Aged Goat's Milk Cheese

After a long hard move  from San Francisco to Seattle, nothing soothed the soul more than a fine bottle of champagne and some good aged goat's milk cheese.  Our dear friend provided the champagne and we plated the cheese. Now, I use the term "plate" loosely since the only thing I could find that resembled a flat surface was a Tupperware lid. Oh well...

We sat on the bare oak floors and dined in front of our fire. The pièce de résistance of our cheese selection were two beautifully aged goat's milk chèvres. The first was Humboldt Fog, the signature cheese from Cypress Grove Chèvre. Humboldt Fog is a divine semi-gooey, creamy chèvre with an edible vegetable ash stripe that runs down its center. Delicious served with almonds drizzled with a bit of honey and worth lifting a ton of boxes for!

The other cheese was Sunset Bay from River's Edge Chèvre. Another dense, creamy chèvre; this one with a ribbon of smoked paprika (a.k.a pimentón) down its middle. Sunset Bay is aged for three weeks, giving it time to absorb the smoky flavors of the pimentón and the vegetable ash that coats the rind.  As the cheese ripens the texture becomes creamier.

Both these cheeses, combined with a couple of glasses of a crisp champagne (who cares if we drank out of mugs!), had us grinning like a happy new home owners!