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The cheese doofus diary No. 4

Years ago, a food snob friend of mine prattled on about the semi-soft French cheese Morbier and I felt like I was missing out, so I bought a ton, slapped it on a cheese board, then screeched, “Ewww!” It turned to leathery uselessness in my fridge. But a new day has dawned. What was I thinking? There’s a ton to love about this mild, but sturdy cheese. I’ve bought one wedge after another these past few weeks. Steven Jenkins (Cheese Primer) describes it as having “compelling flavors of fruits and nuts” and a “hay aroma” and, this time, I think he’s right. Wine-wise, it’s great with everything from lighter reds to fruity whites. Being semi-soft, it screams to be served at room temperature. God bless the evolving taste bud.

Life is like a piecrust

Sometimes, over-thinking things is the kiss of death. A few weeks back, I bellyached in the Spatula Diaries about my failure, after great research and toil, in making piecrust. “You can’t monkey around with it too much,” said my friend, Lois, as she recently showed me how. Lickety-split, Lois forced one part shortening into three parts flour, then added dribbles of ice water. She commanded it to cooperate under the force of her rolling pin, then plopped it in a plate and poured in the innards of pumpkin pie. Sure enough, I tried it under her supervision, and darned if mine didn’t come out right, too. Lesson learned: the tactile, from-the-gut art of piecrust is best demonstrated, not read about, and once that happens, it’s best just done.

Serendipity Syrah

I’ve never been much of a Syrah fan, but my man came home with a bottle of the 2000 Serendipity Syrah from the French winery Chateaux Camplazens. It just so happened that earlier in the week I had interviewed the winemaker’s daughter for the upcoming issue of 225. There’s some serendipity for ya! Anyway, the stuff was nice. The nose was grassy and it had a smooth mouth feel and a spicy finish. My man said it lacked “oomph,” but I thought it had good character and went great with our goat cheese-stuffed roast chicken. In July, the bottle earned 88 points and a “best value” nod from Wine Spectator. We found it at Calandro’s Supermarket.