Remembering Cheese, Fabulous Cheese

I just returned from the American Cheese Society annual meeting in Seattle. I love being around cheesemakers, tasting cheese, and learning more about the world of artisanal cheesemaking in our hemispere, but by far my favorite part of the conference is the Sunday cheese selloff. The quality of the cheese is phenomenal and it is only exceeded by the price--which is $5.00 per large piece--better deals on smaller pieces, and we managed to stow quite a bit of it into our checked luggage (we were given three styrofoam boxes that were used to transport cheese to the meeting, and the sale organizers were only too eager to allow us to take them away). The hard cheeses can be at room temperature for a day, and we stowed the softer cheeses in our room refridgerator, so it came through more or less unscathed.
The sale is a bit of a free for all. There is plenty of cheese, enough for everyone, at least at the front end of the sale, and so it is not like a Filene's Basement sale. No blood is shed, no one is knocked to the ground. The cheese is not altogether well marked, so there is some guess work in figuring out more or less what you are buying, but in the end, the cheese is fabulous and the deals are great. You really can't go wrong. So, will I be in Montreal in 2011? Wonderful city, with a rich cheese heritage. I will try my best--but the first priority will be the cheese sell off on Sunday August 7th. In the meantime, I look forward to sharing this year's bounty with friends and family over the next several weeks!

The Curiosity of Chance

Here are the details--It is the 1980's and the family moves to Belgium--Dad is Army/ex-Army, and the sister is precocious in a way that leans more towards the obnoxious than the cute. Chance Marquis (Tad Hilgenbrinck) is a gay teen who is trying (and succeeding)in finding new ways to stand out. Being an odd and somewhat awkward teenager makes him the target of the school bully. To deal with this dilemma, Chance turns to the opposite ends of the high school spectrum for help. On one side is the flamboyant drag queen and on the other, the varsity jock, Levi Sparks (Brett Chukerman). On the up side, the story depicts Chance as having friends--not anyone who helps him out of his bullying jams, but who befriend him and stand by him otherwise. His father either doesn't acknowledge his sexual preference or studiously avoids it, and his sister is down right helpful.

In the end, Chance actually gets help from Levi, after they find some common ground. Levi knows that Chance drools over him in a sexual way--one of the first things he says to Chance is that he wishes his girlfriends with look at him with such open desire. But he also sees a guy who is not understood by his family, not allowed to be who he is, and that resonates with Levi. Big time. And it is enough to form a partnership, and to openly flip the bird at the bullying faction of the school (which seems all-too-American, even though the film is shot in Belgium). While it doesn't always come out this way, good conquers intolerance and the movie depicts Chance warmly and humanely.

The Wind Journeys

I have to start off first by singing the praises of the Film Movement collection. For my taste, there is almost never a bad movie. Many of them have stayed with me over days and weeks after I have watched them. They are unusual stories, exceptional cinematography, and affordably priced. Many of them have been my first film from that country or of that culture. I can't say enough wonderful things about it.

This movie was shot in 80 different locations in Columbia, and was ther submission for Best Foreign Language film for the Oscars last year. We follow Ignacio, an accordion playing troubadour and Fermin, a boy playing Sancho to his Don Quixote. They travel through fields, forests, small villages and mountains to take the accordion back to its original owner. Occasionally Ignacio will play, usually for money or food, never it seems for the joy of playing. He is mourning the death of his wife, and he thinks the accordion has an arrangement with the devil that didn't used to bother him, but now he knows he has to take it back where it came from. Fermin is a little confused as to what they are doing--and he is only doing it because his mother told him he had to follow this guy--he really gets into a whole load of trouble as a result of going, but in the end, he finds his bliss, the thing that makes him happiest of all, and so it is a journey most important to him. Ignacio rides a burro, and Fermin walks, but the pace of the movie is very much the sure footed and steady pace that the burro sets. The movie appears to be going nowhere, and then just as suddenly, you are there, and happy to have gotten there. Not to be overlooked is a Columbia that is exceptionally gorgeous and rarely seen. Don't miss it.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

This book is wonderful. Major Pettigrew is "Old British", from a time when being a Major was something that was both prideful and important. He is a military man from a military family. He knows his place, and he knows the place of others. He is elegant, clever, judgmental, and not at all happy with his offspring. Roger is all that the Major is not, and nothing that he is. Where the Major is content with his place in life, Roger is a social climber. Where the Major is loath to take chances, Roger leaps without looking. Roger is just as class-minded as his father, but his plan is to move up, and then look down on those where he once was. The Major is much more modern in some ways than his son--he sees Mrs. Ali as a woman and a business owner. Roger sees her as a foreigner, someone to be frozen out of society, and he is mortified when his father not only dances with her at an exclusive club, but also appears to find her attractive. Mrs. Ali is suffering from culture clashes of her own--she has taken a big step away from tradition when she took over the business that her husband left her--her family now expects her to turn it over to her nephew and then be shut away from the rest of the world for the rest of her days on earth. She sees such a fate as inevitable--until the Major shows her an alternative door that she can walk through with him, and enter a future together. Such a great story!

Technology Troglodyte? Not I

Thank you Tucker. You made my day.
By allowing me the pleasure of teaching you how to set up a second email account on your phone you made me feel like I might actually make it through the technology snarl-ups I am likely to face as the information highway continues to build lanes and interchanges at a dizzying rate. Just the fact that you would g-chat me to ask if I knew how to do it--that you thought it entirely possible that I could teach you this--made me feel like I was not acting my age.
Now that our government sees broadband as a basic requirement, commensurate with electricity and water, it has the effect of making many people my age and older obsolete in a way that is hard to make an historical comparison with--horse and buggy to automobile? Well, trains were still widely available and cars were neither fast nor safe, so you could probably still function without an automobile. The telephone? Maybe that is a reasonable comparison, that at some point not having a phone put you at a distinct disadvantage from those who did. soon it will be the case that without the internet, you aren't going to be able to be reached easily.

So, not a trolodyte. But, I confess, not an early adapter either. My goal of staying no more than 5 years behind the cutting edge is a hard one for me to manage (it used to be no more than 10 years behind, but that got to be profoundly delayed and had to be revised--I am trainable. If the data shows an error in thinking, I respond accordingly). But I think I am doing it, and not feeling too winded doing so. As it stands, I am drinking coffee, staying alert on the information highway, and loving it, even though most of my fellow travelers are passing me by. I can wave at them and not feel envy. Just hope they will continue to help me manage to routes.

Cheese, Fabulous Cheese

The American Cheese Society annual meeting in Seattle is a time to taste the best of what the artisanal cheese makers of America have to offer. And what is that, pray tell? Well, it is quite a lot. It comes at a price, and it can be hard to find--the production for many of them is small and the cheese is delicate, so travel is not one of the things this kind of cheese does well--but do not be fooled. This cheese is worth looking for and it is certainly worth learning to appreciate.

I have always loved cheese. My first love was cheddar. A classic cheese that is widely available in the United States and has been for decades. It comes in some wonderful aged variations, crumbly to creamy, moderately sharp to eye watering sharpness, and you can get it in wedges that have been cut off of wonderful wheels, or in small blocks of one to two pounds that are waxed and available at the local grocery store. They hold great promise for excellent cheese because this cheese can travel and not knuckle under to the strains transportation puts on cheese. Cheddar is not exotic, but it is not a bad place to start a love affair with cheese.

So off to Seatlle I go, ready and eager to learn, to expand on what I have learned since the last American Cheese Society meeting I attended. This time around I am prepared to get sick of cheese--no matter how much you love it, this meeting offers more than you can stand in a few days time--but the best part is the day after the meeting there is a cheese sell-off, and last time we came home with a hundred pounds of cheese--enough to last for months to come.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I loved this movie. I love the book as well, which makes it particularly surprising that I came away from the movie with such good feelings. I have been a life-long reader of murder mysteries, and very few of them get any sort of national or international traction of this brief series--even the very best of the genre. The story is complex, with unlikely allegiances, two protagonists instead of one, both with significant strengths but balanced by equally significant flaws. More like real people--exceptional people, but real.
The movie cut some of the book--necessary, and yet, not nearly as irritating as these things often are. They got rid of a dalliance of Mikael's, which is a distraction and it was wise to cut it. It makes him more human, but less likable, and in a movie, you don;t have that much time to build up sympathy for the characters that it is critical that we care about. The whole last quarter of the book is left off, which is in some ways the coolest, slickest part of the book, but it would really be a whole other 2 hour movie unto itself to depict what machinations Lisbeth goes through to get some revenge for Mikael and some financial freedom for herself.
Those are the differences--what feels so satisfying about this movie is that the cast of characters is pitch perfect, exactly as you would see them. The cinematography is crisp, clear, cold, and gorgeous. The script flows well, and Lisbeth, who is a very hard character to master, is magnificent. the actress who plays her took kickboxing, toned up, and practiced her part for months before filming and it shows. Do not miss this--and then go catch The Girl Who Played with Fire before it leaves theaters.

Mount Zion 'M'-blem

All freshman at the Colorado School of Mines bring a litle something extra with them to college when they leave home to come to Golden. They bring a 10 lb. rock with them. Abe chose a piece of limestone, which probably came from a site less than 5 miles from our house. We live near a limestone Devonian Fossil gorge, and the local material was used inside and out in our home. It is very appealing, and there are frequent fossils that can be seen in it. Since the school is a state one, and most students are from Colorado, it seemed only fitting that Abe pick something that is homegrown Iowa, like himself.

The students rise early, to beat the Colorado sun, and are cheered on by faculty as they hike up Mt. Zion with their rocks. Each rock is placed in the 'M' that adorns the mountain face overlooking the school, and then the whole thing is given a fresh coating of whitewash, then they descend and have some BBQ to celebrate.
Well, it is clearly messy work. It is also yet another tradition that keeps a school's identity, and bonds it's students to it. I am not a huge fan of the 'letter on the hillside' grafetti, but this one seems more of a way to delineate an allegance to one's school and perhaps to oneself as one moves towards independence. It is a shared group experience and since it has limited environmental impact, it seems largely harmless.

It turns out that this 'M' is one of the oldest mountain monograms in the United States. Perched on the hillside above the campus, every evening the stone monument of the school's M logo, built by students over decades, is illuminated and can be seen from miles away. During holidays and special occasions, such as finals week, word has it the structure is illuminated different colors and patterns to reflect the season.

Hot Chili Peppers in the Blistering Sun

No llores, mi querida
Dios nos vigila
Soon the horse will take us to Durango.
Agarrame, mi vida
Soon the desert will be gone
Soon you will be dancing the fandango.
Maybe there is not a Dylan song for every occasion, but there are certainly times when one is appropriate. What we had was not a Romance in Durango--but it was a love affair with Golden. Which, when you think about the rest of the song, is just as well--no need to involve the law in our lives unnecessarily!
Golden is wonderfully situated in the foothills of the Rockies, just west of Denver. The altitude is less than 6,000 feet, so air hunger is less of an issue, and the population is less than 20,000 so it is an easy place to get to know your way around. We have a child living there, going to the Colorado School of Mines, and we couldn't be happier about the situation.
As we were driving through Denver, en route home after dropping him off, we stopped at another roadside attraction. A large sign promising roasted chilies caught our fancy. And we were not dissappointed. Two men, one tent, five kinds of chilies, and a roaster like nothing we had ever seen. It was simple, functional, ingenious, and magnificent. It consists of a metal barrel, easily opened to load the chilies into, and on a rotisserrie, so it spins. Aimed at it are so many torches that spit a propane-fueled fire at the slowly revolving cage full of the peppers that impart their own kind of heat when added to food. The remainder of the connection between pepper and plant, the hook at the top of the pepper, catches in the mesh cage. So as the cage spins lazily, the peppers hook in and dangle in front of the flames a bit longer because of their tendency to catch, and the roasting is faster and smoother for it. We bought a bushel and this is a picture of them roasting. We then popped our heat-resistant plastic bag into the back of the car, and drove off with our peppers slowly continuing to cook as they cooled, seperating pepper skin from flesh as the miles rolled by. Once we were home, we peeled, seeded, and bagged them for the freezer. We look forward to a winter of green chili inspired and infused meals to come.

I Woke Up and Realized I Am In Love With A House

Luckily, so is my husband, otherwise it could be awkward. We have another week or so before we close on this wonderful place, but we keep visiting it in between time, just to see it. Luckily the house is more or less empty, or this would be unacceptable behavior. As it is, we are thinking about what we want to do, what we should do first, what is possible and what we might dream of doing. Every time we think of the obvious barriers--the cost, the time investment, the skill set we have, the skill set we need to acquire, or borrow, or beg--we talk about how to solve it rather than why we shouldn't do it.

We are ready to lavish all our free time and disposable income on this house. We are sure it will disappoint us. We are sure there are things about it that we have yet to learn but will not like. We are parents, after all. We are raising four remarkable men, so we know the pitfalls as well as the joys, and while the house is not a living breathing thing, it does feel organic, part of the past but also part of the present, and we hope that it will also surprise us.

One thing about this new found love object. It means that I have regained my capacity to love objects. Which is not something to crow from the rooftops, I realize. But after my son's cancer treatment a decade ago, I was unable to appropriately care about objects. My car was broken into and I didn't really care--it is just a thing. Well, this is just a building--but somehow it has captured my imagination. I have noticed some of this returning, and while it is materialistic and that is not necessarily a plus, it is also human, which is.