A New Year's Grub-On

“Nothing says holidays, like a cheese log”. ~ EDG

So for New Years this year I managed to get to go down to Market Square with my special Person for several hours. The weather was mild. There were a lot of people dressed for comfort and a surprising number of ladies dressed like street walkers. Now, anyone who knows me – really knows me – knows that I have a penchant for dressing a little, shall we say, ‘different’ at times. However, I know to dress for the weather and the location. Why would I want CFM pumps and a dress cut to “there” without at least a jacket or sweater in the winter? Maybe I was missing the booze?

Anywho, we managed to walk around, catch some great street music and eat good festival foods including FUNNEL CAKE! Hey, did you all know that funnel cake is good with cinnamon as well as powdered sugar and that “I” figured out that I DON’T like chocolate on them? I suggest you print this and use it as proof that I stated this, as I will not mention or admit to it again.

After walking around, eating and drinking, we decided to head out for a quieter venue. One meal and dessert was not enough. We ended up doing a round robin and heading to Chesapeakes after we figured out the Sunsphere was not happening publicly on New Year’s Eve. Hello crab-stuffed mushrooms, chocolate-chocolate cheesecake, sparkling wine and beer.

All this eating and I forgot I had the below selection of food as well as 12 beers to choose from after we were done wandering the streets… So, more eating was ahead of us.

After we returned to our room, I cut the cheeses (yea, I know I wrote that), meats and etc. and loaded up a little paper plate.  We realized we did not have proper glasses for the night’s chosen beer. When serving Infinium beer, a fine champagne glass is called for. It is unfortunate for me that I am funny about serving pieces, glass, silver, crystal, china, stainless and etc. I typically like to have exactly what is called for when serving a specific food item or have a right fine substitute that no one will dare call me on. Well, not to be waylaid, we went with a plastic disposable cup and moved on… You have to work with what you have on hand! We settled into the bed with food, drink and TV remote. Yea, I suppose we are comfortable enough to simply hang and ring in the New Year quietly – crumbs in bed and all.

Infinium Beer  http://www.samueladams.com/enjoy-our-beer/beer-detail.aspx?id=4b19d680-d9a6-4fe9-9948-f49be8242b71

Samual Adams worked for 2 years with Germany’s Weihenstephan brewery formulating this ground breaking beer brewed within the confines of Reinheitsgebot, the old German Beer Purity Law dating back to 1560, allowing only 4 ingredients with which to brew a beer from. The ingredients are water, malt, hops, and yeast. This beer is a spicy, fruity champagne like beer. Bubbly does not come close to describing it. The color is light gold in color and lighter in flavor.

The below came from a store in Providence RI called Farmstead

http://www.farmsteadinc.com/

Farmstead Candied Nuts coated in honey and spices $20

I am not a big nut lover (yea, laugh all you want you dirty birds), but these little sticky nuts are pretty decent. They go very well with a cheese tray. Help mellow some stronger cheeses.

Pradera Netherlands 3 year old Gouda Pasteurized cow’s milk $24 a pound.

Slight crystallization. Strong tangy flavor. Very nice.

Montgomery’s Extra Mature Cheddar Somerset England made of raw cow’s milk $28 a pound.

Slightly more mellow than the Gouda, but still carries a nice nutty and fairly strong flavor. Also a great cheese. 

Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam Point Reyes CA pasteurized cow’s milk $34 a pound. Triple-cream cheese, spreads easily. Light flavor. Almost buttery. Great spread on light flavored crackers.

Cacciatorini Biellese sausage from the Biellese sheep. $27 a pound.

Somewhat chewy cured meat sausage. Lovely reds. Has a black pepper flavor note, yet no visible black pepper gracing in.

Dotterer’s Hot Pepper Jelly

Sweet yet HOT. Lights the sides and back of my tongue on fire. A lovely golden yellow color with red flecks throughout.   While I like it ok, I am not a huge fan. I did not find that it added or detracted from my above choice of cheeses.

Dotterer’s Cranberry Orange Confit

I do like this tangy condiment. Whole cranberries throughout. Strong orange jelly mixture. I did not find that it added or detracted from my choice of cheeses but did like it.

Gallettine Tuscan Crackers with extra virgin olive oil.

These simple crackers allow their flavorful passengers’ flavors shine through. The crackers are dry and dense. They have a slight flavor on their own, but so slight, they are a wonderful accompaniment to cheese and meat.

I am not a fancy ‘foodie’ by any means. I do like tasting foods however. I do not have the ‘foodie’ vocabulary but I do have opinion . I also seem to have some fairly keen gastrointestinal issues with many foods. It is unfortunate and annoying. One category I seem to have issues with is aged cheese. Blue cheese is not my friend.  Up side of this little cheesy couple event?  I survived mostly unscathed!