Cheesemonger tour: cheese interlude

On the way out of Seattle I grabbed an awesome Washington State, Camembert-style called Dinah’s Cheese from Kurtwood Farms. I have never met Kurt, but everyone seems to love him and he’s buddies with one of my oldest friends.

Here’s what it looks like:

And here it is in the Econolodge after reaching room temp.

Shari from the Calf and the Kid gave me a day-old loaf of bread to go with it and this was probably the best meal ever eaten in the Bellingham Econolodge. This is the real deal: rich, creamy, oniony, earthy and awesome.

I also stopped and visited the folks from Samish Bay Cheese on the way to Bellingham. We’ve been carry the Ladysmith on-and-off and I really like it as an (relatively) affordable organic fancy cheese. It reminds me a lot of the Bellwether Carmody,: fatty, satisfying, and milky.

Here’s the making of the Ladysmith:

Here’s the Ladysmith sitting around on a shelf.

And here’s Roger, the Samish Cheese guy

The farm was beautiful and Roger is doing what I would love other organic dairy farmers to do – making new, non-commodity-style organic cheese. We should be bringing a bunch in next month so if you are local, check it out.