Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Mozzarella anyone?
If anyone has had the (mis)fortune to know me back in the day of ICQ, you'd have known that my ICQ nickname was "mozarella" and I was affectionately known by my ICQ friends as "mozzie" which really I think was their way of telling me that I was sponging on them way too often.
(Clearly I had not had the foresight to avoid giving my friends the opportunity of this declaration when I chose the nickname, which came about as I was chowing through a very delicious slice of pizza as I was creating my ICQ account and the cheese inspired me.)
Moving on some almost ten years
(Sorry, that realization almost knocked me out cold. *composing myself*)
Yes, moving on some almost ten years, and my taste in cheese as in many other things, seems to have changed quite a bit. Back then, I was quite fond of the harder cheeses, probably the result of my immature or romanticised perception of cheese - that cartoon emmental favoured by the likes of Jerry or Mighty Mouse. I still love very thinly sliced emmental in my roast beef sandwich from La Fontaine below my office in Hong Kong, and it's not that hard, but I also loved - cheese connoisseurs look away now! - Babybel and Kraft Singles... :)I think I only ever got as exotic as Gouda and Edam (don't laugh).
They seemed such tasty independent snacks, I could eat them without a cracker in sight! But of course I then got to know the wonderful Bries and Camemberts common at all those wine tastings (an all too common university student activity) and Carr's Table Waters became a standard feature of my larder.
Today I am still no connoisseur, and couldn't tell the provenance of my cheese (beast and country) even if it bleated at me. But having recently moved back to London, I am now able to indulge in tasting such varieties of cheeses from such fabulous fromageries as Neal's Yard, which is of course where this bevy of cheeses in the photo are from, from their Borough Market stall.
Thanks to C and R for snaring these British Beauties ahead of our trip to Provence (I think there's still something vaguely ironic about us bringing cheeses to Provence but I haven't quite put my finger on it). They were brought as a gift (or as penance) to our wonderful hosts, C's parents who had to tolerate us in their lovely home for four days. Looking back, I think we should have brought more.
They were labelled on the packaging and C's dad then cut out the labelling and stuck them on toothpicks (oh so cute) though one of the labels must have been lost which explains the mystery cheese. Anyway, the point of this story (not sure if there was one) was that I realised my love for soft cheeses as I dug into that Wigmore... Having said that, it's nice to have a variety of textures so don't think I'll be a cheese monogamist quite yet.
The other point was to use this opportunity to issue an order to my friends... Go forth and seek ye a good cheese shop, start trying loads of different cheeses before buying loads of cheese, have a cheese (and wine) tasting event every week and most importantly, don't forget to invite me.
The End.
_________________________________________
Neal's Yard Dairy
COVENT GARDEN
17 Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9UP
Tel +44 (0)20 7240 5700
coventgarden@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Thurs 11am to 6.30pm
Fri-Sat 10am to 6.30pm
BOROUGH MARKET
6 Park Street, Borough Market,
London SE1 9AB
Tel+44 (0)20 7367 0799
retail@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Fri 9am to 6pm
Sat 8am to 5pm
_________________________________________
PS C, R and J - if you're reading this feel free to put tasting notes on the cheese. Though J, I know you're still dreaming about that cheese at La Prevote so you might not remember these other ones so no worries.
PPS As a vaguely related but very random thought I've always found the idea of men rolling giant wheels of cheese down a hill incredibly funny, has anyone actually witnessed it? ¶ 9:41 AM
If anyone has had the (mis)fortune to know me back in the day of ICQ, you'd have known that my ICQ nickname was "mozarella" and I was affectionately known by my ICQ friends as "mozzie" which really I think was their way of telling me that I was sponging on them way too often.
(Clearly I had not had the foresight to avoid giving my friends the opportunity of this declaration when I chose the nickname, which came about as I was chowing through a very delicious slice of pizza as I was creating my ICQ account and the cheese inspired me.)
Moving on some almost ten years
(Sorry, that realization almost knocked me out cold. *composing myself*)
Yes, moving on some almost ten years, and my taste in cheese as in many other things, seems to have changed quite a bit. Back then, I was quite fond of the harder cheeses, probably the result of my immature or romanticised perception of cheese - that cartoon emmental favoured by the likes of Jerry or Mighty Mouse. I still love very thinly sliced emmental in my roast beef sandwich from La Fontaine below my office in Hong Kong, and it's not that hard, but I also loved - cheese connoisseurs look away now! - Babybel and Kraft Singles... :)I think I only ever got as exotic as Gouda and Edam (don't laugh).
They seemed such tasty independent snacks, I could eat them without a cracker in sight! But of course I then got to know the wonderful Bries and Camemberts common at all those wine tastings (an all too common university student activity) and Carr's Table Waters became a standard feature of my larder.
Today I am still no connoisseur, and couldn't tell the provenance of my cheese (beast and country) even if it bleated at me. But having recently moved back to London, I am now able to indulge in tasting such varieties of cheeses from such fabulous fromageries as Neal's Yard, which is of course where this bevy of cheeses in the photo are from, from their Borough Market stall.
Thanks to C and R for snaring these British Beauties ahead of our trip to Provence (I think there's still something vaguely ironic about us bringing cheeses to Provence but I haven't quite put my finger on it). They were brought as a gift (or as penance) to our wonderful hosts, C's parents who had to tolerate us in their lovely home for four days. Looking back, I think we should have brought more.
They were labelled on the packaging and C's dad then cut out the labelling and stuck them on toothpicks (oh so cute) though one of the labels must have been lost which explains the mystery cheese. Anyway, the point of this story (not sure if there was one) was that I realised my love for soft cheeses as I dug into that Wigmore... Having said that, it's nice to have a variety of textures so don't think I'll be a cheese monogamist quite yet.
The other point was to use this opportunity to issue an order to my friends... Go forth and seek ye a good cheese shop, start trying loads of different cheeses before buying loads of cheese, have a cheese (and wine) tasting event every week and most importantly, don't forget to invite me.
The End.
_________________________________________
Neal's Yard Dairy
COVENT GARDEN
17 Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9UP
Tel +44 (0)20 7240 5700
coventgarden@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Thurs 11am to 6.30pm
Fri-Sat 10am to 6.30pm
BOROUGH MARKET
6 Park Street, Borough Market,
London SE1 9AB
Tel+44 (0)20 7367 0799
retail@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Fri 9am to 6pm
Sat 8am to 5pm
_________________________________________
PS C, R and J - if you're reading this feel free to put tasting notes on the cheese. Though J, I know you're still dreaming about that cheese at La Prevote so you might not remember these other ones so no worries.
PPS As a vaguely related but very random thought I've always found the idea of men rolling giant wheels of cheese down a hill incredibly funny, has anyone actually witnessed it? ¶ 9:41 AM
