Spring is sprung when fresh goats cheese appears. Like daffodils and asparagus, hand-crafted goats cheese is a seasonal wonder. For me it’s a harbinger of summer and my delivery of Nieuwenhuis goats cheese brought a sense of seasons and change. … Continue reading Nieuwenhuis goat cheese in Spring
Silky sweet flesh poised between the sharp tartness of skin and seed, New Zealand table grapes grace us for a short time. A fleeting moment, their brief local season reminds me of hot childhood days in the Hamilton, plump ripe … Continue reading Roasted grapes and ricotta
Sometimes it’s hard to put together a cheese plate when you’re a cheese geek. Like when you’re on holiday, cut off from specialist food stores, with just a regular supermarket and a hankering for a feed of cheese. That … Continue reading Composing a cheese plate
The rain fell in sheets as I scurried home a couple of weeks ago. No gardening, this was a wet, Scrabble kind of day. A day to nibble and sip, a day for cheese and meat. No shilly shallying with … Continue reading Taleggio: Italian stinky deliciousness – molto bene!
I know I’ve said in the past that cheese should be eaten with bread, but sometimes a girl needs crackers. Like when she’s snaffled the last of her Mum’s Christmas cheese ball, the sun is shining and she’s sipping a … Continue reading Gluten-free crackers for cheese
Something happens when you swirl a sip of fine single malt whiskey over a mouthful of good strong cheese. The fire-water alcohol is softened as the cheese provides a magic carpet to deliver whiskey’s subtle crafted flavours. What a revelation … Continue reading Whiskey and cheese tasting
Craggy chunks hewn from a huge round, placed on our table unadorned yet with reverence. This was how our waiter chose to finish our Venetian feast at the beautiful canal-side Hotel Monaco. It spoke of respect, elegance and tradition and … Continue reading Parmesan and my Venetian revelation
A platter of Formaggio I Toscana, cheeses from Tuscany, a glass of wine and a basket of crusty bread – a cheesy girl’s dream lunch! Nestled up a side street in Arezzo, we lucked upon a restaurant with a fabulous … Continue reading Tuscan cheese delight
I love birthdays, I love the rituals and the traditions. It was mine last week, so I ventured out into the storm to go to the local cheese mongers for my annual ‘Birthday Cheese’… I say annual ‘cos I did … Continue reading Birthday cheese love!
They peer out from the back of my fridge, forgotten nubbins of cheese, skerricks drying out on their inevitable march to the bin. They are my guilty cheese secrets as I reach for a newer, more appealing piece. This week though, rather than sweep them into the rubbish, I have given these refugees from long-forgotten cheeseboards a second life. Mashed with egg yolk and cream, folded into beaten whites and cooked into puddings, this is a decadent but ultimately frugal feast perfect for an early dinner, Sunday night. Thank heavens for Nigel Slater – the battle cry of the time-poor … Continue reading Nigel Slater’s Cheese puddings for cold winter nights
Life and Cheese 