[Update, 11/8/16, 5:15pm:] Because we had a rough start to the marble and wood cheese board sweepstakes, I’ve extended the sweepstakes period to 11:59pm PST on Sunday, November 13, so you have extra time to enter!
Happy, happy MONDAY, my friends! This week’s blog post is SO exciting!! As you might know, I LOVE tableware. I love beautiful dishes, tabletops, silverware, napkins, candles . . . everything for the table and kitchen. Luckily, there’s Maker & Moss in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, where I can get my beautiful table and home good fix any time (and a fancy smoothie next door at Project Juice). Owner Matt Bissinger does an amazing job finding artisan products and tasteful furniture to fill his modern shop.
You can imagine my delight when he let me come and photograph a cheese board spread at the shop and then HAVE A SWEEPSTAKES to give away the stunning marble and wooden cheese board featured in these photos! AHHHH!!! SO MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS TO PLAY WITH! Oh, and don’t forget the cheese and accompaniments. Here’s what we feasted on at the shop:
Pecorino Sardo
Sheep, Sardinia (Italy), raw, non-veg. Pecorino made on the Italian island of Sardinia is generally more mellow and less salty than its more famous cousin, Pecorino Romano. This particular piece had a wonderfully smoky, earthy nose and flavor, with the smoke lingering most seductively at the finish! The flavors developed smoothly, never biting. Oh, and what a mouthfeel! It has an almost puckering effect, like a high-tannin wine.
Ledyard
Sheep, USA (New York), pasteurized, non-veg. I’ve wanted to include Ledyard on a blog cheese board for so long! Finally, this robiola-style cheese is here on the blog. This beauty, made by Meadowood Farms in New York, is wrapped in grape leaves soaked in a wheat beer named Deep Purple. Its soft, ultra-runny, soyeux texture is to die for! What a beautiful flavor this one had, a little buttery and milky, with a bit of a nutty finish. It made for an easy crowd pleasure, and a picturesque one at that.
Fior d’Arancio
Cow, Italy (Treviso), pasteurized, non-veg. What a gem of a blue cheese this is. It is soaked for 30 days in Fior d’Arancio, a sweet wine from the region. Moreover, the cheese is topped with chopped candied orange peel. The result is a sweet, fruity flavor, creamy texture, and long, sweet wine finish. It is very much a dessert cheese, and makes for a sweet introduction to blue cheeses to the uninitiated. Its candied orange peel is such a festive touch, I imagine it would be very comfortable on a holiday cheese plate in the coming months!
Black Olive Confit With Honey & Thyme
Sold by my partner The French Farm [affiliate link], made by l’Epicurien in France, this little confit offered a surprising flavor combination. The salty, sweet, savory combination was well-balanced and rather delicate, making it a lovely accompaniment for the Ledyard and Pecorino cheeses especially.
The Tableware
I took items from a number of different collections at Maker & Moss for this shoot, so you’ll find them scattered throughout the edges of the store if you go yourself! I am especially in love with the Abbesses dishware collection right now—those are the white dishes with a fine line of color around the edges. There’s a series of tiny plates with small honeycombs imprinted on them—you can see they made for beautiful olive plates here! And those white plates with their delicate blue floral motifs are perfect for cheese plates. Matt has an assortment of napkins and those adorable metal bugs, amongst other things, if you need to spruce of the table any more! Last but not least, do yourself a favor and take a look at the MM Clay collection. You’ll see one piece from it here with the Pecorino Sardo!
The Sweepstakes!
As I mentioned earlier, Maker & Moss is giving away the marble and wood cheese board you see in this blog post (the one with all the cheeses on it), a $65.00 value! You have until 11:59pm on Sunday, November 13, to enter the sweepstakes! I will choose a winner at random after that. Please visit this page to read the full official rules.
THANK YOU FOR ENTERING THIS SWEEPSTAKES. THE PROMOTION PERIOD IS NOW CLOSED.
THANK YOU, Maker & Moss, for having me come to play table dress up with your gorgeous dishes and spoons! Thank you for offering Miss Cheesemonger readers such a great sweepstakes prize!
Maker & Moss: 364 Hayes St, San Francisco, CA 94102, (415) 928-1287, Mon-Sat: 10am-6pm, Sun: 12-5pm.
I did not receive any compensation for this blog post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Cheese Board provided by Maker & Moss.
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