Cheese and beer are good

Good lord, what a terrible photo to go with such a lovely evening! Did I learn nothing about pairing when I attended my Artisanal cheese and beer pairing class??? Actually, yes I did learn something...I love cheese and beer in any combination!
Let me tell you a few things that I did learn from my evening of higher gastric education...
First and foremost, the beers from Blue Point Brewing are really delicious. Apparently the brewery is accessible from Manhattan via train (it's in Patchogue, Long Island after all) and get this, they have all you can drink sampling at the brewery and an outdoor patio for seating! Hello new summer weekend adventure!
We enjoyed their Toasted Lager, Fresh Hops Pale Ale, No Apologies Imperial IPA, Oatmeal Stout, and Sour Cherry Imperial Stout. My favorite had to be their Oatmeal Stout, but I am a big dark beer drinker. Their Sour Cherry Imperial Stout and No Apologies Imperial IPA (10% ABV) were also winners for me.
Ok, so we also had cheese...I mean we had some of the most awesome, stinky, blue, melty and delicious cheeses I have ever eaten! I have to tell you that I do believe after eating all these beauties that the Hoja Santa from the Mozzarella Company in Dallas Texas is perhaps the best cheese to pair with beer ever created. This cheese is a young goat's milk cheese that is wrapped in leaves from the Hoja Santa plant. This gives the cheese a peculiar (but yummy) flavor that Jon Lundbom (the cheese expert teaching our class) said tasted like sassafras. Not having eaten much sassafras in my time, the closest I could describe it was similar to the flavor of epazote. Now this may not sound like a match made in heaven to pair with beer, but let me tell you it is so dreamy and creamy and just plain great...try it yourself!
Other cheeses we sampled were Comte Saint Antoine (superb), Gorwydd Caerphilly, Montgomery's Cheddar (cheddary and yummy), Epoisses (stanky but delicious), Brillat Savarin (maybe even creamier than butter...to die for), Bayley Hazen Blue (I hate blue and liked this) and Valdeon (I don't like blue cheese).
Most of these cheeses are available from the Artisanal website, and they have a bunch of other great classes to attend so please check out their class list.
If you are interested in the class I took, there are three more sessions scheduled:
Thursday, April 12th - with Ithaca $75.00
Thursday, May 3rd - with Kelso $75.00
Thursday, June 21st - The Spices of Summer $75.00
I hope you will take my advice and check out one of their many classes, but if you are unable I hope you will look for the Hoja Santa cheese and amaze your friends and family with your terrific beer and cheese pairing abilities. I won't tell where you got this insider info...wink!

Seriously hungry

You must go read Serious Eats today. They've got a story on wine in juice boxes made by Bandit Winery, an impending worldwide chocolate shortage (gasp!), and notes on Willie Nelson's new ice cream flavor for Ben & Jerry's (and no, it's not that flavor).

Darn these modern contraptions

Well, last night we went to our cheese class at Artisanal. For some reason my photos are not cooperating with me today, so I am going to wait to post fully about this until tomorrow. Believe me, it will be worth it. I think we tasted the best beer cheese ever created, so be sure to check back for all the cheesy details...how's that for a teaser!

This one's for my peeps

Last year was my first year of trying to make homemade marshmallow peeps from the recipe on Martha Stewart online. I have to say that it was terribly fun, although most of them turned out to be marshmallow worms due to my lack of piping skills. I thoroughly recommend trying out this recipe though, it's a great Easter project!

Today is the day!

Oh hooray for today...it is finally the day of my class at Artisanal Cheese which will have me pairing artisanal cheeses and beers like a pro. I look forward to bringing you some hot beer and cheese related content tomorrow. Yippee!!!

Real sugar high

So here's something I never knew before today...apparently during Passover Coca Cola makes a version of Coke that is sweetened with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup so that observant Jews can drink it. This exciting news comes to me via Serious Eats, and they even link to an article giving you the lowdown on where to purchase the good stuff. Mmmm...sugar.

Botulism is delicious

This sounds like a fun project for a wintry weekend...cakes baked in a jar. According to deliciousdays.com these cakes can be stored for quite a while as long as they are in a cool dark place. Does anyone have any experience with canned baked goods? Sounds scary to me!

Wheel of lunch

There is hope for all of us indecisive diners out there...drumroll...I present the wheel of lunch where you enter your zip code and then spin the wheel to decide where to eat out. Granted, the first time I spun the wheel it told me to eat at a donut shop, then the second spin gave me a convenience store. Alright I guess there are still a couple of kinks to iron out, but for the truly indecisive this could prove a powerful tool...and who said you can't eat donuts for lunch anyhow?
-Via seriouseats.com

Bourdain does it again

Oh good grief, this guy is keeping me in absolute stitches...I can't take it! Check out Anthony Bourdain's rundown of Food Network stars. - From Elise.com
Truly comedy GOLD.

Trilobite tastes like chicken?

I have sort of a strange sense of humor, and this recipe for Trilobite cookies from Professor George Hart made me chuckle.

From the good professor's website:

"Trilobites are extinct marine animals which lived gazillions of years ago. Real trilobites may or may not have tasted like chicken. (who knows?) These cookies are the result of my most recent research into what ancient trilobites would have tasted like if primitive biochemical processes were based on jam/chocolate/cookie molecules. Independent paleoconfectionary laboratories often ask for my formula, so I have placed it here for the world to enjoy."

-via Serious Eats

Ah the memories...

Not so long ago my friend Chris and I lived above a Popeye's Fried Chicken chain, so I can fully understand the plaintiffs in this lawsuit against Subway. They are suing Subway because the smell of their baking bread fills their homes with "nauseating food odors". Too funny, I will be curious to see how this turns out and boy could I tell a story or two about the "nauseating" odors coming from Popeyes...that delightful cajun aroma will never leave my mind...plus I must have gained 25 pounds because it made me hungry all the time!

Thinking back on the weekend

Ahhh the weekend, those were the good old days...
This past weekend Riley and I were lucky enough to get to go to a beer, cheese and pickle tasting over at Jimmys in the East Village. It was a trifecta of terrific tastes (say that three times fast!) and we were joined by the usual motley crue of folks we call friends. The beer was again provided by Six Point Ales and again I truly enjoyed every sip...it's delicious stuff for sure. Cheeses were from Saxelby Cheesemongers, and I had the good fortune to meet the owner, Anne Saxelby herself. Although she was up to her elbows in cheese she was still just the nicest lady you could meet. She was selling these clever tee shirts that say "Craft" on the front, and "real american cheese" on the back...love it! Also in attendance was Rick from Rick's Picks who I am sure I need not tell you is the man that brought the lowly pickle back to the hip set. His pickled beets and mean beans tower over the pickles on the grocery store shelves...they are so good. It twas a great weekend in the city to be sure!

Wholegrain chocolate

The true breakfast of champions:
Jacque Torres' chocolate dipped cheerios.

Tastes like beer?

Last night we had a great beer and tapas tasting at our favorite local watering hole, Against the Grain. We sampled four of the finest beers I've had in a while, all of which were produced by local Brooklyn brewery Sixpoint Craft Ales. I totally recommend their frothy deliciousness, especially the Sweet Action Cream Ale and the Otis Oatmeal Stout. Once we had tasted these two (generous tastes at that) we were happy as clams and the evening was really rocking and rolling. Also, kudos to the chef for the evening, as we were fed very well. Some of the highlights were the oysters with cucumber habanero mignonette, and the beer soaked sausages. Muy delicioso!
Thanks to all our buddies at ATG and the world famous GAG!

Plastic food has come a long way in 30 years

While searching for those placemats I just posted below, I stumbled across these plastic play foods that feature latino cuisine items such as a taco, empanada, tamale, flan, etc. Boy has plastic food come a long way since I used to play with it or what!

Bourdain's brilliance

Sigh...I love Anthony Bourdain.
Sigh...I love Top Chef.
What? Anthony Bourdain is guest blogging at Michael Ruhlman's blog? YES!
Check out Bourdain's Top Chef contestant run down and tell me he is not the greatest.
He's so dreamy!

Homesick Coloradoan

I just had to post this link to a great website I was just turned onto by the simply recipes blog. It's called Homesick Texan and it is all about Mexican and Tex-Mex food. Although I am not from Texas I can sure identify with the lack of great Mexican and Tex-Mex here in NYC. Those guys from the Pace Picante Sauce ad sure had it right!
Oh and by the way, the photo above is of chocolate frito pie. MMMM fritos...MMM chocolate....MMMMMMMM

Butter Cutter

File this one under things you didn't know you needed until now...it's a butter cutter that carefully and lovingly portions and cuts pats of butter for you. How thoughtful those people over at whateverworks.com are.
Via notcot.org

Wine and Tapas

The Food Section is reporting today that January 27th- February 4th is Navarra Gastronomic Week. My friend Amy and I have been to several of these Spanish food and wine events, and they are always superior opportunities to try many many wines and restaurants for a really reasonable price.
Check back for more updates of events, and I'll post more specifics of the best events to attend.

Avoid the brown ones

Here's another great Valentine's Day gift idea for that special lady in your life. It's a thong bikini made entirely of candy!