Anis Lavender Chevre

So my mom HATES lavender in food. I mean, goes out of her way to pick things up at the grocery store and say, "look how gross this is. Lavender tea. Don't they know it's a smell?" So if you are in my (albeit wonderful) mother's boat, keep your paddles to yourself, because this cheese will make you vomit cheese-perfume.

For those of you who think the Lavender Cookbook was the greatest thing B&N has stocked since HP, this cheese delivers on it's label. I'm a little bummed with the lack of anise flavor coming through, and I think that's mostly because the lavender is such a bold flavor it kindof kicks anise in the face like an over dominant partner in an unstable relationship. Maybe you'll be able to taste it better, but I think that Rollingstone should have either upped the anti on the anise, or just left it out, because to my mouth, it's barely there.

Overall, on a scale of one to THE-BEST-CHEVRE-EVER I think this is a solid 4.93

ps: Whole foods spelled it "lavendAr." Awesome.

Colston Bassett Stilton

Cheese lovers!

Ok, this cheese is dees (decent). I'm not as into it as I was hoping I would be for all the hype that Colston Bassett gets. This was $15.99/lb at the big WF (Whole Foods that is) and carried it's weight pretty well for the slice I bought.

Smells like: sweat--solid body sweat. Not so much like armpit sweat, but like, you eat really well and forgot deodorant and you smell like you sweat. Also, a little bit of clean socks, and rodent cage (actually, I didn't think Rodent cage, but Joel did and he had more rodents that me.)

At this point you may be thinking: Rocky, you have only said gross things I don't really LIKE smelling. WHY would I be interested in this cheese?

WELL, this cheese...
Tastes like: citrus. So much citrus. Also, right off the bat it's a super salty cheese. Love it. And the rind is actually even more interesting than the cheese. Stilton is a crazy cheese because it's got a natural rind, which means they don't seal it in on itself with something like wax. It's just packed tightly after it is drained to hold in air bubbles, and then aged about 10 weeks or so. I'd say this is a young-ish Stilton, because it is very bright and forward on the tongue, and Stlton's tend to mellow with age (ah, so like man you are, Stilton).

Fun fact: Stilton may only be produced in 3 English counties.

Rating: On a scale of 1 to I just punched a hole in the wall this cheese has so much flavor, I give it a 6.5