Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

Cheese making and tasting day. Need I say more?

I'd been looking forward to this since the minute I opened and thumbed through my kitchen book. I didn't realize we'd be getting to do a thorough tasting so, when Chef Guido mentioned it before we left class Tuesday, I got more excited than I've been in a while. We've been doing this ServSafe lecture in the mornings which is all about proper food handling, cleanliness, what food borne illnesses can happen...just all the things you need to know and be schooled on when it comes to serving food to people. It's been boring but necessary so I was happy as a clam when the rest of the afternoon was spent in the land of cheese.

After we came back from lunch (which I didn't eat because I was focused on cheese), Chef Guido had put out this glorious spread:

13 different Italian cheeses that we studied, had lecture on and tasted. Every tiny thing we learn, such as the true proper way to taste cheese, makes a drastic difference in how you proceed forward with that ingredient. It was fascinating to learn about the different souring agents that are used in cheese making and what animals produce whatever milk, etc. I never even knew this but cheese itself, not just blue cheese, is a mold. Period. It was happenstance that cheese was ever made in the first place! It was a total accident and man, that's the best accident that's ever happened in my opinion. 

After we finished the tasting, it was time to make some ourselves. We did ricotta and mozzarella and I had a blast doing it! I've made ricotta several times now on my own but it was great to learn a different technique which is actually easier. Yay for that! Making the mozzarella was so much fun. Pulling and stretching the curd made you feel like you were a little kid playing with silly putty. It was fun tearing off pieces and molding them into balls, just like you see in the market. I speak for each of us in saying we really enjoyed that part.

We were left to decide on our own how we'd plate and present both cheeses so I kept it simple with the ricotta and topped it with olive oil, salt and pepper. Chef Guido had some amazing suggestions though that I want to try next time such as drizzling it with honey and a dash of cinnamon to make it sort of a dessert. I think that sounds wonderful! With the mozzarella, I stayed simple but dug into the fresh herbs. I finely chopped basil, rosemary and parsley then added olive oil, salt and pepper. Voila:

I overworked the curd a little bit so it was a touch rubbery but tasty, nonetheless. This was certainly my favorite day in the kitchen thus far, that's for sure!

   

Cheese and Beer? Yes, please!

This city is just so cool sometimes. Know what's making it better? The recent rise of all these daily coupon sites. Yep, I think I get about 15 of them in a day and I'm getting addicted. Uh ohhh...

A couple of months ago, I got one for this Oktoberfest cheese and beer pairing class put on by Artisanal. I was intrigued by it because Dennis Flynn, a brand specialist from Stone Brewery, would be there doing the beer "educating" and I'm a huge fan of Stone IPA. I thought it would be so cool to meet and talk with him. My girlfriends and I decided to buy tickets and let me just tell you...I'm so glad we did.

I had no idea what to expect with this thing. Being that it's NYC, I pictured us getting the tiniest bite of cheese and a half sip of beer. I was very pleasantly surprised when that wasn't the case! They started with a cocktail hour that was awesome. There was champagne, homemade pretzels with mustard, different sausages, cheese fondue...SO good. When they'd finished setting the other room up, we walked in to find this place setting:

That completely exceeded my expectations. I mean, we all know I have a huge appetite so I got pretty happy knowing this tasting might even be a bit gluttonous. Nice move, Artisanal!

We started with tasting all the beers first. Dennis went through each flavor profile and alcohol strength and we really did learn a great deal! Also, he was mighty generous with the pours if any of us ran out of a particular beer we liked. Yay, Dennis! My favorite was definitely the oaked arrogant bastard (3rd one in the center):

On to the cheese. Holy balls, some of the cheese on this plate is some of the best I've ever tried:

The one at one o'clock was crusted with espresso grounds and quite possibly the best cheese I've ever had. There was also a goat gouda that was delicious (I am not a fan of goat cheese) and one called 'sea hive' that was a cheddar-like cheese with a honey flavor. They were all so good.

The best part was the third round of pairing the cheese and beer together. You would never know just how amazing the two would go together. Stone's smoked porter beer went the best with everything but it really was awesome the way certain flavor profiles matched, just like you think wine should whilst eating cheese. We really had fun:

They're doing a mozzarella making class soon and I think we're all gonna sign up for it. It's so awesome to just do something different every now and then. We ended our evening with a couple of drinks at Bobo (of course) and talked about what other fun things like this we can do. What a good Friday! :)

I Know Why I'm Not Filthy Rich...

I'm not because I would spend every dollar I had on spa treatments like the ones I had this past weekend. I am not ashamed to admit this. Now, I'm not at all one to get my nails done every week or have facials (I still have yet to ever have one!) or shop. I never have cared about that kind of thing. I mean, I talk about how much fresh produce excites me for goodness sake. However, I have never felt better than I did after my time up at Mirbeau Spa.

First off, having a getaway outside this concrete jungle is so necessary to maintain sanity. Even though I was just out of town for my birthday, it amazes me how much I felt like I needed to get away again. (My friends back home would say this is the point I should realize that I'm done with New York. :P) Though I was saddened by the thought of not attending an Easter service on Sunday, I did look very forward to our little excursion.

Mirbeau Inn and Spa is in the town of Skaneateles which is part of the Finger Lakes region up north. There are wineries and farms and such amazing land up there. The drive was long due to low speed limits but it was pretty incredible scenery. We mapped out a route to stop at three different wineries along the way and my very favorite was Fox Run. Their wines have some of the most unique flavor profiles I've had to date and the whole experience was just terrific. Also, who doesn't love this about the owner (taken from their site):

Scott Osborn is a strong advocate of the place of wine in a healthy life-style and he appreciates the health benefits of garlic as well. On a culinary level, as the Fox Run Garlic Festival demonstrates, the pairing of good wine and well-prepared flavorful garlic is nothing short of sublime.

The garlic festival is in August and I'm seriously considering going back for it. :-o Anyway, Scott was there working when we visited and he was so friendly and welcoming. Why oh why is it so rare these days to meet people like that? Sometimes it makes me sad to feel that blown away by meeting someone who is just warm and inviting. At any rate, I bought three bottles of wine at their vineyard alone. We also stopped by Penguin Bay, which has emphasis on sparkling wines, and Glenora which paired beautiful cheeses along with their tastings. All of their cheese is by Yancey's Fancy and, I kid you not, every person on the planet needs the smoked bacon horseradish cheddar. It was incredible.

After the wineries, we arrived at Mirbeau and it was the most darling "village" that reminded me of little German cottages. We had such a nice weekend! The town was half a mile away so we walked everywhere which was perfectly normal to us New Yorkers. ;) We had the infamous Doug's Fish Fry and enjoyed the gorgeous lake and town. I had a rough 6 mile run on Saturday (thanks Doug!) but then completely and totally escaped into my deep tissue massage and pinot noir body scrub. One word: heaven. It was a truly amazing weekend and this sums it up, pink champagne and all: