the cheese chronicles

A peek around Briar Rose Creamery

2011-08-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a glimpse around Briar Rose Creamery as of Summer 2011. We're plugging away, making things happen. We've done a lot since March of 2010.

Photo by Sarah Marcus

The ribbon from the Award Ceremony at the American Cheese Society Conference in Montreal, Quebec. I am still pinching myself.

Jim manning the booth at Woodstock Farmers Market, Portland, Oregon, Summer 2011.

Jim leads the charge at our Farmers Markets. He gets all the glory, while I toil away in the cheese room. That's ok. He's good at selling our cheese and love to talk baseball to anyone who will listen.

Shawn, the guy with the goats feeding youngsters around the goat barn. Early summer 2011. Photo by Sarah Marcus

Meet Shawn. He has the goats, mostly French Alpines and Swiss Toggenburgs. He milks them twice a day, every day. I take that rich, sweet milk and make something delicious with it.

Chelsea, assistant cheese maker getting some buckling attention. Photo by Sarah Marcus

This is Chelsea, my assistant in the cheese room and farmer's market rock star. Yes, her hair is really that color and has been that color for years. Well, it might change hue a bit from time to time, but she wears it well.

Cheese curds releasing whey and transforming into fresh chevre. Briar Rose Creamery, Summer 2011. Photo by Sarah Marcus

With this goat cheese I make fresh spreadable goat cheese in five flavors: Classic, a traditional chevre; Lemon Dill, Garlic Herb, Rosemary & Peppercorn, as well as Spicy Chipotle. I also make hand-rolled logs, chevre discs in infused olive oil, and award winning chocolate goat cheese truffles.

Tara hanging curds.
Photo by Sarah Marcus

Construction is moving along on our building. Last week we had a couple of cement pads poured around the exterior of the building. Compressors and other bits of equipment will be located on those fresh slabs of cement. We've got some special equipment being installed this week. Our air handling system is being set up and should be ready for action soon. We've got nylon socks for our air ducts and we'll have filtered air keeping our air quality nice and clean. A must for us! Keep that road dust out, thank you very much. We've been trying to get our epoxy floor put in for weeks now, but it still isn't installed. We're getting new bids this week.

Sarah stands by her work.

It might be an emotional roller coaster, with long days and sleepless nights, but I am living my dream.

A goat milk expert raises her voice:

Blue Ribbon!!!

2011-08-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Photo by Emiliano Lee, cheesemonger extraordinaire of Liberty Heights Fresh, Salt Lake City, Utah.

It seems I only have time to jot down a few lines when we have momentous news. The news today? We just received a blue ribbon for our Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles! We entered them into the American Cheese Society Judging and Competition being held in Montreal, Quebec. We actually had four entries, and got a ribbon for the truffles, not the cheese.

Here is a list of all of the winners at American Cheese Society cheese contest. The best in show was awarded to fellow Oregonians, Rogue Creamery for their Rogue River Blue. Their second Best-of-Show in three years! We're thrilled for David, Cary, and the entire Rogue team for their success. They make some phenomenal cheeses.

Our Chocolate Chevre Truffles were awarded 1st place in the "Fresh Goat Cheese, Flavor Added: Floral" category. When we were filling out our entry form, there wasn't a perfect fit for our truffles. Nothing that indicated sweetened cheese, confections with cheese, cheese with chocolate added, etc. We actually called the offices of the American Cheese Society to figure out the best category for our truffles. They were stumped, too. Finally we all decided that the flavor added "floral" category was the closest fit since the category also included fruit added. Chocolate is made from cocoa beans. The cocoa bean comes from a fruit, right? Close enough for us and ACS.

And now a blue ribbon!

Our truffles are still hard to get. We only sell them at our Farmers Market booth and special events and I only produce them when we have time in the cheese room to do so. We have a few retail outlets for them as well, but none have them in stock at this time. Check with them in a week or two, since we feel the need to reach out and offer them for sale.

Outlets are: Lifesource Natural Foods in Salem, Oregon, Sundance Natural Foods in Eugene, Oregon, Cheese Bar and Elephants Deli, both in Portland, Oregon.

I do not have the staff nor time to take retail mail orders, sorry. Shipping cheese or truffles in the summertime is not something I want to risk. Maybe once we're moved into our new creamery building we'll explore the possibility of shipping our truffles and cheese, but right now it isn't an option. Ah, well. If you want to try them, you'll just have to see us in person! We love that idea!

February is truffles and cheese month

2011-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

Photos by Oregonian photographer, Ross Hamilton.

Just in time for Valentine's Day: more truffles! I really do make more things beyond these delicious, chocolate goat cheese truffles. Perhaps some nice fresh chevre to go with your dessert wine? But I'm not going to deny the world of these silky morsels of chevre and chocolate.

Tami Parr writes the cheese column for Portland's Mix Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine published by our local paper, The Oregonian. February features Briar Rose Creamery and our truffles. Yay! Tami came out to the creamery the same day we had a tornado touch down five miles away in Aumsville, Oregon. Also feature on that day: an inspection by the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture - we're doing fine! How's that for timing? Is there a message from the Universe in there somewhere?

Forever plagued by weighty issues, I look at these photos and see the need to go on a diet. But, my-oh-my! Don't those truffles look good! Nice shots of Shawn's bucks, and a group shot of the does in the dairy barn.

Here's the link to the article in the February 2011 issue of Mix Magazine.

Chocolate goat cheese truffles are catching on!

2010-12-06T11:16:00.001-08:00

Got a nice write-up on the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project. Our truffles are addictive. And they're selling fast!

I learned how to make them while at Goat Lady Dairy. I made lots of them while I was there. Since then I've made them from time to time to give as gifts to friends. I even made them for classes at the Cheese School of San Francisco.

I loved tweaking with the recipe. Mom was very opinionated when I was shopping around for chocolate to test. She wrote a book about chocolate in the '70s called "The Chocolate Bible", so she knew what she was talking about. We tried several different chocolates and several different cocoa powders to get the exact flavor profile that I was looking for. It had to be a rich, dark chocolate, but not bitter. The sweetness from the chocolate had to marry well with the acidity of the goat cheese. The cocoa powder had to hit the palatte with hints of smoke, and savory chocolate. Yes, they're really good.

Right now you can only find them where ever we are personally selling them, so a few holiday markets around town. We're looking for more retail outlets, but our production is small, so I've got to make sure they're in places where they'll sell.

They make great hostess gifts if you really feel like sharing.

Award!!! and looking back

2010-10-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Chocolate goat cheese truffles - photo by Angelina Williamson.

Briar Rose Creamery got its first award this weekend! We entered cheese and truffles into the cheese competition of the American Dairy Goat Association annual meeting. The meeting was held in Tuscon, Arizona this year. Since we couldn't attend, we Fed-Ex'ed a couple of boxes full of samples and ice packs to a hotel near the airport in Tuscon. We simply wanted to get feedback and see how our stuff holds up to critique.

The results came back and we got a 2nd Place ribbon for our Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles! I'm still jumping up and down with excitement. I can't wait to see the notes from the judges and see what they thought of our fresh chevre.

Tami Parr was one of the judges and posted the list of winners from Oregon on her website: Pacific Northwest Cheese Project.

If you want to buy some truffles, you're in luck. They're available only at The Cheese Bar in Portland, Oregon, or Sundance Natural Foods in Eugene, Oregon. We also had them at our farmer's market booth, but that's over for the season. Stay tuned to our Facebook Page. I'll post more locations as we get them. We're pretty picky about who sells our truffles.

Looking back, the first seven months:

This first year of production has been full of trial and tribulations for Jim and me. Not a week goes by that I don't question my sanity. Why am I doing this? How am I going to pay for all of this? Will my building ever get finished? Will I survive this start-up phase? How am I going to get everything done that needs to be done?

Receiving an award for my truffles validates my work and reasons for making cheese. People like us! I make tasty truffles!

I've never seen myself as an entrepreneur. I've always worked for others, and try to do the best that I can in any given situation. Starting my own business is completely out of my comfort zone. I'm getting a knot in my stomach right now as I write about it. I took classes offered by the Small Business Administration in San Francisco but I still feel totally out of my element and not as well prepared as I should have been. I'd like to find a mentor who knows all about starting and running a small food production business. That might ease my anxieties. I really am better at handling my anxieties these days. I try to take a few minutes each day to clear my head. I even meditate. My spiritual practices support me, too. I try to see the bumps in the road as learning tools. Each lesson is making me a stronger person and a better business woman. We're following our hearts and going for our dreams. This is a great thing!

Farmer's Market Season:

We made it through our first Farmer's Market season. I still can't believe they end so early, around here. But that seems to be a good thing because the rains came this weekend and things are very wet and soggy, not good outdoor shopping weather.

Jim handled the markets and we did pretty well. The crappy economy did keep some shoppers away. Sales were down in McMinnville, the one market we worked last year (for Silver Falls Creamery.) Our Portland Farmers Markets were pretty good. We sold cheese at Pioneer Courthouse Square, on Mondays, Moreland Market in Southeast Portland on Wednesdays, and in McMinnville on Thursdays. In September, we were also at a market on NW 23rd in Portland on Thursdays, too. Folks were excited to see a new cheesemaker and try our cheese. As new vendors, we were testing the waters and we did OK for our first year. Next year we hope to add some weekend markets to our roster. And next year people will be able to buy cheese directly from our farm (come Hell or high water!)

Photo: Sarah and Jim at Provvista's Open House.

We knew this first year would be about building a customer base and getting our name out there. At each market folks would flock to our tent and try our cheese. Many would take one home with them. It was fun to see which cheese would sell the best at a market. There were seasonal winners, too. Lemon Dill Chevre is a summer cheese. When the weather was nice, it would outsell everything else. When the thermometer dips below 65 degrees, Garlic Herb Chevre was a clear favorite. When the leaves started to turn color and the crisp air of Autumn set the tone, Rosemary Peppercorn emerged as the crowd-pleaser.

We're also getting on the menu at a bunch of local restaurants. The local chefs are really happy with our cheese and are putting it into some fantastic dishes. I still get a huge thrill to see Briar Rose Creamery called out on a menu. Jim likes dropping by restaurants and meeting with chefs. He'll give them a pound of chevre to play with and checks up on them the following week. Most chefs have been glad to get good cheese for free. Who wouldn't? We then encourage them to place orders from our distributor, Provvista or buy directly from us if they're nearby.

Shameless plugs:
If you want to be inspired and see how local chefs use our chevre, we're on the menu regularly at some of our favorite local restaurants like Subterra in Newberg. In Dundee, you can't go wrong at any of the local eateries: Dundee Bistro, Tina's Restaurant, Farm to Fork, Red Hills Provincial Dining, in McMinnville, stop by Nick's Italian Cafe or Nick's Backroom, La Rambla, or Crescent Cafe. In Portland, I'd love it if you would swing by Ned Ludd or the Cheese Bar, as they both use our cheese. The Cheese Bar also is one of the few outlets for our AWARD WINNING Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles! Going skiing? You just might find our cheese on the menu at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.

Follow me!

2010-09-07T00:38:00.001-07:00

Jim and I are luddites. We have six year old cell phones, my laptop has seen better days, and our desktop computer is pretty ancient, too. Yet, we're cutting edge in cheesemaking circles.

Why? Because we're on Facebook and have been for a while. I'm also on Twitter. Briar Rose Creamery has a pretty good following on Facebook. We've seen a good response at our farmer's markets when we promote a flavor. We've been able to get into supermarkets that way, too. A cheese buyer told me that they had customers demanding our cheese because we asked folks to request Briar Rose Creamery's chevre at their favorite cheese counters.

The power of social media is pretty strong and Jim and I seem to like the immediacy of it.
It works!
Power to the people!

So if you're so inclined, please follow Briar Rose Creamery on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Briar-Rose-Creamery/112348448790151?ref=ts
or find us on Twitter: BriarRoseCheese

I've also added those widget thingies to the right-hand column of this blog so you can sort of keep track of me.

On the radio TODAY!! and now, Retail outlets!

2010-05-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Photo: Briar Rose Creamery's Classic Chevre.

Today I'm going to be interviewed on the radio. A Portland community radio station is hosting a food show every Wednesday from 11am - Noon. Today's topic: CHEESE! I'll be the featured start-up cheesemaker. Listen in if you can!
They stream on the web. http://www.kboo.org/node/21552

I know I'm still very behind on my blog. So much to update and so little time right now to do it. Building is still being built. I'm driving 55 miles to make cheese in Stayton at the goat dairy. Yes, I'm making cheese. Fresh chevre to be exact. We're starting to take our cheese and sell it around Portland and around the Oregon Wine Country. So far we're getting some great responses. Yay!

You can find our cheese at these fine retail locations:

Abbie and Olivers Cheese Shop, Inside Wednesday Wines, 250 NE 3rd St, McMinnville, OR 97128, 503-583-0367
Foster and Dobbs Authentic Foods, 2518 NE 15th Avenue at NE Brazee Street, Portland, OR 97212, 503.284.1157
Cheese Bar (nee Steve's Cheese) 6031 SE Belmont Street (at 61st near Mt. Tabor), Portland, OR 97215
503-222-6014
Square Deal Wine and Cheese, 2321 NW Thurman Street, Portland, OR 97210, 503.226.9463

The Horse Radish, Downtown Carlton, Oregon, (503) 852-6656

Amity Foods and Coffee House, Downtown Amity, Oregon
615 South Trade Street, Amity, OR 97101, (503) 835-5600

Also, the farmer's market season has started for us. We're at three of them. Please stop by and say hello! Jim will be there.

Moreland Farmers Market, Wednesdays 3:30 to 7:30, May 12th - Sept 29th 2010, Located at SE Bybee/14th with free parking across the street at SE 14th/Glenwood. Westmoreland/Sellwood neighborhood, Portland, Oregon

McMinnville Farmer's Market, Thursdays from 1:30 -6:00, May 27th - October 7th. On Cowls St. btwn 2nd and 3rd. Downtown McMinnville, Oregon.

Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmer's Market, Mondays from 10:00 - 2:00, June 21 - October 25. Downtown Portland, Oregon.

Please support these folks who are taking a chance and selling our cheese! We really appreciate their faith and hope that it pays off for everyone.

Want another way to see what we're up to? We're on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Briar-Rose-Creamery/112348448790151

Shine on sweet spotlight!

2010-04-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday featured Briar Rose Creamery on Examiner.com . The column focuses on small businesses. My dear Jim got to answer their questions and here are the results. Thank you Delida Costin.

Woo hoo! Shine on, sweet media spotlight!

Coming soon: more photos of our construction. We have a nicely sloping floor now, and the initial plumbing is in. Electrical activities are on deck. Lots happening.

More updates:
We're just waiting on our labels now. I'm busy making cheese in Stayton at the facilities of Silver Falls Creamery. As soon as we get our labels, we can start selling cheese. Yay!

We've been accepted to two farmer's markets. McMinnville Farmer's Market on Thursday afternoons starting May 27th and Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmer's Market in Portland starting Monday, June 21st. Still looking for one or two more. Who's got room for my cheese?

Onward and upward, here we go!

I am an Artisan Cheesemaker! With a logo!

2010-02-19T00:56:00.000-08:00

Christine Hyatt, the Cheese Chick, shot a video at Portland's Wedge Festival in October. Here I am holding cheese from Silver Falls Creamery. I was bundled up for the crisp, Autumn weather.

Yes, indeed, I am an artisan cheesemaker. Ripening soon!

Our logo was designed by Annette Orban of Orban Ranch in Portland, Oregon. We've been having fun coming up with our "look", labels, and packaging. I gave her the rough idea of what I saw in my head, a wood cut rose.
http://www.orbanranch.com

Building a strong foundation

2010-02-19T00:22:00.000-08:00

Why should I let a little thing like my mother's death stop me from continuing with my plans for starting an artisan cheese business? I've been trying to find a balance between dealing with upheaval withing the family following Adrianne's passing and knowing that my dream hasn't changed. Today, my feet are even more firmly placed on this path, as I move forward with a conviction and a burning desire to manifest this new life.

You can plan forever, but you can also get so caught up trying to anticipate every detail that you might never get started. My dream has felt like a pool of water sitting behind a dam, building up pressure, the potential for all that I can be in this next stage of my life and career. Suddenly there's movement and the floodgates begin to open and the water, my creative drive begins to pour out. The water cascades down the face of the dam, slowly at first and then in a torrent, crashing on to the rocks below. Another pool begins to fill and the water begins to flow into channels that have always been there, but they've just been waiting for the water to remember where it is supposed to go. Sometimes I forget it is easiest to just go with the flow.

Here in Dundee, Oregon, a new building is rising up out of the red dirt. The foundation for our cheese palace has been cast. A wooden frame is being erected. A roof has been set in place. Holy cow! This thing is really happening!

Here's a slideshow that shows our progress over the past 2.5 weeks. Photos are mostly taken by Jim.

There's a lot going on around here. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and just want to cry. Other times I'm just amazed at how much my life has changed over the past few years.

The Wedge, Portland celebrates cheese this weekend!

2009-10-02T08:25:00.001-07:00

THE WEDGE

If you should be near Portland, Oregon tomorrow, Saturday, October 3rd, 2009, perhaps you might want to head over to the Green Dragon Pub at SE 9th and Hawthorn. Why? It is time for The Wedge, a celebration of cheese from all over the Northwest, and a couple from Northern California.

Jim and I will be there representing Silver Falls Creamery. Please stop by and say hello. I'd love to see some friendly faces.

There will be lots of cheese to taste, beer to drink, other food to sample, as well as some cheese-centric seminars to enlighten you. Plus you can buy some cheese from some of the best cheesemakers in the country.

Cost: A mere $5. Or you can bring a can of food to donate to the Oregon Food Bank. Such a deal! Bring the kids!

Where: 928 SE 9th Ave. in Portland, Oregon in front of the Green Dragon Pub (Google Map here)

When: From 10:00am - 4:00pm, Saturday, October 3rd, 2009.

Lots more info about it is on the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project Blog.

Should be fun!

More memories of Adrianne

2009-09-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

A video of my mother, Adrianne Marcus reading her poem "The Resurrection of Trotsky" in Ventura, CA appears on YouTube.

The Dublin Writers Workshop has a few of Adrianne's poems on their online magazine Electric Acorn 10

The Absinthe Literary Review from Summer 2001.

From her book, Magritte's Stones:

La Legende des Siecles
A stone table has less thought than an ordinary (wood) table. —Rene Magritte

A chair on a chair. And no table in sight. This is the meal
Of the uneaten. We are waiting for the table to be set, for
The roast to release its hearty juices, for the vegetables to
Shine in all their oranges and reds. There are dark shadows
On the legs of the chair. Perhaps the cat is waiting there
For scraps. And at each corner of the table, a dog lies,
Perfectly still, looking up at its owners. Now there are four dogs.
Now there are three, but the absent one is always there, patient,
Unspeaking, and the owners who are owned themselves
Smile at the corner, and wait for the meal to end.

Adrianne Marcus

Adrianne Maris Marcus

2009-09-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

Photo: Adrianne Marcus in Finland, Sept. 2008

My mother passed away early this morning. At 12:38am, to be exact. She died peacefully, her chest rising and falling, gradually becoming more of an afterthought, until she breathed no more. The cell phone by my bed woke me up as the doctor called to give me the news. She apologized and said words of condolence as I listened to what she had to say. I replied with words coming out of my numb mouth. There wasn't much left to say.

I got up, Jim and I got dressed and went upstairs to tell the rest of the family. Aunt Judy was first. I pushed open the door to my old bedroom and she was up in an instant. I began to tell her but she already knew what I had to say as soon as I knocked on her door. Alix, Ian's daughter was the next one to wake up. She broke the news to Ian. I called my sisters, Shelby and Stacey. We went to the hospital to say goodbye. She obviously wanted to spare us the heartache of being there at the moment of her passing, but we saw her shortly afterwards. She was so still, so quiet. We wiped our tears on Kaiser's Kleenex, more like sandpaper. We left her an hour later. As we were walking out of the hospital, a young couple were being escorted inside. They were having a baby. The woman looked apprehensive, not knowing quite what to expect. Her husband was nervous and elated, carrying their bag as she was wheeled off to the third floor. I looked at my family and we laughed. There is balance in the world. The circle of life keeps on turning. Mom's left us, and a new life is on its way.

Her death wasn't unexpected, just extremely painful for me to witness and sad. I was there for her, giving her my strength so that she could fight this disease and come home. I was there for her, so that she didn't have to worry about Ian, my stepdad, who has his own medical issues. I was there for her so that she could relax and try to focus on healing. I promised her I'd take care of her dogs. She would do the same for me. She was fierce and someone you wanted to have on your side. She was the strongest woman I've ever known. This is why I cannot believe she could be gone. So quiet. So beautiful, looking like she was truly at peace, having finally won her last fight.

She had ovarian cancer which led her to get a hysterectomy. Complications gave her one setback after another. Her body was weakened by over two years of malnourishment. She had lost her appetite. This is a woman who lived to eat. She loved food and the enjoyment of cooking and sharing a meal with friends. We knew something was wrong. She knew something wasn't right for over a year. Her diabetes, congestive heart failure and irregular heartbeat all added dimensions to her complex case and she didn't have the strength to overcome her numerous problems.

My mom and I were very close. She drove me crazy at times, but I loved her just the same. She would pick up the phone and call me at least once a day. "I just wanted to see how you are," she'd say. She's never say who was calling, she'd just launch into her thought as soon as you answered the phone. She just wanted to hear my voice.

She had a tremendous passion for everything that interested her. She loved her writing, her poetry, a good meal, and her dogs. She surrounded herself with intelligent people, loving a good discussion about art, music, or books. Her insatiable curiosity lead her to travel across the country and around the world seeking the hidden pleasures of local diners, hand crafted chocolates, and hand-blown ornamental glass birds. If you had the honor of being her friend, she'd give you anything you could ever want or need. It made her happy, knowing that she could take care of you. She had a huge heart.

She satisfied her curiosity for the world around her by writing about it. She was published in newspapers and magazines such as The San Francisco Chronicle, Food & Wine, Town & Country, Parade Magazine, and Travel and Leisure. She also published three books, "The Chocolate Bible," "The Photojournalist: Mark & Leibovitz," and "Carrion House World of Gifts." There are works of unpublished fiction sitting in boxes in her workroom. "Morrigan's Crow" was a contemporary fantasy novel set in Ireland. "Chefs," was a scathing look at the world of celebrity chefs and the food world.

She was a food and travel journalist by trade but her true love was poetry, having published over 400 poems. She was an amazing poet who knew how to stitch words together in such a way that each word tugged at the other words, line after line carried you into the raw emotions that she wanted to explore. She would often reduce an audience to tears. She published many books of poetry such as "Magritte's Stones, " "Child of Earthquake Country," "The Moon is a Marrying Eye," and "The Resurrection of Trotsky." To read some of her poetry, you can find it at her website: Double M Sighthounds.

For the last few years she turned her attention to her dogs, Silken Windhounds and Borzois. She had seven of them. She became involved in the dog world, building friendships with in the dog breeding and lure coursing community.

I love my mother. I cannot imagine life without her. I know I she was proud of all that I've done. She could not wait to try my own cheese. I will not disappoint her. She was 74.

Here is the poem that my mother wrote for our wedding.

Wedding Poem
For Sarah and Jim, May 2, 1999

Here, in this season of flowers, your faces bloom
With love. This, your beginning, is a journey of roses,
Without thorns. The mutual air is filled with the sweet
Scent of blossoms, the perfume spilling out into
Each room where you are, pledging love, a lifetime
Together. All those delicate promises, pledges of spring.

Soon it will be summer. In that time, your faces will
Alter under the warm sun. Eating the fruits of the ripe
Nectarine, peaches, you will offer each other a taste,
A sharing. Your mouths will be honey and cinnamon as
You learn to invent delights
In more ways than you ever thought possible.

When autumn comes, you will change again, and there
Will be days when thorns and small hurts
May seem more important than they really are.
As the leaves turn, remember the blaze of color
Yellow and red, the amber fire that needs to be
Fed in order to continue to burn.

Speak to each other, let no night fall on
Sadness; remember to say I love you before
The day closes. Each morning is both a
Closing of time and a beginning of another.
Take nothing for granted.

When winter arrives, with its grey, dormant season.
Remember the bare branches are only
Illusion. Deep inside the pruned limbs, buds are
Dreaming their forms, taking the sweet shape of roses.
Wait for spring; and you will taste these blooms again,
Like love, with lavish familiarity.

Adrianne Marcus

Cat's out of the bag

2009-06-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

I've been mighty silent for a while. I've been talking to some folks about working together. Just didn't want to reveal too much while I was in sensitive negotiations. I think I can talk about things more freely now.

I has always been hard for me to keep a secret for too long and the cat's outta the bag, now. Briar Rose Creamery just got it's first mention in the online version of the Oregonian, Portland's morning paper. Woo hoo! Last Wednesday, I participated in an event called Oregon Cheese Stories sponsored by Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center. Cheesemakers got to tell their stories to cheeseshop owners, distributors, and food writers. I went with Silver Falls Creamery to reveal my new partnership with them and our plans for the future. We also got to talk to lots of folks about our cheese, let them try it, and hopefully get them to order it.

Photo: Cheese tasting at the Food Innovation Center.

What am I doing with Silver Falls Creamery? If things continue along this merry path, this summer I will begin to make cheese with Shawn, the herdsman, cheesemaker, teacher, and father of four youngsters. He's a very busy guy with hardly enough time to breathe, let alone make cheese. I'm going to drive to Stayton a few days a week to make cheese. If you are eager to try some pretty tasty fresh goat cheese, Jim and I are currently selling Silver Falls Creamery chevre at the McMinnville Farmer's Marke t every Thursday afternoon. Stop by and say hi!

Photo: Shawn milks a doe at Silver Falls Creamery.

While all this partnering is happening, we'll be building out our creamery on our property. Once the structure is complete, I will make cheese in Dundee. Briar Rose Creamery will produce aged cheeses, Silver Falls will have fresh chevre. Both will be made here. At least that's the plan right now.

We've found our milk supplier! Plus I've been approached by a gentleman in Clackamas County who is building a goat dairy and want to sell his milk to me. There have even been conversations with another person who has a flock of dairy sheep. Keep 'em coming!

I am amazed, thrilled, and grateful with the way things are really falling into place. I'm really living the dream! Please don't pinch me, I don't want to wake up.

Like a fine cuppa coffee

2009-03-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Photo: I get to ham it up with Ig Vella at Vella Cheese Company

Lots of stuff percolating around here. Not much time to blog about it.

My bad! The Sonoma Cheese Conference went really well. Got to see lots of friends and make some new ones. Both good things in my estimation. My panel went off really well. Three of us got to talk about blogging basics and how a blog can be a wonderful dynamic form of writing. I had my fill of excellent cheeses from across the country and some great wines and beers were served as well. It is a nice, intimate gathering of cheese professionals. A highlight for me was going to the Vella Cheese Company with fellow Oregonians Pat Morford and her daughter Astraea from River's Edge Chevre, and Tami Parr of the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project. I bought some extra aged Dry Jack from Ig Vella himself. It is a nice excuse to spend a few days in the beautiful town of Sonoma.

Photo: a princess cake.

I did manage to visit my sister in Santa Rosa. Brought her a piece of Princess Cake for her birthday. Scandia Bakery on Napa Street next to the Sonoma Market that makes an excellent Princess Cake. It is a family tradition. Must have this sweet cake with layers of cake, custard, cream, and raspberry jam smothered with green marzipan frosting. Heaven! I wish I could have taken more time to visit more friends. It will have to wait for another trip back to the Bay Area.

This weekend we're off to the Oregon Cheese Festival. It is held in the parking lot at Rogue Creamery in Central Point, Oregon. It should be about a four to five hour drive from here. It is pretty far south, practically in California. The sun is out and the rain might hold off until Saturday or Sunday so I hope the drive is easy.

When the sun shines, Oregon's natural beauty is breathtaking. The locals perk up, too. Yesterday I was driving back home, headed north on Wallace Road a.k.a. Highway 221 from Salem. The rural highway connects Dayton, just south of Dundee, to Salem and cuts through farmland and tiny hamlets like Lincoln and Unionvale. The Eola Hills and the red hills of Dundee rise gracefully up from the floor of the Willamette Valley to the west and off in the distance are the snow capped Cascades to the east. It was a cloudless sky and the sun was warming the fertile earth all around me as I sped along past countless farms and semi-dormant fields. The grass alongside the road is bright green with fresh spring growth. A few of the trees are starting to show the early signs of bud break, with a green glow tracing through their naked branches. Spring is breathing down upon this patch of earth. It was a great 50 minute drive home. Must try to remember to take some photographs of this stuff. My words cannot capture the beauty that surrounds me.

Photo: Jim holds a chick.

Speaking of signs of spring, we have chicks! Five of them. So cute. Araucanas, the kind that lay green and blue tinted eggs. Sweet little birds that will grow up to be nice egg layers. They're a little over a week old.

Jim has completed three raised beds for our veggie garden. Now we need to fill them with dirt and we'll be off to the races. Or we'll be ready to plant lettuce, carrots, leeks, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, and other herbs.

In other news, I've posted an ad on Craigslist looking for cheesemaking equipment. Got some pretty interesting responses to it. We'll see what happens! It really feels like things are starting to gain momentum and move forward. We filed for building permits with the county planning department and I'm going over the plans with our contractor. Groundbreaking may happen sooner rather than later.

Whew! First thing's first. Gotta get ready to drive to Central Point.

Come and celebrate cheese!

2009-02-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

Feeling like eating lots of cheese? Want to learn about how it is made? Fascinated by dairy goats? Want to have more inspiration in the kitchen with your cheese? I bet there's a festival or conference coming up that might be of interest.

I've already mentioned the Sonoma Valley Cheese Conference. I'm very excited to be on a panel. Anything you'd like me to talk about? The focus is on blogging and I'm open to ideas and suggestions. February 21-24th are the dates. It starts off with a gathering at the Cheese School of San Francisco from 5pm - 8pm on Saturday the 21st of this month. For $25 you get to eat some exquisite cheese from some of my favorite producers and wash it down with some great wines and beer. The party moves to Sonoma on Sunday where you can eat more cheese, drink more beer and wine and meet more cheesemakers. Monday and Tuesday is the working part of the conference. Panels, guided tastings, workshops, and great networking opportunities. See Sheana's website if you want ticket information.

If that's not enough to satisfy you, there's the Fourth Annual Oregon Cheese Festival happening in March. Head to Central Point, home of Rogue Creamery on Saturday, March 15th. It is sponsored by the Oregon Cheese Guild and features my friends and neighbors and some damn fine cheese. I hope to make it this year. The cost is quite affordable and open to the public. $5 for cheese tastings and demos, $5 for wine. Wow! There's also a dinner in Ashland for $70 on Friday night. I'm checking my calendar right now.

In Petaluma, there's another cheese festival in March. California's Artisan Cheese Festival is happening March 20th-23rd. This is a big cheese appreciation event. There will be a marketplace, chef's demos, and seminars. The California Artisan Cheese Guild is playing a major role in the festival this year.

Looking ahead: May will feature the Seattle Cheese Festival May 16 & 17th at Pike Place Market. The American Cheese Society Conference will be in Austin, TX this year August 5th - 8th. Woo hoo! Good beer, good barbecue, and good cheese. Works for me!

I can't go to them all, but I'll try to hit a few of them. I've got some building about to commence around here. My $$$ will be ear-marked for other cheese endevors, namely our business. I can't say when ground breaking will be, but I'll looking at weeks rather than months at this point. This is BIG news!!!

There's no place like home

2009-02-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

Photo: View of the Sunset District, Golden Gate Park, and Mt. Tamalpais.

I really miss the cultural diversity of the Bay Area. Why? Because most of my life seems to center around eating. I love the variety of cuisines that are available in and around San Francisco. We used to live in a neighborhood that was culturally mixed. The fringe benefit of this melting pot is the fact that I had lots of options when I went grocery shopping. When I craved good olives, I went to the Parkside Farmer's Market on Taraval. Their olive selection and feta selection cannot be beat. They used to be self serve, but now they tub them for you. I guess too many folks were grazing. Parkside also had the best milk prices and a great selection of fruits and veggies. I loved browsing through their aisles looking at the different spices, canned eggplant, and olive oils. The family that owns it is from Jordan, so I could find lots of middle eastern items without going far from home.

I often shopped in the central part of the Sunset District. This area is an eclectic mix of Asian, Eastern European, Irish, and all other ethnic groups that call San Francisco home. Parking was a nightmare in the area, and the stretch of Irving between 19th Ave and 26th Ave was/is always congested. Too many cars trying to skirt around double parked cars and lots of pedestrians. This is where I did a lot of my grocery shopping. I'd often park along Lincoln, next to Golden Gate Park and walk over one block to do my shopping. I loved looking at the fish swimming in tanks waiting to become someone's supper. Sunset Super, an Asian market, often had a good price on live Maine lobster, so I grab a pair for dinner if they were less that $7/pound.

As a treat I'd often grab a bubble tea at one of several local bubble tea outlets. Bubble tea, tapicoa drink, boba drinks, all the same thing and all tasty if they're fresh. My favorite was the Double Rainbow Ice Cream Parlor, but they went out of business and were replaced by an Asian chain called Quickly. Inferior bubble tea IMO. I'll still get bubble tea from Wonderful Foods Company. Or if I was on Clement Street, there's a candy shop across from my fave book store, Green Apple Books that makes great bubble tea (forgot the name.) Oh bubble tea. I love those tapioca pearl balls swimming in a milky tea bath. The texture isn't for everyone. My eldest sister has lived in Hong Kong and all over southeast Asia. She can't stand the drink. I love it. My favorite flavors are Green Tea with Milk at Tapioca Pearls and Mango Tea with Tapioca Pearls. I don't go for the jelly cubes or other options.

What do I do now that I'm living in rural splendor? I've gotta get into my car and drive. I've been slowly exploring my options around here and in Portland. Harder to find, I must admit. I'm looking for good Indian markets, Asian markets, and Middle Eastern markets. I love the Barbur World Foods in southwest Portland. They make pita bread to order! Heavenly. I'm still looking for a good Indian market.

Then there's H Mart. Shortly after we moved here, a huge Asian grocery store opened up in Tigard. This made all of the local papers. There was a lot of TV coverage, too. This store makes me feel right at home. It is a Korean chain based out of New Jersey. They cater to many styles of Asian cuisine. There's a huge bakery, sushi counter, noodle bar, and kim chi bar that takes up the front third of the store. They've got a great fish counter (yay!) and there's an entire aisle devoted to soy sauce, fish sauce and assorted high sodium delights. One section featured Asian housewares. I can replace my miso soup bowls here. They had special refrigerators aimed at Koreans. I've never seen a fridge that looks like a chest freezer with a button on it that says "ferment." Ferment? Oh! It is a kim chi fridge, I guess. Fancy!

I felt like I was back in San Francisco except that everyone was very polite and the place wasn't crowded. They even had a bubble tea bar! Now, when I feel homesick, I can jump in the car and wander through the aisles at H Mart. I'm not homesick as much as I used to be. I guess I'm getting used to this place. The stuff I used to think was weird and strange seems more normal now.

Also want to find a good place for dim sum. I'm told to head for the border. The Canadian border. The closest dim sum of quality is in Vancouver. If you know of anything closer, like in Portland, please let me know!

Sonoma Valley Cheese Conference, a panelist, and a cheese

2009-02-05T00:40:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen and children of all ages! We have achieved a milestone. The cheese is ready to be eaten!!

This cheese was born on Halloween 2008. I just cut into it on January 4th.

I just cut the second one on Feb. 1st.

I'm a very proud cheesemaker. These wheels turned out great! Good texture. Good moisture. Good flavor. The current wheel is better than the first. Yay!

If you want to try some of this fine cheese, you might have to stop by and say please.

If you happen to be around the town of Sonoma from Feb. 22 - Feb. 24, you'll find me at the Sonoma Valley Cheese Conference. Stop by and say hello! If you're lucky, I might let you try some of my cheese.

Even better than just eating my cheese, I'm on a panel. I get to discuss the finer points of blogging about cheese. Come and ask questions. Feel free to heckle, I'll only blog about you.

I attended the Sonoma Valley Cheese Conference last year and loved it. It is like a mini American Cheese Society conference with informative workshops, discussion, great networking opportunities, and a great gathering of cheese professionals. I love the town of Sonoma, so this is an added bonus. My friend Sheana Davis is the organizer. She pours her heart into making this happen and she does a great job. There is always lots of cheese, plenty of local beers, and a nice selection of wine to be consumed. Not a bad way to spend a few days. I hope the weather is nice and warm. I could use some more sunshine. Please find me and say hello.

Here's a brief description from the website:

The 7th annual Sonoma Valley Cheese Conference. Hosted by Sheana Davis & Ig Vella. Guest Keynote Speakers include Rob Kaufelt, Murray’s Cheese Shop, New York, Sid Cook, Carr Valley Cheese, Wisconsin, Petra Cooper, 5th Town Artisan Cheese Company, Ontario. Speaker Coordinator Gordon Edgar, Rainbow Grocery Cooperative. Conference Receptions Host, Rainbow Grocery, Cheese Plus and Bi Rite Market. Advisory Committee includes Ig Vella, Gordon Edgar, Sid Cook, Judy Creighton, Dee Harley, Harley Farm; Ray Bair, Cheese Plus; Sam Mogannam, Bi Rite, Mark Todd, The Cheese Dude. A very special Sonoma Dairy and Vineyard Tour, hosted by Levoroni Dairy & Vineyards. The Conference will be held at Sonoma Valley Inn & Conference Center.

A fine, three month old aged goat cheese. Semi-firm. Made in Dundee, Oregon.

Goo Goo Muck

2009-02-04T23:14:00.000-08:00

Photo: Steve Mace from The Untamed Youth on bass, Dexter Romweber from the Flat Duo Jets, guitar, and Joel Trueblood from The Untamed Youth on drums. April 1990.

Lux Interior died today. Sad. I always liked The Cramps. They put on a great live show. Spent a few Halloweens in their company. I even took my mom to see them while I was in college. She was visiting me and the Cramps were playing Springfest, an annual event sponsored by my old college radio station, KCOU. As general manager of the station, I had some duties to perform so I set my mom at a reserved table in the front of the balcony of the Blue Note and I went off to make sure things were running smoothly. It was a phenomenal show. Local surf band, The Untamed Youth opened the show. Then the Flat Duo Jets tore things up and the Cramps wrapped up the evening in fine style. I think Mom enjoyed the show. Lux Interior sweated profusely and did his usual striptease act, and performed most of the show in his shiny, black leather underwear. Poison Ivy was her usual cool-as-a-cucumber self. Nothing like an evening of raunchy rockabilly, and trashy rock and roll to make a girl feel good. Mom still talks about that show.

Over it.

2008-12-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Photo: Jim clears the driveway of fallen branches as we try to leave home in December.

Here is a post I wrote around Christmas time when we were snowed out of our house. We got between 2.5 - 3 feet of snow during this two week "snow event." Not only could we not get out, once we did, we could not get back in.

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We're refugees at the moment. It has snowed every day for a week. Each day we'd get a little more snow, and a little more snow. Then the real storm hit. It dumped a ton of snow. Then the freezing rain moved in. It dumped a nice 1/2 inch layer of ice on top of the 18 inches of pre-existing snow. Then it snowed some more. O.K. Fine. Be that way.

Everything was icy. The trees, the deck, the driveway and the powerlines. What is this? I thought I was living in Oregon? This is more like the weather I experienced in Columbia, Missouri, during my college years. Alistair, our spirited dog, kept breaking through the surface of the ice with a big fracturing crunch. Then he was up to his shoulders in snow. He'd bound along, looking for the fun powdery stuff that was there the day before. I knew there was a good chance we might lose power. No power = no well water and no heat. I filled the bathtub with water. I pulled out pitchers and buckets and filled those, too. I've got a propane powered portable stove. I can cook. As it turns out, I didn't need to.

We lost power at 4:00 am. The cool house became a cold house. The well is powered by an electric pump. No water? We don't have a woodstove and our furnace is electric. No heat. The driveway is covered in a thick blanket of ice and snow. Our previous tracks are barely visible beneath the fresh layer of snow and ice that accumulated overnight. The driveway was barely manageable before the last dumping of snow. With this latest snowfall and ice storm, I was getting nervous and afraid we might get snowbound.

We decided we had to leave while we still could. We had no power and we could bring the dog and stay at Jim's uncle's place 12 miles away in McMinnville. We gathered some warm clothes, packed essential items and got out the brand new chains to put on our four wheel drive pickup truck. After struggling for 20 minutes in the cold, the chains were on and we were ready to head out the door. The cab of the truck was pretty full with all of our luggage as well as the dog. No room for our three kitties in their carriers. We fed the cats and decided to leave them and come back later. There was a chance that the power might return within the next 24 hours and they'd be fine. Our house is well insulated, it was a cool 60 degrees inside so they won't freeze. We got the dog, grabbed our newly purchased snow shovel, and some food that we didn't want to spoil, and locked up the house. Ever so slowly, I negotiated our driveway. The tires crushed through the ice. You could hear the breaking of the sheet of frozen water underneath the car. We had to stop at the last part of the driveway. Some big branches had broken off of some of the overhanging trees, blocking our path. Jim hopped out and took care of things and I met him at the bottom. Fairview Drive, our road sees a fair amount of traffic on a normal day. Not this day. A few tracks from other intrepid travelers broke up the white expanse of road. A plow had gone through and made a big wall of snow that we had to push through in order to reach the road.

Most of Oregon isn't prepared for snowfall like this. I was shocked to see that Fairview was plowed. It was still covered in snow, just slightly less than our driveway. There isn't much the county can do when it comes to heavy snowfall. Every town is left to fend for themselves. Most of the towns just give up and pray for warmer weather.

Photo: This is Oregon?? Dayton intersection of Hwy 99W and Hwy 18.

We drove down through Dundee towards Highway 99W. There were a few folks out walking around, surveying their now snowbound surroundings. They waved as we crawled down the hill. The truck made it down just fine. A tree had fallen across 9th Street, turning the street into single wide track. The highway was slushy, but manageable.

We drove slowly, following a milk truck that was delivering a fresh load of milk to the Farmer's Cooperative Creamery in McMinnville. Those cows have to be milked no matter what the weather. No rest for the creamery staff. Yet another reason why I don't want milking animals. Please just bring me your milk so that I might transform it into cheese.

Photo: Deep ruts and footprints in the snow.

My cheese! I have a bunch of fresh chevre in the freezer, currently thawing. Chevre freezes just fine. Lots of moisture in there and if you freeze it right, you won't get crystals. Don't ever freeze aged cheese, please. My aged cheeses are maturing nicely, and should ride out the cold weather just fine in the unopened fridge/cave.

We pulled into McMinnville, called Mac by the locals. The stores were open, the parking lots were full. There was a long line of cars out in front of the Les Schwaab Tire Store. They spilled into the street. Folks looking to buy chains or get studded tires. It was sleeting at this point. We pulled onto the sidestreets and drove slowly, navigating our way across the deep ruts of ice and snow and finally arrived at Wayne and Linda's house. Wayne had been busy, shoveling his sidewalk clearing a path to the street. We arrived unscathed and offloaded our stuff, including a crock pot full of turkey fricassee. I hate showing up empty-handed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to keep up with the freezing rain, snow, and sleet. We walked the dog around the neighborhood. I worried about our cats. Dinner was great. Glad I could share the turkey dinner. We called it an early evening, exhausted from a very trying day.

Today we woke up to another 4-6 inches of snow. Great! Just what we need! More snow! I helped Wayne get a path clear down his driveway so he could get his car out. It took a while to get the ice and snow off of the truck, but we managed. The roads around the house are not plowed so getting around can be tricky, even with chains and 4WD.

After breakfast we got back in the truck and drove back to Dundee to see if our power was restored and check on the cats. The drive was scary. The road was barely plowed and at times you could barely make out where the road actually was. Everything was white, there was no sand or slushy bits to make our trail. It was slow going. In Dundee there were several trees down but they were no longer blocking the road. You could see all of the trees with their limbs hanging heavy with their burden of ice. Some were draped across the power lines, just moments away from unleashing more problems.

We managed to reach our driveway. It was buried in snow. I could sort of see where we had driven before, but I could see that there was a lot more snow on it now than when we had left. Not good. I put the truck in 4WD-low and set forth to have a go at our driveway. The first part is a steep incline. Then it levels out and swings through the hazelnut orchard, past our single-wide trailer palace, the shop and then swings up another steep slope up to the house. I figured if we could get up the first part, the last part would be the trickiest but we just might get through. We put the truck in gear and headed up the driveway. And got stuck. The tires began to spin, so I backed up a few feet and tried it again. We made it farther up the driveway before we got stuck again. Back a few feet, and forward again. It took three tries but we made it up to the orchard. What a sorry sight! All of the handsome trees were sagging with the weight of ice and snow. Their branches were brushing the surface of the snow. The car got stuck again. The snow is so deep that our front bumper was acting like a plow, pushing the snow ahead of us. Eventually the pile would get to high and we'd get stuck. Jim would get out, step through the knee high snow and shovel the pile away. Then we'd proceed. We finally came to a halt after sliding sideways on the last turn of the driveway before we reached the house. Close enough. We walked the rest of the way up to the house. The snow was over our knees. Not fun. We got the house open. It was still. No power. The cats were thrilled to see us. We fed them and started grabbing stuff for our long stay at our home away from home. More warm socks, more sweaters, long underwear, clothes, pet food, and the cats. We got them into their carriers and hauled everything and everyone back to the waiting truck.

I then had to retrace our path, driving in reverse since I could not turn around. Not easy, but I managed to get us back down the driveway and onto the road. The drive back to McMinnville was slow, but we were happy that everyone was safe. This is going to be a very different Christmas.

Photo: Jim and Alistair take refuge at Wayne and Linda's in McMinnville, Oregon.

The power company didn't believe that our power was out. I got a call from a lineman. He was standing at the bottom of our driveway trying to figure out why we didn't have power. He saw lights on at our neighbors and could hear the pumping station making noise. Jim talk to him and said that everyone has generators. If you hear noise, that must be a generator because the pumping station is normally silent. The lineman decided to investigate instead of looking for the downed power line that was on the corner of Fox Lane and Fairview Drive. He drove up our driveway and got stuck three times. He called us to apologize for tearing up our gravel road, but he couldn't move. Since we couldn't get there to help, we call in some help. Our neighbor, Ray has a big pickup truck with high clearance. He's also without power, so he was happy to hear that there was a lineman nearby stuck in the snow. He pulled the guy out. Ray took the lineman to the broken power line and we all had power again. A miracle!

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Too bad we had to wait five more days before we could get up the driveway. We finally hired someone to plow our drive. Sure enough, the lineman really did a number on our gravel. He didn't know how to drive in snow and just let the tires keep spinning until he dug a huge hole. I guess all of those years in Missouri taught me how to handle a car in wintery conditions. I still managed to slip and slide, but we never got totally stuck.

Now on our shopping list: wood stove and a generator.

Let it snow!

2008-12-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

They say it doesn't happen much around here. Yet here it is. We're in the midst of a snow storm. Well, alright, maybe not a storm, but we've got some heavy snow showers and it is 27 degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature falling. The weather forecast is for more of the same and colder weather for the next week. Brrrr.

This is exciting stuff for those of us who grew up in California. It rarely snowed in San Francisco, maybe once every seven years. The snow never stayed around.

Here in the northwestern edge of the Willamette Valley, they get some good frost, and snow on the hills. Supposedly we see a dusting a couple of times a year. Well, this is our first year here, and we've got more than a dusting.

Enjoy the slide show.

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Cheesemaking at Oregon State University

2008-11-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Photo: OSU Pilot Plant.

Last month Jim and I spent a few days in Corvallis, Oregon, home of Oregon State University. We signed up for a three day cheesemaking class held on campus in The Food Science Department at Wiegand Hall.

Wiegand Hall is named for Professor Ernest Wiegand. He is a professor that made a huge impact in the science of food preservation, specifically with cherries. Cherries grow really well here in Oregon. From 1925-1931 he developed a way to preserve them in brine, trying to keep them from getting too soft and mushy. Before that, canned cherries were a European import preserved in liqueur, tasty, but expensive and mushy. Wiegand's bit in history? He found that making a brin by adding calcium chloride, a form of salt also used in cheesemaking, his cherries stayed firm. No more alcohol needed and we could preserve our homegrown cherries. The maraschino cherry was perfected! And cocktails have been thankful ever since.

His fellow professors continued his work and developed ways to bleach the cherries, and make them any color in the rainbow, blue, green, white, or red. The red ones contain the same food dye (red dye #40) used in gum or according to this website, Dorito's. A portrait of Professor Wiegand graces the lobby of the Food Science building, greeting visitors. There is an article next to his portrait, explaining his notoriety.

The cheesemaking class: The class was lead by Lisbeth Goddik, an Associate Professor at OSU. She's the dairy processing specialist for OSU's extension service. She's the person that fields all of the cheesemaking questions. There were about 25 students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some had dairies, one was a chef with a cooking school, there were families who had goats, there was a fellow cheese monger and blogger, and several of the dairy inspectors from the Oregon Department of Agriculture were attending the class, too. The format was split between classroom lecture and hands-on cheesemaking. The mornings were spent learning about the dairy industry, how cheesemaking works, how do we keep a clean environment, and what's going on in the regulatory world. The fun stuff happened in the pilot plant down the hall.

Photo: Students gather around the vat pasteurizer.

The pilot plant at OSU is a big working laboratory for food science. There are big tanks for brewing beer, a bottling line, incubators, kettles, vats, pasteurizers, lab tables and several sinks. Stainless steel pipes run throughout the building, carrying steam, milk, or water to where it is needed. There is another lab specifically for winemaking. They were working on some Pinot Noir while we were there.

Time for some cheesemaking. There were four cheese stations set up. We split up into groups to focus on one cheese, but we still could observe the other groups and see what was going on all around us. I worked on Havarti, Jim was on Team Camembert. My team's vat of milk took forever to set up. Don't know if it was the temperature of the room, if we added the wrong amount of rennet, or what the issue was, but we stood there waiting for our cheese to have a clean break for over an hour. It should have been around 30 minutes. But, the curd dictates when to cut, not the clock, so we waited and waited and waited. Finally we cut the curd, let the curd rest and began to stir. Havarti is a washed curd cheese, so we got to heat up water, drain some of the whey off, and added warm water back into the curds. Fun! Then we got to use a mult-form system to full the empty forms full of the knitting curds. Then came the flip with the fancy draining trays that OSU recently purchased from Servi Doryl.

Photo: C. van't Reit small pasteurizer at OSU

One of my favorite lectures was on Starter Cultures and their role in cheesemaking. This is a subject that I find fascinating and am beginning to get a better idea what they actually do in your cheese. Yes they acidify the milk, but they also affect flavor, texture, as well as control how it ripens down the road in the aging cave. The starter cultures develop enzymes that produce amino acids. The amino acids give us more flavor compounds and aromas. They can be buttery, nutty, toasty, fruity, etc. This is the stuff that makes me say "Yum!" when I eat a piece of cheese. Understanding bacterial cultures can help you predict what your final cheese will taste like and what texture it will have. The good cheesemaker is an artist coaxing the best flavor out of a cheese's potential. As many have told me, good cheese is made in the vat. If you start out with great potential, your final results will be that much better.

Photo: Tools for Queso Blanco.

We mixed things up the second day of cheesemaking. In the morning we all made Queso Blanco. This is a fresh, Mexican style cottage cheese made with whole milk. Quite easy to make, with quick results that we can eat in 90 minutes. It is acidified with buttermilk and set with junket, a tablet form of rennet also used in making pudding.

Photo: Fresh Queso Blanco.

We divided up into two groups. One group tried to make a drier cheese, the other wanted a moist cheese. It was good practice seeing how curd size, as well as the firmness of the curd mass at point of cutting will determine the amount of moisture left in the curd. The firmer the curd at the initial point of cutting, the softer the cheese, the smaller the size of the curd, the drier the cheese will be. These are all decisions made every time you make cheese.

Photo: Mary and Sasha work on Havarti.

We also got to switch cheeses in the Pilot Plant. Jim moved to Team Havarti and I went to Team Mozzarella. Jim became defacto team leader and got a lot of hands-on cheesemaking. Our Mozzarella didn't turn out. We used store bought milk and didn't add calcium chloride. The curd got over stirred and the curd never stretched. A waste! I was sad. I want to practice stretching mozzarella with someone who knows what they're doing.

Our evenings were spent socializing with fellow students. Jim and I went out to dinner at a brewpub with Sasha Davies of Cheese By Hand, and Professor Marc Bates formerly of Washington State University. Had a great time talking about living in Oregon, cheesemaking, and current events.

The second night we went to Evergreen, an Indian restaurant with Sasha and fellow students Pete and Cecil. More great conversations about what we all want to do, dairying, and what it takes to get going.

There are many reasons to continue to take cheesemaking classes. Not only do I continue to get new ideas and a better understanding of the process of cheesemaking, but I always meet some really nice people with similar interests. Now that I've been following this dream for a few years, I feel more comfortable asking questions and understanding the answers. I'll keep taking classes and working with others so long as there is someone to teach me. I am happy to show others what I've learned and maybe inspire them, too.

Photo: Goat cheese with green peppercorns from River's Edge Chevre.

We ate a lot of cheese. We had a sampling of cheddars from Tillamook. We also got a nice selection of goat cheeses from River's Edge Chevre. We also got to sample some cheeses from Europe. We were never hungry.

Photo: Brian of Oregon Gourmet Cheeses in his cave.

The final afternoon was a field trip to Oregon Gourmet Cheeses in Albany. Brian Richter graciously let our group come into his plant where we heard his story, try his cheese and pepper him with questions. The scale of his cheeseroom is modest. Not small, but efficient. He uses a 500 gallon milk tank as his vat. He makes both raw as well as pasteurized cheeses. His raw milk Sublimity is dense, like an alpine style cheese. The texture is well knit and it is chewy like a tootsie roll, but not sticky. He likes to add dried herbs like lavender and herbes des provence to some of his wheels. Like most cheesemakers, he'd love to have more aging room and is at capacity. I'd like to visit him again so I can ask more questions. Albany is about an hour away. This would be an easy repeat trip.

Makin' Cheese in the Kitchen

2008-10-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

Photo: Sarah cuts the curd.

Got a call from some friends that are building a dairy and creamery about 15 miles away. They had 10 gallons of goat milk that they couldn't use and were offering it to me. It thought about it for three seconds. Long enough to take inventory of our spare fridge. Do I have room for ten gallons of milk? You bet! Woo hoo! I jumped on the chance to grab some milk and make cheese.

I had to get my cultures, too. Luckily, there is a place on the way that sells cheese cultures as well as raw milk, eggs, and chicken. Kookoolan Farms is a great resource. They built their own chicken processing plant so that they could ensure that their chickens were treated humanely from hatching to slaughter. They are big cheerleaders for the consumption of raw milk. To make it easy, they provide the cheesemaking supplies to encourage folks to make cheese at home. Nice folks! I also mail ordered other cultures from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I also like to stock up on stuff from Glengarry Cheesemaking from Canada.

Jim and I drove to Scott and Summer's place. In the fridge was the milk that they had promised. Two gallon milk cans and a bunch of half gallon jars filled with the goat's efforts. They milk 16 Nigerian Dwarf goats. I've never worked with the milk from this type of goat so this will be good experience for me. The goats are much smaller than the standard dairy breeds, about a third of the size. The give less milk but the milk is much richer. It is higher in butterfat as well as in yield (more solids held in suspension) as I soon found out.

We packed the milk in our coolers and rushed home to start the cheesemaking process. As we drove I was running over my recipes in my head. What to make? I want to make chevre so I can make a big batch of my chocolate chevre truffles. They freeze nicely so I can have them ready to give away for the holidays. I also want to make some raw milk, aged cheeses. Hmmmm.

We got home and transfered the milk into fridge in the garage. I pulled out my recipes and decided to go with the semi-firm aged goat cheese from Ticklemore. The first time I made it I dubbed it Sarahmore. This one will be different because I'm using fresh, raw milk from Nigerian Dwarf goats. Plus I don't have the same culture I used before. Kookoolan didn't have it, so I'm trying a different one and we'll see what happens.

Photo: Freshly hooped curd starting to knit into cheese in my fancy cheese molds.

Massive clean up of the kitchen took a while, so I didn't get the milk on the stove until 4:00. I use the double boiler method to heat three gallons of milk so I can ensure even heating and less chance of scorching. Gently heating means better cheese. Goat milk is very fragile. The more it is handled the more likely it will break down and add off flavors. Milk can get bruised! If it gets jostled around too much, the structure of the milk gets bruised and you get off flavors. Be nice to your milk and it will reward you in the end.

Slow heating means lots of time to get the molds cleaned, the sink scrubbed and everything sterilized. Gotta have a clean environment to make cheese. Lessens the chances of bad microorganisms entering the cheese. I want good food, not toxic sludge.

The milk heated to my target temperature and I added the culture. The ripening culture is freeze dried. When added to milk, the culture "wakes up" and begins to eat all of that tasty sugar a.k.a. lactose and makes the milk more acidic. A cheesemaker selects certain cultures for certain cheeses. If you want to make Monterey Jack, you want a culture that gives you a nice even texture without any eyes or holes. If you want to make something like an Havarti the cheesemaker will select a culture that produces a bit of gas and leaves small eyes in the cheese. Ecoli makes eyes that look weepy. Those weeping eyes must be crying because they can make you die. These are bacteria that have been selected by The Culture Houses of Europe because they produce consistent end results. These strains have been around for many years. It is only in the past century that these cultures have been isolated and replicated.

Some folks create their own starter with the naturally occurring strains in their milk and environment. Traditional English Farmstead Cheddar makers use their own starters to keep their cheddars tasting so good. Some have used the same mother culture for generations. If you ever eat sourdough bread from San Francisco you've experienced the same thing. A small amount of sourdough is held back after each batch to start the next day's bread. Remember kids, this stuff is alive!

Photo: Draining fresh goat cheese.

Got another pot on the stove with two more gallons of milk. This other vessel of milk will be pasteurized so I can make chevre. The pasteurized milk will be cultured and left to sit overnight in a warm room. In the morning, the milk is transformed into a solid curd mass that looks like two gallons of tofu. When I think it is firm enough, I gently ladle the curd into a cheesecloth lined colander. The ends of the cheesecloth are tied together and I hang it up to drain for several hours. When the cheese is drained and as dry as I like it, I'll take it down, add salt and enjoy my fresh chevre.

Back to the other pot. The culture is acidifying the milk and the rennet is added to firm things up. More waiting. My molds are clean and sterilized. My knife is ready to cut the curd. I keep checking the texture, looking for a clean break. This is the point at which the curds hold their shape, and a small puddle of greenish whey is released from the cut surface. It is ready. I take my knife and I begin cutting the curds. I use a firm, assertive motion, trying to keep my cuts straight. I cut one direction and then rotate the pot and cut in the other direction, at a angle. The objective is to cut cubes or diamond shaped blocks of curd of a similar size. Large cubes = soft cheese, small cube = firm cheese. I finish cutting and wait again. This is the healing time. The cut surfaces are all releasing whey and contracting. Waiting allows the surfaces to literally heal so that when I begin to stir, they will maintain integrity as well as continue to release whey. We want the whey to go away, but at a controlled rate.

Time to stir. I stir slowly at the beginning. The curds are very fragile at this point. I want them to gently bump into each other, but not clump together. Stirring will go on and on. I pull of part of the whey and continue to stir. I add fresh water back in to wash the curds. Washing the curds removes some of the lactose, and will make a chewier and sweeter cheese when the cheese is ripe in a few months. You gotta put a lot of investment in the beginning and won't know the results for months. This is why keeping good records is critical. If the cheese turns out really well, I want to be able to repeat what I did. If something goes wrong, I want to know why.

I can see that the milk from Nigerian Dwarf goats doesn't need as much rennet as "regular" goat milk. This batch is a bit firmer than I would like. Better reduce the rennet for the next batch. The milk is thicker, almost like sheep's milk. Higher yield, too. Amazing stuff.

Photo: New cheese after the third flip.

The curds have shrunk and are ready to go. Time to hoop! I've got my colanders ready to go, sitting on a cookie sheet over the sink. As fast as I can, I scoop all of the curds out and it the plastic forms. The curds are eager to mat. They're bonding to each other. They liquid that held them in suspension has now been removed and all they want to do is bind together. Putting them into a form like a colander or a traditional cheese mold helps give them a shape but also controls how quickly moisture is lost. In my case it seems to be losing moisture pretty fast. If I use a different form with different perforations, I'll get a different cheese because the moisture loss will change. Every little variable will make a big difference in the end result. This is one of my countless reasons cheesemaking fascinates me.

As soon as my colanders are filled, I flip them. The newly formed cheese needs to drain evenly, so flipping is essential. What was once in the bottom side of the cheese is now the top. A few minutes later I flip the cheese again. This process will be repeated over the course of a few hours. In the morning I'll flip them again and then I'll turn the cheeses ever day until they're ripe.

In order to free up my kitchen, I turned our laundry room into our curing room. The cheeses are set on racks over a clean and sanitized sink to drain and dry. The light is kept on so the room stays warm. This will encourage draining, too. My chevre bags are draining into the sink as well. I like this set up.

Photo: An aging wheel of cheese, two weeks old.

I repeated the process two days later, but this time all of my milk was pasteurized. We'll see how this will affect the aged cheeses. I don't know.

Now the wait. I made cheese on October 31st and November 2nd. They might be ready in January. I'm thinking February will be a better bet. The first batch of cheese is looking good, but a bit dry. Hmmmm. The second batch looks amazing. Funny, the better looking batch is made with pasteurized milk. We'll see what happens in a couple of months.

This cheese needs a name.

Coming attractions

2008-10-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

photo: deer in my garden in the morning.

Coming Attractions.

Our place seems to be a magnet for everything. Sure, squirrels love us. We've got 500+ filbert trees for their dining and hoarding pleasure. There is so much good food that trying to poison them or entice them with other treats like peanut butter doesn't work. Not that I'd ever try to kill a cute, little rat with a fluffy tail. And we're bad shots, so there's no point in trying to shoot the little buggers. Yes, we've got a Daisy air rifle. It is a pretty good one for us wimpy, city folks.

Can't get away from my liberal, anti-arms race past. Guns are a very effective tool that can kill people. Violent, unstable, crack-crazed, speed-fueled individuals wielding weapons of mass destruction kill people. Governments kill people. I'm pretty much a peacenik. I try to maintain a live and let live existence. My bloodthirst comes out on my dinner plate. Yes, I eat meat. I love a well marbled steak. I adore lamb. I am not opposed to eating something that might have been adorable when it was on the hoof. I try to buy meat that is local and raised in a sustainable manner. We've got a butchered lamb in our freezer that lived a very nice life a few miles away in a pasture at Figment Farm on Mineral Springs Road outside of Carlton, Oregon. I don't want to be the one to pull the trigger, but I'll butcher the beast if asked to do so. I can filet a fish like a pro! If you have to be a vegetarian to achieve enlightenment, I guess I've got a long way to go.

Not only do we attract squirrels, our place seems to be a haven for every critter that lives in the Red Hills of Dundee. We've got several deer that hang around, day and night. I've seen a doe with her teenage twins in our garden. There's a three prong buck that I've chased out down the driveway on several occasions. Since our gate broke, the deer have been enjoying our cosmos and lower limbs on our apple trees.

Our lawn is a haven for every burrowing creature that exists in the Pacific Northwest. We've got Willamette Valley Pocket Gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks, voles, moles, and mice. The hawks and other predators can't keep up and our dog just likes to sniff the holes. I think we need an outdoor kitty.

Photo: Box Elder bug

And then there are the flying insects. Paperwasps, yellow jackets, honeybees, bumblebees, and hornets among the many flying bugs. Currently we're under siege from a swarm of box elder bugs. They're slow and like to cling to the screens and windows. They go where the sun is, so in the morning they're all over the front of the house. They're harmless and gross.

Photo: The western edge of the hazelnut orchard. Hazelnuts on the left. Douglas fir trees on the right.

Several days ago I spotted another creature in our orchard. I saw something dart across the driveway as I was driving up the hill towards our house. I pulled up slowly to where it was and visually traced its path into the orchard. Sitting several feet away, under the green canopy of hazelnut trees was a bobcat! It blended in perfectly with the dappled sunlight and shade. I could clearly see the tufts on its ears, the lack of tail and the feline face that was staring me down. It didn't seem to be afraid of me. Actually it seemed to be eager to stand its ground. Lots of fat squirrels to eat for dinner. I rolled down the window and watched it for a few seconds. I then said, "Good kitty! Eat them squirrels!" It just looked at me and looked away. I drove away slowly, happy that our place is so inviting to local wildlife of all stripes, spots, and shades.

Photo: squirrel and coyote habitat.

What else is hanging around our 12 acres in the Red Hills of Dundee? Coyotes! Two days ago, Jim and I had to take Alistair, our newly adopted English Springer Spaniel to the vet to get snipped. It was dawn as we cruised down the driveway, past the orchard. As we passed the broken gate, I see coyote emerge from the upper orchard, cross the driveway, and speed through the lower orchard, making a mad dash for the woods. Three more followed it. They were the size of small German shepherd dogs. Jim and I have seen mystery poop around the trees, especially on the west end of the orchard, near a tall stand of Douglas fir trees. This is a spot popular with the squirrels. Maybe they're looking for some tasty squirrels and field mice. I won't discourage that, but I'll keep the dog close. He doesn't wander, so I'm not too worried about him. The feral cats in the neighborhood might have to be on their toes.

The harvest is going on all around us. The vineyards are buzzing with activity and air cannons. Birds like to dine on ripe grapes. The cannons are going all day long, trying to scare away the flocks of hungry birds. Being surrounded by vineyards isn't so pretty this time of year. The cannons can be nerve shattering at times.

Photo: late afternoon Autumn light on our neighbor's vineyard, dry grass, and trees on the other side of the fence.

Our swarms of fearless hummingbirds are starting to diminish. They must be migrating south for the winter. The nectar stays in the feeder longer these days. The big leaf maples and the poison oak are turning pretty colors. Fall is here!

Make more friends, serve more cheese

2008-09-24T00:26:00.001-07:00

Help! I need to impress my friends and look like I know something about cheese! What should I put on a cheese plate?

Not to worry, my dear. Putting out a good cheese plate is easy. Let me be of service and help demystify at trip to the cheese counter, or (heaven forbid) a trip to the specialty cheese case in the grocery store.

First, shop around. Every cheese counter and grocery store will have a different selection of cheese. Some will be better than others. Locally owned stores might have a few more locally produced products. I always start looking there. Don't be shy about asking for help. See if the person in charge of the cheese counter is available. I love asking for help. I want to know what's in peak form today. If everything is in shrink wrap, I want to see what's freshly cut. Cheese is a living food! It begins to break down and lose flavor the moment it is cut. If it has been enveloped in plastic for a month, even breathable plastic, it won't be very tasty. When I prepare to serve a cheese, I like to take a knife or a cheese plane and scrape the cut surface of the cheese. This takes away the dead, plastic-y taste and gives you a fresh surface to enjoy.

See if the store will cut you a fresh piece of cheese. Or see it they’ll open a package so you can taste the cheese. Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco is happy to let you try before you buy. That way you'll know how a cheese tastes. If you buy an artisan cheese regularly, you might begin to taste the seasonal variations. There is a huge difference between Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam made in the winter and a Mt. Tam produced in the summer. Eat more cheese and see for yourself!

How much to serve? It depends. Is this an appetizer course? Are other dishes being served? I figure an ounce of each cheese per person. Two ounces if it is the only thing being served.

Always serve aged cheeses at room temperature and each cheese should have its own knife or cheese plane.

When selecting cheeses for a party, I usually go for three or four cheeses. As a general rule of thumb, vary the milks and mix up the texures. Sometimes I'll go with a theme, like all cow's milk cheeses, or cheeses from Spain. But my favorite plate usually consists of a cow's milk cheese, a goat's milk cheese, and a sheep's milk cheese. If I'm feeling sporty, the fourth cheese will be either be a cheddar or a blue cheese.

For example, I might take a piece of Garrotxa, a Spanish goat cheese with a semi-soft, slightly chewy texture, match it with a buttery, French Triple Crème like Brillat-Savarin, and pick a sheep's milk cheese like Pecorino Foglie di Noce with walnut overtones. If I want to have the slam dunk crowd pleaser, I'd throw in a piece of Montgomery's Cheddar from Somerset, England. With this, I'd serve a full flavored honey; my favorite being a locally produced blackberry honey. A great cherry jam would work wonders, as well as some dried apricots and cranberries. Apple slices would be nice, too. I would serve everything with thin slices of a crusty, sweet, baguette and I'd call it complete.

Photo: Ticklemore Goat, aging to perfection.

Other suggestions: A cheese plate of the British Isles, a.k.a. the Neal's Yard Dairy cheese plate. Cow's milk: Trethowan's Gorwydd Caerphilly, from Wales. Bright lemony flavors and beautiful layers as it ages. Goat's milk: Ticklemore Goat. Why? Because I worked there! And the semi-soft texture with the slightly salty, mushroomy bloomy rind is sublime. For a sheep's milk cheese, go for Berkswell. It can have toasted nutty notes with hints of pineapple. Then grab a piece of Harbourne Blue, a goat's milk blue and you've got a party.

Photo: Sierra Mountain Tomme from La Clarine Farm, Somerset, CA.

How about Spain? Go for Mahón (cow), Ibores (goat), Zamorano (sheep), and Valdeon (blue). I like Spanish cheeses, so here's another one for you, all goat: Nevat (semi-soft, bloomy rind with a light, creamy, and tangy), Pata Cabra (washed rind with a chewy open texture, can have green apple, fruity overtones), and Pau Sant Mateu (wash rind with a smooth paste that can be slightly strong and full flavored.)

American Artisan Plate sampler to die for: Mt. Tam (cow,) Humboldt Fog (goat,) and Nancy's Camembert (sheep.) All bloomy rinds, all creamy, all luscious, and all the trifecta of milks.

The California Plate: Harley Farm's Van Goat – fresh goat cheese with edible flowers or Elk Creamery's Goat Milk Camembert de Chevre, Rinconada Dairy's Pozo Tomme - a semi-firm sheep cheese from San Luis Obispo County, and Vella's Mezzo Secco or Cowgirl's St. Pat, finish with Pt. Reyes Original Blue.

Oregon Cheese Plate: Willamette Valley Cheese Company's Brindisi (cow), Rivers' Edge Chevre's St. Olga (washed rind goat), Ancient Heritage's Hannah Bridge (sheep), and Rogue Creamery's Echo Mountain (cow/goat blend blue).

Photo: A cheese plate from the Cheese School of San Francisco

If you're wonderinig about the cheeses that I'd always bring home without hesitation, here are a few--

Sarah's Personal Cheeseplate for Today: Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon (Goat Gouda), Cowgirl Creamery's Sir Francis Drake (cow, washed rind, triple crème), Jasper Hill Farm's Constant Bliss (cow, bloomy rind), La Clarine Farm's Sierra Mountain Tomme (goat), Abbaye de Belloc (sheep, French-Basque), Cabot Clothbound Cheddar (cow).

My absolute favorites will change every day, depending on my mood and the condition of the cheese at my local cheese counter. I might go in with a list, but I'll make substitutions if I have to.

There are no hard and fast rules, if you like one cheese, serve a big piece of it on a nice cheeseboard, and have a big knife next to it so that others can enjoy, too.

Now you will make friends at every party if you just grab a few well selected cheeses and a fresh baguette and share with your friends.