Cheese Please

I have been sharing my love of cheese with my best friend for the last ten years. For awhile the two of us would ask the most random stranger to name a cheese, the first one that came to mind, and we kept a cheese log. Most people would say cheddar or mozzarella, but there were a few people who suprised us. This week we attended a cheese tasting class at the Davis Food Co-Op and our pallets were dancing with the flavors of 10 local cheeses. My favorite ended up being Meyenberg's Smoked Goat Jack, and of course could not come home without buying a brick of it. There's something about smoked cheese that I absolutely love. I did, however, also reaffirm that I absolutely do not like strong cheeses such as Blue, or its relative, Gorgonzola.

I am in no means a cheesepert, (an expert on cheese), but in our house there is always some sort of cheese in the house, and I almost always put out a cheese spread at group gatherings. Dill Havarti, Smoked Gouda, and Sharp Cheddar are my three favorite standbys, but almost every time I venture near a cheese counter I dare myself to try something new. Most recently I purchased a Fabulous Chiptole Cheddar and lucked out. It has a great creamy texture with a mild tangy taste on the back end. There have also been a few I tried that my pallet did not care for, like Purple Moon Cheese; a cheddar that's been soaked in Cabernet wine. I found it very tart, very bitter, and dry.

Over the years either my best friend and I, or my husband and I, have ventured to the Hilmar Cheese Factory, the Sonoma Cheese Factory, and the Spring Hill Cheese Company. (They make an awesome Garlic Cheddar). I even joked that if my husband loved cheese as much as I did, that we could have taken the cheese factory tour throughout Wisconsin as part of our honeymoon. Oh well. Maybe my best friend and I can make that our next big getaway.

In closing I ask: What's your favorite go-to cheese?