String cheese as it is known to most of us, is a fairly new revelation to me. Most Australians my age (cough) are unfamilar with the commercial string cheese we see in supermarkets now. When I was a kid, we did have Kraft cheese sticks, which were a different texture entirely. They were processed cheddar cheese, extruded into plastic and sealed with tiny metal rings. In hindsight, those metal rings were a choking hazard. Speaking of hazard, after four hours in the lunch box, these sticks had also turned nuclear, or mushy. Moving to the Middle East I discovered the commercial American string cheese, as well as the local variety…
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Fromage Fortifications
As a cheese blogger, having a fridge full of the good stuff is an occupational hazard. As of yesterday I have leftover pieces of Manchego, Parmesan, Swiss, Cheddar, Gorgonzola and several unidentified randoms. Now you know how I hate waste as much as losing perfectly good cheese, so I dug out this recipe by the amazing David Lebovitz for Fromage Fort. Fromage fort is a French cheese spread, literally “strong cheese”. It is traditionally made by blending together pieces of different leftover cheeses, white wine (or other spirits) with garlic, herbs and whatever takes your fancy. I made mine with around seven kinds of odds and ends cheeses The recipe calls for…
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Party On – How to Be a “Grate” Host
You’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties, especially my own. I have inherited my mother’s love of cooking for a crowd. I have also inherited her love of reality TV, but that’s another story. But everyone can hone their skills especially in this ‘Post Post Emily Post Era’, and the great people at King Island Dairy have produced a free guide for the perfect dinner party and cheese plate. The Perfect Dinner Party is free to download and a wealth of foodie information. http://www.perfectdinnerparty.com.au There is some great a advice in here – like balance your ambitions with your abilities. I for one have been waaay too ambitious…
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Hard to Brie-sist
Many of my American and British friends believe much of the Australian vernacular is made up. They allege they are just jumbles of ridiculous sounding vowels meant to bamboozle non-Australians, that it’s one big in-joke at the expense of other lesser nationalities. “That is NOT a real word,” my friend Alicia exclaimed once, upon hearing the place name “Wharoongha”. Fair suck of the sav indeed. This post came to be thanks to my friend Brooke who recently hosted a gaggle of women, a lot of wine and a slew of Australian cheese. Much was discussed over cheese and wine in her “Secret Garden”, including sport, men and bad bad boyfriends.…
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Sydney Cheese Theft – Will They Gouda to Prison?
Seems like a waste of good cheese to me. But I didn’t know that people in Sydney’s West – my natural habitat – were so predisposed to cheese. Sydney police destroy 150kg of cheese seized from back of car
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At Grate Heights – Cheese at 30,000 Feet
As someone who loves to travel, I have had some good and very average meals in the air. Whoever invented the Hot Pocket should be reported to the UN Human Rights Tribunal – it is an implement of torture. When I am lucky, and flush, enough to travel at the pointy end of the plane, I always opt for the cheese plate on the menu. Which had me thinking about how cheese manages to taste so good at altitude. When we fly, our taste buds simply don’t work properly. The low humidity dries out our nasal passages, and the air pressure desensitizes our taste buds, which is why airline often…
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Down by the River – a Cheesy Tour of Western Australia
Here’s the thing about Australia – it’s bloody big. So big that many Australians are more likely to have seen Bali than say, Perth. Although that may have more to do with the strong Aussie dollar.I am almost ashamed to admit I have seen more of Eastern Europe than my homeland. On my recent yearly trip home to Australia, my occasional travel partner suggested a trip to Western Australia to ample the vineyards. After a couple of days eating my way around Melbourne (Qatar Airways main gateway into Australia, I duly booked a ticket westward ho and in July we were soon tooling around the vineyards of the Margaret River,…
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Cheesed Off – Food Snobs Show True Colors
Cheesed Off – Food Snobs Show True Colors A quick survey of my fridge will tell you I am not a food snob of any description. I am also quite partial to a wedge of supermarket bought cheese. Which is why this article made me giggle. People take food so seriously, especially in Australia, that it appears unless you have the right pedigree (think milk gently caressed from the udders of cows who have grazed in organic pastures and listen only to Chopin), then it must be low class, or not legitimate. Good for Aldi for keeping it real and affordable.