Cheese Shop, Eating Cheese and Cheese Links
With the holidays done, my stint at the Cheese Shop has come to an end. We parted amicably. I told them I was more than happy to work an occasional weekend if they needed someone, but that I also didn't want to work at the expense of somebody else who needed the money to pay the bills. January and February are always pretty slow and I'm the second string emergency backup, so I probably won't be back behind the counter until it gets warm out and business picks up, if then. Of course, this doesn't stop me from shopping there in the meantime.
53. Saint-Andre - A super high fat, triple cream cow's milk cheese. The Cheese Shop sells a lot of it. It has a consistency vaguely like that of Brie, but much softer and creamier. Tastes great smeared on a hard bread. Not so good with wine, apparently; the fat content is high enough that it makes wines taste odd. Recommended. xhollydayx says we had it many years ago when pianodan took us to a cheese tasting the first (and so far only, need to fix that) time we visited him. I'll take her word for it.
My most entertaining story from my time purveying cheese is as follows: An attractive young woman in her early twenties or thereabouts came up to the counter. I went to help her and she said "I need you to pick out some cheese." When I asked for clarification, she said "I've got $5 and I want a tasty cheese. Pick one out." I tried to get a sense of what general type of cheese she wanted, but she brushed off my questions and just said "I trust you to pick something good." With nothing to go by, I sold her a piece of Ubriaco and she left. I picked that particular cheese because we happened to have a piece ready to go that was right in the $5 range. I hope she enjoyed it.
And now, here are three cheese related links. Some got posted on Facebook already, some haven't. Enjoy.
1. Courtesy of jumpinfool, cheese in space!
2. Oh no! Cheese is people!. Ok, so it's actually made from milk, and some people produce milk, and so someone took breast milk and made cheese.
3. Courtesy of xhollydayx, here are how some cheeses got their names. Note particularly #5; knowing what "Pecorino" means is a handy shortcut when buying cheese.
53. Saint-Andre - A super high fat, triple cream cow's milk cheese. The Cheese Shop sells a lot of it. It has a consistency vaguely like that of Brie, but much softer and creamier. Tastes great smeared on a hard bread. Not so good with wine, apparently; the fat content is high enough that it makes wines taste odd. Recommended. xhollydayx says we had it many years ago when pianodan took us to a cheese tasting the first (and so far only, need to fix that) time we visited him. I'll take her word for it.
My most entertaining story from my time purveying cheese is as follows: An attractive young woman in her early twenties or thereabouts came up to the counter. I went to help her and she said "I need you to pick out some cheese." When I asked for clarification, she said "I've got $5 and I want a tasty cheese. Pick one out." I tried to get a sense of what general type of cheese she wanted, but she brushed off my questions and just said "I trust you to pick something good." With nothing to go by, I sold her a piece of Ubriaco and she left. I picked that particular cheese because we happened to have a piece ready to go that was right in the $5 range. I hope she enjoyed it.
And now, here are three cheese related links. Some got posted on Facebook already, some haven't. Enjoy.
1. Courtesy of jumpinfool, cheese in space!
2. Oh no! Cheese is people!. Ok, so it's actually made from milk, and some people produce milk, and so someone took breast milk and made cheese.
3. Courtesy of xhollydayx, here are how some cheeses got their names. Note particularly #5; knowing what "Pecorino" means is a handy shortcut when buying cheese.