Miss Cheesemonger

Hi everyone. I know it’s been a LONG time since I’ve updated. I’ve been studying the music much more, and my husband and I are planning a long-awaited return to France, as well as a mini vacation in Italy. I’m going to take this chance to limit myself entirely to unpasteurized cheeses, and take lots of food pictures. I’ll be updating the blog more often, then!


As for the shop, we are chugging along. As I said a few months ago, the shop’s in the midst of a major change. The owners are trying to draw more people in with a dinner menu, and I find we are taking a few more special orders. We’ve had some personnel changes, and we even got a new brand of cheese paper, complete with custom labels! We’re looking a little more professional! True, it might mean we are looking a little less like a “neighborhood” cheese shop, and more like a “professional neighborhood” cheese shop, but that’s how the cookie crumbles. Life has calmed down a bit at the shop now that I’m used to that POS system.


We’ve got some new cheeses in recently worth mentioning. I was never really a gouda fan before becoming a cheesemonger, but I dare say, I’ve discovered some fabulous ones. One new one that came in last week is a walloping half wheel of Marieke Gouda, the one with foenegreek seeds in it. It’s a semi-soft cheese, and I could totally imagine this cheese melting silkily over a sandwich. I need to take pictures of it, if I can just remember to bring my camera . . . This cheese is seriously FAT. Tall, thick, not that easy to handle.


Hmm, what else–I’ve developed a pet peeve. I hate when I am slicing bread and crumbs fly into my eye! Same goes for meat slicing. That’s just gross, and it hurts! Bread crumbs in the eye feels like little ninja stars flying into your face!

Our local farm keeps giving us “presents” in addition to the usual produce and mango sage honey, usually in the form of flowers. Two weeks ago, it was London rocket, which apparently can be used to relieve rheumatism and chest congestion. This week, it was an enormous bunch of chamomile flowers. They look like they have enormous yellow noses, ready to dive into something. How adorable! However, they ARE chamomile. They’re right next to me at the counter, and I must admit, I was feeling pretty sleepy today as I stood by the register. Chamomile….mmm…it smells like night time.

Our kitchen sources much of its produce from a local, family-run, organic farm. We receive deliveries from 2-3 times per week. I love when they come in. It’s like Christmas every week! I LOVE seeing these vegetables. They’re what eating should be all about. They’re still covered in dirt, there are still bugs crawling all over them, and they are absolutely gorgeous. Here’s one recent delivery of leafy goodness.

Appearance: Wow–it just looks so inviting! The rind is slightly mottled, with a bubble edge border and slight depression in the center of the wheel. On the bottom of the wheel, you can see a criss-cross pattern, which is from the containers used to mold the cheeses when first made. The paste is amazingly gorgeous. I can’t believe it–it’s a bright yellow, like true Normandy butter is! .


Country of origin: United States (California)
Milk: Cow (raw, Jersey)
Type: hard
Age: 4 months

If heaven is a dairy farm, maybe it would smell a bit like this cheese. Carmody reserve’s aroma is buttery and lactic, with hints of sweet grass. It reminds me of my favorite macaroni and cheese, which might be an idea for cooking with it . . . .

Of course, the reason I’m into cheese is to taste it. What a heady flavor! So lush and savory! This is truly an exceptional cheese. Just a crunchy, sumptuous WOW. Yes, crunchy! And yes, WOW is used as a noun. There was also a sharp tang, almost like a cheddar. If I didn’t know better, I’d think this was some sort of cheddar or an aged gouda. In terms of mouthfeel, I mentioned the crunchiness. I also noticed that there isn’t much of a finish. After I swallowed, poof, it was gone.


As for pairing and cooking ideas, I tried the Carmody Reserve with some of the sweeter condiments behind the cheese counter, but they didn’t go well at all. What did go very well were the roasted tomatoes we have! It’s a truly savory cheese, it needs some savory accompaniment. I should try it out with the onions in port. I could definitely see this cheese being used as a grating cheese over pasta, in some macaroni and cheese, or in some delicious pastry like this one.


UPDATE: After falling in love with the pastry recipe I posted with this cheese review, I decided to make some onion/lavender jam myself to try with the cheese. Mincing the lavender was my favorite step. It made my little cheese counter taste like Provence for about 20 minutes this morning. It was an easy process, but the butter makes the jam look cloudy. The recipe’s jam is intended to stuff puff pastry, but I made it to serve alongside Carmody Reserve. In any case, when I tried the two together, the taste was superb! Even Carlos and our chef Monica agreed. There was just enough lavender to give the cheese a refreshing kick, and the jam was just delicious as a savory accompaniment. Next time, though, I’ll try the recipe with oil. I know it will change the flavor a bit, but the jam is just too cloudy to serve when made with butter.

I feel like my time at the shop now is spent less on cheese and more on other things. “Things” encompasses such a wide variety of subjects, that I can’t even define it!


I will just start off with the big new toy that was installed in our shop. It is a POS system (meaning “point of sale.”) It took all Monday to install, and since I was working on that day exceptionally, I got an all-day training session.


To put it simply, this system changes the entire infrastructure of the shop and restaurant. It is equipped to handle EVERYTHING, from drink orders, to cheese plate orders, to kitchen orders, to retail, to reservations, to special discounts, to credit card orders . . . . I could go on and on. However, one must not rely too much on the new technology yet. Not all of the products are entered in the system, not all of the prices are correct in the system, and not everyone knows how to use the darn thing. Right now, I think I am the person who spends the most time at the register, so I needed to learn very quickly how to manipulate all of those buttons and items.


It has been fairly quiet all week, so when Saturday (yesterday) rolled around, I had a feeling we were really going to test the system’s mettle for the first time. Boy, did that provide for some excitement, because the system crashed in the middle of the afternoon, and again at the beginning of the evening (POS POS?). So much for the Windows-based system! I wonder what happened, and I wonder how it can get fixed.


Apart from just stumbling through the buttons and functions of the POS system, I realized that its presence really is going to fundamentally change the nature of the shop, and of the cheesemonger’s job. Now that the shop is really equipped now to process drink and meal orders at any time of day or night, I think the the higher powers want to shift the business toward a restaurant model during the daytime, instead of keeping the sleepy daytime cheese and wine shop. I mean, the cheese shop is always going to be there, but the focus is changing. It makes business sense; there is no way I can see a cheese shop surviving in this area. Not enough people are into cheese out here in the OC. I think that the only way for the shop to make a real profit is through the wine and restaurant area (even if that means they are serving only cheese plates).

Practically, this means the cheesemonger is going to have to set up her own service well in the cheese area, complete with check presenters, glasses, water bottles, silverware, and bread area. Well, we already have a bunch of silverware, bread and check presenters, but this is reorganization is going to take some major thinking. The cheese area is a little short on space as it is! We have to find a way to stuff more essentials into it. It also means that I am going to be doing a lot more running. Right now, I’m trying to figure out how I will have time to do all of the shopkeeping duties and running around. I wonder if it will be even possible!


I guess we just need to try this out for a couple more days and see what happens.

I have been doing a lot of writing since the wedding–first to answer some questions for our wedding feature in LA Style Unveiled, and now for the shop. We’re building a lot of material to update a lot of the publicity. Plus, I am in charge of writing all new cheese labels for all of our cheeses. Each tag has about 2 sentences on it, along with suggested wine pairings. THAT is taking more time than anything else! I need to research each cheese before I write that little blurb, and then drum up some wine pairings. I’ve got about 45 labels completed, but I’ve got at least another 20 to go…many more if I want to get all of the cheeses that the shop has ever carried. I spent yesterday working on that project–my eyes are still a little bit bleary from looking at the screen all day. I’m writing much more than that as well, but that will be material for another post.


Carlos and I also took some glamorous cheese shots together. Funny enough, the photo that the owner likes the best is the one where Carlos is strangling me. I sure hope he sends me the photos from his camera. By golly, I feel like I’m part of the team, now!


As for the day at the shop, there was the usual–one gentleman kindly offered his unsolicited advice that I keep 2-3 boyfriends, each of them 30-40 miles apart; one woman seemingly in need of company and a kind ear told me some of her life’s difficulties; one customer came in and actually remembered my name! (no, I didn’t remember his then, but I do now…. How SWEET of him!!).


But really, the only thing that irked me was, and is, rudeness! One woman came in, saw that she was third in line, and handed me an order for cheese. She left for a few minutes, came back, and was appalled to find that we were still serving other people. When she learned that I hadn’t had the chance to complete her order, “oh crap,” was her exact response. She began complaining vocally, and I was literally directed to just complete her order right away. Really? Rudeness wins the day? I just was so tempted to remind her that there were two people in line before her, and that they had priority. Hers is an awful mindset to keep in life! I felt bad that I had to essentially brush off that nice customer who was planning a dinner to celebrate a new baby, to appease this rude customer! No! I don’t like it! And sorry to the customer I had to drop. :( If I could have my way, I wouldn’t have.

Well, sort of. The performing bug. Actually, I think I’ve always had it, but now, I am REALLY trying to pursue it. That means, on my days off from the cheese shop, you can find me in LA doing random performing, cantoring, or training. Today was my film debut. I was what you could say, a “glorified extra” in that I had about 4 lines. It was long, it was a little slow. I should have brought my book, “The Cheese Chronicles,” to read during the slow parts.


Yup, so that’s what I’ve been up to. It’s taken up a lot of energy!


But, to just give you a sense of what’s going on at the shop right now, here you go:

Finally, I had a camera at the same time the Brunet was in the case! Here she is! One of my new favorite cheeses.

Much has been happening at the shop. Now that we’ve revamped the kitchen, and the cheese shop is getting some more community attention, I feel the nature of the business is changing. The short term result is that I have a lot more work to do, am often confused, and sometimes unprepared. I have been doing a bit of copy writing for the cheese shop. Maybe some of it is getting through to someone. Maybe it’s our new Facebook and Twitter updates. Or maybe, it’s just that the kitchen is getting GORGEOUS local, organic produce, and some creative new recipes. I feel like the shop is on the edge of a milestone. Actually, I’ve been getting that feeling for some time now. If we’re not constantly on the verge of some milestone, we’re not doing our jobs well!


So, I mentioned the produce. Our local farmer brings them in in beautiful baskets! The vegetables are so fresh, they’re usually still covered with dirt, and sometimes bugs. Real food! It makes me so happy. Christmas comes twice a week with the vegetable deliveries!







Well, there’s a busy week in store for me! I have to get moving! Happy Monday!

Since the shop specializes in cheeses and charcuterie, it’s natural that it offers sandwiches. Since the beginning, the sandwich aspect of being a cheesemonger has been one of the most difficult. Yes, I’ll admit it. It’s tough to make a Cellar sandwich. You have to gauge how much bread to prepare beforehand because it takes a long time to bake, and you can never tell how much you’re going to need in one day. I make about 3 baguettes usually, enough for 6 sandwiches, or a couple of sandwiches and a couple of cheese plates. Then, because everything tastes better fresh, we have to slice all of the meat and cheese to order. OK, I admit, it’s not a WHOLE lot of work, but if you’re making a sandwich or four, and you get a new table that wants to order wine and some charcuterie plates and such, and then a couple of people at the counter wanting four cheeses, the sandwiches can kind of slow you down.


Well, I knew there would be one day where my whole calculation system would be completely off. One recent Saturday was that day. We hosted a special event that afternoon, so I had prepared about eight sandwiches for that. But then, for some reason, it seemed like everyone and their mother and aunt (actually–that was kind of true…the neice of a customer came in because her aunt had raved about the sandwiches) wanted a sandwich. I was totally low on bread. Luckily, our owner was around and could toss in about 16 sandwich breads in the oven. WHOA. I was slicing meat and cheese ALL DAY! I had NEVER made so many sandwiches until then, and have never made so many since. It was so busy that day, the hosted event aside. Two owners were there all afternoon with me, just by chance, and we all ran around like fools the entire afternoon. That is wonderful, but we weren’t prepared for the onslaught! I’d never seen the shop so busy.



At the end of the day, instead of the usual three sandwiches, I ended up making about thirty. I smelled undeniably of salami and cheese, and I was starving myself, but I made it! I’m a sandwich champ.

Yup–I looked through the photos on my camera last night, and found out that I hadn’t taken any of the Brunet cheese. Hoping to get a photo today, I brought the camera into work–except we’ve sold out of them. :( How disappointing!! I loved those little cheeses to death. Oh well, I’ll have to wait until the next time we get them in, whenever that is.


On the flip side, I didn’t really have time to mull over the sold Brunets because I was slammed pretty much from 12:30 until 6:30, well past my normal hours. That’s good! But now, I am tired, and can’t keep my eyes open any more. Good night!