we noted that most all the kind food and drink offerings were likely from Trader Joe’s. One studio had a sign, however, next to a few crumbs on a plate, something about figs and Bellwether Farms’ Carmody. Arrived too late for that…

As to the rest of the weekend, “cheesiness” continued… We went with our good friends Michelle and Alexander and their daughter to a Science Fair at Cal. State Hayward. Yeah, I know; they renamed themselves to Cal. State East Bay (so to sound more more metropolitan and to have prospective students believe they are somehow closer to the Bay than they are), but I just can’t call them that… The science fair was fantastic. Set up to attract kids to science, and to show science in a university setting. The event was perfect since college professors were there showcasing their work, and interacting with “kids” of all ages.

…and this has to do with cheese, how?

OK, it doesn’t. In fact, the single food stand was family perfect; hot dogs for $1, water, chips and sodas for 50¢ each. I did learn, however, at a nutrition display that one “serving” of cheese is the size of about two dominoes. The daily recommended amount of dairy for an adult male of my age is three cups, which in this example equates to six dominoes of cheese (roughly 4.5 ounces). At the open studios the night before I must’ve had at least two days worth of recommended servings, so on Saturday I cut back… 

Sunday brought new cheesiness; the press photo shoot for the Thunderbird Theatre Company, conducted in our apartment. Our next production is “Aaron Trotter and the Incident at Bikini Beach” written by Peter finch of KFOG radio. Auditions for the show are Saturday, May 9th, 2009 and you can get all the details about the auditions on our website  (as long as you are reading this prior to May 9th, 2009 ). You may recall I mentioned last years photo shoot (and gave my favorite mac and cheese recipe) on Canyon of Cheese here. This year we had six actors/”models” for the press photo shoot, and six support people. Kathy and I (OK, mainly Kathy), made a brunch of pancakes, bacon, coffee, juice and plain Dutch Baby (recipe here on CofC). As to cheese, we only had some grated (Parmesan) for those of us who enjoy savory Dutch Baby… jam, syrup and powdered sugar for the sweet version. Our graphic designer/photographer Dana Constance took over 1000 photos, and we’re looking forward to see which make the final cut as the show’s press photo. The photos displayed are a couple that he let me have for this posting.

Last, but certainly not least, the weekend ended in having an amazing opportunity to not only see the musical “Wicked“ , but to enjoy a backstage tour by our friend Patrick who has been traveling with the show for… four years? It has finally made its way back here to Patrick’s home in San Francisco (you might recall that we visited Patrick while he was working the show in Los Angeles, and fed us an incredible meal with Feta). As the production’s Automation Carpenter, Patrick controls 90% of the large set piece movements throughout the play. For Kathy and myself the backstage workings of these kinds of huge productions are almost more spectacular than the show its self. I’m thoroughly amazed by how much design and expertise are used to create such a flawless show of this scale. In the independent realm of theater (our hobby), we use a lot of low-budget “tricks” to create impressive effects. True, shows such as “Wicked” do use a fair amount of smoke and mirrors to create the illusions they do, but what spectacular smoke and mirrors they are! A huge thank you again to Patrick for the intimate inner-workings tour of the show.

…and this, again, has to do with cheese, by…?

IT DOESN’T, “Inner-Cheese Voice!” It just doesn’t, ‘cept that I was fueled by the cheese I had eaten in the morning. To satisfy your never ending interest in cheese, however, I’ll talk about the dinner we had Friday night at one of the many Mexican burrito shops in the Mission District of San Francisco ["El Balazo"]. As I’ve mention in the past, I’m always hoping to find an excellent Chili Relleno, but never find them… this one, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest) was a 5. I wouldn’t have ordered the Relleno had the menu not claimed that it was filled with a special imported cheese. Regretfully, the cheese inside is no different than the bulk-produced mild cheddar and jack which was on top. It was still edible, good even, the price was right, AND IT HAD CHEESE, so I’m trying not to complain. In their favor, they were serving some of the most flavoriful refried beans I think I’ve had this year.

365 days have gone by since I started Canyon of Cheese, and during that time I’ve posted 101 times, which is a respectable 27% of the year that I’ve released my cheese musings to anyone who cares to read them.

I’d like to thank you, dear reader, for coming here to see if my current posting is informative, or fun, or odd, or just plain cheesy. As many fellow bloggers I have met can tell you, it’s not always easy to write and post something up on your site (sometimes it’s life that gets in the way, other times, I’ll admit, it’s lethargy). I may have written 27% of the past year, but I think about cheese every day, and could write about it every day given the time and freedom to do so.

My guidelines have always been, and continue to be, to: 1) write in a personal voice/manner, 2) try to always include photographs, related or not, 3) do not assume that anyone who reads this knows anything about any subject (cheese-related or not), 4) also don’t underestimate the knowledge of the readers, 5) write because you want to, and enjoy doing it, 6) whenever possible, try to learn more, and share what you learn when applicable, 7) try to keep a positive approach towards the things that you write about, and if you can’t be positive, try to be objective, lastly; 8…) go eat more cheese.

Texting to Kathy this morning to say that it’s been a year of Canyon of Cheese, she wrote back; “Champagne?” No; some cheese, please. Even on “normal” days I have cheese; Kathy made ground turkey tacos last night, and she put grated Prima Donna (from the Netherlands; crafted to be a Gouda-style cheese) on them. I can/do enjoy domestic cheddar as much as anyone, and that would have worked on the tacos too, but the point is that you can have cheese, and quality cheese, be part of your everyday life.

The best part of the past 365 days (besides the cheese) has been meeting all the wonderful, kind, friendly and interesting people who make having cheese possible. That’s everyone from cheesemakers, to distributors, to marketers, enthusiasts, and even people who simply tell me; “I like cheese.”

We live in a wonderful continuum, traveling in time, so it’s impossible for me to pick specific things that I enjoyed more than another over the past year. I value all experiences, and I value trying all cheeses too. If YOU, however, have favorite things about Canyon of Cheese, favorite cheeses, or would like to see me concentrate on any specific things more, or less, please let me know.

Is this dirge of yours over? Is your blog dead or something?

Far from it, “Inner-Cheese Voice”! Actually I wanted to invite any and all readers who care to to send me their own drawing of what Bryce’s “Inner-Cheese Voice” might look like. I’ll pick a favorite, and if you live in the Bay Area, a fondue dinner with us will be your reward of thanks! Tell me in the comment section that you have a drawing to send (electronically or by regular mail), and I’ll e-mail you an address (e-mail or regular) so that you can send it in.

Here’s to the next 365 days of Canyon of Cheese! Thank you all for reading, and continuing to read, commenting, and for enjoying cheese.

“Gutschein” is a voucher (such as a gift card), and “Glücksschwein” is a lucky pig (or rather; a pig that brings luck). Put ‘em together and you get a lucky pig with a gift card, but it still sounds better in German. We have our friend, who is a co-worker of Kathy’s, and happens to be German, to thank for teaching us this crafty little way of making a gift card into a more attractive looking gift…

Great; another German lesson. CHEESE, Bryce?!?

I was getting to that “Inner-Cheese Voice”; have some patience. We were fortunate to be invited to, and attend, our friends Mike & Nicole’s house warming last night. Motivated, and possibly crazy(?), they managed to take advantage of the economic down-turn and buy a real fixer-upper in San Francisco. There couldn’t be a more perfectly suited couple, however, to make improvements on a house which had greatly needed it, and their house-warming was an excellent celebration of the amazing improvements they have already made. They are both behind-the-scenes theatre professionals, and both have amazing artistic sensibilities with the craft and experience to make their household improvements happen.

Beyond meeting wonderful friends, neighbors, and family of Mike and Nicole, there was, of course, cheese. I’ve been fortunate to try Spring Hill Creamery’s cheeses on many occasions, not the least of which had been at the California Artisan Cheese Festival.

As you should be able to see from the picture (click on it for a pop-up window with better resolution), Spring Hill prides its self for producing Organic cheeses. Without getting into the various definitions of “Organic” (at this time), I’d like to point out that Spring Hill produces its cheeses using vegetable rennet. If you are a vegetarian, or know vegetarians who do eat cheese, this is a very important factor. The question of whether cheese is a vegetarian food or not, is another somewhat controversial topic that I’m not in the mood (or of the expertise) to discuss at the moment, but here is one of thousands of articles that you can read on the subject (this one is a good place to start). What I will explain briefly is that in order to make cheese, you need some form of rennet, and although the greatest majority of cheeses utilize animal rennet (which is procured from the stomach lining of certain animals), there are also many which utilize rennet derived from fruits and/or vegetables, which is what Spring Hill uses. Spring Hill’s many types are cheeses are ones that you might also find in your larger grocery store (from other larger manufactures), but some of the differences are the fact that you can rest assured that there are no “extra” ingredients in Spring Hill’s cheese (their website sums it up concisely; “All Natural, 100% Fresh Cultured Grade A Jersey Milk, Salt and Enzymes… That’s It! No Artificial Hormones.”), they are using vegetable rennet, and it is a farmstead cheese (in brief; the cheese is made from the farm/creamery’s own milk - single herd).

Did you try all the cheeses?

Are you crazy?!? Of course I did! There’s an incredible creaminess to Spring Hill’s cheeses… Since I love garlic, I think that the Garlic Jack was my favorite of the ones served at party. Here in the Bay Area of California, besides the many stores which carry Spring Hill’s cheese, you can also try and buy it at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

One of these things is not like the others…

Good eye, “Inner-Cheese Voice”. There’s one goat cheese on the plate; it is Pave from Pug’s Leap Farmstead Cheese of Healdsburg, California. Priced very differently than Spring Hill’s cheeses (and naturally completely different in taste, texture, form, use, etc.), Pave is another fantastic artisan cheese from California and helps illustrate the diversity of cheeses being produced here. More on Pug’s Leap another time…

Oh, one last side note. The dollhouse picture is of a dollhouse that Nicole and Mike had built together as kind of their “dream home” prior to actually owning a home… I love that it includes a postcard rack!

Have YOU been enjoying any cheese lately? Let me/everyone know about it by using the comment section to the lower right of this post.

Well, we did it, Kathy and I hosted the Postcards, Cheese and Cheesy Postcards party. If you look at my last post, you’ll understand a little about what the party was about. What a fantastic time; we have our wonderful friends to thank for that. It lasted a little over 11 hours, and at its peak there were about 50 people at our place, and closer to 70 people managed to make it (some overlapping, some not). The selections of cheeses were amazing, and I have to compliment everyone who attended for their choices, which caused a wonderfully diverse selection of cheeses. My belief prior to the party was that I’d be able to document all the cheeses that arrived along with our friends, maybe take a picture, write it down… couldn’t possibly. When, for example, 12 people show up at the same time, it was tough enough to welcome them, make them feel at home, get them a drink and make a few introductions. Our friends, however, are 100% self-sufficient, it’s just that we wanted everyone to feel as special as they are to us. Ultimately it was a wonderful orgy of cheese that we all got to enjoy…

To call out single cheeses (that I can remember) from the wonderful selection is potentially unfair, since there were so many. Just as the many pictures I’m trying to post can’t/won’t show everyone who was able to attend (we were too busy enjoying the party to take pictures), I won’t be able to list all the cheeses. Oh; an FYI: just with all Canyon of Cheese posts, you can click ON a picture and a secondary window will pop-up with the larger resolution version of the picture.

So, where to start? First off, it wasn’t just about cheese, it was about postcards too. As you can see from the picture of our new card-catalog cabinet specifically designed and made for our postcard and stationary collection (the picture of it is from our friend Dana… He also blogs; read his here).  I actually don’t collect postcards (though I have a lot); I SEND postcards. At least one a day. E-mail is fine, but for our friends, family and acquaintances, I write cards, and write them frequently. It’s an easy habit and I’m always encouraging friends to send physical mail to the people they know too. A couple hundred cards went out in the mail due to our guests writing at the party…

Um, Bryce, Cheese?

Sorry, “Inner-Cheese Voice”, got carried away, as always. I’ll try to loop it back to cheese if/as I can. Everyone has got a cheese story. “Influential cheeses in their life,” date-stories, family stories, cheeses they’ll never forget… Our friend Christine (part of the Thunderbird, as well as a composer extraordinaire) always has amazing stories about her life in San Francisco whether about travels on public transit, or even buying cheese for the party (you can see her keeping us in rapt attention in one of these pictures).

Our friend Brian, a professional balloon twister (as well as an amazing chef and actor), brought his offering of cheese wrapped up in balloons resembling a big hunk of cheese.

Paul, who lives in San Francisco, but had been in Chico three hours prior, brought some goat cheese from the Northern half of the state fresh from Chico’s farmer’s market. He skillfully kept the cheese chilled the whole trip…

Nancy and David went nuts and brought a wide selection of English cheeses…  Greg and Stephanie, who, like Paul, also drove up from Chico (three hour drive, AND they drove back the same day), were so happy to be able to go to the Cheese Board in Berkeley prior to the party.

Our guests had quite a time thinking of the ramifications of the “Wyfe of Bath” cheese, named after the character from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, brought by our friend Jenn, and her boyfriend Steve.

Jaina & Yoram also brought great friends and cheese to the party, including some Middle-Eastern semi-soft braided cheese reminiscent of mozzarella. Speaking of which, our friend Micah (of Ray of Light Theatre) MADE fresh mozzarella an hour before the party!

Again, I can’t mention ALL the cheeses that were present at the party, so I sure wish any and all of you who did manage to attend would click on “comment” down in the lower right of this post and remind us all what you brought and/or what your favorites were. I am NOT playing cheese favorites; just TOO many to remember and mention!

Thank you everyone again for the fantastic cheese and postcard party…

Was there any cheese left after the party?

Yes, some, as you can see from the picture to the right I started to use some of it for the Zucchini Casserole I make sometimes (recipe on this Canyon post). Thanks again everyone; couldn’t have asked for a nicer party amongst the company of such excellent friends (and cheese).