Bellwether Farms San Andreas Farmstead Cheese
July 3, 2011
Made with Raw Sheep Milk & Vegetarian Suitable Cheese
Fellow cheese lovers, The Lady’s new cheese gig is just about the best thing that ever happened to this Feline Foodie. Second only to the day The Brain deployed me to Burbank to assume the command recently vacated when the Mighty Mike Tyson was called home to the Mothership. My cheese fridge runneth over. The Lady told me there were thousands of cheeses made around the world and every time she goes away… she returns with gifts… cheese, of course. I pray The Brain allows me time enough to taste every cheese known to man including Yak Milk cheese… The Man and I are lonely when she travels but upon her return we are blessed… it doesn’t get any better than this…
Hidden in her luggage, along with the Bayley Hazen Blue, was a wedge from the California farm where our good friend Lenny works: Bellwether Farms. They make Carmody, another perennial favorite around the manse. You can read my review here.
This time she brought home San Andreas, made using raw sheep milk. This farmstead cheese is as smooth as Frank Sinatra’s croon and as full-bodied as Marilyn Monroe… my small homage to the time when singers were singers and women still had curves… but I digress…
With each sheep milk cheese we taste, The Lady and I become more enamored and San Andreas doesn’t disappoint. It’s creamy and mild with just a hint of sour on the finish. It might be likened to a pecorino from the Tuscany region of Italy.
The Lady served this with Divina Halkidiki Olives sprinkled with Sicilian herbs and to know one’s surprise… The Man swooned…
I give Bellwether Farms San Andreas 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got.)
Serving Suggestions: As part of a cheese plate, all you need to add are a few olives and rustic bread.
Wine Pairing: I would suggest a new blended red.
Beer Pairing: A blonde ale might make an interesting pairing.
Awards: 2007 ACS – Second in Class
Editorial Note: You can expect more 4 Paw ratings that I normally award. The Lady’s new job is exposing her to the crème de la crème of cheese… stay tuned… it’ll only get better…
U
Padam, Padam
Songs of passion. . .French cabaret music, klezmer, tangos, Latin and original music.
Updated June 12, 2011
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Padam, Padam at the Cheese Kiosk
The Lady was there; I wish I had been there… it was a perfect day at the cheese kiosk. The Lady thanks Padam, Padam for performing and making a special day even more special!!!
How cool!! Portland’s own musical group, Padam, Padam, will perform a mini-concert from 2pm-3pm tomorrow, June 11th at Fred Meyer’s Hawthorne Store, the only Leed’s Certified Silver Grocery Store in Oregon. It’s all part of the specialty cheese kiosk’s “Locavore/Local” theme as the cheesemongers salute more than two dozen cheeses from local cheesemakers in Oregon and Washington State. They also are featuring other local fare that pairs well with the local cheeses, including Beer, Wine, Tea, Jams and Mustards.
There will be cheese samples as well… stop in and hear some great music and take home some local cheese.
Local cheesemakers include: Tillamook, Willamette Valley Cheese Company, Tumalo Farms, Appel Farms, Rogue Creamery and Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.
The Lady will be there and if I can sneak in (another “No Pets Allowed” food joint… what’s up with that???), so will I, your not-so-humble Feline Foodie!!!
Time to Get Your Grill On… Grilled Cheese, That Is
April 22, 2011
April is Grilled Cheese Month and we’re celebrating at our Cheesemonger Recipe Blog by posting a new Grilled Cheese Sandwich everyday of the month.
Here is the list of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches we have created and posted so far:
April 1 – Crave Brothers Mascarpone Grilled Cheese Dessert Combo
April 2 – Old Amsterdam Grilled Cheese
April 3 – Saxon Homestead Saxony and Pear Grilled Cheese
April 4 – Grand Margaux Brie Grilled Cheese
April 5 – Neal’s Yard/Appleby’s Cheshire and Sausage Grilled Cheese on Crumpets
April 6 – Tillamook Tilly’s Dilly of a Grilled Cheese
April 7 – Joel’s Grilled Pimento Cheese
April 8 – The Man’s Roast Beef and Horseradish Cheddar Grilled Cheese
April 9 – Marco Polo and Raspberry Grilled Cheese
April 10 – Croatian Grilled Cheese
April 11 – Beemster Mustard and Bacon Grilled Cheese
April 12 – Just Cheese Grilled Cheese
April 13 – Midnight Moon Gouda and Olives
April 14 – Raw Milk Manchego, Jamon Iberico and Membrillo
April 15 – The Tax Man Cometh Grilled Cheese
April 16 – Smoked Dorset Red and Bangers Grilled Cheese
April 17 – Lincolnshire Poacher and Asparagus Grilled Cheese
April 18 – Jarlsberg, Mortadella and Apples Grilled Cheese
April 19 – No Woman and Jerk Chicken Grilled Cheese
April 20 – Falling Back in Love with Parrano Grilled Cheese
April 21 – Woman of LaMancha and Flame-Crafted Ham Grilled Cheese
April 22 – Oregonzola and Steak Grilled Cheese
April 23 – Sartori Bellavitano Gold and Capocollo Grilled Cheese
April 24 – BelGioioso Fontina and Sylvilagus Audubonii Grilled Cheese
April 25 – Ossau Iraty and Camelus bactrianus Grilled Cheese
April 26 – Cotswold Pub Cheese and Axis calamianensis Grilled Cheese
April 27 – Denhay Farmhouse Cheddar and Marmota vancouverenis Grilled Cheese
April 28 – In Honor of The Queen Grilled Cheese
April 29 – William and Kate’s Lamb Confit Bubble and Squeak Grilled Cheese
April 30 – The House Mouse Grilled Cheese
And beginning April 24th, every grilled cheese recipe will use a tasty meat from The Feline Foodie’s own cheese and food pairing chart… this promises to really be interesting…
We also offer 10 Simple Steps to Build a Grilled Cheese
Please subscribe to our Cheesemonger Recipe Blog to get a daily update of new grilled cheese recipes as we post them…
Roquefort, The King of Sheep’s Milk Blue Cheese
March 25, 2011
Made From Raw Sheeps’ Milk
The third featured bleu cheese in the “Send Marcella to France” contest is the quintessential of French Bleu Cheeses: Roquefort. The first AOC-designated cheese, Roquefort received this protection in 1925, was mentioned in history as early as 79AD when Pliny, the Elder, spoke of its rich flavor… who knew, I’d follow in the steps of one of the great as I sit here today “mentioning Roquefort”…
Legend claims that Roquefort was discovered when a young man, eating a sheeps’ milk cheese sandwich, saw a lovely lass passing by… he abandoned the sandwich in the cave where he sat to chase the girl. Time passes, the boy returns to find that the cheese has molded and voila… Roquefort Cheese was born. It’s almost always about women or money with humankind of the male persuasion… why am I not surprised???
Today, Roquefort is the only bleu cheese still made using the mold grown on rye bread. The mold, Penicillium roqueforti, is found in the soil of the caves where the cheese is aged. The bread is molded for several weeks, ground up and injected into the cheese. It can be added to the curd or later as an aerosol injected into the aging cheese. One of the AOC rules is that this bleu cheese must be aged in the natural Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. 60% of Roquefort is produced by Societe and that is the brand that The Lady sells at her kiosk. Prior to the AOC-designation, a small amount of cow or goat milk was added to the cheese. Now, the cheese is made exclusively from the milk of Lacaune, Manech and Basco-Bearnaise breeds of sheep.
The Lady brought a modest wedge home that she served in two ways. The first was at room temperature and schmeared on French (naturally) bread and then the following day she served a simple romaine salad with Roquefort dressing and Confit of Chicken, sautéed fresh veggies with pasta. This chicken dish came along after watching Emeril Live on the CookingTV Channel, a favorite around the manse.
Roquefort’s veining is more green than “blue” and makes a dramatic presentation. Simply put, this cheese is just as pretty to look at as it is to consume… well, that may be a bit hyperbolic, but not by much. This cheese brings such pleasure to the palate: it starts mild, moves to sweet, then smoky and ends with a salty finish… it just doesn’t get any better than this…
I give Roquefort 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestion: Schmeared on French Bread makes a perfect way to start a meal. You can make a perfect salad dressing using Roquefort or you can add it to tarts, pasta sauces and if you really want to impress family or friends, use it for a specialty mac n cheese.
Wine Suggestion: The Lady served a favorite of hers, Chateau de Sancerre.
Beer Suggestion: Brasserie Saison Fantome
Source: 100% Raw Sheeps’ Milk
Trivia: Before the discovery of penicillin, it was common for shepherds to apply this cheese to wounds to avoid gangrene.
Brie de Meaux
March 13, 2011
I don’t know how she did it, but The Lady brought home a wedge of Brie de Meaux, a superior Brie generally produced only using raw milk. Perhaps she had a pasteurized version but after my tasting, good money says this cheese came in under the radar…
Made in the Brie region outside of Paris, Brie de Meaux is usually produced between July and March. This cheese is the quintessential example of the melding of Brie and Terroir. You can taste the earth and the floral in this divinely creamy cheese.
During production, casting is done manually and in thin layers using brie shovels. The wheels are turned by hand and ripened in cellars for about four weeks before they are ready for sale. This AOC-protected cheese reaches its “peak” between 7 and 9 weeks after manufacturing.
The Lady let the wedge sit for about 45 minutes before serving it to The Man and your not-so humble Feline Foodie. As you might guess, I had to go paw-to-paw with The Man to get my fair half-share. He’s not really into sharing… I find that to be annoying… The Lady thinks after all this time, I should be “used to ways of The Man”… sheesh…
This cheese is not only gorgeous with a hint of redin its paste which reminds of my favorite French cheese, Epoisses; it melts on the palate as the sweet, nutty earthiness of this cheese explodes in the mouth. You can taste mushroom and floral from the grass.
I give Brie de Meaux 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got) and urge you to get a wedge of this raw milk wonder… even if you have to fly to Paris…
Serving Suggestions: Keep it simple. Bread and wine… that’s all you need and all you would ever want.
Wine Pairing: You want a fruity Burgundy or a glass of champagne.
Beer Pairing: I wouldn’t but many would…
Source: Raw Cows’ Milk
Trivia: Brie and Camembert are the same cheese…
It Ain’t Heavy… It’s My BeemsterLite
March 4, 2011
The Lady and I agree that most reduced-fat cheeses also suffer from reduced taste; but not BeemsterLite. You’d never know it has 50% less fat than a regular Gouda… seriously this is a very tasty cheese.
The Lady brought a wedge home and I had to fight The Man paw-to-paw and if it weren’t for that opposable thumb “edge” I would have gotten more than a half share.
This cheese is nutty and sweet with a hint of the floral. Aged five months, BeemsterLite is a perfect cheese for those interested in taking a bit of fat out of their diet without any loss of flavor and enjoyment. The Lady served this tasty Gouda with a schmear of Vintner’s Kitchen’s Marionberry and Port Jam… as you might expect, it was yummy; The Man swooned.
This cheese has 90 calories per ounce as opposed to 120-130 in fattier cheeses. 50 of those calories are “fat calories”.
On a personal note, I imagine it is fun to live in the Beemster Polder; a place I have requested for my next assignment in the event The Brain re-deploys me in a future life. I hear that the Mighty Mike Tyson and Honorable Hemingway are frolicking there now and enjoying every day hanging out with the blue cows and chasing the blue mice… 
I give BeemsterLite 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: On a cheese board, you can “wow” your guests. This cheese would be great in a fondue and also make a lower caloric grilled cheese sandwich. It’s a versatile cheese… you can do most anything with it and it’ll be a hit!!
Wine Pairing: The Lady loves her reds and went with 14 Hands Hot to Trot.
Beer Pairing: The Man chose Thomas Hooker Munich Style Golden Lager.
Source: Those blue contented cows that frolic in the Beemster Polder.
Spaulding Gray, Feline Foodie, Reporting For Duty
February 26, 2011
The Lady caught me just as I was starting to dictate my next cheese review.
Cheeses Awarded the Feline Foodie’s 4 Paws Designation
February 17, 2011
The Following cheeses and other items reviewed on the blog, all received 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got…)
34° Cracked Pepper Crispbread Crackers
34° Lemon Zest Crispbread Crackers
*34° Natural Crispbread Crackers
*34° Rosemary Crispbread Crackers
*34° Sesame Crispbread Crackers
*34° Whole Grain Crispbread Crackers
*Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil
BelGioioso Tiramisu Mascarpone
Cahill’s Original Porter Cheese
Carr Valley Cows’ Milk Cheese Plate
Consider Bardwell Farm’s Pawlet
Consider Bardwell Farm’s Rupert
Crave Brothers Fresh Mozzarella
Fiscalini Farmstead Premium Aged Cheddar
Ford Farm Rugged Mature Cheddar
Fromager d’Affinois with Garlic and Herbs
Golden Age Cheese Super Sharp Cheddar
Golden Glen Creamery Farmstead Butter
Gothberg Farms’ Raw Milk Gouda
Gothberg Farms’ The Woman of LaMancha
Greens of Glastonbury Organic Mature Cheddar
*Hawthorne Fred Meyer Meat Counter Has Got It Going On
Ilbesa’s Aged Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Ilbesa’s Mature Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Laack’s Eight Year Extra Sharp Cheddar
*Long Clawson Dairy Lemon Zest Stilton
Mauri Gorgonzola Piccante D.O.C.
*Rogue Creamery Rogue River Blue
Roth-Kase Natural Smoked Gouda
*Salemville SmokeHaus Blue Cheese
Sally Jackson Raw Sheep Milk Cheese
Sartori Bellavitano Gold with Pepper
Sweet Grass Dairy’s Thomasville Tomme
Tillamook 100th Anniversary Three-Year Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar
Tillamook Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar
*Tsunami Sushi at Hawthorne’s Fred Meyer
Upland’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve
Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Bijou
*Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Crème Fraiche
Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Cultured Butter
*Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Mascarpone
*Indicates Cheese is carried on The Lady’s kiosk or Cheese Island
Cheesemonger.WordPress Reaches the Big 5-0-0 With This Posting
February 14, 2011
Back in August 2008, when The Lady and I began our adventure with cheese, I don’t think either of us thought we’d write 500 blog posts and pages… but here we are today, posting number 500.
As 500 loomed on the horizon, in my bravado, I began a countdown and made promises of “Big Plans”… after 499, I realized I actually had to deliver on my “Big Plans”. I was reminded of Samuel Johnson, who said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” SJ was a wise man indeed…
The Lady and I put our heads together… which is easier around here than one might think… and decided to go with our favorite Cheese Headlines. Followed by a few shout-outs to a folks who helped us along the way…
The Lady and I subscribe to a Google search alert titled “cheese” and every day we get an email filled with headlines and links to articles Google gleans from the internet about all things cheese. It’s a great research tool and keeps us up-to-date with the cheese world. Granted, we get a few things that have nothing to do with the cheese we know, love and write about… for example, cheese is slang for “money” and derived from welfare recipients receiving “government cheese”. Sadly, “cheese” is also slang for a new illegal drug hitting the urban streets…
From these alerts, I noticed the following:
- It is scary how many strange events occur in and around Chuck E. Cheese… few, if any, involve cheese or Chuck E.; many involve brawling…
- You can make a different Mac n Cheese recipe every day of the year for a decade or longer…
- “Say Cheese” is the favorite phrase used in news stories about cheese… followed closely by “The Big Cheese” and “Whey to Go”… all a bit “cheesy” if you ask me…
And now for my favorite Cheese Headlines from 2010:
Things a Monkey Could Cook: Macaroni and Cheese with Applesauce (how about a caveman???… with all due respect to the cavemen of the world…)
Cheesemaker’s growth udderly fantastic (seriously??? “udderly”??? – “Hey, copywriter, step away from the keyboard!!”)
Dog eats bagel; woman goes nuts (turns out the woman thought the cream cheese schmeared on the bagel would kill the dog… Ten bucks says she’s a member of PETA…)
Mr Dimon, Would You LIke Some Cheese With That Whine? (One of our favorites around the manse – Jamie Dimon is the head of Chase Bank (or in keeping with our theme here – he’s the Big Cheese at Chase), which is, in our still constitutionally protected opinion, one of the greediest banks in the country.
Cut the Cheese in “The Fart Without Fear” Cookbook (I don’t know where to begin…)
Cancer Patients Should Avoid Listeria Containing Cheese Products (Not that anyone asked me, but it seems everyone should avoid cheese products containing listeria… but what do I know, I’m just a cat.)
Now Drinking | The Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup Martini (is nothing sacred???)
Oprah: Depression Made Me Eat 30 Pounds of Mac ‘N’ Cheese (now, that’s a lot of mac n cheese…)
A foodie rates Chili’s 2 for $20 deal: Trying out that little bistro on Sawyer (I’m sorry, I just never thought I’d see “Foodie” and “Chili’s” in the same sentence…)
The secret to great fudge is … Velveeta? (I don’t even have to make this stuff up…)
And here are a few Chuck E. Cheese specific headlines…
Below the Scroll: Chuck E. Cheese’s brawls, Miss America, weightless cats (I take great exception to Chuck E Cheese brawls and cats being mentioned in the same headline… even the weightless ones.)
Beaumont man arrested after brawl at Chuck E Cheese (The Lady and I watched the video of this event but decided it was in poor taste to link to it… however, you can find it at youtube.com. (Telling you where to find it is tasteless as well; but a little less, don’t you think???) There’s also a news video about another brawl at a Chuck E Cheese somewhere on the East Coast… what’s up with brawling at Chuck E Cheese – isn’t it supposed to be a family restaurant where you take the kids to have fun???)
Police log: Women fighting at Chucky Cheese (evidently, just another typical evening at Chuck E. Cheese)
Calling All Cars: Trouble at Chuck E. Cheese’s, Again (what can I say… “It must be The Hickeys again”….)
Man Punches Woman at Chuck E. Cheese (I ask you, shouldn’t this be the exception rather than the rule when it comes to CEC… alas, I would be wrong…)
On a more serious note, a few shout-outs to folks who helped The Lady and moi, your humble Feline Foodie, as we wander through the world of cheese:
First, and most important, is The Man. He is the love of The Lady’s life; he takes care of all my needs when The Lady is at the cheesemines and he’s been a good sport regarding the comments I make about him… well, most of them, anyway… 
My friend Katy Ellis O’Brien, who drew the caricature of moi that has become my signature portrait. Katy, you’re the best and amazingly talented… you captured my soul (and heart)… Please visit Katy’s website and blog to view her art.
Amy, The Queen of Cheese, who ignited the first passion for cheese in The Lady…
DPI, for taking me off their banned blogs list and allowing their employees to once again read what I have to say, in the event anyone at DPI actually cares…
Gordon “Zola” Edgar, cheesemonger extraordinaire, for generously sharing his knowledge with The Lady and moi. Please buy his book, Cheesemonger, A Life on the Wedge and read his blog.
And finally, The Brain. If not for him, The Lady and I would never have hooked up…
Tsunami Sushi at Hawthorne’s Fred Meyer
October 1, 2010
The Lady was at the Hawthorne Fred Meyer earlier this week and chatting with Alex, the owner of the Tsunami Sushi Franchise (Sushi is right next to the Cheese Kiosk where The Lady buys a lot of the cheeses she brings home for me to taste and review… think about it… cheese and sushi together… a Feline Foodie Heaven… but no… I have not seen the set-up as Fred “No Pets” Meyer will not allow Portland’s Feline Foodie (that would be me) into the store… but for dining-in, the sushi is served via a conveyor belt (aka “Sushi train”) and the diners can choose from a large selection of sushi dishes as they glide by on the belt… it sounds really cool… however, I wouldn’t know, personally… but I digress.
As you might guess, I’m a big fan of sushi and went on time-for-dinner alert as The Lady walked through the door carrying a bag of goodies from Tsunami. The Man, being the sushi weenie that he is, didn’t swoon until he heard The Lady had included California Roll in her selections for dinner. Me… I was swooning over a box titled “Island Roll” which included four different sushi rolls… I was hoping to have the entire box to myself but The Lady explained that she and I would be sharing the box and The Man would share his California Roll with me… maybe next time…being the incurable optimist that I am…
The California Roll’s crab was filled with “crab salad” as opposed to slices (sticks) of imitation crab. In the salad, the imitation crab is mixed with a mayo-based dressing and combined with avocado and cucumber slices inside the seaweed wrap with the sushi rice rolled on the outside.
The Man combined some soy with the green horseradish, called wasabi, and used it for dipping. I went with naked crab salad… wasabi is too spicy for my taste buds. For less than 5 bucks you get 12 pieces of California Roll.
The Island Roll The Lady and I shared included four pieces of California Roll with crab salad added to the top of the roll; four pieces of rainbow roll; four more of a shrimp tempura roll and four pieces of tuna roll with tuna added to the top. The rolls were finished with a mayo-based dressing drizzled across the top of each roll and sprinkled with black sesame seeds and fish roe. The presentation was gorgeous. Cost of the Island Roll was under $11.00 – for 16 pieces of sushi. Even though I rarely pay for my groceries… at least not with $$$… but believe me when I say, I pay in other ways… these are amazingly affordable prices for sushi delicacies…
You can’t beat the taste either… Alex and his crew at the Sushi Bar at Hawthorne Fred “No Pets” Meyer know how to deliver on the fish… fresh and gourmet touches to make for yummy morsels of sushi…
The dine-in prices are between $1.60 and $3.10 per plate; you can get your fill of sushi without taking out a loan – how can you go wrong – super fresh, well-prepared sushi and affordable… too bad Fred “No Pets” Meyer won’t allow me into the store. I would feast all day at the bar.
If you’re in SE Portland and craving some sushi, head on over to Tsunami Sushi Bar at Fred “No Pets” Meyer at 39th and Hawthorne… you won’t be sorry…
I give Alex and the Tsunami Sushi Bar 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
P.S. The Lady just advised me that it’s not Fred Meyer that specifically bans pets; it’s the health department that wants to keep us out… what’s up with that??? First, I can’t set paw inside the Seattle “No Pets” Sheraton and now I learn that it’s a health department conspiracy to keep the four-legged superiors away from the fun places…sheesh… humankinds… The Lady says snakes are also banned… now that I can understand…
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