Valentines

According to modern custom I am supposed to be anticipatorily excited about this fast approaching romantic holiday - waiting, hoping, longing for showers of affection and physical tokens from adoring males or suitors on this celebrated day of love. I suppose women today demonstrate their affections too during this holiday but it mostly falls back on the Victorian tradition of men courting women, and not the other way around, with women remaining just a bit coy and coquettish. We women are to adorn ourselves ensuring that we will be the object of affection.

I'm not saying I have a problem with this - I don't mind the idea of celebrating the art of courtship and love and affection. I'm a fan actually!

But I would wager that there is a bit of anxiety on the part of both genders around this holiday. Men have the pressure of getting their special someone something fitting and true to the caliber of his love. And women are waiting anxiously wondering if he will come through to surprise them and demonstrate accordingly or at all (and this anticipation starts in grade school when I wondered if Luke would give me a Valentine, and if I should give him one!).

To add to that pressure this holiday is set aside to publicly demonstrate one's affection with especial flare, and, oh by the way, that the whole world is watching!

So while I am, as a woman, supposed to love Valentines' Day I admit to having that dread about it too. Am I supposed to give gifts (if I am a modern woman) or just make pretty? What will he get me? What if I don't get anything? From anyone? (thankfully, my son's first grade teacher has ensured that I will be, as a mother, honored with something in red construction paper - and it WILL be treasured!)

And when I say that the whole world is watching I mean that women are judging other women by what they receive ("wow, he must really really like her!", or "she must have some kind of something going on to get that!", or "bless her heart, he didn't even sign that old card!") and men are commiserating with each other about how to do what they must to sustain their positions or even enhance it ("what can I do to get her attention?!", or "come on man, tell me what I need to do to stay out of the doghouse", or "who came up this Valentines' Day anyway?!").

The good thing for men is that if they are challenged with poetic skills or the art of courtship in general- those who aren't natural-born Casanova's - there exists a formula. Roses are a sure bet (make that red roses) and chocolate is also sure to please. Dinner out is a nice added touch and you are all set! Viola! You have made it through this potentially treacherous day without having to venture out on your own.

But what if a suitor's true love requires more than the standard fare and isn't satisfied for another full 12 months until the next dreaded Feburary 14th by roses at her office desk, as the van-loads of bouquets systematically arrive on all her co-workers desks at the exact same moment.

What if one requires more, wants to demonstrate more, wants to go beyond the formula?

I wish I had the answer. I don't.

Here is what I do know.

What I do know is that food has a special link to the heart and perhaps even soul.

Good food made with care and thought takes us back to coveted feelings of being nurtured and sustained in our most trusted relationships - with our mothers and grandmothers - and has a natural celebratory air that something special to eat means it is a special day.

So while I don't have the answer or a remedy to the pressures surrounding Valentines Day, I am doing the best I know and am presenting food, made by hand, by women who care in Elkmont, Alabama.

This is what I know.

Buy one Greek Kiss (our signature chevre disc wrapped delicately in a brined grape leaf) and get one Free.

Here is to a great day, free of anxiety, filled with love and hugs and kisses from all your loved ones!

Happy Valentine's Day from Belle Chevre with Free Kisses!

For The Love of Breakfast

Isn't breakfast supposed to be the most important meal of the day?  Then why is it that we hurry through it?  Why is it that there are few breakfast restaurants and famous chefs known for breakfast? Why is that?

I love breakfast!  My son says to me this morning that Mommy really just loves left overs for breakfast and it is true. Mostly.  I love left over potatoes turned into hashbrowns or "hash" with leftover pork roast, or left over asparagus used in the morning frittata, etc. There are so many way to be creative with this first meal. And even though we hurry through it during the week it transforms into a celebratory and lazy creation on the weekends (ahhh....) yet still lacking, I believe, in some life.
 I feel like the most important meal of the day is and has been screaming for a little creativity, a little worldly sophistication even.

If it is truly the most important meal of the day why is it that we are so programatic/scripted about it?
For lunch and dinner we get to explore other countries and cuisines of interest and incorporate their spices and flavors into our repertoire for exploration in the kitchen.  Why not for breakfast?  Have you noticed that the breakfast menus at hotels and restaraunts? Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon or Continental.  Right?
........ I do like the one prescriptive NY breakfast however of lox and bagel (but goat cheese would be a much better spread than cream cheese, no?!)

I guess what I am really trying to get at is that most of the world doesn't eat breakfast like we do.  That is a good thing of course but what I want to know is why we don't incorporate our melting pot mentality into this oh so important meal?
And as a cheesemaker I find this particularly interesting that quite a dominant number of cultures count cheese as an integral part of the breakfast nutrition.  France with fromage blanc and fruit, Turkey with fresh goat cheese and nuts and coffee as well as quite a bit of the middle east,  Sweden with cheeses and cold cuts.

I always wanted to have a breakfast restaurant.  I had a plan for one at one time for just the same reasons I have belied - the lack of creativity in breakfast in most breakfast spots of popularity.  I love breakfast and as you know I love cheese.

I love the idea of fresh cheeses for breakfast being a healthy and all-natural choice - whether sweet or savory (I prefer savory myself).
So I have a new flag to fly for the most important meal of the day - try goats milk cheeses for health and for taste!  Try fromage blanc or plain chevre on your toast or bagel instead of cream cheese for less fat, calories and cholesteral, and by far more taste complexity.  Try cheese and nuts and coffee and cold cuts.

Try adding goats cheese to your eggs and omelettes.  You will feel better and, according to Dr. Oz, you might even live longer because of it.

And since I am flying a breakfast flag I thought I should let you in on a secret that Belle Chevre is launcing a new line of breakfast cheeses.   I was in my kitchen this very morning practicing with them I am very excited to say some creativity is coming soon to my favorite meal!

Yours truly,
Tasia

New Year

2009 was a great year for goat cheese! and particularly for all of us at Belle Chevre.

I am doing what I do at the beginning of every new year - not resolutions as I don't believe in them - which is spending a week in a planning session thinking about how to make this year better than the last. This session always includes assessing the year that has just ended - what worked, what didn't, what was fun, what should I do differently, etc. This year I cannot quite get it done in one sitting as the weekly period has been interrupted with a few exciting excursions - Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, meeting with people/partners on new products, Taste of The South at The Blackberry Farm, etc. I got to hang out with my friends at The Savannah Bee Company, Julian Butler of Van Winkle Bourbons and meet a new one - Tyler Florence - isn't he cute?!

I am back at my desk today - which includes music to help me think, and pacing to keep my mind still.

But what I think we should do is look back together before we talk about our 2010 aspirations.

We had some great highlights!

• Launched two new products: Pimento Chevre and Belle & The Bees Breakfast Cheese (won a sofi silver for Outstanding New Product of the Year at Fancy Food in NYC, and an American Cheese Society award).
• Awarded 2009 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year by Country Living magazine
• The Today Show came to Belle Chevre!
• Belle Chevre was featured in Cooking Light
• Cooking with Paula Deen featured Belle Chevre
• Real Simple chooses Belle Chevre marinated chevre collection for their gift guide
• We worked on adding new dairies to the family
• Two fun recipe contests
• Great new recipes from our home cooks
• Launched our new online store
• Alignined with Vineyard brands (wine Importer of the Year 2009 by Food & Wine) for fun wine pairings/suggestions at the retail level
• Talked Cheese with the famous Max McCalman at Institue du Fromage in Atlanta

And these are just a few of the fun things Belle Chevre was up to in 2009. And although I don't list it as an "event' of the year, we all were so fortunate and outrageously excited to get your emails and calls and visits to hear about how much you love Belle Chevre's cheeses. It not only makes our day but it made our year - more than anything else!

And now we have a great new year ahead of us to make every day better than the next. So here are a couple of ways you can help us make your taste buds and your food & family moments happier in 2010:

• participate in our all new recipe contests to win cheese making lessons
• help us create new chevre products and win a cheese with your name!
• fill out our new request form on our site to help you spread the belle chevre gospel at your local favorite store - coming soon!
• stay tuned for our new yummy cheese spreads
• watch new cooking videos and recipes
• stay tuned for Holiday specials - Valentines throughout the whole year!

Happy New Year!!

Tasia

Is Summer Over?

I think today it turned October.

I am wondering how in the world that happened and where summer went?
Well, obviously, I haven't been blogging much lately and somehow, in my absense from my computer, Fall has snuck up, and quite frankly, frightened me with this whole OCTOBER thing.

So let me back up and tell you a couple of things we have been up to at the creamery and also give you my "what I did on summer break" report. We can address this Fall "thing" later.

Okay, where did we leave off?
I told you about our fun award from the Fancy Food show in NYC for our new cheese - Belle & The Bees Breakfast Cheese, right? Silver for Outstanding New Product of the Year! Oh, but I didn't tell you that that same cheese got an award too from the American Cheese Society in August. Of course, we were thrilled! Our yummy new cheese getting kudos from our peers is very very flattering!

I didn't tell you about my trip to Greece though. Here is what I told those of you who happened to email me while I was gone. My out of office auto- email response read as follows: Subject- Researching the Joys of Food & Family in Greece. Body - I am sorry to miss your email but I am on a very important business trip in Greece to research, intently, the joys of food and family (some people might call this a vacation). If you need anything at all from Belle Chevre while I am gone - through July 22 - please contact someone who could help you better than I could myself, Kim Maxwell, at the creamery. 256.423.2238kim@bellechevre.com
I promise to return better able to make great cheese!Tasia

I was very disciplined in my research and I ate cheese every day - but all Greeks do this so I really don't think I deserve too much credit.
I did come back better able to make great cheese I believe. I believe this because what I participated in on my trip is the simplest of pleasures - good fresh food and the magic that happens around it.
Of course I didn't have to travel all the way back to the mother-land to do this, to remember this, as it happens every time we sit down at the table with those we love - or like a little. It happens every time we say to our friends, standing around a stove or over a bowl of pasta, "here, taste this! what do you think? isn't it divine?". Those tiny but intense moments of pause that occur as the spoon hits your mouth and you close your eyes and know, with concentrated certainty, that food and the act of sharing it with others is, quite literally, brilliant.

We had a few more of those moments at the creamery this summer. Several were centered around our first recipe contest. We tested those recipes and then brought them into the creamery to share. Delicious! We had some amazing submissions which made it very very difficult to announce winners. I used to hear that all the time: "It was really hard to decide because every entry was so outstanding", and I would always think the judges are only saying that because they are trying to be nice or because they are Southern and are therefore forced into being nice. However, now I know that is probably a truly genuine sentiment. I know this because it happened to us. (I officially apologize to all of those judges or people assuming the role of judge that I, myself, had judged disingenuous). All of the recipe submissions were really really good. So good, we even made up a couple of honorable mentions just to award extra people!! They were that good.
(please click the enter our recipe contest banner on www.bellechevre.com to see the winners and their recipes)

So it sounds like what I am catching you up on is how much I ate all summer. Hmmm....

Yet, I will say, that while good food - especially great cheese - and good friends and family are always my focus they were concentrated under the heat of the Alabama and the Mediterranean sun this summer. And that is how I am rewarded!

But school is back in and summer is over. The lazy days of summer have given way to cooler crisper mornings and the Fall harvest is upon us.

So the last piece of news I have to offer up that I hope will enhance your Fall is.........
BelleChevre.com launched our new online store this week! (we didn't just goof off ALL summer!).
All of our cheeses and some fun compliments too are all now available online. We have ERIC R. KAGERER, web guru extraordinare from E Host solutions, and STEPHANIE SCHAMBAN, fancy food photographer, to thank for their dedication and devotion to delivering outstanding goat cheese to the world.

Oh and did I mention that today it is October?
Enjoy!

Fancy Food?

I have some great news -  one of our newest cheese spreads just got a little medal (a statue actually)!  Belle & The Bees Breakfast Cheese was honored with a Silver Sofi Award at the Fancy Food Show in New York last week for Outstanding New Product.  Of all of the fabulous gourmet food products that we were judged against we were absolutely thrilled that the creative efforts from our small southern creamery were recognized by such a distinguished organization.   

Earlier this year we had a few chefs from a great local restaurant out to the creamery to show them around and let them play with making cheese with us.  We always have great fun hosting chefs when we can.  This particular day I was playing with a couple of new recipes for some spreads and using Savannah Bee's Tupelo honey mixed in gently with our fresh chevre.  Turns out that it was a divine combination!  I walked around the creamery offering cheese from my hands, as I was hand mixing in a 40lb mixer, and getting all kinds of great feedback about the results of my honey experiment.  

We all agreed that the honey goat cheese would be incredible on a bagel for breakfast.  So we happened to have some bagels on hand and in the name of serious culinary research we determined that our hypothesis was not only correct by inspirationally brilliant.   The honey spread was perfect on a toasted bagel!  And as you all already know, goat cheese is a much much healthier alternative to cream cheese (and tastier) making our not yet named Belle & The Bees Breakfast Cheese THE new bagel preference.  We were certain we were on to a masterpiece, a life-changing new concept in yumminess!

We had fun coming up with the name as all at Belle Chevre have cemented our lives around the fact that food is the center of fun, the orbit in which we are all entranced.  You could argue that we are quite literal (probably wouldn't win) or are just plain silly (a much better bet) as we were playing with words for the name of our new masterpiece - Belle is our mascot, the Bees were our muse, and well we want people to associate this cheese for breakfast or as an alternative/replacement to bland and unhealthy cream cheese sooo......Belle & The Bees Breakfast Cheese it was!

Fast forward a few months and we are in New York with a Sofi award at the Fancy Food Show. 

You never knew that the best cheese and the world's greatest culinary masterminds were tucked away in sleepy Elkmont, Alabama did you?! 

 

I will say though that as thrilled as we are for the award and the attention we are anything but fancy.  Belle Chevre is made in the most humble of settings by the most incredibly unpretentious women - we don't sip our tea with our little finger up in the air.   We treat our craft as an exercise in demonstrating that food IS love, and friendship, and family.  

Our goal is that everyone feels like this seemingly fancy food - french style goat's milk cheese, chevres - is an everyday, commonplace, feel-good food.  The fact that we are artisan, and we hand-craft  should be the most welcoming and inviting part of who we are and not reserved as a treat for splurging on once a year.

Did I tell you that our cheeses are now available at the local Elkmont Piggly Wiggly and the Bethel Grocery/Gas station just down the street?  I am beyond happy about that!  These locations have never offered goat cheese before - and not much more than American Cheese slices or Velveeta - but now are bringing a "fancy" food to their customers every day.  Not because it is fancy but because it is GOOD and handmade in their local community.  

 I am ever so proud that our cheeses are available in fine retailers in Beverly Hills but doubly ecstatic  that a once regarded stuffy cheese, slow food,  is becoming every day good ol' cheese.

Cannot wait for you to try our Belle & The Bees and tell us what you think.  Oh, and let me know if you got it at Piggly Wiggly or at Whole Foods!

Tasia

p.s. I am off to Greece for a little more food and family reserach.  No rest for the weary! ;)

Get in the Kitchen!

Now that you know that cheese is so good for you - making you happier, thinner, sexier and smarter - you need to know how easy it is to incorporate cheese into your daily cooking and snacking routines to take advantage of all that great taste AND great health!

The great news about this directive to eat more Belle Chevre is that goat cheese is one of the most versatile cheeses available. With its mild yet distinctive flavor it is a delicious ingredient in so many dishes - from breakfast to dessert. The creamy texture ensures that it mixes well and melts well leaving your recipes richer for its addition.

I use Belle Chevre in my eggs (baked with spinach or in frittatas) or on a bagel instead of cream cheeses for breakfast, spread on sandwiches instead of mayonnaise, in salads, on pizzas, even as a topping on a grilled steak similar to a compound butter. And for a healthier and more delicious dessert make a goat cheese cheese cake or tart with fresh berries!
Oh my, now I am starving!!

A few of my dear friends and Belle Chevre fans have even started a post on 100 of the greatest things to do with Fromage Blanc (our freshest goat cheese that is creamy and spreadable) which includes putting it on a grilled hamburger - outrageously good!
The point I am trying to get across is to feel free to play with goat cheese as there are so many ways to enjoy it besides on crackers with fruit (not that that is a bad idea).

We have just begun a recipe contest on our web site as I want to learn from you about how YOU use belle chevre and even how you creatively add it to old stand by recipes like your mac & cheese for instance. The contest isn't just about full fledged recipes but can include serving suggestions.
I hope you will play in your kitchen, and play and engage in our contest as well. It is my time to hear from you and who knows..... maybe we will host you at the creamery soon to make cheese with us!
Looking forward to hearing and testing all of your grand creations.

Thanks for playing!
Tasia

Feeling Sad? I have Just the Thing......

I had a wonderfully busy week last week that hit its high notes in Atlanta at Atlanta Foods International's (AFI) Institut du Fromage.  The Institut was an educational 3 day course on my favorite topic..... Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

  

For me it was a treat especially to spend time and be in the company of so many talented cheesemakers and  fromage authorities.  The roster included Peggy Smith of Cowgirl Creamery, Mateo Kehler of Jasper Hill, Max McCalman - the esteemed Maitre Fromager - from Artisanal Cheese in NYC, as well as Laura Werlin and Jessica Little of Sweet Grass Dairy.

American Artisan cheesemakers are doing such fabulous things these days and consumers are falling in love with it.  We are no longer a culture of pre-packaged slices of products that vaguely resemble cheese.   American cheeses are winning world awards against their European originators - A California Brie won the World competition against a French Brie for example -  and that is exciting as well as telling about us as an evolving food culture! 

Even large commodity cheese producers are getting involved in the Slow Food movement - Jasper Hill is aging a cloth wrapped Cheddar for Cabot Creamery!  And the results are literally and figuratively divine! 

But besides the great taste of cheese and the fact that it has a great friend in wine .....Cheese is actually quite good for you.  Perhaps even the perfect food.

The highlight of the 3 day Institut for me was being on a panel that Max McCalman led with a presentation on the glories and virtues of cheese.  

Cheese IS the perfect food Max extoled.  Cheese is a healthy source of calories, is easily digested because of its aging - especially goats milk cheeses that are dramatically lower in lactose,  and Max even claims (with some amount of proof I might add) that it makes you younger, healthier, and better looking!;)

One of the most important ingredients in cheese is Tyrosine.  Tyrosine is an amino acid that has some very interesting benefits.  Tyrosine suppresses appetite and helps reduce body fat.  It helps calm the body, reduce anxiety and increase libido.  And even helps the body combat the harmful effects of dangerous UV rays.  So not only is it a cure for the blues but also for Global Warming! 

Does it get much better than that?!

Somehow, intuitively, I knew that cheese was more than just a beautifully delicious food. Perhaps you have sensed that as well.  But now you know that cheese not only tastes great but it can do all sorts of wonderful things for you..... in return for your adoration.  

 

So whether you are sad or sunny.......Eat Cheese!!