We started with a cheese board. Not shown are two loaves of artisan bread I made, one standard and one whole wheat, with some olive paste and fancy butter churned between the thighs of nubile Irish lasses.- Gjetost. This was the only cheese I'd had before, a really nice Norwegian goat cheese that tastes like caramel. Three stars!
- English Shropshire blue. An incredibly rich, creamy, luscious cheese; smooth and buttery with an acid bite of a bleu underneath. Three stars!
- Ireland cheddar with Guinness. This was a fine semi-sharp cheddar with a notable bitter taste from the beer, but I felt it lacked any genuine Guinness character, so I was a bit disappointed. One and a half stars.
- Goat cabra al vino. This is an acceptable firm goat cheese, a little mild, without much hint of the wine it claims on its label. Two stars.
- Chimay cheese. Like the Guinness cheese, this one was a bit of a let-down. It was like a Port-Salut with a bitter tang from the beer, which is OK as far as it goes -- but I didn't really get any of the deep delicious heady flavor of my favorite ale. Two stars.
- German Mirabo with walnuts. A slightly pungent variation on a Brie; I enjoyed the cheese, although I wasn't sure that the crushed walnuts added a lot to its experience. Two stars.
- Baltic Red 4 year Asiago, which I also substituted for Romano in the lasagne. This was the best Asiago I've ever had, wickedly sharp and tangy. Three stars!
- White Stilton with blueberries. A smooth, sweet, creamy desert cheese that I could even imagine eating with vanilla ice cream. Three stars!
- Ukrainian marble cheese. An innocuous mild jack cheese whose sole recommendation was that NDM is Ukrainian. One and a half stars.
- French Rodez. I don't know much about this cheese other than I assume it is from Rodez; it is a fine parmesan-like cheese which didn't offer any dramatic uniqueness beyond the standard Italian hard cheeses we use. Two stars.
After gorging on the cheese course we had the real meal, a spinach and zucchini lasagne made from fancy ricotta and fresh buffalo mozzarella from the same cheese store. I'll try to write it up and pop the recipe on the Kitchenarium later in the week.
We finished the evening with some yummy chocolate cannoli that NDM made. (I don't deep-fry stuff, it scares me.) I don't normally like cannoli, but these were pretty darn good.Thank God for lactase!
