• Cheese,  Cheese in Cooking,  Italian Cheese

    Ricotta Get Outta This Place

    There comes a time in a woman’s life, when she makes the rookie error of mixing her dark and clear drinks and ends up with a banging headache and vague recollections of dancing to Canadian soft rock. This may or may not have happened to me recently. I may also have woken up in a cold sweat realising I promise to bring cheese of some description to a weekend brunch gathering. My options were these: 1. Plead hormonal imbalances and dust off a bottle of vino from the rack 2. Do smash and grab at the local supermarket and lob up with a slab of cheddar and something resembling crackers…

  • 12 cheeses of christmas,  Accompaniments,  Cheese in Cooking,  Food Trends,  French,  fresh cheese

    All Wrapped Up – Camembert En Croute for Christmas

    It seems I am developing an aptitude for creating “stunt cheese” or “extreme cheese challenges”. First there was the infamous “Turkey Cheese” for Thanksgiving and now folks, I present to you my latest creation… This is a wheel of Camembert wrapped in puff pastry and baked. I had planned to do this with Brie, as is the traditional way, but believe  it or not I struggled to find a suitable wheel. I also had a scramble to find readymade puff pastry sheets big enough (who has time to make puff pastry on Christmas Day) but managed to cobble together a casing from some small squares, well placed egg wash  and a lot…

  • American,  American Cheese,  Cheese,  Cheese in Cooking

    Glazed and Confused – Grilled Cheese Cronuts

    In 2014, “Frankenfood” or sometimes bizarre mashups of food items are king. Think the Ramen Burger, the Zinger Pie and of course, the grand daddy of them all – the Cronut that devilish cross between a donut and a croissant. And apparently now, the Cronut has reached new culinary and hipster heights heights. I present to you my dear readers, the Grilled Cheese Cronut And apparently they are kind of easy to make so I may have a dare on my hands. *Photo credit http://www.ohbiteit.com

  • Artisan Cheese,  Asia,  Cheese in Cooking,  China,  farmers cheese,  Goat Cheese,  Travel

    Rubing it In – Eating Cheese in China

    Chinese food and cheese are not necessarily happy bedfellows. Asian flavors do not lend themselves to cheesiness and for good reason. My main experience of cheese in China consisted of hotel cheese platters on their buffets. But I had heard that some regions in China, namely Yunnan, used goat cheese in their cooking. There will be a longer exposition of my recent trip to Shanghai in future posts (you have been warned) but I was determined to find this elusive fusion. Actually I didn’t have to search too far. One of the best known restaurants in Shanghai, Lost Heaven specializes in Yunnan cuisine. I found one item on the menu – a…