Woooo! Hello, everyone! This past weekend was full of happiness and cheese! Do you know why? Because there was the SF Cheese Fest, Miss Cheesemonger’s (the blog’s) 6th anniversary, and my (the human’s) birthday! YAYYYY!
The SF Cheese Fest was a grand event filled with cheesy tastings, many cheese makers, and good times, all at SF WineWorks. I’m still working on those photos, but you will see them soon!
Of course, the best way to celebrate a birthday is with a party, and we had a really wonderful one at home on Sunday. The theme? Everyone had to perform something! We had so many outstanding performances! There was beautiful singing by several friends, a yoga pose, jokes, a green tea white velvet butter cake with yuzu silk meringue buttercream and lemon curd, a birthday salsa dance, a reading of Baudelaire’s “Be Drunk,” renditions of “Happy Birthday” in several languages, and a thought-provoking reading from The Conference of the Birds. After all of that, we played the Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, one of our most beloved party games.
It feels good to know and love so many joyous, fun, talented people! I wanted to showcase them more than anything, since they are the ones who inspire me to be a better person, a better musician, a better photographer, a better writer, and a better cheese advocate.
That said, our cheese set up was particularly tasty! The cheese offerings included: Brebirousse d’Argental, a popular soft, luscious sheep’s milk cheese from Burgundy, France; Petit Exquis d’Argental, a double cream (sources have been conflicted on this) cow’s milk cheese from Burgundy, France; Comte, the classic raw milk Alpine style cheese from France; Petit Basque, a sheep’s milk cheese from France; Rembrandt gouda from the Netherlands; Taleggio, the famed washed rind cow’s milk cheese from Italy; Humboldt Fog, a goat’s milk cheese from California; and a questionably named “French Brie” made in Normandy. That last one seemed young, so we left it out at room temperature to ripen for several days before the party. It proved itself to be a respectable cheese. We found all of these goodies at Costco! I have found their selection to be surprisingly good, especially around the holidays, and especially for large crowds.
Our condiments came from some of my favorite sources. The dried fruit and Kalamata and Picholine olives were from Trader Joe’s. Our outstanding jams came from Lemon Bird Preserves from LA, Doves and Figs from Massachusetts, and L’Epicurien from France. The chocolate—the 77% stone ground bar and the ABSOLUTELY ADDICTING chocolate-covered hazelnuts—came from Taza Chocolate. Instead of bread, I opted for 34 Degrees crisps, piling on lots of the natural, poppy seed, and toasted onion flavors.
I was worried we had too much cheese, but by the end of the evening, just about everything had disappeared. It was magnificent! I should have put out more cheese!
Here’s to another year of Miss Cheesemonger! I look forward to all of the amazing people, products, and adventures next year will bring! Thank you for showing so much MCM love! If you want to take it to the next level, wear it on your sleeve with a Miss Cheesemonger t-shirt! ☺
*Taza Chocolate, 34 Degrees, Lemon Bird Preserves, l’Epicurien provided products to Miss Cheesemonger. Everything else was purchased independently. As an Amazon affiliate, I do receive payment when you purchase products through my Amazon links. Bunsen Baker made that luscious birthday cake!
**I am so lucky and grateful to be surrounded by so many inspirational, talented people! There’s Jennifer, Robby, Deborah, Edgar and Salila, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank, a rockstar from IndieGogo . . . and lots more. They have all popped up on the blog at some point or other, and I love them to pieces!
