Nice event!

We always are trying new cheeses. And like to keep a few favorites in the fridge...a goat, a feta, a blue, something firm, something soft. Once a month a sliver of my favorite Humbolt fog.

Right now we have Mimolette, (a recent obsession), Bleu d' Auvergne, (fantastic), a French sheep feta Valbreso. And a tiny bit left of CypressGrove Humbolt Fog.

"Cheese is absolutely alive," Dutton laughs. And all of that life — the molds, bacteria, yeasts and mites — help make cheese what it is. Dutton says that the mites on Mimolette can contribute flavors of their own (they have a somewhat earthy smell), and by eating into the rind, they can also increase aeration — and the surface area in which the other microbes can do their work...."

Brillat-savarin is one, but I'm terrible at names. La Tur. Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk. Delice de Bourgogne. Humbolt Fog. I recognize them when I see them, but don't remember them. I've just been through a list of more than 900 cheeses sold locally (I didn't finish...I don't know how many pages are left) and didn't find my two very favorite stinky ripe cheeses with French names.

For hard cheeses, I love a good, aged, raw Manchego, but the more common ones are very factory made tasting--or lack of tasting. I don't need pasta to enjoy a good Asiago. And I really like herbed Cotswold. Sometimes, however, nothing is better than a really nice sharp cheddar. :)

I don't think I've ever met a cheese I didn't like. Okay - so I don't like Kraft American singles. Love, hard cheeses, soft cheeses, blues, stinky cheese. Oh - not a fan of Liederkranz.

And I love Liederkrantz....but don't think it's made any more....so Limberger will have to do.
I, of course, always have Maytag Blue and almost always a big chunk of Cabot white extra sharp cheddar, often some swiss or another for sandwiches, and always a feta and chevre and a chunk of parm.....from there it depends on what I see and pick up....I like all cheeses and am really crazy about a few....like Camembert, Brie and all sorts of small creamery funky little small batch cheeses.

Love all cheeses - soft, hard, stationary, crawling. Blue cheeses top the list. But - a couple of months ago I received a gift of goat cheese coated with charcoal. Couldn't eat the thing. Survival instinct maybe? The charcoal overpowered the taste of the cheese. There should be a law against such things.

Not crawling! I love most cheese, including the good kind of American cheese, but I draw the line at crawling.

Wintercat, the Humbolt Fog cheese, that's from here in California, has a thin thin line of ash through it. It enhances the cheese rather than overpowering it. Sounds like your cheese was much too much to the char side.

Linda, I had thought I'd seen Liederkranz, so I looked it up. There was a big--like decades--pause in the making of it, then a revival, then a lull, and another shot of availability, but it seems to be gone again now. The company including recipe and cultures has changed hands at least four times. It's now owned by Saputo, who do list it in one package size on their website, but Amazon and cheese shops don't have it for sale. It would probably take a huge amount of marketing to raise awareness let alone sales when the snob factor will steer people to imported limburger.

Our daughter got married last summer and we were in charge of the charcuterie while guests were waiting through pictures and waiting for the meal.

We have a local cheese maker from Portugal that we love, but then a former neighbor's daughter and SIL who are cheesemakers gifted us with just pounds of cheese!

Thank goodness for my foodsaver! I have so much cheese vacuumed in my freezer, I'll have to create a cheese party!

agmss, how exciting for your Mom! I haven't attended an art exhibit since I was a kid (my older brother). Sure miss the culture and meeting like-minded.

I do love cheeses, but here we are so limited. I was shopping for something decent at our local grocery store when an elderly gentleman (what? he was probably close to my age!) said he'd owned a cheese shop years ago where he made all the cheeses, and lamented the fact we had no good cheeses here.

That's does it. Sleevendog, you keep posting photos on various threads on the incredibly wide variety of foods available to you. I'm moving there... now. : ) I am so envious of all who are able to try and enjoy such amazing cheeses. I honestly don't know what many are that are listed here.

Yum! I will write down some of the names. I was thinking I might get some small pieces of more obscure cheeses as an occasional treat. Thank you all for the suggestions.

When I venture to the ‘city’ of Portland I go to the Italian grocery store to stock up but I usually just get Asiago/ Pecorino/Parmesan. And I agree I don’t need Pasta to eat cheese.

As far as exhibitions - my family is over represented in the arts. I have been awkwardly present at more openings than I can count. This one was fun though - there were enough people I knew to chat with... and then there was the cheese.