Comfort Foods and Indulgences

Cheese, how much do I love thee? Forget it, I'm not going to count the ways. I know you, my sweetest of readers, have not the time nor the patience for me to even begin to tell you how cheese runs through my veins.  But believe me, it does.

My pal Matt from 1000 Markets told me about a vendor on his site. The company, Mt. Townsend Creamery, had a unique story and a delicious product. I must've dozed off when he began telling me the company history because all I could do was daydream about little wedges of cheeses from the Pacific Northwest. A few days later I was able to understand his excitement and sat down to a small little cheese tasting at home. And then my little cheesetasting turned into a full-on pig out moment until most of my cheese was gone.

Mt. Townsend Creamery began three years ago when partners Matt Day, Will O'Donnell and Ryan Trail decided to create artisan cheeses using fresh local milk from Washington dairies. Located in Port Townsend, Washington, the creamery is housed in a fifty year old building that has been home to boat builders, glass repair companies, a radical fringe book publisher (why not?) and most recently the local Department of Licensing. The three cheese fellas, along with the help of friends and local contractors, created a modern facility that produces traditional European-style handmade cheeses that are pretty damn special and delicious.

Snickerdoodles are a New England favorite, but the exact origin of the cookie seems to be a mystery. The Joy of Cooking claims that Snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means "snail dumpling.

A different author suggests that the word "snicker" comes from the Dutch word snekrad, or the German word Schnecke, which both describe a snail-like shape. Whatever the origin, they are a delicious cookie with crisp edges and soft and chewy centers with a lovely buttery sweet cinnamon flavor.

Even though dip season is officially over (I designate Halloween to Super Bowl official dip season), there is no reason to miss out on something really yummy.  Who doesn't love an easy appetizer to throw together, especially one as rich and creamy as this one.

Let's face it, dip is an essential source of pre-dinner sustenance for hungry guests.  And while I made this dip using white wine, it also pairs beautifully with red wine too.

While fat adds richness, not to mention deliciousness to food, fat can also put up a barrier to wine. Fat coats the taste buds, making it difficult to perceive delicate flavors. Rich fatty foods need wines with enough acidity to cut through the fat and announce themselves. Wines with good acidity, such as ours, can cut through fat like a squeeze of lemon on fried fish, making the food feel less rich and heavy. When wine doesn't have enough acidity, the combination collapses under its own weight.  Just by knowing how fat and acidity combine will help you make choices with food and wine that work more often than not.

I do my marketing on Friday’s. Sunday’s I load up on fruits and veggies at a local farmers market. By the time Saturday roles around, whatever is left in my vegetable bin isn’t so pretty. Inevitably, these items end up in a soup or a salsa or something random.

Cleaning out the vegetable bin (to make room for the newest and the freshest) left me with a few string beans, broccoli, left over roasted cauliflower, sauteed leeks (I keep sauteed leeks on hand to put in weekday morning eggs), about 1/2 cup of cooked lentils (leftovers from a previous meal), a carrot, a few stocks of celery, and a minced shallot.

A pot of soup was whipped up in less than 45 minutes and it was the perfect Saturday afternoon lunch. It is always so gratifying when I can create a healthy, whole meal without a plan or a recipe.

Soup, unlike baking, does not have to be exact. It’s not a science. Check your provisions, be creative, chop away, and make a double batch!