Old friends

Last night at Bar Centrale, the cheese : wine ratio was definitely in favour of the wine. No matter, we still managed to squeeze in a few morsels of Comte, Garrotxa, Pierre Robert and my old friend, Blue d'Auvergne.

Ah, Blue d'Auvergne. You old standby. Discovered in the mid-1850s by cheesemaker Antoine Roussel, who realized that rye bread mold created the blue veining, which prickled the cow's milk cheese curd and improved aeration. Today, Blue d'Auvergne is aged for approximately four weeks in cool, wet cellars, a relatively short period for blue cheeses.

Blue d'Auvergne is a regular feature on my cheeseplates, especially when I'm in Toronto. We've been together a long time, B d'A and I. Which is funny and touching, considering that my friend Kate made her own Blue d'Auvergne discovery last night. I've only known Kate for 4 years but, like B d'A, I feel like I've known her forever.

Top of the morning to you

One of my all time favourite cheeses is the great Irish blue cheese, Cashel Blue, and it's hard to imagine celebrating St. Patrick's Day without a big slice. But today, instead, I'm dedicating my coloric quota to the office Irish Soda Bread festival and legendary Kerry Gold Irish Butter.

For the history of Irish Soda Bread: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/stpatricks/sodabread

Sunday night special

After gorging on two hard cheeses and cherry jam gently sprinkled with rare French glass shards, GG wowed us with coq au vin and rosemary potatoes. Jamie Oliver may have contributed the recipe, but GG took it to a whole new level.

We concluded the evening with two of life's great treats: Bananagrams and Mini Eggs from England.

Desperately Seeking Vlaskaas

Fifty percent of this cheese duo is in love with Vlaskaas, which is a Dutch hard cheese known for its sweet and creamy taste. The other fifty percent is on high alert for when it's available at Fairway, having learned the hard way yesterday that it's a rare commodity.

Historically, Vlaskaas was made only during the Dutch flax harvest. Only in 2004 did cheesemakers discover the exact way to recreate the recipe for Vlaskaas, and Vlaskaas was once again discovered.

In lieu of Vlaskaas we subsituted Uniekass Gouda (cow's milk; aged 18 months) and Comte (cow's milk; hard yet flexible with a strong but sweet taste). Two-thirds preferred the Comte but the Vlaskaas lover was pleasantly surprised with the substituting gouda.

To top things off, our cheese plate included Anne Rozes' famed confiture de cerises noires (black cherry jam), and 100% of cheese lovers rejoiced.

Stinky Cheese Festival / NYC

Third Annual Stinky Cheese Festival
3/3/2010 - Culinary Tour de France
Join us for our Third Annual Stinky Cheese Festival. This year our chefs will be creating Stinky Cheese appetizers, entrees and desserts in addition to our regular menu from March 3, 2010 to March 12th, 2010.

Particpating Restaurants Include*:

Cafe D'Alsace: www.cafedalsace.com

1695 2nd Avenue (at 88th Street); 212.722.5133

French Roast Uptown: www.frenchroastny.com/

2340 Broadway (at 85th Street); 212.799.1533;

French Roast Downtown: www.frenchroastny.com

78 West 11th Street (at 6th Avenue); 212.533.2233

Le Monde: www.lemondenyc.com/

2885 Broadway (btw 112th & 113th Street); 212.531.3939

L'Express: www.lexpressnyc.com/

249 Park Avenue (at 20th Street); 212. 254.5858

Maison: www.maisonnyc.com/

1700 Broadway ( at 53rd Street); 212.757.2233

Marseille: www.marseillenyc.com/

630 9th Avenue (at 44th Street); 212.333.2323

Nice Matin: www.nicematinnyc.com/

201 West 79th Street (at Amsterdam); 212.873.6423

Pigalle: www.pigallenyc.com/

790 8th Avenue (at 48th Street); 212.489.2233

*Individual restaurant sites host Stinky Cheese Menus unique to the region of France the restaurant celebrates.

Winter Blahs: 3-Step Cure

Here are three easy steps to cure the winter blahs:

1. Good company
2. Vitamin-C Burst. Mark Bittman's Winter Citrus Salad is both gorgeous and the homoepathic equivalent of the flu shot. Blood oranges (that most divine of winter fruits), pink grapefruits and navel oranges are dressed with a sherry vinaigrette (we substituted good old red wine vinegar) and a tarragon garnish. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/dining/201mrex.html
3. Cheese (of course). Fairway can always be counted on for one of my all time favourite cheeses: Delice de Pommard. This ball-shaped triple creme goat cheese from Burgundy is rolled in mustard seed and is the perfect tangy/rich combination. We served it with our recent discovery of "Mary's Gone Crackers" biscuits. They're crisp, gluten-free and organic crackers made from brown rice, quinoa, flax and sesame seeds. Best of all, they have no added fat, which is a good thing when you consider how rich the cheese is.

Storing Cheese

Friends just back from a trip to Italy were inspired by how they saw cheeses kept in restaurants. As their New Year's resolution, they've resolved to store their cheese on the counter, not the fridge, covered with a tea towel. The advantage, of course, is that your cheese is always perfectly at room temperature. I'm not convinced, though, largely because I think restaurants probably only keep out that day's cheese.

In any case, this led me to do a little research on proper cheese storage. Here's a great link from someone who should know (formerly of Murray's Cheese, currently working for Martha Stewart):

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/cheese/how-to-store-cheese-what-to-do-when-you-get-it-home-the-cheesemonger-100285