Summer breeze – oh Seals and Crofts had it sooo right – makes me feel fine. Finally a cool breeze to ruffle those loose curls on the back of my neck! I'm on on my annual pilgrimage to the East Coast, catching up with old friends and sampling the seasonal bounty that the Northeast has to offer. Up here in the North Country they usually manage to stay pretty cool, but the last week was hot, hot, and hot. You know the weather I’m talking about; hot, hazy and humid – that kind of oppression that makes even us Forever Cool types wilt. So when my friend The Farmer suggested a foray further north, into the (hopefully) cooler mountains and forests, I readily agreed. It seems she had heard about a goat farm that was making some bodacious cheeses and as she is also thinking about adding some goats to her kingdom wanted to visit the farm..jpg)
So we took the soft top off the Jeep, filled our Nalgene water bottles, and headed north on I87, more affectionately called The Northway. Some time later we came to exit 23 and made our way to Nettle Meadow Farm and Cheese Company.
A 50 acre goat and sheep dairy and cheese company,
Nettle Meadow Farm is the home of about 250 happy goats (all with names!), several dozen sheep and cows and a variety of farm sanctuary animals…and some
awesome cheese. It is owned and operated by Lorraine Lambiase and Sheila Flanagan. All the cheese is hand made in small batches with the fresh, fresh, milk from all the happy animals. I was bowled over by the variety. There was
Chevre and Fromage Blanc – in so many amazing flavors, infused with herbs like rosemary and lavender and flavored with garlic and honey. Yum yum. Then there were the special cheeses from
Nettle Meadow –
Kunik is a triple cream wheel made from goat's milk and jersey
cow cream, tangy and buttery and
OMG so-o-o good. Here’s what
Esquire Magazine had to say:
"It may very well be the sexiest cheese in the U.S.A. Made from a blend of goats' milk and rich Jersey cream, it's the kind of cheese that'll make you (or more importantly, your girlfriend) swoon. This fluffy-rinded, triple crème delight is a product of Nettle Meadow Farm, nestled in the southeast corner of the Adirondacks." Esquire's Cheese of the Week, Anne Saxelby, Saxelby Cheesemongers, NYC, NY, May 2010. –
Now who can resist a sexy cheese!
The next surprise was
Nettle Meadow's newest cheese. It’s called
Three Sisters! Made from a combination of sheep, goat and cow milks it has a firm texture and complex flavor. Absolutely wonderful! So this sister loaded up on some fabulous cheese, fetched
The Farmer from the barn and headed west to the Northway. On the way home we
had to stop at the
Warrensburg Riverfront Farmers' Market. The market is a "producer only" m
arket, limiting sales to locally grown, raised and prepared products. Lots of good stuff! Thank goodness we both had our
key chain totes, because we filled them right up with local greens, veggies, honey, bread and more.
Time to head home, all this tasting and smelling, and fresh (cooler) air had worked up our appetites!
When we got home
The Farmer took some of the herb cheese we had bought, rolled it into balls, tucked nuggets of cooked bacon inside and coated them with breadcrumbs. While she sautéed the cheese balls in some olive oil I filled a bowl with all the fresh greens from the market, threw in some heirloom tomatoes and whipped up a dressing by putting ½ cup of my
Merlot in the processor with some garlic and mustard, then I added 1/2 cup of olive oil, a little at a time, until it was completely blended. Tossed the salad with the dressing, added the cheese balls, cut chunks of fresh bread and poured two glasses of my luscious
Merlot. We sat outside as dusk settled in and ate and sipped and sighed. A wonderful day, a beautiful evening -
blowing through the jasmine in my mind.
Yours Forever,
Forever Cool
LIke what? Seriously? Um... yeahhhhhh... I might not make it back to NYC. We spend our days hiking around the Island, our afternoons lounging in the hammock outside of our little cottage and our nights cooking dinner and drinking bottle after bottle of my delish 