Cheeselog

Yes, folks, after much begging and pleading with the folks at Rogue River Creamery, the country’s best cheese is now at Cheesetique. Rogue River Blue is a raw cow’s milk blue aged for nearly a year and wrapped in native Syrah leaves which have been soaked in Pear Brandy. According to the producer, “The grape leaves add additional complexity to the terroir driven flavors of the cheese and preserve its moist creamy texture.” And boy does it have the most amazing flavor ever! Not to mention its creamy yet chewy texture.

Rogue River Blue was just selected as Best in Show at the American Cheese Society conference in Austin, Texas. It beat out over 2000 other cheeses to receive this honor. This makes Rogue River Blue the undisputed BEST CHEESE IN AMERICA.

For those of you lucky enough to attend our upcoming American Winners cheese class, you will get to taste this exclusive cheese, which must be ordered months in advance. For those of you not coming to the class, YOU SHOULD COME TO THE CLASS! There are still spots open (www.cheesetique.com/events). You can also purchase this cheese for the steep but oh-so-worth-it price of $36/lb.

Starting this weekend, Cheesetique is expanding our Sunday hours even further. We will now be open till 6 PM every Sunday and we open at 11 AM for shopping and/or dining. See you early… or late!

Welcome to our first ever wine promotion at Cheesetique!

Cheesetique prides itself in selecting wines that are not only delicious on their own, but that pair beautifully with food. Anyone who drinks wine often enough knows that you can’t always get both in one wine. Our first promotional wine is a perfect example of a great sipper AND a great food enhancer. Chianti Colli Fiorentini 2006 is a super-special Italian Chianti that you will absolutely adore. We are offering half-cases and cases of this wine only to wine promotion responders. And it’s at the lowest price you’ll find anywhere in the country. Simply click here to learn LOTS more about the wine, pricing, etc. Then, if you’re interested in ordering, the instructions are right there.

Thank you for reading (and hopefully ordering)!

Folks, meet Liu Yang. Mr. Yang lives on the outskirts of Beijing and was destined (and trained) to become a mid-level IT manager. Instead, he threw caution - and his life savings - to the wind and began making his own cheese. He now sells such creations as “Beijing Grey” Camembert in his own shop. Note: Yang claims his Camembert is not named after the Beijing smog. Either way, we think this would be a great complement to Humboldt Fog from California :)

We here at Cheesetique would like to give a huge shout-out to Mr. Yang, who took a chance on a dream, even when unsure about how it would be received. You see, the Chinese are not famous for their cheese-adoration. In fact, a huge insult in China is to say that someone smells like cheese. (But really, even in America, we would not want someone saying we smell like cheese, would we?) Anyway, his efforts have not yet been rewarded - the natives are cautious but curious. Yang hopes that soon, his business will take off.

Bravo, Liu Yang, for being an inspiration to us all. I just have one question: do you ship?

I read about Yang here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6000393/Chinese-cheesemaker-tries-to-woo-sceptical-nation.html
Thanks to @doubleeindc for sending me a Tweet about it!

On Monday, I and my intrepid staff spent the entire day crawling around, digging out cases, and scraping gunk in order to count cheeses, meats, and jars of stuff (ok, to be fair, I didn’t really crawl around - they did. I just entered stuff in the computer). It just reminded me how many THINGS we have at Cheesetique, like nearly 300 cheeses in stock. Imagine taking each piece out, weighing it, rewrapping it, and returning it attractively to whence it came. Picture counting each jar of jam, each bottle of wine, each bar of chocolate. No wonder it was such a long day! Luckily, we had some happy folks helping out. I included photos as evidence of their focus and hard work :)

Thanks, team, for, um, taking one for the team!

Shake your body down to the floor… it’s Sarah and Tommy cleaning out the case!

Have list, will travel… it’s Bill counting dry goods!

She flies through the air with the slightest of ease… it’s Maud counting wine!

My hubbie and I were driving north on Commonwealth Avenue on Sunday and walking in the other direction was an interesting character. He was an unassuming dude with a walking stick, a huge American flag, and a simple posterboard that read, “Perdie Across America”.

We of course had to rush home and check out what this guy was up to. Now that I know, I wish I had stopped him on the street, given him a hug, some lunch, a foot rub, and my sincerest wishes for a safe journey. Why? Because this guy is a film maker who became so incensed at exorbitant government spending and our loss of personal liberty that he is walking across the country to protest and bring awareness. “It is his belief that Americans should demonstrate their perseverance of individual strength, responsibility, and independence.” (www.perdie.com)

More power to you, Perdie! And if you’re still in the area, lunch is on me!

P.S. Since I try to keep all of my posts food-related, I will take a moment to mention our delicious homemade Pimiento Cheese - it travels really well, Perdie! (hint hint)