Say "Cheese" by Deb Forkins

Just last week, we hosted a spontaneous gathering of friends. Wine appeared and disappeared, and I knew I had better put some food together. Lucky for all of us, I work at Marcel’s! My fridge held a few treasures as did my pantry.

Footnote here: One of the many perks of working at Marcel’s is our continual training. When Jill brought the MARKET to the store, we were quickly in-serviced by a fabulous cheese whiz (pun intended!), Natasha Kilcoyne from Fortune Gourmet. She spoke about the artisan cheese movement that is sweeping the country and the resurgence of small farm cheese making. Natasha has visited almost all of the farmers whose products Marcel’s carry. We learned how important moisture content, soil makeup and the aging process is while producing a wonderfully tasting cheese. Natasha also spoke to us on how to create the perfect cheese tray. Back to my story…

I served three cheeses, a soft (the double crème Brie from the GreenHill Farm in Georgia), a semi-soft (gouda with fenugreek from the Marieka Farm in Wisconsin), and a firm cheese (sarvecchio parmesan from the Sartori Farm in Wisconsin). I sliced up a baguette and opened a pack of Coleen’s Garlic and Gruyere Breadsticks. Dried cherries from Michigan and a fruited jam rounded out my presentation. I pulled together a cheese tray that looked like I was planning this party all along!

Plan on stopping by Marcel’s on Sunday….any Sunday. We are now offering cheese and wine sampling from 1 until 4 pm each Sunday. We want to share our newfound knowledge, and fabulous cheeses, with you. We will also help you build a dynamite cheese tray. We know the holidays are fast approaching. Keep these tricks for assembling a stellar cheese tray in mind, smile, and just say CHEESE!