Cheese, Oh Wonderful Cheese!

Regular readers, as you know we love cheese! Luckily for us, there is a fabulous place here in Longmont, Colorado called The Cheese Importers.
They import cheese from all over the world. You have never seen so much cheese before. It is a truly magical place for food lovers and we thought we would take you on a tour.

When you first go into the shop, there is a beautiful gift shop with all sorts of crackers, candies, dishes and paper goods. After filling your basket with all the goodies you find out here, then it is time to shop for cheese. The cheese portion of the shop is in a giant cold storage room. You need to wear one of the lovely cheese jackets provided for you. As you can see in the picture below, I am modeling one of them for you. Doesn't it make me look like I have a tiny head?



Here is the French cheese section. There were at least 15 different kinds of brie alone. YUM!

Here I am marveling at the Spanish cheeses. There is a fabulous Spanish cheese called Drunken Goat. It is a goat cheese infused with wine, it not only looks lovely but tastes fabulous with a very distinct wine flavor.

More rows of cheese

Did we mention the olive bar? I sampled a wonderful feta stuffed olive. I don't know as much about olives except that I cold eat a whole bowl of them.

Rachel was fascinated with this next cheese. It was the most expensive cheese in the store at $29.99 a pound. Too bad we weren't rich enough to try it. If any of you out there have had the truffle cheese please let us know if it is worth the cost.

The Cheese Importers is a great little day trip for us. Luckily it is just far enough away from our houses that we can't get over there too often. But, there are rumors that they are opening a second location walking distance from Rachel's house. So, you'll know when they open because Rachel and I will gain 30 pounds and walk around in a cheese induced stupor. We count on our blog friends to pose an intervention if this happens! Don't let us become cheeseaholics!

A Monday Favorite

I love to cook. Primarily, I think because I love to eat. One of my favorite cookbook authors is The Barefoot Contessa. My favorite thing about her recipes is that the are often very simple to make, but because of her use of high quality ingredients, it tastes anything but simple. They taste like luxury foods. Two of my favorite recipes are for her Satay dip and her sun-dried tomato dip. The Satay dip is wonderful with grilled chicken and last for up to a month in the fridge.

Satay Dip:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2/3 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Cook the olive oil, sesame oil, red onion, garlic, ginger root, and red pepper flakes in a small, heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat until the onion is transparent, 10 to 15 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, peanut butter, ketchup, sherry, and lime juice; cook for 1 more minute.

Check out some of her other recipes and books.