On any given day I might be driving and get absolutely no red lights- life in a small town you might say – but that’s hardly the case.
I never ever have problems finding parking spots-even driving my 14ft box van, serendipitous truly.
I also seem to meet the most random people- last week I was at the post office and chatting with the lady in line about my desire to go buy lights for my booth at the harvest fest and she proclaimed that she just picked up three new boxes at a garage sale and ran out to give them to me- total luck!
All of this seems slight compared to the super fabulous luck that I have had with Jacobs Creamery these past two years.
My Dad is usually quick to point out that I make my own luck and that its the reward I get for my ubber long hours I put in.
However I like to think that it is my Irish heritage that keeps it fueled. Hhheeemmmmmm. A little announcement. Trumpet sounding. Drums rolling. Announcement she has an announcement!

I am making sheep milk cheese and I am a very happy cheese maker. Halleluya! Yes I am going to be making cheese with sheep milk.
Actually I am going to be making two types of blue cheese with a cheese master from Australia. I am so excited about this! This is so cool because
A. I have never made blue cheese before!
B. I am COMPLETELY self taught and have never made cheese with anyone especially not a technical expert!

Oh I am so looking forward to this. Its why I love being the Cheese Czarina of course! because there are so many different cheeses out there that I can learn how to make. For me its Christmas coming early except the fact that its Oct and I am Jewish – regardless I am still ubber thrilled and promise to report back on my super amazing experience making cheese with a technical expert.

Last weeks Harvest Fest went super well thanks to my dear little Alanna who ran the whole thing by herself. I set her up at my pad and we had a fun little gathering – a little farmers market feast Saturday night, and we were all very glad that the markets didn’t start till 10 am on Sunday. It reminded me how lucky I am to be surrounded by such great people.

The cheese class was quite fun! I hope all the participants enjoyed themselves. Next up is a mozzarella stretching class! I am thinking that this will be the first Thursday of Dec so if you are interested please email me your information and I will put you down. It is perfect timing for holiday gatherings and you can impress all your guests with your new skill.
It is also a very fun thing to do as a couple, or with a good friend- its much more fun with two!

Sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don’t! This week we will be spotlighting a new cream cheese flavor – honey nut – so if your feeling a little nutty or in need of some honey please come by for a taste.

To help Portland Farmers Market with its fundraiser Jacobs Creamery dairy babes are selling raffle tickets for the cause. I have it from a very good source that the tickets we are selling are very lucky and to sweeten the deal we are offering a kiss on the cheek to anyone that buys a ticket! A kiss for a ticket not a bad deal for $10 come visit us and help support the market.

Plopped on my doorstep this week were boxes and boxes! I am super thrilled to see that my very new and stylish pie forms have arrived which means only one thing…. stay tuned for next week!

Tatatata for now my dear cheese enthusiasts
Smile and enjoy the day.
Yours truly
Cheese Czarina!

Cheese 1: A solid food made from the pressed curd of milk
Cheese 2: noun. slang Often meaning an important person

Did you know how the first cheese was made? Of course you don’t because it wasn’t recorded but this is what I think happened.
Its known that wandering nomads in the dessert (who were undoubtedly wearing homemade leather sandals and had sheep because they were the first domesticated animals (which makes me want sheep even more)) put some milk in a container made from the stomach lining of a sheep (which is what rennet was made out of due to the placement of the digestive enzymes) and then went walkabout in their ubber cool homemade sandals – swish swish swash swash- sometime later they had a coagulated milk.
They probably poured the milk into a cup that had a hole in it and accidentally drained out they whey and then decided to cook and then salt the curd. They then probably forgot about it. Being nomads they probably wandered around for months and then came back to their cheese. They were probably hungry (from all that walking) and decided -what the hey!- Ill take a nipple. Since it was from sheep milk it probably had a nice creaminess balanced out with the complexities aging in the dessert gave it and VOILA! The first cheese was made.
The end

That is a delightful story you will hear if you are one of the 25 people that signed up for my cheese class!
There is still room if you would like to hear more……. Better be quick about it though because it is Oct 22- it will be quite the cozy class and very hands on.

So last week I visited DPI who are a very large distributor. They have a national distributor network and the Tualatin branch has thirteen big trucks leave every morning. So I felt a little like Dorothy in her ruby red slippers following the yellow brick road to the Emerald city to meet the Wizard of Oz. The only exception being that instead of going back to Kansas I wanted my cheese to be distributed to a wider range of market places. When I walked up to the doors I was actually shocked to see that they were relatively normal size and was a little weirded out when I walked in and the lady at the front desk already knew who I was. I sat in a room with five other people firing questions rapidly at me. Talking about my cheese is definitely one topic of ease for me and I am happy to report that I did indeed walk away with a new client packet. Now we wait until I tell you the huge list of locations that carry my product.

Weird cheese making or weird cheese makers?
I recently discovered that there is a facility in Sweden that has three milk producing Moose. These Moose milk yields 300 kilograms of cheese a year in which the producers sell for $1,000 per a kilogram. Moose milk can have up to 10.5% butter fat and 21.5% solids! The milk is also said to help recover from diseases which is why a Russian sanatorium serves this delectable beverage to its residents. I have added cheese made from Moose milk to my birthday wish list, and have added a visit to their farm on my to-do list (to undoubtedly be done on my day off aka never).

I have a farmers market in my back yard! Whoopeee! So fun! The Hood River Harvest Fest is going on for the next three days. I have a primo location to the right of the entrance and have a lovely cheery yellow awning up so I am hard to miss. I also have hay bales! and some lovely squash from Sug Gold farm gracing my booth (there my neighborsI)! We will of course be at Hollywood and PSU Saturday and Hillsdale and King on Sunday in addition to the Harvest Fest.

Cheese is milk’s leap toward immortality.
Be well, eat more cheese and put more butter on your toast because winter is coming!

Much love,
Cheese Czarina!!!!!

Welcome all to the Jacobs Creamery cheesy newsie!

The title of the newsletter this week perfectly explains how The Wedge (not the Slice or the Wedgie) went last Saturday.
Complicated is organizing six markets a weekend, with a special order delivery and of course the need to drive two trucks at once.
Complicated? Yes! Thankfully my Dad was there (his wife was also very helpful but I am no longer allowed to discuss his wife due to law suit threat(not joking)).
So it all went off fairly easily thanks to all those that stepped in and helped me! The complications arrived halfway through the 8,000 people that attended the event came through. Which is why if you were there you heard us explain- why it was that we had the vanilla pudding to sample but only the chocolate for sale, and why the ricotta salata was available to taste but not for sale and so forth and so forth. There was a mass of people and all were very eager to be cheese enthusiasts until they got overwhelmed and came to the JC booth for some yummy creamy pudding! Pudding was by far the show stealer – which is kinda humorous since it was a cheese event. The entire event was very well organized and coordinated and was overly enjoyable for those that love cheese, I am greatly looking forward to the next one!
Since Jen and my Dad were so helpful I made them a special treat. Both are huge greek yogurt enthusiasts so I specially created a yummy coffee flavored Greek yogurt (of which one has your name on it Jen so you better come down to PSU and get it) and another special flavor- a particular favorite of mine Fig Greek yogurt.
Both are the new heaven via dairy products we are offering, it will likely not last the weekend so please come get your fill!
Next weeks heaven via dairy special will be the very new and outrageously yummy Heavenly Honey butter, which turns anything into scrumptious buttery treat!

You may have noticed that there has been a huge change in season lately. The warm summer nights are finished leaving crisp mornings and a slight chill in the air.
Some call this time of year fall but I call it BAKING SEASON!!! Yes this is the time when you have the oven on with yummy things coming out. Baking season means lots of things but there is certainly one ingredient that stands out amount the rest. Our specially promoted item this week will be BUTTER!!! YUM YUM YUM
There will be $2 given off of a pound of either the salted or unsalted so please come by and stock up.

Honk if you like butter in cake form!!!

I had a very interesting outing to the sheep creamery on Monday. I know I promised pictures but it didn’t happen. The pictures that is, I went out there.
I was so wooed by the sheep and their milk that I couldn’t manage to think of anything besides the gorgeous feta that the milk would allow me to make. So while I spent the day there, truly one thing was on my mind. Feta feta feta feta feta feta feta feta feta and the glorious taste that the feta would have with 11% fat and the richness and tangy-ness the sheep milk would give. So no pictures- so sorry. But the sheep bahhheddd and the hills were hilly and the driveway tree lined and the cheese was smelly so you can create a picture in your mind of what the delightful sheep creamery looked like.

Next week we have the Hood River harvest festival! Which is a charmingly long three day event which should be lots of fun since we are the only cheese vendor attending! Yeah go JC!!! The following week we have our fall cheese class scheduled. The class is looking pretty tight and cozy but- there is still room for you if you would like to join please send me your information.

The recipe this week comes from Epicurious via a friend they are called.
Lets make a date Muffins! What a lovely name for a muffin!

Here is what you will need!
Streusel Topping

* 2 tablespoons flour
* 3 tablespoons rolled oats
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened -JC butter must be used

Muffins!

* 9 ounces whole Medjool dates, pitted (about 14 dates or 2 cups)
* 3/4 cup boiling water
* 2 cups flour
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened from Jacobs Creamery
* 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 2 eggs also from JC
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

To make the streusel topping:

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and pecans. Using a fork, cut in butter until well combined and mixture begins to hold together a bit. Set aside.

To make the muffins:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter a 12-cup muffin tin. Place the dates in a shallow bowl (in a single layer if possible), pour the boiling water over them, and soak for 15 minutes. Transfer the dates and soaking liquid to a food processor and puree until almost smooth but a few pea-sized fruit pieces remain. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar. With the motor running, mix in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until moistened. Follow with the date puree, and when thoroughly combined, mix in remainder of the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides and give a final stir with a spatula to make sure all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Top with the streusel and press down gently to adhere. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Well that is all this week friends. Enjoy the lovely weekend that is ahead and I will look forward to seeing you at the markets!!
If you have time to kill and like to play a little cheesy knowledge game I have one for you (link)!
Its great if you need to dilly dally!

Much love to you all!
Cheese Czarina!

This week in the cheese room there was some MASSIVE churning going on. I was almost in tears when I saw the weather forecast for 90 degrees on Monday.
Hot weather and butter do not mix. Thankfully my Dad came to the rescue and loaded up his most coveted piece of equipment, next to the smoker, into my truck and suddenly my Cheese Room had AC. What a novel idea this was!
I was so charmed by the icy cold air blowing directly on the cream as it was being churned I named him Prince Charming.
I quickly regretted his new name because I soon discovered that Garry had not wired the CR for such power requirements and subsequently blew every fuse on the farm. Thankfully I knew where the breaker was!
I thanked g_d for the wonderful invention of extension cords!

I like getting to know the girls that help me in the cheese room. Ashley is the very first person to be my second hand in the cheese room that hasn’t left with copious amounts of dairy in her hands she told me “My first meal as a child was meat and potatoes” so she doesn’t do dairy. I wont lie, this is weird for me to hear. I tried to woo her with my $16 a pound moisturizing lotion (which just happens to be the butter that falls on the table). The best beauty secret ever! Butter is a fabulous moisturizer only to undone by buttermilk which is equally as good for your skin. I think I may add a line of milk based beauty products to the JC lineup someday.
When I finally got back to my house this week all I could think of was a piece of toast smeared with my fresh butter and a cup of tea-I somehow only had 2% for the tea though. As I sat down and had my late night snack, and saw how moisturized my arms were and how delicious my toast was and how- lacking in fat my tea was! I realized that I am indeed a fataholic- with an exclusive concentration on butter fat. There is nothing I can think of that a little butter or sour cream doesn’t make better. The only other person I know that feels as deeply as I do about this subject is Paula Dean. So I have written to her and have decided to send her some samples to use on her show! That newsletter will be JC products go primetime! (Food network is prime time right?)

The other day I was finishing up a conversation with my Chinese medicine doctor. I was explaining to him how my rib felt after I managed to put it back into place. Before it was in Siberia now its in Texas but it really should be in Oregon – ouch is the point.
I finished up and went into the bank to load up on some quarters just as the lady next to me dropped her parcel which had several little balls ??? in it. I bent down to help her giving her an up-close view of the bruise under my eye which was first stamped out when the draining rack jumped in front of me and then when the freezer door slammed closed unexpectedly with my head in its way. She had obviously heard my dislocated rib scenario with Doc and took one look at my leg where I was sporting a lovely black and blue bruise which probably came from unloading a heavy cooler full of milk and reached into her purse. She pulled out a leaflet on ‘getting help’ which suggested that I had been physically abused. I said thank you very much, and explained to her that I actually did it to myself. She explained to me that she used to say the same thing before she left her husband. I thought perhaps this would not be the best time to share my master plan of becoming a Mormon and having ten husbands so they could each have their own market. I thanked her as she told me that I was still young and had other choices.

As fall begins to change the leaves on the trees I started to realize that I was soon to be much less busy. That set me into panic mode, but before you say that I am a workaholic which I am most certainly not (because as mentioned before I am a fataholic and you cant be both) let me tell you the NEW plan for Oct!

The first week Oct 3rd is the glorious Wedge! 10-4pm 928 SE 9th Ave Portland,Or outside the Green Dragon.
It appears that this will be the very first event that I will be in a market with competition of the same products. So come on down and compare my creme fraiche with Vermont Butter and Cheese companies creme fraiche as well as the cultured butter.
You can also compare my very carefully formulated cream cheese with that of the monster giant company Sierra Nevada’s Gina Marie label cream cheese. And I will be tasting a brand spanking new cheese that only the true cheese enthusiasts that come to the festival will get.
Soon after that I have a meeting set with DPI who is a major distributor of specialty food items which I am exited about.
Then bam!!
A huge three day event in Hood River! Oct 16,17,18 Jacobs Creamery will be the one and only cheese vendor mixed in (but front row) with all the lovely harvest fruits and vegetables. We will be launching our holiday products including honey nut cream cheese, eggnog! (add your own fun ) and pies at this event.

The following week will be our fall cheese class Oct 22! of which we still have a couple openings-although I did just find out that it is filling up really quickly. Please email me your information if you would like to attend. Cost is $65 which includes a cheese sampling at the conclusion of the class.

This week at the PSU market I will be sampling two new recipes. In the morning we will be sampling our buttermilk panna cotta with fresh peaches and later on we will be sampling ricotta with heirloom tomatoes bruchetta! Both are very yummy and should get you in a good farmers market mood.

I will conclude this weeks cheesy newsie with a meal plan.

Breakfast: Bagel cream cheese lox! Tea with fresh Jersey milk!
Lunch: Tomato, crumbled mozzarella salad with cucumbers and a nice tall glass of leche from a Jersey cow!
Afternoon snack: Chocolate and vanilla pudding with cookies and milk. (classic combo)
Dinner: Paperdelle pasts with fresh ricotta, mushrooms and carmelized cipoliini onions- fresh bread and butter
Desert panna cotta and a ten mile run!

Enjoy yourselves!
Carpe Diem!
Have fun!

Tatata
Cheese Czarina!

While I was in the throws of hand-scooping my ricotta this week I totally checked out my whey- and was thinking what lovely whey it was having come from rich Jersey milk. Then I started thinking about Little Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey and I wondered if her whey looked as good as mine?
Why was she eating whey anyway? It’s not that tasty.

I know at least one of my readers will hate me for uttering the f-word but it truly is fall. With it comes a little bit of a break we are now down to seven markets a week and will no longer be at West Moreland, Eastbank or Lake Oswego farmers markets.

Its much easier working long hours when someone I know does it too, like my Dad. I put a lot into my business, sometimes I am nostalgic for activities that don’t require loading and unloading vehicles or shopping for market supplies. Whenever I pause or g_d forbid whine! he throws slacker insults and ‘don’t be a baby’ in my face. This is always very humbling and energizes me for another round. With all I do it just doesn’t seem to be enough, it appears being a cheese maker isn’t enough he now wants grandchildren too!! Having rejected the last three proposals I have received I don’t think marriage is in my future but kids are a whole other story. I already have their names picked out !!! A little on the hippie side but still very descriptive.

They are going to be three and their names are going to be Cheerful Cheddar, Happy Havarti and Funny Feta!! I am hoping that you will love them sooo much you will want to take them home with you I think we will all enjoy watching them age.
No kidnapping charges will apply.

I am slightly sad but also happy that there are only three weeks left of my weekday farmers markets- Running 10 markets a week can only last for so long. I am greatly looking forward to some much needed time in the test kitchen to create some new- but much better tasting old- cheeses. Coming up the first week of October is The Wedge! which will be a very cheesy event with 35 cheese makers tasting and showing their gorgeous cheeses. I am very lucky and will have a very big! and cool! cheese maker assisting me, Brian Richter formally from Oregon Gourmet cheese :0

October 22nd 5-7 at the Hood River Grange I will be conducting a cheese class. If you are interested please email me your contact information and I will keep you informed about information regarding the class (wow that sentence had a lot of words starting with i’s).

The recipe this week has a little story behind it. It is not my recipe but something I did cook and must admit not being a pizza fan- was it really was remarkable.
Late Wednesday night I got a very exited phone call from Texas and Peter who had just landed in PDX coming from Chicago.
“Oh wow Lis! you wont believe what we have!” Me “What? did you buy me a vacuum sealer?” TP “No we have pie crust!”
They went on to tell me a story about how they wanted to go out to dinner but instead found a closed pizza place with an Italian chef who instead of selling them some pizza aka pies sold them some pizza crust and a recipe for a pizza.
TP “So we have a list of ingredients here he says we need fresh homemade ricotta, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes that have not been refrigerated, truffles and cippolini onions.” I started to think that perhaps I should know this chef.
Me being, well me I just happened to have all these ingredients, which prompted my late night scurry for my pizza stone.
I let the boys take care of the crust which came with even more detailed instructions and gathered together the ingredients.
I first smeared some homemade tomato sauce as the base very thinly and the smeared on some ricotta (hand scooped Monday am!) and then the mozz. I chopped up the onions and did a very quick saute and added them along with some tomatoes that were glorious heirlooms I snagged from Gales Meadow on Tuesday at the CB market. I finished the pizza off with gratings of some black Oregon truffles and finished it all off with some salt and pepper and a drizzle of some 12 year old aged white balsamic vinegar (of which I am running dangerously low on and will have on my b-day list) and put it all in the oven to bake.
It was quite the recipe! Although you cannot all have fresh pizza dough flown in from Chicago from an Italian chef you can certainly make your owns and compile the ingredient list at the market!

I am compiling a variety of recipes to stock my booth with, so if you have a favorite recipe you would like to share with me I would love it. Just make sure it has a good amount of my product in it!

Be good and if you cant be good then enjoy being bad.
Much love
Yours always
Cheese Czarina

It occurred to me the other day (after I realized I get questions about the cheesy newsie once a week) that half of you probably have no idea what I am talking about most of the time. I do get lots of remarks about how lovely it is to stay in touch- I have heard that my newsie is read aloud at dinner parties and in the office, on the toilet and generally well enjoyed by most! Most being almost a hundred people! Oh my!! Have a clue! here is a little farm 101 for you.

I’ll start with the youngest inhabitant on the farm, little Andrew. Little Andrew is 4 and is Garry’s nephew. Little Andrew has pegged me as his ‘favorite girl’ and so I am privileged to hear what has gone on in my absence. He loves to chase the cows and until recently drove around in circles in his tricycle (it broke). One of Andrews favorite things to do is color and he especially loves to color on Garry’s wide screen telly and he also loves to pee on Garry’s tires.
Andrew’s dad Bob, Garry’s brother helps me move really heavy things when hes not chasing girls skirts to Chicago.
And then there is the other brother Larry- Larry transports bull semen for a living. Which is how my culture came to reside next to his European specimens last week. I like to talk to Larry as he generally has a super sense of humor and I always like to ask him “Have you transported any semen lately?”
And then there is Garry’s other brother who has the farm next door but is always bring Garry’s cows back and always kinda around. I have a hard time talking with him because he only eats orange cheddar cheese and its really kinda a grump.

Most recently Garry’s friend Tim has been hanging around the farm- I would say working but I don’t actually see him do much but he does certainly like to talk a LOT and take breaks . One of Tim’s special skills is milking. There are about 45 girls to be milked and Tim has a real way with them- his special skill is to turn an 1.5-2 hour milking into a two person five hour ordeal. He does have a good attitude though, which goes a long way. Larry likes to call Bob and Tim the Bobsie twins!
And then there is me. The only gal on the farm! I have managed to pull all the farm inhabitants into the cheese room to help me move Eduardo or to taste something or move something at some point.

I have grown a fondness for naming my specialty equipment. So far in the CR we have Eduardo my 100lb cheese press and his wagon (a stainless steel utility cart) which he fell off of once and left a large dent in the floor! So I now get help to ensure that Eduardo doesn’t fall off the wagon again.There is of course Henry with whom I have my weekly hot dates with (Cheese vat) and my favorite cleaning utensil my baton!

Come Monday- yes I did work all day and night and part of the morning! labor day shmaybor day!- my mum and dad had the day off and thought they would come for a visit. My mum showed up in a lovely cardigan and sandals and my dad came sporting his favorite gray shirt and his Clarks which I had him dunk in my chlorinated solution before he stepped into the cheese room. My mum wasn’t as exuberant as my dad was, who took a liking to the baby moo cows. He soon discovered their ability to suck on his finger! I was able to show them around a bit and explain how the cows are milked. “That things gets attached to the what not and then the doohicky pushes it into the tank and the milk ends up in my vat when I need it” Which is pretty much how the cows are milked. My Mum was especially upset at the fact that I spent so much time there and didn’t have a kettle “Lisa you have plenty of milk!” whereas my dad was more concerned about the fact that I didn’t eat supper while there. “Don’t you get hungry with all those cows walking around?” Yup that’s my parents. Recently they decided that they would like to live in the country and have their own small farm. Its not that I know so much about farms that I can really poke fun at them, but I have visited most of the farms where I get the food I eat, and have been around enough to know a little bit about them. One of my favorite things to do is go on farm visits and I certainly have some scheduled for the off season this year!

Usually come Thursday you can find me in Hood River selling my wares all alone, buts its such a lovely market I have come to look forward to it. This week I had some exceptional help, just when my search for twins was dying from lack of hope too!
I had the lovely Josephine and Francis help me and what help they were too! They adore my pudding so they sold all of it first and then, in true dairy babe fashion, pounced on my beloved Sassy Saffron butter and sold all the butter too! At the young age of 7 I have to say they were quite fantastic.

Its awfully nice to have friends that are also vendors at the market. They can come and help out and they already know about the hand washing station and how to put up the tent! Recently I have heard a lot of “Ohh its my day off” and I am wondering how the hell they get a day off! My first day off is Dec 17th- of which I am very much looking forward to. I came to the realization that running a farm or a creamery is really a two person job, or in the Hertels (Sun Gold Farm) case a family effort, or like Square Peg and my Mum and Dad with The Smokery a partnership. Someone stays home to work while the other goes to the market. It made me ponder a bit about my business which I truly love and I realized that the hours I work are certainly enough for two people. It made me wish that I was Mormon and could marry like ten husbands, one for each market. I am certain I could find them! Then I would most certainly have days off!! Until that day I look forward to Dec 17th with great vigor!

Eat more good handcrafted artisan cheese and pudding!
We will be having a back to school special on our cream cheeses this week so come on by and get some!
Saturday at PSU is the tomato turn on- aka tomato tasting which I have been told is not a salad fest but a sampling of a variety of all the tomatoes at the market! Come with an empty stomach and cast your vote, the winner gets a glorious pound of my signature cheese – my crumbled mozzarella to no doubt eat with some tomatoes!!

Be good
Yours always
Cheese Czarina!! kiss kiss

Howdy all!

My week usually starts on Sunday- the long part of it anyway. I usually put in about 50 hours between Sunday and Tuesday after the market.
With the twins gone entirely there was a lot more to do. I am so up for it though!
Monday came fast and I was ready I jumped into my rubber boots and went to grab my overalls and realized they were gone….????
A couple weeks ago Chrissie from Kookolan Farm told me about her missing/stolen milk. It appears someone snuck into the changing room/retail room and took my beloved overalls. They are near and dear to me because they protect me from getting wet all day and they also protect me from the heat. When Henry (Cheese Vat) gets up above 160 he’s hot all around and my overalls protect me. The day followed suit with technical difficulties and later on burns on my stomach from leaning on the boiling stainless steel.
It all works out in the end though. I have another pair ordered I hope the new owners of my favorite cheese making accessory are happy with them, I would love to meet the person that needs a pair of childrens size 10 marine overalls badly enough to steal them, with cheese still on them! so if you see someone walking around in a small pair of orange overalls think of me.

Have you ever seen a gal put on mascara and seen that she opens her mouth?
I don’t seem to open my mouth when I put mascara on, but I do seem to open up when I am cleaning. Which is how I came to swallow some acid and heavy grade dairy cleaner on Monday. I think I ingested about 3/4 of a cup throughout the day which means that if you were to open me up I would be very clean inside and probably smell like chlorine.
I have a new Ashley/Cinderella of the cheese room now. You will see her gracing the booth of SuDan farms on Saturday while midweek shes flinging pork at NW Heritage at the fair (we all share), but on monday she was scrubbed up and helping me package and clean the CR! She shared funny stories of taking baby animals to school in her pocket to riding her horse to class which kept me utterly amused! Kirsten was a great asset too, especially when I needed a change of cloths after the CR ordeal

Saturday at PSU was a buzz as usual. I had a serious craving for some raisin bread so I walked on down and finally met Dave from his Killer Bread. I am a super duper fan of his Sin Dawg. We had a friendly exchange of stories and a very humorous chit chat all along with these MASSIVE cameras held by some camera men who were listening and filming the morning stories we were sharing with one another. We started talking about butter and Dave stuck his arm out to me, not his hand but his arm. I figured that he wanted to compare biceps so I rolled up my sleeve for a flex, which is how I came to be on an OPB segment called Second Chance which is a piece on convicted felons. The camera men came to tell me this on their way out after they thanked me for the humorous content they received. I love being on tele and hope one day to be on a cooking show, but for now you can catch me on the felon piece!
Along with this fab news exposure I will also be mentioned in an upcoming book that Sasha Davies has written on cheese, it does not have a print date quite yet but I will keep you posted.
I am also going to be in MIX magazine. I got interviewed as part of a dream piece, I totally feel like a cheesy celeb now because I was picked for an interview on my opinions/dreams not just to talk cheese! Hopefully Gerard Butler will notice.

We are finished with Eastbank for the season but will still be in Hood River every Thursday till the first week of October.
I like the HR market, its full of the local people I see and talk to. I am right next to Kiyokawa Orchard (home of the yummy pink pearl apple) and get fresh from the tree snacks and good company too!
After unloading for the market this week I got a call for 10lbs of pudding. They wanted it delivered, it was the same guy that yelled out his window that he wanted cheese from me a couple weeks ago. So I slapped on my running shorts and went for my after market run (because I don’t get nearly enough exercise) and then loaded the pudding into the car to drop it off. I thought it was a little odd when they asked me to say “pudding delivery” when I rang the bell, but thought ‘to each his own’ I ended up walking into a bachelor party! There was music playing (you know the type that clubs with velor walls play) and girls and then me with my ten pounds of vanilla pudding and running shorts. It was quite the scene! So I guess I can say that my home delivery route has been launched! Although technically it wont start till October

It may be a distant memory for you now. You might have even forgotten how to say it. You may not even know what it is!! But I will tell you that this week in the cheese room I cranked out the very coveted, much enjoyed!

Ricottzarella!!!!!

The same rules apply as the last time I was inspired to make it. If you can’t say it right you cannot buy it, and quantities are limited. Practice makes perfect!
If you are a newbie to the JC product line up I will fill you in on what it is. Its a merger between ricotta which seems to be on everyone’s HOT list lately and my signature cheese, the crumbled mozzarella. It has a soft body but nice firm texture that resembles the mozz but with the flavor of the ricotta! Its quite fun and makes a real splash with whatever you put it into!
We have also cranked out new batches of our sassy butter line since we have depleted our reserves. Back with much love is the Herb Passion and Gremolata Butter with their friend the sassiest of them all Sassy Saffron! Yum yum yum they all have their place in specialty pasta, fish or risotto! Try one today and discover what fun they are

Quotes!!!

Me “Where is my culture?” Garry “Its next to the European bull sperm in the freezer”

Yummy in my Tummy Salad

5 lbs heirloom tomatoes (some cherry tomatoes mixed in)
One small sweet onion sliced thin and set aside in some vinegar
three sprigs of basil
three sprigs of flat leaf Italian parsley
I bag of fresh spinach
1 lb ricottzarella!!!!

Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons of champagne vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grape seed oil

Mix the vinaigrette together and let it soak in the Ricottzarella while you mix and chop the other ingredients. Then mix them all together and voila! Summer wonderful!

I hope all of you have a lovely long weekend and come see me at the markets
Yours full of love and cheese!

Cheese Czarina!

One day there was a young girl (people called her little but she didn’t like it) who decided that she wanted to make cheese.
So she did. Then she piled it up in her mini cooper and went to the farmers market. The next week she made even more cheese and each week she needed bigger cars to get it to the market. Then the girl got a truck! The girl loved her truck and used it all the time- it was always full (with cheese!). Then one day the girl realized that this truck was much to small, and then purchased a HUGE truck. The girl made tons of cheese and filled up the truck. The truck was so HUGE and the girls coolers were so full of cheese that she needed help putting the cheese into the HUGE truck. Each week she got help to do this and off she went driving away with her HUGE van full of cheese, and was very happy. Then one day the girls help never showed up…..Oh no!!! The girl decided that she could do it her self. She thought of Hercules and looked at her HUGE arm muscles and said to herself ‘I can do it’ and then went to pick up the cooler full of cheese. The cooler barely moved. The young girl couldn’t lift it. Tired from making all the cheese and very upset that there was no one to help her, the girl sat down and cried, wondering why god wanted her to make cheese and not arrange bouquets of dried flowers…..

That was pretty much my Friday night.

Saturday the PSU market was swarming, mixed into the crowd was a number of Organic Valley farmers. They all seemed to flock to me and try and woo me with their organic certification. One sized me up fairly well and tried to woo me with his Irish herdsman. It appears I am being set up on a date (only god knows when I will be free) with his imported cow specialist. Fun times!
When I asked them what they did when a cow had mastitis she replied “Oh when I see that shes got a little junk in her trunk we treat her with echinacea and acupuncture” translated- when the cow has an infection they poke her with needles and give her earthy pills.
They were great fun to talk with and I am looking forward to my farm visit this fall

It was a long weekend which culminated in me needing some jazy tunes Monday in the cheese room. I picked the 40oz to freedom album from Sublime and cranked up the volume as I was making the mozzarella. I was bellowing out the fairly upbeat (slightly potty mouth) lyrics when suddenly- screetch- someone yanked my tuneage from the wall! Garry is so down with the tunes- slides his bball cap backwards on Sundays with the hip hop- that I knew it could only be one person… ODA inspector! They do not like Sublime- thankfully we got through it ok. I’m thinking Enya for next week!

You may have noticed that there are some very new dairy babes gracing the booths of JC lately, so I thought I would give you a quick intro.
Kirsten aka little Nibler (since that’s her last name) comes from a family of nine and learned her first four letter word at the age of 18. She grew up with a family cow, a lovely Jersey, and enjoyed drinking the fresh milk and eating the fresh cheeses her mum made for her large family. Kirsten loves dairy! She also loves polka dots and canning things so the two of us get along great!
Since dear Andrew has left us his darling little sister Alanna has stepped in. Come Tuesday you could have seen her selling my wares in Cannon Beach. She proclaimed “Oh my this is so heavy” after lifting ONE half gallon of milk with TWO hands. We didn’t give her the boot though because she has lovely catch phrases like “have you seen our new sassy butter line?” she also managed to get two boys to load the van after the market so she is definitely a keeper! Hopefully the boys will come back, even though I kinda gave one a concussion with the minivan rear door…whoops.

Even with these two newbies I am still on the lookout for extra assistance. It has been so great having a set of twins work with me that I thought I might try my Irish luck and see if I could find another pair. So I posted an ad on craigslist – I think people thought I was joking because for the first time ever I didn’t get a single response. Perhaps they thought it was a joke?
Quotes

Pointing to the chicken eggs on my table “Do these grow on bushes?”
I replied “Of course!” I didn’t want her to know the ugly truth that they come out of a chicken!
To be quite frank she kinda reminded me of my dad a little, he thinks spaghetti grows on trees.

“So you guyses make thems here”? While gesturing to the milk and then the cheese. I believe he was asking if I made the cheese behind my booth at the farmers market.

Out of our 20 available spots we now have 15 for the cheese class so please email me if you would like a spot reserved!

Pudding doesn’t cure all ails sadly, even mixed with cookies. Which is why I have created panna cotta. If you haven’t tried it yet its most likely because we have been selling out of this delectable dessert at all markets! Its a lovely light custard, with the perfect blend of sweetness and tang with fresh buttermilk and real vanilla mixed in.
It goes extremely well with peaches or berries and equally as excellent with some granola in the morning!
Come by and grab some and figure out your own favorite combo!

Tata
Cheese Czarina – yours always

I remember walking down the street and receiving whistles and quite a few honks while walking on my way somewhere.
Now I get drivers pulling over after yelling “hey cheese maker”- pulling over to ask me to sell them some cheese. They did ask for my number, but it was only to call me so they can order cheese. I have the gas attendant who gently reminds me which side my tank is on (hard to keep track of when you drive 5 different vehicles a week) that likes my vanilla pudding, the gal at Starbucks that buys the original cream cheese and the lovely ladies that take my toll at the bridge who love to hear how much cheese I made! Its all about the cheese.
It gets me wondering if this is the life that all cheese makers lead. Do people hug them because they make cheese too? Do they always have a cooler in the back of their vehicle?
Do they think about making cheese before they go to bed, do they sing songs when they are in their cheese rooms? I find myself wondering what other cheese makers wear- I like to sport my yellow rubber boots with my dazzling orange waterproof overalls- hair in tails and a bandana! I wonder what they wear….
Well I am going to find out pretty soon because the Cheese Czarina/Jacobs Creamery is dont da da da de da!!!
The newest, youngest? cheese maker….
to…. be….
PART OF THE CHEESE GUILD!!!! Whoot whoot!!!
I was so exited when I found out! (yes I did jump up and down!)
What is this Guild? Its a bunch of cheese makers who get together to talk about cheesy stuff. I am sooooo looking forward to the next meeting. Quite exited actually, to talk cheese stuff and not have someones eyes glaze over followed by the sentence “don’t mind her she gets exited about making cheese”.
I am hoping that since they all voted and talked about me that the next time we meet I’ll not get any of the “Who do you work for?” “Who are your parents?” “What? how do you make cheese being so small?” comments that I got last time I was lucky enough to attend the Guild event.

The Naked boys at the Naked Winery are just not hip enough to be the only Winery affiliated with JC. For this exact reason we have decided to step our hipness level up and do a do with the Hip Chicks that Do Wine. The event is right up my alley and were going to be getting skwishy with it- were going to stomp on grapes!!
I am soo into this!!! We are going to be the cheese at their Skwishy wine stomping wine drinking cheese eating party! I will have all the details when plans are finalized but you should plan on coming for sure. Where else can you eat Jacobs Creamery products followed by wine followed by skwishing (yes I know how to spell squish but this is the much more fun version of the word) grapes??? If there is such a combo out there let me know I’ll put it on my calendar!

I keep telling everyone- Oh things will be so much more quite in October and then the Wedge Festival was scheduled for the first week. The Skwishy party is the following week and then we have our fall cheese making class. October 24 is the date so mark your calendars. It will be set in the Hood River grange, so you can plan on making a day of visiting the orchards and then making cheese. I have two very stunningly handsome assistants that have graciously volunteered to hold my spoon and my thermometer for me.
Texas and Peter! aka TP. They are quite exited to be involved. Both have spent numerous hours in the test kitchen with me trying out new formulas.
Since it is at the Grange we thought that it would be appropriate to spend the time while the culture sets upstairs in the dance hall. Since my dear friend Texas is (yup you guessed it) from the south he will be doing a line dancing demonstration/class to “Keep them from getting bored”! So you’ll have some cheese instruction and line dancing followed -of course- by a cheese sampling!!
Send me your info if you would like to reserve a spot, we only have 20 available!

The special this week is me, since I am now a member of the cheese guild. I’m feeling pretty special!

Every Tuesday I am lucky enough to be able to sit down and have a lovely meal with my beach family!
There is always something yummy to crave the after market munchies- but the crab dip I have been making seems to be the first to go.
The recipe starts with a visit to one of my favorite vendors (PSU, Hollywood, King, Hillsdale, Cannon Beach) Linda Brand Crab.
Chance is usually very entertaining after 32oz of red bull on Tuesdays and will get you some very fresh crab, go for the big bag.
Then you need 8oz of one of my flavored cream cheeses and 3.25 ounces of the original.
2 tsps of horseradish
2 heaping tablespoons of ketchup -preferably cultured home made ketchup but Heinz will do in a pinch
and a handful of fresh herbs doesn’t hurt either.

Dice the crab meat up very fine
Warm the cream cheese up so that it is very soft
Mix it all together with a pinch of paprika and salt and voila! Delicious!
A total crowd pleaser by the way!

Yours as always full of cheesy wishes for you!
Eat more good dairy, washed down with some good milk!
Have fun too!
-Cheese Czarina!!!!