You may have heard of the delectable Dinah’s cheese…made by Kurt Timmermeister on Vashon Island in Seattle, this camembert-style cow’s milk cheese is on many people’s top ten NW cheese lists. It’s a luscious, buttery, velvety creation that takes you by surprise with its authoritative flavor.

Like many cheeses in the northwest, Dinah’s cheese is a micro-batch creation that’s (until now) been available near the source – which means the Seattle area. But today I’ve got good news for Portlanders….Kurt Timmermeister tells me that thanks to distributor Provvista, we’ll be able to enjoy Dinah’s cheese every day of the week. Look for it at fine Portland cheese shops starting in August! Seriously, Dinah’s Cheese will change how you think about local cheese.

photo courtesy Angelina Williamson

Fresh goat’s milk cheese (also known as fresh chevre) is a natural in combination with other things…its mild lemony tartness makes a great base for any number of flavors both sweet and savory: herbs, flowers, honey and chilies are just a few of the possibilities. So why not chocolate?

Why not indeed! Briar Rose Creamery’s Goat Cheese Truffles are here for you. Newly minted Oregon cheesemaker Sarah Marcus says she got the idea for goat cheese truffles while doing an internship with another cheesemaker a few years ago; she’s since worked hard on tweaking the recipe. She experimented with a number of different chocolates before coming up with the precise formula for these beauties…as you might imagine, different chocolates delivered very different flavor profiles. “Some of the experimental truffles ended up fruitier than others and some had a flat, waxy texture. Some had hints of flowers. I had fun hosting focus groups, letting people try the truffles made with each different chocolate,” says Marcus. She also tested seven different cocoa powders before finding one that was just right for dusting the outside of the truffles. “Wouldn’t you know that a high fat cocoa powder tastes better than a regular cocoa powder!”

Marcus’ dedication shows: all of that hard work has resulted in a great tasting product as well as an example of creativity in artisan cheesemaking. Both delicate and decadent at the same time, these goat cheese/chocolate truffles are bite sized and totally addictive. They’re creamy and slightly tangy, warmly chocolate-y with a comforting underlying note of sweetness. In other words, sensational. In fact, so good are these truffles that they can be called ‘award-winning,’ as they took second place overall in the confections category at the American Dairy Goat Association competition earlier this year.

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Briar Rose Creamery Goat Cheese Truffles are available in Portland at Cheese Bar, in Eugene at Sundance Natural Foods, in McMinnville at Abbie and Oliver’s and in Seattle at Calf and Kid. You can also find them at the upcoming Season’s Eatings event in Portland on Saturday December 11th, which will be held at New Deal Distillery in Portland.

For a complete list of retail outlets for all of Briar Rose Creamery’s products, see the website here.

Seems like everyone is weighing in on all of the best places to eat and drink in Vancouver, BC during the Olympics, so I’m going to jump right in. One of the many great things about Vancouver is its unabashed enthusiasm for two of my favorite things – tea and cheese (maybe it’s a British colonial thing?)…in any event, here’s a roundup of what to eat and do, cheese-wise, in Vancouver, BC.

Les Amis du Fromage Cheese lovers, this is it – Vancouver’s cheese destination. Get to Les Amis du Fromage by any means necessary. They’ve got three locations in the city and the Hastings St. location is also home to Au Petit Chavignol, a wine/cheese bar. You’ll find a fabulous selection of locally made cheeses as well as a huge spread of French cheeses, many of which you don’t see very often in the US.

Granville Island Market Granville Island will be the official home to the French Quarter during the Olympics, so I can only imagine the crowds will far exceed those at Granville Island even on a sunny summer day. Nevertheless, the Granville Island Market is home to a number of great cheese shops and the lovely and amazing Oyama Sausage Company, the coolest charcuterie and cured meats shop in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, I did just say that.

Other cheese shops and retail outlets with good cheese include Mt. Pleasant Cheese Co. on Cambie (this will be easy to get to because it’s right on the Canada Line); Benton Brothers Fine Cheese and Meinhardt Fine Foods. The larger markets generally have a good selection of artisan made cheeses as well, like Capers on Robson (they still call it Capers but really it’s a Whole Foods) and Urban Fare with several locations including Yaletown.

The Vancouver Farmers Market The Vancouver Winter Market is going full swing through the Olympics and generally you’ll find several local cheesemakers with stalls there.

And if you’re feeling like getting away from the Olympic crowds, you might check out The Farm House Natural Cheeses in Agassiz, about an hour or so east of Vancouver. Debra Amrein-Boyes is making some of the best cheeses in the province at this lovely farm in the Fraser Valley.

BC Cheeses Not to Miss Keep your eyes out for cheese from these British Columbia cheesemakers: Salt Spring Island Cheese Co. (especially their lovely flowered chevres, and also the Montaña if you can find it); Poplar Grove’s Tiger Blue, Carmelis Goat Cheeses, Moonstruck Organic Cheese and Hilary’s Artisan Cheeses.

In the cheese world we tend to put a lot of emphasis on cheese by itself – pretty looking cheese, cheese plates and cheese courses. This is all well and good but if you're like me you might serve a cheese plate at a dinner party or whatever…..and then you end up with all of these leftover pieces of cheese. Generally, at least in my case, these bits tend to sit for months on end because I feel too guilty to throw them out…until I am, finally, forced to dispose of them because they've dessicated to hard unrecognizable bits. In an effort to use up what I have, throw less away and diversify, I've come up with some ideas for using up leftover cheese and I thought I'd share them with you.

1. Make Grilled Cheese  Call it a legacy from childhood, but I tend to get caught up in the idea that a grilled cheese, by definition, can only have one kind of cheese in it. Usually cheddar. But now that all of us are grown up and evolved, it's time to break the chains of severe recipe myopia and – gasp – combine cheeses in one sandwich. Seriously, combining cheeses makes for some great flavor combinations. Just the other day I combined some sharp cheddar, Juniper Grove Tumalo Tomme and La Mariposa Cinquo Esquinas and the results were outstanding. (xtra tip: grate small amounts of cheese for quicker melting).

2.  Baking Projects   Some cheese shops and restaurants deal with cheese leftovers by using them in products like crackers or pastries. This is a really easy way to do something with stray bits of cheese – plus it makes for a fun, kid-friendly project. Most comprehensive cookbooks have recipes but here's one I like here and another here.

3.  Dogs Love Cheese  I have yet to meet a dog that doesn't love little bits of extra cheese and/or cheese rinds. In moderation, of course! If you have backyard chickens, they will eat cheese too -  a favorite trick of cheesemakers is to feed the bad experiments to the chickens.

4. Fondue  Yes, the classic fondues require Emmenthaler and Gruyere – and I wouldn't necessarily stray from these base cheeses altogether because they guarantee good consistency – but go ahead and throw in some of that Mt. Townsend Trailhead or WSU Cougar Gold. Any good melting cheese will work here.

5.  Grate it and Melt it  If you usually grate cheddar on your chili dogs you'll probably really like Fontina, for example. Small amounts of grated cheese add a nice protein boost to salads as well. Grate cheese over a bit of pasta for lunch, or think bruschetta. Potatoes Au Gratin. The possibilities are as limited – oops, I mean as unlimited – as your imagination.

6.  Add Rinds to Soups  This is a classic technique of Italian cuisine – add the rinds of Parmigiano Reggiano to a soup like Minestrone for a savory flavor boost (recipe example here). Use leftover rinds of any naturally rinded aged cheese – i.e. a style of cheese not coated in plastic to protect the rind during the aging process.

7.   Fricos  Have you ever made Parmesan Crisps (aka Fricos)? These are really simple to make and deliver impressive results, and the recipe will work other styles of harder aged cheeses (i.e. low moisture cheeses) as well. Do a Google search for recipes or find one here.

8. Lunches  Think outside the sandwich box: take that small leftover hunk of Rogue River Blue with you to work, along with a pear and some good bread and call it exceptional. A nice alternative to the same ol' carrot sticks or – worse – plastic-packaged string cheese. Or if you want to go all out do a classic Ploughman's Lunch with cheese, bread, chutney and pickled vegetables.

Do you have other ideas or techniques for using up leftover cheese? Leave a comment and let us all know.