remarks on cheese

this past friday I enjoyed a very pleasant dinner at langdon hall. amuse was a pea soup (which struck me as somewhat unseasonal, but what do I know) in what looked like a soy sauce dish (which struck me as trying a bit too hard to score some fusion points, but what do I know). anyway, it was well spiced, and I would say it did a passable job awakening the palate for the coming courses. next was a foie 'pavé' which was not in fact a 'pavé,' at least according to any definitions I could find. in any event, it was quite delicious, if not as hot as it could be. if I recall correctly, the accompaniments were original and very well selected, so extra points for that. after the app (though not after an intermezzo, as one may hope) came a black cod which had seen the broiler long enough to give it a wonderful crust, but certainly not so long as to dry the poor fish out. perfect timing, chef. the fish tasted as though it had perhaps not been flown in that morning, but it was most certainly respectable.

a three star dinner up until now, one might say. but we finally get to the crux of this discussion, and the source of the extra half star that I would later bestow on this dining hall: cheese. since none of the desserts caught my eye, a generously-dimensioned woman was summoned along with her cheese cart. she quite competently walked me through that evening's selections, and guided me to some brilliant choices. a raw milk camembert was particularly enjoyable.

all was not good, however. she of the strained suit-buttons clearly spent more time on gastronomy than on french, and so even after asking her to repeat the names of the cheeses, I was able to note none of them. fearing the wrath of my dining companions if I asked her to write them out for me, I was left with no way to identify the aged beauties on my plate.

so in short, 3 delicious cheese, 0 entries in my cheese diary. tragedy.

tonight at the monthly gathering of local oenophiles, you will be relieved to read, matters were somewhat rectified. 3 delicious cheeses, 3 entries in my cheese diary.

dear blog, perhaps if you are lucky I will share some of my tasting notes with you some other time. I am quite frankly too full of cheese to write any more about them for now. I hope I do not wake up tomorrow with a cheese hangover.