Sharing the same bright orange hue as Mimolette, Double Gloucester luckily does not mimic that French cheese’s blahness. Many confuse it for a cheddar, but Double Gloucester is not quite as firm. The cheese is made from the raw, whole milk from two milking sessions, hence the “double” moniker. (Single Gloucester is also made in England, but is not exported nearly as much, according to the British Cheese Board.)

I served Double Gloucester last week as part of a cheeseboard with a Belgian goat gouda, Humboldt Fog and Ouray, and while the four of us all enjoyed it, we had a hard time describing its flavor. My friend Casey thought it was minty, and upon further tasting and reflection, the rest of us got a sense of the cheese’s herbal undertone. Artisanal calls it “eggy” and Gourmet-Food.com says it has “the sweet aroma of milky carrots.” Regardless of how you describe it, Double Gloucester is delicious, and I like it paired with Stilton in the layered cheese creation called Huntsman. Serve it with a big red like Syrah or a British ale.

Weekends are always busy, but Shift Time weekends were plain nuts, but great fun nuts. For the record I prefer mine with chili or applewood smoked. Then there has been the small matter of catching up with life and paperwork and end of term things. And now I find myself apologising to the unseen microminority who view my little missives (and very welcome you are too by the way) for the lack of updates. Now the photography I have been able to cope with (just as well really), but I went beyond my comfort zone a bit with recording interviews and doing a bit of video work for Shift Time. Which just so happened to coincide with my long overdue defection to a beautiful Mac. This was a bad move for this alone. So, I will deal with it tomorrow…or maybe the tomorrow after that. Reason being that the interviews are worth hearing. Really they are.

In the meantime, our absence and the regular application of monsoon-style deluge has rendered the lower reaches of the farm almost impenetrable in places. This has served to bring nature even closer to our portals than usual. First, there was the late-night photoshoot with the hedgehogwho was minding his own business trundling past the back door when nipped by one of the collies returning from their evening constitutional. I expect he was grateful that I removed the revolting bloated sheep-tick from amongst his prickles in lieu of TFCD. More useful I expect.

And second was the event last Tuesday when my newly adult (well 18 anyway) daughter squealed as she spied a mouse in the living room. There followed a fifteen minute episode taking four adults to catch one young field mouse and repatriate it outside. As evening approached I mentioned this episode to my 7 year old: who seemed to know all about the mouse already. The gist of it being that she had rescued a mouse from the Maine Coon on the doorstep on Sunday because her eldest sister had refused to help and had apparently decided that the cat should win. The stunned mouse was then placed in a toy plastic dog kennel with some Double Gloucester. Naturally it escaped….and she had been leaving it little bits of cheese behind the bookcase since then.

What with that and the fact that that particular corner of the living room is piled with woolsacks for sorting fleece and whiffs gently of sheep and lanolin. Occasionally I question my sanity at having spotted sheep only to have to separate their fleeces into chocolate, grey, and white. After all, they do make black sheep quite naturally.

My keys jiggled, mixing in a metallic noise to the quick, muted door knock. My other hand carried a chunk of sweet Muenster cheese along with a bottle of wine that were about to fall if the neighbors didn’t rush to open their door.

A raucus from inside. “Yeaaa, they’re here!” But when the door opened, it was only me.

“Sorry I’m late!” I smiled and apologized thoroughly as I hugged and kissed everyone’s cheeks. I felt like I was on the set for an ’80s TV show. I loved it.

They asked where my roommate was; I didn’t know. I had come straight from the city, without stopping downstairs at my apartment. But Lan is a wine and cheese connoisseur, so I wasn’t worried. As they over-say, good things come to those who wait.

So after the initial round of wine sampling and the reaffirmation that a good Rioja beats the $10 wine from down the block, Lan arrived. With him came cheers and good tidings, and a few of the best cheeses I’ve ever tasted — a French Cheuvre and a Double Gloucester from England.

I admit that I don’t know my cheeses well, but a refined cheese needs neither naming nor discussion. The Cheuvre was milder and creamy, but the English Gloucester had a bright, bold flavor that made fireworks on the palate. Definitely worth the wait — for Lan’s company, too.

The wine and cheese sampling continued with Lan in the bunch offering stories from his time in the Navy. (Apparently a strong chemical smell on the sub boat made men’s sense of smell infinitely stronger, and after they got out on land again, they could smell women’s perfumes from a mile away.) Then the conversation moved to old road trips around the States, and Yu bust out a flip-through album — you know, one of those things that predate the digital age of downloading pictures and never holding them on hand.

At 18, Yu looked really young and gorgeous, the kind of beauty that excludes itself from the others in the bunch. Dan on the other hand was fat. We were throughly entertained to see the boy with the puffy cheeks in oversized khakis and flip flops, shot after shot. “I’ve lost 80 pounds since then, if you must know,” he admitted in wounded pride. We saw right through it — not the figure, but the pride — and laughed and continued the jokes.

In the meantime, Jose was feeling lonely on the shelf, so he came down to join us. Tiny shots were distributed, and we toasted to more fun together and more themed parties.

Dancing ensued and scraps of incomplete conversations. At one point, I realized I was drunk. So I put my glass down, popped a piece of dark chocolate into my mouth, cut a thick slice of bread and covered it with the Cheuvre. In five minutes’ time, I was cured and able to balance myself on the ground again.

I felt so proud of myself, and to celebrate, I held my glass high, and drank some more wine.

The DJ (mainly, me and whoever jumped in to save themselves from my extraordinary ’80s selections) played some rocking tunes, and pretty soon, we were all dancing, the lights from the Christmas tree as our disco ball.

By 3:30 a.m., Yu was passing out on the couch, the boys were switching between Britney and Rihanna songs (both flops if you ask me), and others were dancing salsa.

A sickly wave of caramel washed over me, and I knew it was time to go. So we said good-bye, thanked our gracious hosts, hugged and made plans for the next year.

“Just a teeny walk,” I told my roomie and ran outside as we left. I needed a cigarette. The dam ATM machine didn’t work, and I wanted to kick it.

(Today, I woke up and remembered that I hadn’t been scanning my ATM card at all, but my credit card. Good thing, since that tiny mistake in details saved me a $13 investment into the horrible habit I quit long ago.)

Instead, I walked back home, listened to some songs and blemished this blog with a  blip of my past. I debated deleting it today, but then I thought that a blog wouldn’t be a real blog if you kept going back and erasing the stuff you had changed your mind on later. I had a wonderful time last night, but it’s strange how sometimes, after the most fun, most innocent of times, the old feeling creeps in, and you compare your good friends to the old friends and you wonder how you ever got out of the claws of the beast and ended up here, with a fine life and people who love you.

I’m sure it has to do with the alcohol.

Wow!! Now this is cheese!!

The Lady brought this home for The Man and The Cat (me) to sample and all three of us loved it. What I don’t understand is why The Lady and The Man get bigger portions to sample than I but humankinds seem to feel superior; maybe it’s their size…if I weighed twenty pounds… things would be a wee bit different around the manse…

I reviewed Double Gloucester in an earlier posting and Cotswold is a Double Gloucester from England to which onions and chives have been added. This sure does kick this cheese up a notch (with thanks to Emeril for coming up with that term).

I can’t say enough good things about this firm cheese that is mild and similar to cheddar. It is creamy and rich like butter. It is aged 6 to 9 months. The piece we sampled was a golden yellow and cut as a wedge and came from Clawson’s Creamery. (I saw The Lady put some of it back in the fridge, which means… “More cheese for later…”)

I give Cotswold 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: I overheard The Lady mention it would go well with spaghetti and leeks and chard with olive oil. Personally I think it would go better with Catnip than chard; but that’s just the way I lean… It can also be served with grapes and a nice Artisan bread. The Lady melted some on Whole Wheat Artisan Bread and The Man really liked it.

Wine and Beer Pairings:

Wine Pairings: Zinfandel Shiraz, Chardonnay

Beer Pairings: This cheese is known as a “Pub Cheese” which means it pairs well with ales and beer including an English Bitters.

Source: Cow’s Milk

After two weeks of putting zucchini into everything we eat (patties, cakes, breads, stuffed zucchini, BBQ-ed zucchini, and so on), I found the best recipe yet, for Zucchini Cheese Scones.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup butter (I only had olive oil, worked very well too)
• 2 1/2 cups biscuit/baking mix (bisquick)
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 eggs, beaten (I suspect two eggs might be slightly better, makes it a little more scone like)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (I put in two cups, just to get rid of more, and that worked out fine)
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese ( I only had Huntsman, which was perfect, as it combines a stilton (blue) and double gloucester (somewhat like cheddar)
• 3/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted (Here’s where I suggest a possibly great alternative: BACON pieces!)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Saute onion in butter, til tender. 

3. Combine all ingredients, folding in the zucchini, cheese and almonds (or bacon) last.

4. Stick it in the oven in a round pan and bake for 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees. Slice into wedges, serve with butter. SCRUMPTIOUS!

(Photo : Nicolas Masse)

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