"The most important thing is to enjoy your life- to be happy-it's all that matters."
-Audrey Hepburn
Good cheese is a treat, not an ooh that would be nice kind of thing, but rather, a this old man just became an eight year old kid and instead of fancy cheese that's a big sac of candy cause it's Halloween, kind of thing. Yeah it's like that. Today let's talk about Humbolt Fog from Cypress Grove, a California treasure.
So my wife and I used to go to a cheese shop located somewhere in Southern California. The location will be kept secret to protect the innocent. The cheese was divine. The service lacking in ...what's the word...oh yeah...basic human decency.
It was a family run shop and rarely have I met someone so brilliant, so able to grasp what my palate would like as the woman who came to be known as the Cheese Nazi. The first incident came one day when we innocently stopped in for some cheese.
We were discussing different goat cheeses when my wife offended her. She expressed her love of what was to the Cheese Nazi, the wrong cheese...perhaps the wrongest of wrong cheese. The Cheese Nazi was done with her and gave her the cheese mongers "Goodbye Felicia" by saying "oh I see you like cheese that doesn't taste like cheese." From then on my wife didn't talk when we went in the store.
When my family gets together cheese is important...and yes they will judge you by your selections. To give you an idea of what I was dealing with take a look at the breath taking cheese plate my brother put together below.
Yeah That's some serious cheese. So when my family was coming, and asked the simple...could you pick up some cheese? I knew whom I needed. I needed the ultimate consigliere of moldy dairy...I needed the Cheese Nazi.
I stopped by the bank on the way. I knew that I would need some coin. The competition was on...and it would be fierce. With her help I picked a half a dozen little known delightful and surprising cheeses. I even bought an artisanal butter to pull an "oh that old thing". Then I did it. I threw a dirty spoon in the clean spoon container. My apologies and offers to pay for it fell on deaf ears. At best I was now just the husband of the woman who liked cheese that didn't taste like cheese, but more commonly I was now the dirty spoon man.
Humboldt Fog is one of my favorite cheeses. I'm always surprised and delighted to see it on a plate alone or among a collection of cheeses. It is immediately recognizable by the layer of ash that crosses the middle. You can tell it is perfect when a large layer of goo develops under the rind. It greets you with flavors of fresh cream with floral notes and a citrusy finish. I like it with honey and almonds but I tend to serve them on the side, as I feel this cheese is to good not to be measured on its own flavor. This is an iconic cheese from a great American cheese company.