Entries Tagged as 'cheese'

Parmesan Cheese, Made With Natural Cheese

March 14th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Imagine that!

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Celebrating with Wine, Cheese, and Pizza

November 13th, 2009 · 2 Comments

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Triple XXX Cheese Flight :: Bin 36, River North, Chicago

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Sauvignon Blanc vs. Chardonnay :: Bin 36, River North, Chicago

Anjum and I planned to take Aimee out for her birthday and Aimee insisted we also include my engagement, so there was a lot of celebrating to do last night! We walked over to Bin 36 and each got a flight of wine. Mine was the Sauvignon Blanc vs. Chardonnay flight.* We also shared the Triple XXX flight of cheese that included an American mozzarella, Brie, a goat cheese, Camembert, and one on the end I can’t remember. On the side we had apricots and figs and some truffled honey. Delicious, delicious, delicious. We need to do this more often!

Aimee and Anjum surprised me with a gift, which was a gift bag with a bunch of wedding magazines in it. It was fun to look through them, although I’m so not in a wedding mode yet. Someone needs to knock me on the head and remind me that when you get engaged then you have to plan a wedding. I think Dallas and I were just so excited to get engaged that when people immediately ask us when or where the wedding is, we have no answer just yet. But it was fun to page through and look at the different stuff. A lot of it is way more than anything we want, I think. One of the magazines was a destination wedding magazine and that was fun too.

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Wild Mushrooms, caramelized onions, taleggio cheese, hazelnuts, truffle oil :: A Mano, River North, Chicago

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Buffalo mozzarella oven dried tomatoes, basil pesto :: A Mano, River North, Chicago

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Classic margherita: Tomatoes, basil & mozzarella :: A Mano, River North, Chicago

After our cheese and wine extravaganza, we decided we should probably eat some real food. Downstairs at A Mano they were having their $5 pizza night so we ordered a few pizzas and had a bit more wine. Great night! I need to go out with the girls from work more often!

*Note to self: Favorite wine of the night was the 2008 Domaine Des Fontanelles Sauvignon Blanc.

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Otter Creek Organic Farm Spring Cheddar

May 12th, 2009 · No Comments

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This is great cheese! I bought it at Provenance Food & Wine, a little wine and specialty food shop in Logan Square. They had both a spring cheddar and a fall cheddar. I asked the guy working in the shop what the difference was and he said that depending on when the cheese is made it will taste different because the cows have been grazing on different kinds of grasses and stuff depending on the season. Sure enough, from the Otter Creek Organic Farm site:

Each season’s cheddar has a unique flavor and fat content—they are all very different.

In the spring, the herd is grazed on pastures of clover, rye and young grasses; in Summer, the pasture is full of orchard grass, young corn, and sorghum. Fall brings mature rye, alfalfa, and clover. In Winter, the pasture is full of snow, so the herd eats sileage and bailage, made of fermented alfalfa and grasses cut from the farm’s pastures.

It’s not just the feed—the milk changes in fat content and hormones based on the season: lower fat in the warmer months, and higher fat in colder months.

Oh, and the farm where this cheese is made is located in WI!

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