cheese!
A panel discussion with HJW (the Slow Food guy/German professor) and a distributor of local grassfed beef, tackling supply bottlenecks in the local food system, the American system of agricultural subsidies, and other (mostly policy) issues.
Then dinner at HJ's house...my first experience with raclette!
A half-wheel of raw milk Alpine cheese, the top layer continually grilled on this astounding specially-designed machine then scraped onto a plate. Boiled potatoes, sharp cornichons, plenty of freshly-ground black pepper. Jever pilsner to start, pomegranate juice and sparkling water, then a bottle of chilled Campagnian Falanghina. HJ's wife finally broke under the strain of starch and milkfat, and served a salad with tasty lettuce as an interlude. By then I'd mentioned goat cheese...so unbelievably, we had a cheese course! Stilton, Limburger, and Andante Dairy's Minuet -- yes, the one with goat's-milk AND crème fraiche. I think there was even a little piece of Meyer lemon tart to finish.
Pleasant conversation swirled around -- farmers' markets, Slow Food events, visits to Philadelphia, Swarthmore memories, American & European styles of higher education... Oh it was all so good.
I want that life. An intellectually-satisfying job, a reasonably-sized apartment with enough room for lots of food and single-purpose kitchen accessories (a raclette machine and a bowl for mixing salad dressing!), and the most important question being, 'When are we going to cook these sausages?'
Then dinner at HJ's house...my first experience with raclette!
A half-wheel of raw milk Alpine cheese, the top layer continually grilled on this astounding specially-designed machine then scraped onto a plate. Boiled potatoes, sharp cornichons, plenty of freshly-ground black pepper. Jever pilsner to start, pomegranate juice and sparkling water, then a bottle of chilled Campagnian Falanghina. HJ's wife finally broke under the strain of starch and milkfat, and served a salad with tasty lettuce as an interlude. By then I'd mentioned goat cheese...so unbelievably, we had a cheese course! Stilton, Limburger, and Andante Dairy's Minuet -- yes, the one with goat's-milk AND crème fraiche. I think there was even a little piece of Meyer lemon tart to finish.
Pleasant conversation swirled around -- farmers' markets, Slow Food events, visits to Philadelphia, Swarthmore memories, American & European styles of higher education... Oh it was all so good.
I want that life. An intellectually-satisfying job, a reasonably-sized apartment with enough room for lots of food and single-purpose kitchen accessories (a raclette machine and a bowl for mixing salad dressing!), and the most important question being, 'When are we going to cook these sausages?'