Houston Wine School

November 9, 2009 was the beginning of my five week wine course taught by master sommelier, Guy Stout of Glazier Distributing and Eric Hasting, advanced sommelier from Eddie V in Houston. It was held at Peter Garcia's El Meson restaurant. Peter himself, is a certified sommelier and has two extensive wine cellars that he built at his popular Spanish restaurant in the Rice Village. He is so passionate about his wines which he is well known for, and it reflects in his extensive wine list.

Our sessions were divided into areas of the world where most of the varietals of grapes are made for wine. The first week started with the American wines from California,Oregon etc., and ended with wines from the French Champagne, Burgundy, Alsace, Rhone Valley and Provence region.

I was glad to help Peter and Guy out with some cheeses we had open in our refrigerator at work along with olives, nuts and fruit provided by El Meson. Such fun doing this!

Here we tasted some great wines from the Southern Hemisphere like Wolf Blass Shiraz from New Zealand and Dona Paula Malbec from Argentina. My, there are so many wines to learn and decided to keep it simple and write a diary of which wines I liked. Fun were the wines of Italy especially the Mionetto Prosecco and Bonfi Brunello which retails for $60 in the stores.

Our last class was exciting as we went thru the French region of Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy and Rhone. Our tip was to buy the Perrin Bros. Cotes du Rhone 05,06,07.
Guy brought a bottle ofVeuve Clicquot 1998. Never thought I'd be drinking a $200 bottle of bubbly!

As I leave my classes on wine, I know I need to take a few more courses which will help sink some of this knowledge in. Do I have another 10 years to learn wines like I have cheese???

A old Iowa love...

I was in Waterloo, Iowa (home of John Deer tractors) Oct 8-11 for my class reunion at West High School. I couldn't leave without having a maid-rite which I enjoyed as a kid growing up there. Back then, I remember having the ones in Clear Lake where we spent our summers. Across from the Surf Ballroom (famous as its where Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper played the night their plane crashed north of Clear Lake) was a little place where you would walk in and order your maid-rite which they'd put on a bun with a ice cream scoop. The really famous maid-rite is Taylor's in Marshaltown, Iowa, but was just glad to see two in Waterloo.

Time looks like it hasn't changed this place. Annie's is on Logan Ave across from Allen Hospital in Waterloo.

A maid-rite, fries, coleslaw and coke was $5.00 Loved it....

Made with 100% Choice beef with only pickles, onion and mustard.

Ketchup is available but you must ask.

I love Alison Cook's friday burger blog in Houston as she visits burger joints and blogs about them. I wonder if she has ever had a maid-rite? I should get Taylor's in Marshaltown, which does ship anywhere, to send her one and see what she thinks. Hopefully, she'd give it a A+ like I did.

YouTube - Wrapping Cheese 3

YouTube - Wrapping Cheese 3

Cheese in Austin

The American Cheese Society (ACS) conference was held this year in beautiful downtown Austin. Walked every morning to the conference at the Hilton from across the Congress Bridge which connects to the bustling downtown. The bridge is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. Yes, at 7 a.m the bats make it back to the bridge to rest before forging out for food around 7 p.m. No mosquitoes here in Austin!

Michell Buster from the Forever Cheese Company showing the wonderful small farm cheeses that she and Pierluigi Sini find in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Your probably asking why they are there-well they kinda started the cheese revolution and the artisan movement in 1998 by bringing in such wonderful cheeses from small farmers in Europe. They have the best marcona almonds, carmelized walnuts, fig cakes and mostarda that compliments your cheeses. Forever Cheese was the only imported cheese company allowed at the Festival of Cheeses which showcases all the American cheeses for us to sample at the end of the Conference.

This is Forever Cheese table in the ballroom full of Mediterranean

specialities which they do so well.

Its me after one of the great seminars on cheeses ranging from

affinage to microbrew and cheese tasting. I wasbeing good as I let

Helen go to the beer tasting and Joyce indulge in the chocolate seminar. Was I crazy?

This seminar brought a panel of Mexican cheesemakers to the conference, and through an interpreter, they told us about their artisan cheesemaking companies. Only three producers got visas to come here out of seven, and their cheeses were pretty interesting. Right now, there are two markets in Mexico for cheese and one is imitation cheese for the millions of its people, and the other is its traditional handmade cheeses for the local folks. The competition they face is from the us (Kraft & Nestle) who export millions of tons of so called cheese to Mexico. As consumption is up with cheese South of the border, am hoping the cheeses and their cheesemakers win over the big bad guys!

Did you know Mexico makes a cheddar? Tasted a 6 mo cheddar which I thought was pretty darn good.

Ah, the famous Stubbs Barbeque Restaurant in downtown Austin.
My, at 100 degrees, the beer didn't stay very cold. Our party was outside...

Waiting for the country music band from Dallas.

Barbeque, potato salad, coleslaw and of, course white bread.

Our friend Maria Walley just launched her new biscuits which compliment all cheeses. Great going Maria!

The Festival of Cheese which is what everyone waits for on Saturday showcases the cheeses sent in by cheesemakers to be judged. Over 1,300 entries this year.

You can only eat so much.

The best of show, raw cow's milk "Rogue River Blue" from Oregon.

Good luck trying to find this wonderful blue as it is only made at a certain time of year. Hopefully we will see more of it.

The displays were awesome. Lots of volunteers from all over

Texas coming to cut cheese. You guys were awesome.

Flavored cheddars, in fact, lots of cheddar cheesemakers.

Can't say we have very many here in Texas. Tough work

milking and taking care of cows! Goats are much easier.

Our favorite guys from Utah, Beehive Cheese Company and their

Barely Buzzed Cheese which has won three year in a row for its

wonderful cheddar rubbed with expresso grounds and lavendar.

I'm a Aggie graduate (Utah State), and its agriculture department helped these guys with their cheese making.

Come on Texas A & M, we need another awesome cheese here in Texas with your help.....

Being from Iowa, I was so excited to see Milton Creamery win 1st in their category. Its a wonderful raw milk cheese made using thistle as its rennet. The cow's are hand milked by five Amish farms, and milk is delivered three times a week to the creamery.

Congratulations to Kathleen Shannon Finn for winning the lifetime achievement award from ACS. Don't think there was a dry eye in the room as her daughter accepted the award and told everyone how she aspired to be just like her mother. Kathleen works for the Columbus Distributing Company which makes great artisan salames.

See ya next year in Seattle!

Cheese Havens of NYC

NYC has such great restaurants besides outstanding cheese shops. I was in New York attending the Fancy Food Show on Sunday June 28th. I had nothing to do on Saturday (ha) besides getting a wonderful facial @ Bliss in the W Hotel early 8 am (They have Bliss in Dallas but not in h-town) so decided to take the cheese bus tour in the afternoon to four of the cities best cheese shops. One of the stops was the Artisanal Cheese Center on West 37th St. The three cheeses we sampled were the triple-creme French Pierre Robert, a Swiss Schwingerkase that I have never heard of (always a new cheese to try!) made from raw cow's milk with hazelnutty undertones, and Ossau Iraty, a great sheep's milk made in the French Pyrenees. All pretty tasty!

This is the impressive Artisanal tasting room where they do wine, cheese and beer pairings. They were getting ready for a class that evening with David Gremmels from the famous Rogue Creamery in Oregon and Allison Cooper from Vermont Butter & Cheese Co.

Artisanal is one of the leading cheese purveyors and educators in the city. They brought the art of affinage (properly aging cheeses in caves) to the states. To the right of the pictures are the caves or aging rooms. We weren't allowed to go into but could view the cheeses from the windows.




Artisanal ships alot of cheeses over the world so do check their website http://www.artisanalcheese.com/



Artisanal was born from the renowned cheese course at Picholine Restaurant and lead by famed cheesemonger, Max McCalman. He was the first full-time maitre fromager and was lucky enough he says to help spearhead the Great Cheese Revolution. No, I didn't see him as I was peering into their offices but was able to sit in on a seminar he was giving on Spanish Cheeses at the Fancy Food Show. He has a new book coming out 'Mastering Cheese: Lessons for the True Connoisseurship from a Maitre Fromage' Available this November.


Smack in the middle of one of the most exciting of many food neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Stinky's Cheese and Charcuterie Shop has become the must-visit place on Smith Street. They rate their cheeses from one to four and the highest being the smelliest. Ah! How about some smelly French Epoisse or Grayson from the Meadow Creek Farms in Virginia- the smellier the better it taste, and I bet they rate these pretty good!!!!

We sampled two wonderful cheeses from Spain at their quaint little shop which also boasts an aging room. The first was Zamorano, a manchego like cheese, made from sheep's milk. With smaller production, this cheese is nutty and buttery with a long lingering finish. The second cheese is La Serena- a sheepy taste with a strange bitter sour note due to the rennet of thistle. I like to cut the top off and let it sit for awhile before digging in with a spoon. The warmer the torta gets, the better it becomes. Great for parties like Queso Gallego, a beautiful cow's milk gem from Spain that also oozes when you cut into it.

Stinkys age cheese and salumi (charcuterie is really hot now!) on site, carve Jamon Serrano by hand from the picture I took, and as luck would have it, they also have a wine store across the street. Thats all you need for a evening of good food....



The folks at Saxelby Cheese on Essex Street are all American. I emailed Anne Saxelby, who use to work for Murrays, to see if I could get some of her farmstead cheeses here in Texas. By visiting her store which is very busy, you can see why she sells out of everything.

This is Ann giving us cheese to try from Three Corner Field Farm called Brebis Blanche -a sheep's milk cheese- very tangy and earthy, Square Cheese from Twig Farm, a aged raw goat's milk cheese, and Ouray, a raw buttery cow's milk cheese from Sprout Creek Farm. You quickly see American Cheeses have come along way from the Velvetta era. Ann has a great blog about her travels and work on many of the farms that produces the cheeses which she carries. http://www.saxelbycheese.blogspot.com/

Essex St Market is on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that houses an array of culinary foods from meats, fish to cheese.


Liz Thorpe, managing director at Murray's Cheese Shop on the Famous Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village gives us information on the cheeses she is serving. It was so busy at their shop, we all went across the street on the corner to hear her talk about the following cheeses.

La Tur is a three milk cheese (cow, goat, sheep) that taste like ice cream. Bonati Parmesan comes from a small farm in Italy that produces only 4 wheels a day. What a wow crunch in your mouth. And lastly, Gorgonzola Cremificate-deliciously creamy blue.

Liz has a new book coming out in August called The Cheese Chronicles -a journey through the making & selling of cheese in America, from field to farm to table.

Here you see we scarfed up all the cheese.

Its 5 p.m and am in a hurry to catch a cab back to my hotel just in time for a party down in Soho starting at 6 p.m. Did I say there was nothing to do today in the city?

Slow Food Nation 2008

I decided to attend the 1st ever Slow Foods Nation in San Francisco on August 29. Slow Food Nation is a subsidiary non-profit of Slow Food USA & part of the international Slow Food movement. Slow Foods was started by Carlo Petrini in 1986 in response to the opening of McDonalds in Rome's Piazza Spagna. Wonder if its still there?? Carlo would be happy to know that I haven't had a McDonalds in four years. Per Alison Cook's Friday Burger Blog, we have lots of great burger places here in h-town. This picture was taken at the Civic Center were the farmer's market, food vendors and victory garden were.

The victory garden at the Civic Center is dubbed the urban garden for us big city folks. I will have to say it inspired me to start a garden in the spring of 2009 and although its not as beautiful as this, I do have a few cukes and tomatoes growing. Only a few as the birds like tomatoes too!

Over 1000 pounds of veggies were harvested in November and donated to people who had limited access to healthy produce with the help of the SF Food Bank.

I couldn't resist smelling the sausage and onions at the Fatted Calf cart. So on to the 'Slow on the Go' where you had to wait in long lines for something to eat. I decided my impatience comes from the big city here in Houston.

I'm told to go slow....

One of the food vendors, Primavera, grinds organic corn and mixes it with lime to make masa for its tamales and tortillas. Mmmm.. a hour wait for this line!

The lines at the Farmer's Market were much better, and there were samples too! My hunger soon went away.

Edible flowers on fresh goat cheese disc make for a neat
display.

Mushroom vendor had some great looking stuff!

Check out the beautiful colors of mushrooms.
Never knew fungi could be so pretty!

This was Kathryn Lukas of Farmhouse Culture who makes the best artisan sauerkraut and pickles. Haven't seen anyone at any of the markets here doing this. This had to be my favorite booth.

Over 59 farmers and producers!

This is the famous Cowgirl Creamery at the Ferry Building on the Wharf. They make some wonderful cheeses besides selling many other varieties.

Cheese tasting at Ft Mason on Saturday night.

Saturday night was the big food and wine tasting at Fort Mason which was close to the Argonat Hotel where I was staying. The Slow Food mascot 'The Snail' was the highlight of the evening as it was truly a piece of art using such unusal shapes of breads.

It was a fun trip but now back to the craziness of Houston and am I going slow. I don't think so!