Living the good life....

...with cheese and beer.

Manchego, Vella Dry Jack, Sartori Bellavitano washed in Raspberry Tart , Italian sheep's milk with black truffle. Spanish chorizo.

Mr Cicerone's Sorachi Ace Saison, Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest, Mr Cicerone's Kolsch, Vivant  Contemplation.

This cheese is amazing! It's washed in New Glarus Raspberry Tart beer.

The Holy Grail of cheese

That would be Murray's, in Greenwich Village, NYC. For those that live locally, it's a bit like Zingerman's, only way more cheese! What a wonderful place! We spent over an hour in there, ogling and tasting cheese. The people that work there are as knowledgeable and passionate about cheese as, well, we are about beer. (And are trying to be about cheese.) Which is why we were there. You can taste to your heart's content.
After tasting about 10 cheeses we settled on the following (keeping in mind that we had to bring all the cheese back with us on the plane later that day).....
Red Leicester - Sparkenhoe Farm , UK. A raw milk, cloth bound, cow's milk cheddar with a grassy, minerally flavour. Fantastic with Mr Cicerone's IPA.
Sottocenere - Northern Italian cow's milk, semi-soft cheese infused with black truffle, with a rind coated in nutmeg, cinnamon, fennel, licorice and clove. (Skip the rind, eat the paste!!). Oh my. The ever-so-luscious truffle, in any form, has me grasping (and gasping) for more. Mr Cicerone's Irish Stout was really good with this cheese! I ended up using the remainder in a linguine-with-walnuts dish, and it was great!
Tilsiter - this particular cheese is from Austria., thought the original is from Switzerland. It's a funky, stinky, washed-rind cow's milk, and Aventinus was fantastic with it.
Weinkase Lagrein - it's Northern Italian! It's a cow's milk soaked in wine and herbs, garlic & pepper. 6 weeks later you have a cheese that incorporates all these flavours, especially the garlic! It has a strong, unusual, garlicky flavour. Aventinus was also good with this cheese, as was Mr Cicerone's Batch 300 rye barley wine. If we can find this cheese locally we will be making a batch of macaroni & cheese with it, for sure!
Mimolette - from Normandy, aged 22 months. Wow. More, please! A dark orange, hard cheese with some similarities to an aged gouda, though it's more fruity and less caramelly. I tried this with, not Calvados as recommended by Murray's, but Etienne Dupont's  Pommeau de Normandie, a blend of Calvados & cider. (We have some in our fridge.) Perfect!

I HEART New York

Love it, love it, love it! Even in a blizzard. (If there's a blizzard, there are two places to be- at home, with a stocked fridge and lots of books, or NYC. You can get anywhere on the subway -it's not shut down no matter how bad it is outside, or, provided the winds aren't blowing at hurricane force, you can still walk. Even in 8 inches of snow.)
We decided to spend Christmas in NYC this year, both visiting friends that live there, and doing our best to visit as many great beer bars and eateries as we could manage in three (which turned into 4) days. First stop- St Andrew's pub, just off Times Square near our hotel. We arrived there, straight from the airport, at 11PM on Xmas Eve, parched! Mr Cicerone opted for Belhaven's Twisted Thistle IPA, and I decided on Palm, the simple session-style Belgian pale ale that isn't available in Michigan, and I'd yet to try it. I do love this style, but Palm was a little sweet. I prefer De Koninck. I , too, opted for the Thistle when the bartender cried out for Last Call. Mmm.
Christmas Day in NYC.....people everywhere, lots of places open, and not a Santa in sight! I love this place! Lunch found us at Ben's (Kosher) Deli, enjoying a big chopped liver sandwich while Mr Cicerone opted for pastrami and a Brooklyn lager. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly really, the pubs we were hoping to be open were not, so we settled in to Heartland Brewpub for a couple

before heading to the Upper West Side to visit our friends, who fed us a fantastic brisket pot roast (infused with horseradish) along with, on our recommendation,  He'Brew Messiah Bold brown ale. It had been a chilly but pleasant day weatherwise, and sometime as we were walking around I noted to Mr Cicerone, (a little wistfully for his sake), that it would have been perfect if it had snowed, just a little. Little did I know.....


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How to clog your arteries in one foul swoop.

That's not cream cheese in the tub, but Burrata- fresh mozzarella stuffed with cream

Eat burrata. That's fresh mozzarella stuffed with heavy cream. A mouthfull of buttery decadence sure to make you groan. Today's lunch consisted of said ambrosia, along with fresh goat cheese, fresh smoked mozzarella, fresh pretzel rolls, Mr Cicerone's fave Wensleydale, some good dry salami, and the last of our home-grown cherry tomatoes. The burrata & Wensleydale were just dandy with Three Floyd's Gumballhead, a nice citrusy American wheat.

Where did we get said treats? Everything bar the Wensleydale (and the tomatoes) (and the beer) were acquired FRESH this morning at the Zingerman's booth at Detroit's Eastern Market in Shed 2. Miss Jackie is there every Saturday, and you can sign up for her email newsletter which announces what she's going to bring each Saturday. She brings burrata about once a month.
jjweber26@yahoo.com

A bit o' trivia that has nothing to do with beer

If you were like me and wondered why Nick Park chose Wensleydale cheese as Wallace's fave, then here's the answer....
It made his mouth look big and toothy when he pronounced the name.

(It apparently really helped keep production of this strange cheese going - the factory was on the brink. Mr Cicerones loves this odd, dry and slightly bitter cheese. I can take or leave it.)

Helping us with the last couple of postings......

And Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog, a spectacular aged goat cheese.

Beer VS Wine with Cheese......

....at Motor City Wine, last Thursday, during Detroit Beer Week.
What a great time everybody had! Mr Cicerone and I did something we always say we will do, but somehow never get around to, which is try some really great wines. Thanks to David & Mark for their hospitality and great selections!
Mr Detroit Beer Week- Jon P.

Here's the pairings...
CHEESE- Fresh Mozzarella
BEER - Full Measure Brewing (AKA Mr Cicerone) Ginger Wheat
WINE - Bel Lago Leelanau Primavera

CHEESE - Bucheron aged goat
BBER - Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
WINE - Morande Sauvignon Blanc - Chile
CHEESE - Brie
BEER - Dragonmead Final Absolution Tripel
WINE - Charles Smith Kung Fu Girl Dry Riesling

CHEESE - Scottish mature cheddar
BEER - Fuller's ESB (Honorary Michigan beer)
WINE - Charles and Charles cab/syrah

CHEESE - Beemster Vlaskaas
BEER - Dark Horse Scotty Karate Scotch Ale
WINE - Valtostao Legon Ribera del Duero

CHEESE - Grana Padano Parmagianno
BEER - Detroit Beer Co Detroit Dwarf
WINE - Tenuta Curreza Prine Nergoamaro/Primativo

CHEESE - Point Reyes Blue
BEER - New Holland The Poet Stout
WINE - (Sorry! I seem to have lost the wine for this one.)
Yes, that IS a piece of cheese on my head.....

CHEESE - English Stilton
BEER - Arcadia Cereal Killer Barley Wine
WINE - D'Arenberg Sticky Chardonnay

And the winner is......Beer. We think. Though it might have been very close. We've not received the final tallies yet, but will post them when we do.
Pairing Number 9- the surprise pairing. One person actually tried this.


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Whooo! Beer Week!! Whooo!!

Tuesday night's dinner at Cliff Bell's was great. Great food, great company, great beer. Tonight, Beer v. Wine Cheese pairing at Motor City Wines, New Holland at Grand Trunk, and Biketoberfest with bil! Whoooo!!

Working hard.....

....preparing for our Beer VS Wine & Cheese event this Thursday.


(Yikes! Didn't realize Mr Cicerone snuck in this one of me passed out on the couch after too much Expedition Stout. Or Scotty Karate Scotch ale. Or all of the above.)

Another Beer Brunch bites the dust....

(I'm suffering the aftermath as I write this- pure physical weariness along with that loverly "day- after-a-bit-too-much" woozy feeling. But O! It was SO worth it!)

Here's what we had.....
Mr Cicerone's "I'm Not a Frenchie" strong golden ale with gougeres (that's cheesey puffs), and bacon-fat popcorn with parmesan and fried sage leaves.
Mr Cicerone's ginger wheat ale with gazpacho Andaluso drizzled with ginger cream

Mr Cicerone's "Batch 300" rye barley wine with rye sourdough french toast, rye wort reduction syrup and sour cherry jam.

Mr Cicerone's "Old School" American IPA with greens, walnuts, chevre, mango and an Amarillo hop and blood orange marmalade vinaigrette.

He'Brew "Rejewvenator" date doppelbock with chicken liver mousse and broiled figs.

INTERMEZZO: Redstone Meadery "Nectar of the Hops".

Mr Cicerone's dunkel with double secret ultimate umami burger sliders with mystery meat, manchego, tomato & shitake.

Mr Cicerone's rye peppercorn pale ale with preserved lemon cheesecake.
Mr Cicerone's "Buster" blonde uber bock with cheese- Manchego (Spain), Chimay a la Biere (Belgium), Mature Scottish cheddar (Scotland)

Three Floyds Dark Lord Stout 2009 with coconut ice cream.

Courtesy of Mr Cicerone's incredible year of brewing (two of the beers were brewed last year), we were heavy on the homebrew and light on commercial beers this time around.

Beautiful weather, fantastic food, amazing beer, even some good pairings if I say so myself, and great friends to share it all with. Life can be good!!



(Eeer, Uncle Dave, is that you??)

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A feast fit for a Cicerone

Another hot night spent having beers and eating some of our favourite things in the back yard. Let's see....firstly, tomatoes! Home grown Pink Caspian Heirlooms, the best tomato EVER. They are so rich and luscious, and make a great snack eaten like an apple. Some slices of fresh mozzarella interspersed with home-grown basil (He says "Bay-sil, she says "Bah-sil"), and drizzled with a little balsamic reduction. Some Boquerones (Spanish white anchovies), Marcona amonds, Greek olives (by the way, my favourite new toy is this olive pitter. It works fabulously!) and cheese! Apart from the mozzarella, we had some aged gouda (not a very good one), Scottish Cheddar, Humboldt Fog (always a winner), and some English Derby with sage. (Some time ago Mr Cicerone scored some wonderful cheese with sage from Hirt's at Eastern Market. It was outstanding, but we've not been able to find it since. This was good, but not as good as that particular one.)

Oh- the beer. Mr Cicerone's Bitter (great with olives), Mr Cicerone's Helles. A 2008 bottle of Jolly Pumpkin La Roja (thanks Mike!) was just grand (lots of complexity), and we finally drank our bottle of New Holland's Blue Sunday 2009, an oak-aged sour. This was an interesting mix of wood, bitterness, malt, a little fruit as it warmed, Brett character and sourness. A good beer, but not my favourite from New Holland (Right now, it's Beerhive Tripel. Mmmmm!)

I love summer!!

Homework

I know, I know: it's a rough life!

Cheese Pairing of the Day

Pecorino and Kolsch. In this case the Kolsch was homemade, and on the hoppy, dry end of the style. The pecorino is quite salty on its own, and the beer countered that enough to let the wonderful sheepy, fatty richness blossom. Both the beer and the cheese have a dry finish that would make this a great appetizer course.