One of the “must-see” markets in Berlin is the Turkish market in Kreuzberg, held along the canal by the Schönleinstraße U-bahn stop. There’s a sizable Turkish population in the city, and to serve them, this semi-weekly market (Tuesdays and Fridays) offers special breads, spices, vegetables, household items, cloth, and more. There are also some great specialty jams, waffles, prepared meals from several African cuisines, and cheeses.

Ever since Alissa Shethar, cheesemaker at North Bay Curds & Whey in Berkeley, announced that she was going to make buffalo milk cheese, I have been in a state of frenzied anticipation. Thank goodness she and I are both on the regulatory affairs committee of the California Artisan Cheese Guild! She was generous to bring in a wheel to share at our last meeting. At long last, I had my chance! And I got to take some home with me to photograph and share with you!

This year, I had the pleasure of working the Culture Magazine station at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, one of the largest specialty food shows around. Culture was tucked away as part of the World’s Best Cheeses booth, so I was happily nestled amongst some excellent food and people. Luckily, I was able to sample my way around the show as well. Here’s a short list of what tickled my palate over those three gluttonous days:

Cheeses:

Recently, beer blogger Winton White, a.k.a. Beerichi Tuba, and I decided to get a little experimental with beer and cheese pairing. Cypress Grove Chèvre, whose famed Humboldt Fog is celebrating 20 years, kindly supplied us with some amazing cheeses, and City Beer Store in San Francisco offered to host the tasting. We were joined by my longtime photography buddy, Gavin Farrington, and got to work. Beer and cheese at noon, that’s not so bad, is it? Here’s what we found:

Lambchopper

The Cheese: This ultra-mellow sheep milk gouda is made in Holland especially for Cypress Grove. It is slightly buttery, with some light pear or apple notes, with a smooth, long finish.

It’s so lovely when you like your neighbors. Granted, sometimes I don’t think I like all of mine, but there are some awesome ones in my building! One in particular, Melissa, is an excellent hostess who ALWAYS manages to have the perfect little plates, utensils, and pretty finishing touches at every event she hosts.


This past week, Melissa made this dessert – she called it lazy cannoli. It was delicious, easy, and downright enlightening. Even a kitchen klutz like me could make it. As someone who thinks about efficiency a lot, is this “lazy” or merely “highly efficient?" Anyway, try it for yourselves! Beware, though, you might not want to share it once you taste it.

Melissa’s “Lazy Cannoli” Recipe

15oz Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup Confectioners Powdered Sugar
Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips to taste (around 1/2 cup as well). You can grate a dark chocolate bar instead of using mini chocolate chips.
Optional: some diced Maraschino Cherries to taste

This the second part to my two-part exploration of geographical indications in Mexico. The first part is here.

Armed with knowledge about the areas of the law described in my last post, an understanding of the people and cheesemakers of Mexico, and a tenacious spirit, Carlos Yescas is working toward a system that will recognize the traditional cheeses of Mexico and give them the status similar to that of the AOC system in France.

As some of you may know, by day, I am a trademark/copyright lawyer. It’s not every day that I get to go into detail about BOTH cheese and trademark law with the same person, so imagine my delight at speaking with Carlos Yescas, co-owner of Lactography whose name regularly crops up on Culture. Lactography’s team, consisting of experts in accounting, logistics, food production, and safety, among other fields, is largely devoted to promoting artisanal Mexican cheeses in the United States. Outside of the cheese world, he is a trained lawyer (in Ireland) and is currently working toward his doctorate degree at the New School for Social Research in New York City.

This is Part 4 of a multi-article series about a recent visit to Point Reyes Cheese Company in Point Reyes, California.

Karen, one of the Giacomini sisters, had taken out cheese to taste about an hour prior, so it was at room temperature by the time we returned from our tour. In addition to the Original Blue, New Blue, and Toma, she had laid out pecans, apricots, and Rustic Bakery crackers. And she had mason jar glasses! So cute! I love mason jars, but then again, who doesn’t?

This article is part 3 of a series of articles about my recent visit to Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company in Point Reyes, California.


As Chief Marketing Officer Jill Basch Giacomini finished describing Pt. Reyes’ cheese production, we heard some sad mooing coming from the barn next door. That, Jill pointed out, was the hospital barn. With about 700 cows on the property, some animals are bound to have some medical issues at any given moment. We couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong with the two in the hospital barn, but I hope they recover soon!