Tag: Artisan Cheese Company

Granddaughters, Fun & Food

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GOOD TIMES WITH OUR GRANDDAUGHTERS

Our granddaughters, Eleanor and Frances, had not been to Florida since February 2020 just before Covid. That year we celebrated Frances’ March birthday (she would turn 4) super early with a heart-shaped, pink-frosted cake.  The Chief Penguin, aka Grandpa, is the resident baker and works his wonders to create memorable birthday desserts.

This year, the weather was lovely and sunny all but one day, and the girls frolicked for hours, and hours, in the pool. They became quite good swimmers last summer and refreshed their water skills while having oodles of fun.  F dove for rings and swam underwater. Using a pink (what other color is there!) noodle, she created a mini zipline effect on the pool stairs railing.  E jumped in the deep end, swam across the pool, and had timed races with her dad to see how fast she could swim.  

Besides the appeal of the water, there was the matter of food.  F loves strawberries and cherry tomatoes!  She devoured a couple of pints of each.  E, an increasingly accomplished baker and cook, loves all kinds of cheese, and helped with meal preparations and making pancakes, all with the occasional assist from Frances.  It not being Maine, these pancakes were made special with the addition of mini chocolate chips.  

The entire family likes pasta, so noodles and penne were featured in several dinners along with turkey chili, Italian Sunday sauce, and sauteed shrimp.  Going to Tide Tables Restaurant, a cozy spot on the water with inside and outside dining, is a tradition so, one day we braved the crowds to arrive for an early dinner.  Despite what was a packed parking lot, the elapsed time between arriving there, parking, waiting with drinks, and being escorted to a table was just 30 minutes!  The staff deserve credit for efficiently organizing the whole process.  

This is a family all of whom love clams.  Lunch at the Cortez Clam Factory on Saturday fit the bill.  A cousin visiting from Colorado joined us, and we were able to sit outside on the patio.  While only one person ordered clams, the brisket Reuben, Cuban sandwich, shrimp, and fried haddock were very tasty.  A true success!

On the home front, there were several opportunities for tennis, the girls and I kicked around a soccer ball, we did a fish puzzle, and we read books together and silently.  The girls also played with a favorite dollhouse plus blocks, Legos, and Calico Critters.  And we made time for going to Sarasota with a look at the boats in the marina and visits to two shops.

Reading on the stairs
Enjoying a book of jokes!

For the finale, we celebrated Frances’ upcoming 6th birthday with a unicorn-themed cake and cupcakes made by you know who.  It was a magical visit, full of fun for all of us!

Special birthday cake and cupcakes

SARASOTA TREATS

Most of my regular readers know that I am passionate about two stores in downtown Sarasota.  One is Artisan Cheese Company located in the Rosemary District and source of an array of cheddar, Swiss, Camembert, and other delectable cheeses from here and abroad.  The shop also sells distinctive butters and crackers, chocolates, Rancho Gordo beans, and unusual condiments plus homemade soups and delicate feta from Lesbos, Greece.  

My other favorite is Bookstore1Sarasota, a marvelous independent bookstore with a great selection and a very helpful staff.  They are now in a new location on Pineapple St. in The Mark, a new condominium building.  The shop is spacious and attractive with big windows and a colorful tropical flower graphic naming the sections.  From Staff Picks to the latest in fiction and nonfiction plus classics and books for kids, it’s fun to browse.  I always find at least one new title to buy!  There’s also have an upstairs area for events which might include a café at some point.  Both stores are worth the trip!

SOPHISTICATED DINING IN BRADENTON

Chateau 13

Chateau 13, in our opinion, still serves the best, most sophisticated cuisine in the area.  At a recent dinner there, the Chief Penguin and I were re-impressed with the caliber of service (the bread plates even came with a bread-and-butter knife, almost unheard of these days!) and the food.  We indulged in historic Champagne cocktails followed by the charcuterie cheese plate for the Chief Penguin and the French Caesar salad for me.  He then had the salmon rillette salad and the stuffed piquillo pepper appetizer while I savored the salmon en croute.  To top it off, we shared an order of truffle fries, but no dessert.  Everything was delicious!    

Note: Photos ©JWFarrington. Header graphic courtesy localjaw.com

Tidy Tidbits: Cheese & More

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PROVISIONING—Cheese and More

I grew up eating good cheese, not expensive cheese, but good New York State sharp cheddar.  In our household, there was no such thing as American cheese, a misnomer if there ever was one.  In that era in upstate New York, Black Diamond cheddar from Canada was the height of sophistication and an occasional rectangular log of it was a treat. Others in our extended family loved cheese also.  Our Midwest cousins always arrived bearing Hickory Farms’ Lebanon bologna and a hunk of nutty Ohio Swiss.  Yum! As an adult as my horizons broadened beyond the Finger Lakes, I was introduced to other cheeses; everywhere the Chief Penguin and I traveled we sampled cheese, from Gorgonzola in Italy, to Emmental in Zurich, Manchego in Spain and, of course, Roquefort in France.

Today the Chief Penguin and I delight in all the cheeses and comestibles on offer at Artisan Cheese Company in Sarasota.  Owner Louise Converse (aka Cheese Louise) has a carefully cultivated and curated cheese case with a wide variety of cow, goat and sheep cheeses from small producers across the U.S. and abroad.  My favorites in their case include a clothbound cheddar from England, a just ripe Camembert, caramelly aged Beemster Gouda, Bayley Hazen Blue from Vermont, and the store’s own pimento cheese.  

Recently, Louise managed, through good connections, to snag some Rogue River Blue.  This cheese made in Oregon beat out more than 3,000 other cheeses and was named the best cheese on the planet in the World Cheese Awards!  We bought a piece and it is delectable and simply seductive.  Creamy, not overly salty, it begs you to keep eating more.  

But Artisan Cheese offers more than just cheese.  There are distinctive crackers, very good scones, wines that are both thoughtfully chosen and moderately priced, along with prepared foods.  Not up for cooking dinner?  Try their mac and cheese, tomato pie, or one of their several soups.  The store supports an apprentice program for young women in partnership with Girls Inc.; many of these food delights are their products.  Along with all the cheeses and other treats, Louise has added tea towels as well as a selection of china and bamboo plates and mugs.  These are distinctive wares that are not run of the mill.  I have to admit I surrendered to temptation and bought several of these items—of course, for gifts!

RECENT READING:  A Sensitive Novel

Upstate by James Wood

An Englishman by birth, Wood is the fiction critic for The New Yorker and also a Harvard professor and novelist.  I’d not read any of his earlier novels, but was attracted to this one by both the title and the setting in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a town I frequented regularly some years ago.  It’s a short novel with short chapters and is both delicate and exquisite.  

Alan Querry is English and a widower who lives there with his partner, Candace.  He has two grown daughters.  Helen, who is married with children, often travels to Manhattan for her work in the music industry.   Daughter Vanessa is a philosophy professor at Skidmore with a younger boyfriend named Josh.  She has suffered from mental issues in the past and Alan and Helen have been summoned by Josh to Saratoga to check up on her.  

I love Woods’ prose; each word in a sentence is carefully chosen whether it’s in a phrase describing the weather: “it was coming down fast, in the passive-aggressive way of snow, stealthy but relentless, insisting on its own white agenda, the soft monotony canceling all time, all resistance, all activity.” And, “white lengths of snow, like fluorescent stripes, were caught in the folds of their nylon coats.” 

Or an evocation of someone’s thoughts, Alan’s here, as in: 

 “He watched his two highly intelligent, grown-up daughters, as they approached and drew back from each other, like switched magnets. Helen, apparently more confident, acute, with her slightly sharp teeth, elegantly handsome, but also being disagreeable somehow, as if she were necessary medicine Vanessa just had to take; Vanessa, quieter, softer, with her long dark hair and slightly squinting eyes, but exact, precise in her every word and thought, and so, to him at least, quite as formidable as her more obviously intimidating sister.  How had he and Cathy produced them?”

This is a novel of a family ruptured by divorce, of sisters living at a distance who care while simultaneously annoying and needling each another, and of a father with a failing business who isn’t sure how best to help his older daughter nor initially certain if he desires to engage completely.  Each of the principal characters reflects on his or her individual life:  what does it take to be happy; how important is success versus family; what does an entire life amount to in the end?  It’s a beautiful novel, wise and moving!  (~JWFarrington)

Notes: Book cover courtesy of Goodreads.com; header photo from medical news.com. All other contents ©JWFarrington.

Tidy Tidbits: Local Fare

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BUY LOCAL

The Florida season is over, the snow birds have retreated north, and it’s quiet time for many local merchants.  If you live in Sarasota or Bradenton, remember to visit your favorite downtown shops and restaurants.  They need you and they really appreciate your business!

Two of my regular stops are Bookstore 1 Sarasota and the Artisan Cheese Company.  In addition to Stilton (a stately, elegant cheese) and creamy, nutty L’Amuse Gouda, we indulged in some soft cheese and, for the first time, tried the store’s own pimento cheese.  Now, I know of pimento cheese from Southern novels, have sampled it from several suppliers and have always been underwhelmed.  Louise said that her version flew out of the store as soon as she put it on the shelf.  Well, it’s scrumptious!  The right mix of cheese, enough bits of pimento, and a hint of heat make it positively addictive.  I’ll be back for more.

Louise & Parker Converse shop owners (www.artisancheesecompanycm)
Shop owners Louise and Parker Converse (www.artisancheesecompany.com)

At my favorite bookstore, a proper one with shelves of books and more books, magazines, a children’s section and tables of temptation, I was intrigued by at least six new novels.  I settled on two, one the latest from Lauren Belfer, while the Chief Penguin located the hefty libretto for Hamilton.  With somewhat lighter pockets, we left happy merchants and headed home.

HettyFeather_500x4003
Program cover (www.thelowry.com)

GIRL POWER  

For this year’s summer musical, Asolo Rep is presenting the U.S. premiere of Hetty Feather.  Based on a book by Jacqueline Wilson, it’s the story of Victorian girl Hetty’s tumultuous and, at times rollicking, journey from a foundling hospital to a foster home and then back to the hospital with encounters with the circus along the way.  Hetty is spunky and lively and always on the lookout for her real mother.  With exceedingly creative and clever staging (ropes, ladders and a suspended ring) and a very nimble and talented British cast, this is delightful family fare.

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SHOUT-OUT

While in New York, I finally visited Rizzoli Bookstore’s new location on Broadway not far from Eataly.  It is very spacious and all on one floor, but retains the feel of the old Rizzoli on W. 57th Street.  Dark wood bookcases, long tables of books and classic chandeliers.  I was told by one of the staff that they were able to save and re-use many of the fixtures including cases and lights, hence the familiarity.  They have a big space at the back (I’m assuming for events) with some comfy chairs and even several restrooms (another plus).  I enjoyed my time browsing and left with one of the several new novels I’d spied.  Definitely add it to your bookstore list!

WHAT I’M READING

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis.  I suggested this title (previously unread by me) to my west coast book group and found myself plodding through it.  Published in 1920 and Lewis’ first successful novel, it is the story of Will Kennicutt, a doctor in small town Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, and his younger wife, Carol.  She is from the big city and has problems adjusting to what she views as a provincial, gossipy, unsophisticated place.  She is both a romantic and a self-appointed reformer who doesn’t really know what she wants or how to accomplish her supposed aims.  A satirical study in gender roles and cultural mores in a different time, but with a perspective on social class that still has relevance.  Overall, I found it too long and very dense.

First Women:  The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies by Kate Anderson Brower.  For a relaxing change of pace, this breezy work is about the bonds, the correspondence, and the unlikely friendships between these First Ladies.  Each is unique in personality and style and each, as wife of the president, made the White House her home.  Not a lot of new information here, but an engaging look at the times they inhabited and the roles they played—from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama.  Brower’s earlier book is The Residence about those who staff the White House.

 

Note:  Header photo and Rizzoli image by JWFarrington (some rights reserved)

Sarasota Scene: Songs & Salt

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AMERICAN MUSIC

This was the last week of our Sarasota Institute of Lifelong Learning programs for the year so no more Monday and Wednesday morning commitments.  Music Mondays, in particular, ended on a high note, or perhaps I should say, on a dissonant note, with American composer of contemporary music, Libby Larsen.  Larsen’s work ranges from songs and instrumental pieces to operas.  We saw a video clip of an instrumental piece for piano and bassoon with the piano representing urban energy and the bassoon making all sorts of strange sounds.  And then a young soprano from Korea and Long Island, a guest that day, sang a couple songs.   Larsen is keenly interested in American language and traditions; this is reflected in the research she did timing the speech patterns of auctioneers as a prelude to composing Bid Call, a piece for alto sax and cello.  We heard one movement of it.  Very different.

Larsen does her composing all in her head, which I found fascinating, and only then transcribes the piece into notes on paper, and after that checks it against the piano.  Throughout the interview, she was a bundle of energy, never sitting still, and animatedly chatting with her hands always in motion.  This seemed at odds with her daughter’s description of growing up in a house quiet as a library.  Larsen doesn’t like the radio or produced sounds and prefers to listen to the wind and other natural sounds.

DINING OUTDOORS

For our finale sixsome lunch, we had an outside umbrella table at Roast.  We’ve had dinner here in the past and at least one lunch.  Their special lunch menu is an appetizing selection of salads, sandwiches and soup or you can select from the regular menu.  We opted for lighter fare and enjoyed the salmon three ways on mini potato pancakes and the shrimp and crab salad with avocado dressed with marie rose sauce.  The house green salad was also excellent, and, as always, the price was right.

Keeping with the outdoor theme, we enjoyed lunch outside at Louie’s Modern on Friday.  My family from upstate NY was determined to bask in the warm air every minute of their visit, even when the sun wasn’t shining.  Louie’s menu is sophisticated and creative, and they loved the burrata and fresh tomato salad served on a watermelon pink Himalayan salt block—so much so that my sister-in-law immediately ordered one!  We also tucked into smoked trout deviled eggs, chicken potstickers, black & blue pizzetta, curry roasted cauliflower, brisket taco, and the kale Caesar and paleo Cobb salads.  Lots of different tastes to tickle the palate!

CONGRATULATIONS

This week was Artisan Cheese Company’s 4th anniversary. This is our wonderful downtown Sarasota cheese shop stocking a wide array of cheeses from across the U.S. and Europe.  Louise and her staff are warm and welcoming, making it a point to get to know their regulars, and are always happy to offer you a sample of any cheese in the case.  You can even stop in for a lunchtime sandwich or a cheese plate and a glass of wine.  Three cheers to them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Earlier this week, we welcomed, from a distance, our second granddaughter, Frances Elizabeth.  Her big sister is delighted, as are we, and we look forward to meeting Frances and seeing her with her eyes open!

 

Header image:  Salt block from www.mnn.com