Mother's Day: Visiting Baby Goats and Cheese of the Month Club

Mother's Day is this Sunday. And if your mother is anything like mine, the day involves massive amounts of cheese (for breakfast, lunch, and day snacks), visiting a creamery, playing with baby dairy goats, and (mom, stop reading) possibly a Cheese of the Month Club present. Are you sensing a theme here?

Yup, to celebrate the woman who raised me, we're going full cheese force. But this isn't like gifting a host a bottle of wine you've been meaning to buy for yourself and hoping your friend opens it at the party. Nope, this was all her idea.

For the past two years on Mother's Day, my mother has requested we go to Redwood Hill Creamery's Spring Farm Tours. Or, rather, last year, my father walked into the wine shop where I work part-time, and informed me that they were going on a fabulous Sunday adventure! They were going to visit baby goats at one of their favorite creameries! I asked, Dad do you mean that you're going this Sunday, on Mother's Day? He replied, How about that! I guess so. Then after I asked if it was okay if I joined, since it was Mother's Day and all, he said that he'd get back to me. As I found out from one or two follow-up phone calls, and as demonstrated by the photos on this page, they decided to let me join!

This year they're letting me join again! Better yet, they're letting Oma Olga come along too. Olga's my grandmother- not my blood grandmother, but pretty much my official grandmother due to copious amounts of grandmotherly love she dishes out and the fact that my own one has passed away. She's pretty much perfect. She's ninety-six, super sharp, thanks the mug of beer she drinks everyday for her longevity, and has become more comfortable with loudly remarking upon the fineness of Brad Pitt's appearance in theaters as she ages.

This is also our Mother's Day gift to her. That and some homemade cookies (stop reading here, Olga) because she likes to have a cookie with coffee for her first breakfast every morning. She grew up on a farm and visiting the babies brings up some lovely memories for her.

If your mom is the sort who loves cheese and baby goats or sheep too, I urge you to check out what farms are open near you for visitation. If not for mother's day, then soon after. It's baby goat and sheep season!

And if she's the sort that likes cheese of the month clubs, maybe she'd like to kick it off with May's "It's Not You, It's Brie" Cheese Club, which ships anywhere in the United States. One of my three cheese picks this month is a triple-creme like the beauty above. Kunik, from Nettle Meadow- goat's milk and cow's milk cream to celebrate the season. For moms into dairy: the club includes three cheeses, a custom recipe for one of the cheeses in the club (see a sample here), my write-ups, and a monthly club newsletter with more writing and photos galore. If you sign your mother up for twelve months, I'll throw in a signed copy of my book to say thank you.

Whether you go full-cheese force, visit goats, or have a brunch, whatever you decide to do, Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there! I hope that you enjoy the day, whether you spend it with your own mom, someone else that means a lot to you, or just you, you're lovely too!

Cheese Club: "It's Not You, It's Brie" Launches, Ships

Today is a day that I've been looking forward to for quite a while, dear readers. As I sit down to write this, I have a huge smile on my face, butterflies doing happy dances in my stomach, and a lightness in my heart from finally being able to share something I've been working on for a very long time. After months of navigating the details, guestimating how much space three pieces of cheese and two ice packs take in various box sizes and waiting for insulated sample after sample to test my theories, spending hours on the phone with shipping companies, and finding the perfect cheese shop to do the cheese care, packing and shipping work for me, I am launching my first shipping cheese club.

That's right. As of December of 2013, the "It's Not You, It's Brie" Cheese Club is going live. Scardello Cheese and I have been working on the details of this for quite a while to make sure everything is perfect, and we're very excited to announce that it is live and kicking (and delicious). I hope you will join me in my cheese explorations!

The Club.

If often distracted with thoughts of an aged sheep’s milk cheese drizzled with chestnut honey, pairing that triple-crème in the fridge with a Blanc de Blancs, or the liveliness of the Texas queso blanco you stuffed with sage into butternut squash last week, then we have the club for you.

Kirstin Jackson, cheese and wine educator, and author of the book and blog “It’s Not You, It’s Brie,” and Scardello Cheese are joining forces to create a monthly cheese club that promises to nurture your inner cheese child (or that of your favorite cheese geek).

Every month, Kirstin will pick three of her favorite artisan cheeses from around the world and a condiment or side that highlights one of the selections, and write about them and their pairing preferences in the lively style found in her book and writings for LA Times and NPR. Scardello will lovingly package the selections and descriptions, and ship them from their home in Dallas to yours. After the club is shipped, members will receive an email from Kirstin divulging more information about the cheeses, their makers, photographs, and an original recipe for one of the cheeses the club. This club could be the most delicious thing you’ve found greeting you once a month on your front porch... ever.

Through teaming up with Scardello, who has a reputation for shipping artisan cheese in prime condition, Kirstin’s happy to have the opportunity to introduce enthusiasts to the favorite cheeses she’s found through her mongering, writings, and traveling.

If you sign up for the cheese club in November or December, I will send you or your beloved giftee a note expressing holiday wishes that lets them know that their first shipped club will arrive in January (pick-ups at Scardello start December). If you sign up for a twelve months worth of the club, I'll also send you or your giftee a complimentary signed copy of my book.

Quick Details:

The It's Not You, It's Brie Single Share Club: club is priced at $46, plus packaging and shipping, and includes around a pound of cheese and a condiment.

The It's Not You, It's Brie Share the Love Club: club is priced at $66, plus packaging and shipping. It includes around a pound and a half of cheese, and two portions of the side or condiment. This shared club is intended to offset the price of shipping to two separate parties who live in close proximity, or infuse a cheese lover’s life with a half pound more cheese for nearly the same price to ship one. It will be shipped in one package and can be wrapped for one or two parties.

Unless located in Texas or Oklahoma or picking up at Scardello Cheese in Dallas, Texas, all clubs will be shipped via 2-day Fed Ex. There is a three month minimum subscription.

Have any questions? Email me at itsnotyouitsbrie@gmail.com. Want to join the club?

Email cheeseclub@scardellocheese.com.

The Details… Every Club:

Includes: Three stylistically different and delicious individually wrapped artisan cheeses and a tasting portion of a condiment or side such as Georgia peach preserves, or cornmeal and anise crackers to pair with the cheeses. One of the club cheeses will be ripe and ready as soft heirloom tomatoes in late July, and the other two will hold happy in your fridge for a couple weeks.
Packed with the club: Kirstin’s lively and unique descriptions detailing the cheeses, what to pair them with or how to treat them in the kitchen. Sent in an email once shipped: more information and photographs highlighting one or two of the cheeses and its maker, and a simple recipe for one of the cheeses.
Excepting Texas and Oklahoma clubs, clubs are shipped with Fedex 2-day on the second Tuesday every month. Club members are automatically charged for the club before shipment and sent an email with tracking information notifying them when their club has left Scardello. Members are encouraged to return the packaging with the return-shipping label included in with shipments for use in the next club to reduce packaging costs. Dallas residents have the option of picking up their clubs at Scardello.
Members can sign up to receive clubs every month, or every other month. There is a three-month club minimum, and please email Scardello to estimate shipping and packaging costs.

Disclosure: The cheese will be sourced and packed with the utmost care and experience by Scardello, and will arrive on your doorstep in optimal condition. Scardello does not accept responsibility for the condition of the cheese if not put the refrigerator on the day of arrival.