As part of the Foodbuzz Food Bloggers Festival, we were asked to sign up for informational/tasting sessions for Saturday’s festivities. I immediately signed up for CHEESE – Cowgirl Creamery – and sparkling wine. Good thing, too, because I later heard that they filled up so quickly, a lot of people were forced to take the other sessions! (Of course, the other sessions had swag, but I was happy with my choices!)
The morning cheese tasting session… See the woman in the white coat? She kind of reminded me of the cheesemonger on Sex and the City, in that long ago episode that I believe was titled “Secret Sex” – do you remember Carrie’s friend, who was dating a cheesemonger? Anyway. She led the session and was incredibly passionate and informed about everything. It was great fun and really educational listening to her talk and answer people’s questions.
Instead of tasting spoons, we had tasting crackers! I loved this cheese, fromage blanc. She even told us how to make it, though I doubt I’ll be putting my hand in for making cheese anytime soon…
My notes: lemony, creamy, yummy; simplest cheese to make
Red Hoc.
My notes: provolone-like; crumbly, soft, nutty
Invernesse cheese.
My notes: cow’s milk cheese – tangy – almost goaty? – less metallic
Mount Tam.
My notes: triple creme – not as runny – gouda process – super creamy and delicious
The cheese tasting was a total pleasure – the woman knew her stuff, and was passionate about it. I had a great time!!! Big thanks to Cowgirl Creamery and Foodbuzz for making it happen 🙂
As for the sparkling wine session… I don’t even want to tell you what sparkling wines we tried (I did write it down, though). I don’t want to hate, but the person who ran this session… Well, look. I’ve always been the first to admit that I don’t know an awful lot about wine in general, and that I’m no expert – I can only tell you what I like, what I’ve drank and enjoyed, and all that. I’ll tell you in great detail about food and what I like or didn’t like about it (and you draw your own conclusions if you’d like it based on your own likes or dislikes), but when it comes to alcohol… there are just too many opinions out there for me to feel comfortable telling you mine. I have very specific tastes – especially when it comes to wine with food – and that’s that.
However, I’ve been to a lot of wine tastings, with experts, not-so-experts, with people who are passionate, educated, informed in all of this…
and the person who led this seminar was completely oblivious. Some of the things he said were just so outrageous and ridiculous… just… seriously, dude? You should be ashamed of yourself. I was totally flabbergasted that he would even conduct a session like so. Just awful.
this is just a picture of the crackers… nothing special but I like filling my posts with photos so here it is
Keep in mind, I’m not saying I would have done a better job (I’m terrified of public speaking), but at the least I would not spread misinformation the way he did. I don’t even care if he reads this – it’s entirely possible (likely?) that I’m crazy, considering I seemed to be the only one who was horrified by what he was saying. Maybe I’m completely off my rocker. Maybe I was in a room full of people who knew less about sparkling wine than I do (which seems entirely UNLIKELY). But this was my opinion and reaction to his discourse on sparkling wine: he did not know enough to be at the front of the room. I won’t even get into his “teaching” style…
Yvo says: Big, huge thanks to Foodbuzz for creating informational sessions for all the food bloggers to attend! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even with my complaints, since I got to sit with some really awesome food bloggers 🙂
SkippyMom says
Maybe he was into his “demos” before the session and was, perhaps, a little tipsy?
That cheese looks so good. I want the second one. With those crackers. I love water crackers [that is what they look like to me].
Come visit me please? I am having another give away. 🙂 I love Christmas 🙂
Aimee S. says
The cheeses look wonderful! As for the wine seminar (if you could call it that), it seems pretty offensive to put someone in a leadership position that doesn’t know squat. But whatever.