While this cheese was tempering, my 3-year-old daughter was doing a different kind of tempering: having a DEFCON-1 tantrum. As in scramble the bombers, get the White House on the phone. An old-school China Syndrome meltdown. I was pretty bummed out by the whole thing because my wife had to take a break to calm down and the only thing my daughter wanted was mommy and she was all kicky and hitty and bitey and hyper-ventilatey. She doesn't do it very often which is good, but also bad because we don't have a system for stopping it. Anyway, I almost put the cheese back in the fridge for another time because my appetite was shot, but I really wanted (okay, needed) the beer, so after the girl went to bed I busted them out.
I was pretty pumped about this cheese because it is from my favorite semi-arbitrary category: two-tone cheeses. I.e., cheese in which the paste (or whatever the inside is called) has a very distinctive border between two different textures. It's like getting two cheeses in one. I've been told it's a result of aging, and eventually the center part would look like the outer layer, but whatever. I think it's cool and there are certain cheeses that seem to always look like this when they are for sale, and I am semi-obsessed with them.
My wife doesn't dig on goat cheese (one of her very few flaws; all are food/drink related) so I hardly ever buy it, and until recently sheep cheese was off-limits too, but she has been crossing over and trying the sheep cheeses lately and mostly liking them, so I lunged for this one at the local grocery store recently.
Caña de Oveja - pasteurized sheep's milk, Spain. purchased New Seasons Market, Beaverton, OR, $15.99/#.
This cheese was okay but not amazing. It didn't blow me away. The coolest thing about it is probably the name, which is fun to say. It's also pretty to look at, similar to a French bucheron. The two different regions were very distinct, which was good. But neither one of them was a superstar. The middle had a very chalky almost goat-cheese texture and flavor, which unfortunately grossed my wife out a little (she only had one piece). The outer portion near the rind was creamier and more appealing, but still not anything to write home about. I would definitely try this cheese again from a specialty cheese monger to see if storage/ripeness is an issue before writing it off. I try to buy most of my cheese from my homeboy Steve, but the reality is that a lot of times I am at the grocery store, and I see cheese, and I want it, and I buy it. I am weak and cheese is strong.
Pelican Brewery "Le Pelican Brun" 2007 - purchased at the Brewery, $15/750ml.
This is a nice beer. More belgian-y funk and less sweetness than the Grand Cru from BCP #1, but otherwise a lot in common. I've only ever seen it for sale at the brewery in Pac City. Unlike the Grand Cru, I probably won't pay $15 for it again, as there are belgian-style ales as good or better for less money here in town.
The pairing was okay, nothing especially bad or great. Probably being in a shitty mood from the kid kirking out didn't help.
