I didn't grow up with cheese, so I never learned about cheeses (I didn't grow up learning about wine, either. My mom likes Beringer's White Zinfandel; that should tell you all you need to know). Now that I'm an adult and I live in San Francisco (as much as I bitch about San Francisco, I know it's the luckiest place in the country for people who love artisanal food) I try new cheeses all the time.
My boss introduced me to Brillat-Savarin at our deparment holiday party. Brillat-Savarin is my favorite cheese, now. It can be described as something between cream and the best sex you've ever had. It's better than chocolate. It's better than massage. It's better than ecstacy, the drug. (Okay, I wouldn't go that far. I've only dropped e twice and both times were amazing experiences.)
My favorite farmer, whose name is Peter Martinelli, is a very charming and delightful person, and I had a good time interviewing him and writing about him in our company newsletter a few months ago. One of the things he told me was that in addition to growing crops, he does a lot of wildcrafting, or gathering wild medicinal plants, herbs and wild edible plants. One of the plants he gathers is stingling nettles, and Cowgirl Creamery uses them for their springtime-only cheese called St. Pat's. St. Pat's is a little round of mild, mellow, delicious cheese (not stinky) wrapped in nettles. The nettles give the cheese a slighly vegetal flavor, like asparagus or artichokes. Peter gave me a gift of St. Pat's the other day, and DD and I had bread and cheese and salad for dinner. The cheese is super-delicious, and I'll have to get more soon, because it's only available once a year!
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