Category: Food: Cheese

Champagne Paul Bara Grand Rosé – Our Memorable New Year’s Eve Guest!

We had been storing our bottle of Paul Bara Grand Rosé Champagne at the top of our wine rack for nearly a year awaiting an extra special occasion to pop its cork. Through the months, we took care to properly store this $60 bubbly – always on its side, never subjecting it to extreme temperatures, occasionally turning and, yes, even dusting it – but couldn’t quite commit to opening it.

Finally, with the eve of 2014 closing in, we had to act. The day before the big night, we began chilling the Paul Bara but, just to be on the safe side, iced down a back-up bottle of Bollinger as a sort of new year’s celebration insurance.

Soon after dark on New Year’s Eve, we put together a cheese plate and sat down to try our much anticipated rosé champagne. The clink of glasses, a toast, that first sip, and … Lovely fruit balanced by a crisp backbone, not heavy at all. And, the wine’s copper hue, that Penny described as an Italian rose gold color, is amazing!

The perfectly ripe (but not over-ripe) brie and Bara were excellent together! There was no problem with the black peppered cheese and a liver paté with truffles. The fruit of this rosé was like the taste of early season Atlas Farm strawberries from the Copley Square Market.

Despite being 70% pinot noir, it’s a Champagne that’s not overpowering. It has finesse. It reminded Penny of “… people who deliver on what they say they’re going to do versus those who just talk a good show.” And, what a show it was! We couldn’t have been happier with our selection.

By the way, as you’ve probably guessed, there was no need for our rescue bottle of Bollinger. But, since it was prepped and ready to go, we invited this irresistible French charmer to join us at our New Year’s day table. Happy 2014!

For more about this special Champagne, see: Here's Our Wine Pick for New Year's Eve 2013

Related Posts:

Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

January 3, 2014
Champagne Paul Bara Grand Rosé – Our Memorable New Year’s Eve Guest!

We had been storing our bottle of Paul Bara Grand Rosé Champagne at the top of our wine rack for nearly a year awaiting an extra special occasion to pop its cork. Through the months, we took care to properly store this $60 bubbly – always on its side, never subjecting it to extreme temperatures, occasionally turning and, yes, even dusting it – but couldn’t quite commit to opening it.

Finally, with the eve of 2014 closing in, we had to act. The day before the big night, we began chilling the Paul Bara but, just to be on the safe side, iced down a back-up bottle of Bollinger as a sort of new year’s celebration insurance.

Soon after dark on New Year’s Eve, we put together a cheese plate and sat down to try our much anticipated rosé champagne. The clink of glasses, a toast, that first sip, and … Lovely fruit balanced by a crisp backbone, not heavy at all. And, the wine’s copper hue, that Penny described as an Italian rose gold color, is amazing!

The perfectly ripe (but not over-ripe) brie and Bara were excellent together! There was no problem with the black peppered cheese and a liver paté with truffles. The fruit of this rosé was like the taste of early season Atlas Farm strawberries from the Copley Square Market.

Despite being 70% pinot noir, it’s a Champagne that’s not overpowering. It has finesse. It reminded Penny of “… people who deliver on what they say they’re going to do versus those who just talk a good show.” And, what a show it was! We couldn’t have been happier with our selection.

By the way, as you’ve probably guessed, there was no need for our rescue bottle of Bollinger. But, since it was prepped and ready to go, we invited this irresistible French charmer to join us at our New Year’s day table. Happy 2014!

For more about this special Champagne, see: Here's Our Wine Pick for New Year's Eve 2013

Related Posts:

Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

January 3, 2014
Champagne Paul Bara Grand Rosé – Our Memorable New Year’s Eve Guest!

We had been storing our bottle of Paul Bara Grand Rosé Champagne at the top of our wine rack for nearly a year awaiting an extra special occasion to pop its cork. Through the months, we took care to properly store this $60 bubbly – always on its side, never subjecting it to extreme temperatures, occasionally turning and, yes, even dusting it – but couldn’t quite commit to opening it.

Finally, with the eve of 2014 closing in, we had to act. The day before the big night, we began chilling the Paul Bara but, just to be on the safe side, iced down a back-up bottle of Bollinger as a sort of new year’s celebration insurance.

Soon after dark on New Year’s Eve, we put together a cheese plate and sat down to try our much anticipated rosé champagne. The clink of glasses, a toast, that first sip, and … Lovely fruit balanced by a crisp backbone, not heavy at all. And, the wine’s copper hue, that Penny described as an Italian rose gold color, is amazing!

The perfectly ripe (but not over-ripe) brie and Bara were excellent together! There was no problem with the black peppered cheese and a liver paté with truffles. The fruit of this rosé was like the taste of early season Atlas Farm strawberries from the Copley Square Market.

Despite being 70% pinot noir, it’s a Champagne that’s not overpowering. It has finesse. It reminded Penny of “… people who deliver on what they say they’re going to do versus those who just talk a good show.” And, what a show it was! We couldn’t have been happier with our selection.

By the way, as you’ve probably guessed, there was no need for our rescue bottle of Bollinger. But, since it was prepped and ready to go, we invited this irresistible French charmer to join us at our New Year’s day table. Happy 2014!

For more about this special Champagne, see: Here's Our Wine Pick for New Year's Eve 2013

Related Posts:

Our Sparkling Resolution

Our Sparkling Resolution Winner’s List

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

January 3, 2014
Rogue River Caveman Blue Cheese

The most recent addition to our blue cheese life list was Rogue River Caveman Blue Cheese. Penny spotted it at the River Street Whole Foods in Cambridge and added a piece to our selection for that evening's cheese supper. It was so good, we finished it with one of our last heirloom tomatoes the next night.

While Rogue River Blue will remain our favorite from this cheese maker, Caveman will be a welcome alternative.

Describing the Flavor

On their site, lead cheesemaker Jason Garcia describes Caveman as "sweet, fruity with vanilla tones, and earthy notes. It’s addictive," he says. "It’s savory, with no tang at all, very smooth and mellow."

Janet Fletcher wrote in SF Gate, "What I notice first with Caveman is the rich butter color of the background, which makes me suspect the cows enjoy fresh grass at least some of the time… Caveman manages to be bold and concentrated without being salty, biting or hot, qualities that make many consumers reluctant to purchase blues."

We try to include a photo of the label with these posts because that will give you pricing information and whatever details the vendor includes.

What to Drink with the Caveman

While the creamery suggests a stout as a match for the cheese, Janet Fletcher enjoyed an oloroso sherry as the wine lover's option.

Here is a list of places where you can buy Rogue River Cheese.

Do you include blue cheeses on your cheese trays? Do you have a favorite or do you try different ones each time?

As we approach the season when we move indoors and gather friends and family, we'll be featuring more of our favorite wine and cheese. And to make it easy to find all that we have written on these two topics, we have them collected in easy to find categories.

Here is our wine collection.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 28, 2013
Rogue River Caveman Blue Cheese

The most recent addition to our blue cheese life list was Rogue River Caveman Blue Cheese. Penny spotted it at the River Street Whole Foods in Cambridge and added a piece to our selection for that evening's cheese supper. It was so good, we finished it with one of our last heirloom tomatoes the next night.

While Rogue River Blue will remain our favorite from this cheese maker, Caveman will be a welcome alternative.

Describing the Flavor

On their site, lead cheesemaker Jason Garcia describes Caveman as "sweet, fruity with vanilla tones, and earthy notes. It’s addictive," he says. "It’s savory, with no tang at all, very smooth and mellow."

Janet Fletcher wrote in SF Gate, "What I notice first with Caveman is the rich butter color of the background, which makes me suspect the cows enjoy fresh grass at least some of the time… Caveman manages to be bold and concentrated without being salty, biting or hot, qualities that make many consumers reluctant to purchase blues."

We try to include a photo of the label with these posts because that will give you pricing information and whatever details the vendor includes.

What to Drink with the Caveman

While the creamery suggests a stout as a match for the cheese, Janet Fletcher enjoyed an oloroso sherry as the wine lover's option.

Here is a list of places where you can buy Rogue River Cheese.

Do you include blue cheeses on your cheese trays? Do you have a favorite or do you try different ones each time?

As we approach the season when we move indoors and gather friends and family, we'll be featuring more of our favorite wine and cheese. And to make it easy to find all that we have written on these two topics, we have them collected in easy to find categories.

Here is our wine collection.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 28, 2013
Rogue River Caveman Blue Cheese

The most recent addition to our blue cheese life list was Rogue River Caveman Blue Cheese. Penny spotted it at the River Street Whole Foods in Cambridge and added a piece to our selection for that evening's cheese supper. It was so good, we finished it with one of our last heirloom tomatoes the next night.

While Rogue River Blue will remain our favorite from this cheese maker, Caveman will be a welcome alternative.

Describing the Flavor

On their site, lead cheesemaker Jason Garcia describes Caveman as "sweet, fruity with vanilla tones, and earthy notes. It’s addictive," he says. "It’s savory, with no tang at all, very smooth and mellow."

Janet Fletcher wrote in SF Gate, "What I notice first with Caveman is the rich butter color of the background, which makes me suspect the cows enjoy fresh grass at least some of the time… Caveman manages to be bold and concentrated without being salty, biting or hot, qualities that make many consumers reluctant to purchase blues."

We try to include a photo of the label with these posts because that will give you pricing information and whatever details the vendor includes.

What to Drink with the Caveman

While the creamery suggests a stout as a match for the cheese, Janet Fletcher enjoyed an oloroso sherry as the wine lover's option.

Here is a list of places where you can buy Rogue River Cheese.

Do you include blue cheeses on your cheese trays? Do you have a favorite or do you try different ones each time?

As we approach the season when we move indoors and gather friends and family, we'll be featuring more of our favorite wine and cheese. And to make it easy to find all that we have written on these two topics, we have them collected in easy to find categories.

Here is our wine collection.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 28, 2013
Mas Marcé El Set: Milk from a Rare Breed of Sheep

El Set, a sheep milk cheese from the Mas Marcé area of Spain is our latest taste delight from Formaggio South End.

With a pretty basket pattern, El Set looks great on a cheese tray. Its dry texture and herby flavor will please many a cheese lover. This is not an overwhelming sheepy cheese like many of the ones we love. But, we planned to enjoy it with a piece of fresh pecorino and didn't want something that would mask the flavor of the milder cheese.

This is a "hero cheese," in our opinion, because it's made from the milk of a rare breed of sheep that's native to the Catalan region of Spain. And, it is a vegan cheese since the cheesemakers use thistle rennet found in the same pastures where the sheep graze. When you buy this cheese, you are helping to preserve the sheep whose milk production is too low for mass producers.

We are so fortunate to have cheese shops like Formaggio Kitchen and Formaggio South End where you can find a new cheese with a great story each time you visit. And, if you follow them online, they will tell you those stories one wedge at a time. You'll find links to their facebook and twitter pages on their website links above.

Here's an example from their Facebook page.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino , Shreenshot courtesy of Formaggio South End

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 23, 2013
Mas Marcé El Set: Milk from a Rare Breed of Sheep

El Set, a sheep milk cheese from the Mas Marcé area of Spain is our latest taste delight from Formaggio South End.

With a pretty basket pattern, El Set looks great on a cheese tray. Its dry texture and herby flavor will please many a cheese lover. This is not an overwhelming sheepy cheese like many of the ones we love. But, we planned to enjoy it with a piece of fresh pecorino and didn't want something that would mask the flavor of the milder cheese.

This is a "hero cheese," in our opinion, because it's made from the milk of a rare breed of sheep that's native to the Catalan region of Spain. And, it is a vegan cheese since the cheesemakers use thistle rennet found in the same pastures where the sheep graze. When you buy this cheese, you are helping to preserve the sheep whose milk production is too low for mass producers.

We are so fortunate to have cheese shops like Formaggio Kitchen and Formaggio South End where you can find a new cheese with a great story each time you visit. And, if you follow them online, they will tell you those stories one wedge at a time. You'll find links to their facebook and twitter pages on their website links above.

Here's an example from their Facebook page.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino , Shreenshot courtesy of Formaggio South End

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 23, 2013
Mas Marcé El Set: Milk from a Rare Breed of Sheep

El Set, a sheep milk cheese from the Mas Marcé area of Spain is our latest taste delight from Formaggio South End.

With a pretty basket pattern, El Set looks great on a cheese tray. Its dry texture and herby flavor will please many a cheese lover. This is not an overwhelming sheepy cheese like many of the ones we love. But, we planned to enjoy it with a piece of fresh pecorino and didn't want something that would mask the flavor of the milder cheese.

This is a "hero cheese," in our opinion, because it's made from the milk of a rare breed of sheep that's native to the Catalan region of Spain. And, it is a vegan cheese since the cheesemakers use thistle rennet found in the same pastures where the sheep graze. When you buy this cheese, you are helping to preserve the sheep whose milk production is too low for mass producers.

We are so fortunate to have cheese shops like Formaggio Kitchen and Formaggio South End where you can find a new cheese with a great story each time you visit. And, if you follow them online, they will tell you those stories one wedge at a time. You'll find links to their facebook and twitter pages on their website links above.

Here's an example from their Facebook page.

And, here are other items from our Cheese Tray!

What's on your Cheese Shopping List? Here are some great books about cheese. These make wonderful gifts for a cheese lover. And, when you shop Amazon from here, they put some coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 PennyCherubino , Shreenshot courtesy of Formaggio South End

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 23, 2013
At The Market: Cheese from Local Farms

Artisan cheese is another reason to visit farmers' markets.

Cheesemakers like Smith's Farmstead Cheese, Narragansett Creamery, Crystal Brook Farm, Ruggles Hill Creamery, Fiore di Nonno, and Foxboro Cheese are among the cheese options you can find at Boston area farmers' markets.

Crystal Brook Farm offers a delightful goat cheese picnic lunch. The day we took this photo each bag included a container of their goat cheese with olive oil and herbs de Provence, french bread, trail mix, a plate, napkin, knife, and a dollar-off coupon for the next purchase.

In season right now!

This is the height of the harvest season. The stone fruit selection is glorious, the vegetables overflow their bins, and you enjoy each bite knowing this-or-that will soon be gone.

Get Some before it's gone!

Berries, stone fruit, heirloom tomatoes, and local honey – we've begun stockpiling our favorite from Foppema's Farm for winter.

Coming Soon!

Mums for fall planting, herbs for window sills, pumpkins, winter squash, late season apples.

Follow all of our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

September 12, 2013