Cheese-y days and Mondays!

Whew! We made it through the Christmas holiday, and I hope you all had a chance to put your feet up and enjoy your family for a bit. We will be open tomorrow, Monday, December 29,  so that I can take care of preparing trays for a number of folks still participating in Christmas celebrations!

I like Mondays - I usually close the store and do all my housekeeping chores, getting time to remove all the cheese from each of our deli cases, unwrap, and taste while things are quieter. We clean the cases thoroughly before replacing the cheeses in their respective homes. Two cheeses we received in early December were from Petaluma, California - produced at Bellwether Farms by Liam and Cindy Callahan. 

After the Christmas foods redolent in spices and followed by the heavy doses of chocolate of the past weeks, these two cheeses are a welcome departure.

Carmody Reserve from Bellwether Farms in Petaluma, CA is an aged raw-milk cheese made from Jersey cow milk. It's been described as having a cultured milk aroma, like yogurt. The pale paste smells to me of cheesecake, and I love to eat it paired with almonds and dried apricots. 

 San Andreas, also from Bellwether Farms, is an aged sheep milk cheese. I'm really liking this cheese, and our pairing notes for wines recommend a red with good acidity, like a Spanish garnacha. It's a cheese that leans a bit to the nutty, and carmel-y notes. Very good!

I hope to see you this week! Let me know how your cheese purchases were received by friends and guests during your Christmas entertaining.

Our Tuesday night pairing features Swiss - a "holier than thou" experience. Call us at the store to make your reservations! (262) 740-1880.