cheese tasting

I L.O.V.E cheese. I haven't really met a cheese I don't like (well except maybe a smoked cheese).

When my parents were in London a few weeks ago, they brought me back a ton of hard cheeses! Joe and I didn't know what to do with all the deliciousness, so we had a wine and cheese tasting party. We created this evite:

Well, I tend to have the WORST luck with parties and bad weather, so what happened? We got 2 inches of snow and about 6 people braved the weather for the cheese. Needless to say, we shad lots of leftover cheese.

So, last night at our family holiday gathering, we re-created the cheese tasting (still have plenty of left overs! round 3 anyone?...) Here are photos of the spread:

Our hard cheeses were:

• L'Etivaz
• Keen's Cheddar
• Suecia
• Napoleon
• Stilton
• Hawes Wesleydale

Soft Cheeses:

• Point Reyes Blue
• Teleggio
• Port Salut
• Delice de Bourgogne

All the cheeses were cow's milk cheeses. I made the little cheese flags on shipping labels and stuck two together with a toothpick in between the labels.

Along with the cheeses, we had some accompaniments:

• salamis
• olives
• pickled okra
• marcona almonds
• candied pecans
• fig paste
• balsamic glazed dried figs
• pears
• grapes
• persimmon
• gourmet crackers (rosemary, black pepper, etc.)

YUM! Can't wait to do it again!