Winning blues

Everyone is saying how much more entertaining the Julia-in-France scenes are than the Julie-in-Queens scenes in JULIE AND JULIA. I won't be able to say myself until tomorrow night.

But in the meantime, I can say that the USA should be proud of its blue cheeses. A staggering 1327 American blue cheeses competed for the title of "Best Blue Cheese" last week in Texas. Taking top honours was Rogue River Blue from Oregon, a grape-leaf wrapped cows milk. The name itself is gorgeous; I can only imagine how delicious it tastes.

I'm dreaming of a cheese plate featuring Rogue River Blue and the runner-ups. In 2nd place was Red Hawk (triple cream cows milk; aged six weeks with a red-orange rind) from Cowgirl Creamery in California. In 3rd place, Rupert (cows milk; aged six months with a gruyere or comte firmness) from Consider Bardwell Farm in Vermont.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/08/serious-cheese-rogue-river-blue-wins-2009-american-cheese-society-award.html

And thanks to Jamie Forest at curdnerds.com for his summary of the results!