It's Not You, It's Brie

Dairy Farm Animals: A Cute-off

kirstin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:58:31 +0000

I woke up inspired this morning to share some favorite adorable photos from cheesemaker's dairy farms I visited while traveling for the book. Not of cheese. While taking pictures of cheese is gratifying, one just doesn't experience the same excitement level they do when taking pictures of dairy animals. Cheese is alive, ever-changing, sure, but cheese always holds still. It's cute, but not baby lamb adorable. Then again, it's a heck of a lot easier to get it to hold still for the camera.

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The Prairies are a Bloomin: Prairie Cheeses

kirstin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:19:21 +0000

This one is made by Branched Oak Farm in Nebraska. They're an organic creamery run by the Dittman family, and you haven't heard the last about them from me here- I'm featuring another one of their cheeses in my book.

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Getting Our Cheese Recipes On

kirstin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:47:10 +0000

First things first. People often ask how I come up with recipe ideas. Here goes 1. I get inspired. I eat out. I read cookbooks. I visit farmer's markets. I think seasonally. I read menus. I see what others are doing

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A Comeback – A Very Slow One

kirstin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:14:21 +0000

Working on my comeback here on “It’s Not You, it’s Brie.” I just turned in the first draft of my manuscript last Wednesday and, let me tell you, I had a doozy of a time getting this thing together. More than 45 interviews, 1,032 follow-up questions, lots and lots of writing, testing cheese recipes galore (and [...]

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A Little Behind…

kirstin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:12:49 +0000

I admit it, I’m overwhelmed. My book proposal is due in under a month and I’m working overtime to wrap it up right. Doesn’t help that it’s the busiest season of the year at the wine shop where I work. I can’t keep up, dear readers. I apologize for my absence. I’m sending you my [...]

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Holiday Cheese Recipes: All Hail the Ball & Fondue Parties

kirstin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:41:17 +0000

Union Square is decked out with more white lights than a Diwali festival, drugstore chains are now displaying their trusty battery-powered dancing Frosty the Snowman, and the evites to holiday parties are eying your inbox. The winter holiday season is here. No matter whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, the opportunity to share a glass of bubbly at a party with your friends near some mistletoe, or the seasonal changing of Hershey kiss wrapper color, you're probably going to be going to or hosting a party sometime soon.

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Robiola di Roccaverano- A cheese & leaf love

kirstin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:09:51 +0000

If Martha Stewart ever got a hold of a Robiola di Roccaverano, I'm pretty sure she'd mandate every cheese be wrapped in leaves before being served in her presence. This leaf-on-cheese action is cuter than a toddler walking a puppy. It's more adorable than Zooey Deschanel watching a toddler walk a puppy. It proves that leaves and cheese are made to be together.

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My November cheese classes

kirstin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:27:24 +0000

While I’m mainly confining myself to my writing cave (bedroom) for the next couple months until I finish my manuscript that’s due in January, I am emerging occasionally to eat, take hot showers, walk around the block, and teach a cheese class or two. Here are two classes that I’m teaching at the Cheese School of [...]

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Burrata Plea: Consider Fall. And Winter. And Finter.

kirstin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:25:01 +0000

As the weather grows colder in the rest of the country (the San Francisco bay area just seems to be getting hotter, let's leave us out of this), I've been reminded of one burrata thing. Burrata is not seasonal. Believe it or not, my summer caprese salad lovers, people make burrata in the fall. Even the winter. Sometimes even in that period between the two, known as finter.

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Backyard Lovin Class: Cheese & Wine of Sonoma Marin, This Thursday

kirstin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:11:58 +0000

With vast green hills dotted with lazy cows as close as Marin and Sonoma, we don't need to go to France to experience dairy heaven. It's right in our own back yard.

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