Tag: Swiss

June 4th National Cheese Day

January holidays

Who doesn’t love cheese!?! Okay, maybe people who are lactose intolerant, but most of the rest of us love cheese. We put it on practically everything we eat and has become a part of nearly every holiday we celebrate. We use every animal that produces milk to make cheese out of. Ya, cheese is a big deal and today we celebrate the between 7,500 and 8,000 types of cheese there are. So say “Cheese!” and celebrate the day with the world.

How to celebrate – Figure out which cheese is your favorite. Try a cheese you’ve never had before. Name as many cheeses as you can think of.

January 20th National Cheese Lover’s Day

January holidays

Who doesn’t love cheese!?! Okay, maybe people who are lactose intolerant, but most of the rest of us love cheese. We put it on practically everything we eat and has become a part of nearly every holiday we celebrate. We use every animal that produces milk to make cheese out of. Ya, cheese is a big deal and today we celebrate the between 7,500 and 8,000 types of cheese there are. So say “Cheese!” and celebrate the day with the world.

How to celebrate – Figure out which cheese is your favorite. Try a cheese you’ve never had before. Name as many cheeses as you can think of.

April 12th Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

April Holidays

Here is an American favorite! I don’t know, maybe it’s a worldwide favorite as well but it is also one of my favorites, the grilled cheese sandwich. Oddly, it did not exist until the 1920’s when someone actually produced sliced bread! I’ll bet the minute sliced bread became available someone was melting cheese on it. It is comfort food, friendly food and family food (best served with soup). And you can change it up a lot with the type of bread you use and the flavor of cheese you pick. Mix it up, or stick with the known, it’s a fun food to eat and yummy as well!

How to celebrate – Have a grilled cheese sandwich today. Try a different type of cheese than usual. Throw a grilled cheese sampler party.

January 20th National Cheese Lover Day

January holidays

Who doesn’t love cheese! Well, may those lactose intolerant, but the rest of us do! It is believed cheese was discovered, perhaps by accident, in either present day Poland or Arabia. That narrows it down a bit. Perhaps closing it a little bit it was somewhere between 7,500 and 8,000 B.C.. There are between 900 and 1400 types of cheese, they are supposedly divide by the texture of the cheese. For some reason, it seems the worse they smell the better they are. They also seem to be better when combined with wine, if you like wine. So get some smelly cheese and fix a glass of wine, do they still make Ripple?, and have a party!

How to celebrate – How many types of cheese can you name? Think of everything you can put cheese on. Have a cheese tasting party.

April 11th National Cheese Fondue Day

April Holidays

April 11th – National Cheese Fondue Day

Who doesn’t love cheese fondue!?! Okay, maybe those lactose intolerant aren’t real fond of it but the rest of us are! And served as a fondue, even better! All melty and creamy. And you can have your favorite flavor as well! Swiss, Havarti, Cheddar, and all the others which I cannot pronounce or spell. The first cheese fondue recipe appeared in 1875 though it did not really become popular until the mid-1900’s. To make it even more fun you can use your favorite bread to dip in it, or a cracker, or anything you like. Cheese pretty much goes with everything.

How to celebrate – Buy a fondue making kit. Go to a restaurant that serves fondue. Visit Switzerland.

January 20th National Cheese Lovers Day

January holidays

January 20th National Cheese Lovers Day

Well count me in, I love cheese! Then we get into the facts of how cheese probably came into being in the first place and your love for it may decline somewhat. So, I won’t get into those details because today is Cheese Lovers Day not, I Am Grossed Out By How Cheese Was Discovered Day. It is believed cheese was first discovered around 5,500 BCE in Poland. Shortly there-after someone first cut the cheese. There are over 1,400 varieties of cheese today with many of the flavors being created by adding bacteria, enzymes and fungi to alter the flavors. Yummy!

How to celebrate – Have some cheese. Throw a cheese tasting party. Make a list of your favorite cheeses.

April 17th National Cheeseball Day

April Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

If you are lactose intolerant you may want to leave this blog here and now. We are talking cheese here. Swiss, Gouda, Cheddar, Munster, Havarti, Provolone… you name it, cheese! You can put it on sandwiches, in pasta or just eat it as a snack right out of the package. So why not roll it all up into a big ball that no one can miss!

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The Cheeseball is always a hit at a party, in fact it sometimes causes a party to happen. You can mix nearly anything with cheese and serve it up, the cheese only making the dish better. You can use chips, crackers, pretzels, bread or even vegetables to dip into the ball of cheese and you rarely have to worry about finding a way to store after the party is over… there normally won;t be much left!

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If you aren’t sure how to make a cheeseball, here’s a recipe for you. The only for sure ingredient you need is… cheese. And it can normally be any kind of cheese you choose. No one seems to know who invented the cheeseball. It may have even been made by mistake! I can’t imagine it not having been around for as long as cheese has been around.

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You can even decorate it to make it look like something else but people will soon see through the disguise and attack it with all their might. So don’t expect your clever attempt to save some for yourself to work for very long. You might want to make two and keep the second from view so you are sure to get some yourself.

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How to celebrate – Have a cheeseball party! Upgrade your cheese and wine party by making a cheeseball. Get inventive and create your own special cheeseball.

January 20th National Cheese Lovers Day

January holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Wow, there are a lot of cheese days on the calendar. Maybe that’s because we eat a lot of cheese! Americans consume some 31 pounds a year. That’s a lot of cheese! However, the French eat over 50 pounds of cheese a year.

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There are between 900 and 1,400 varieties of cheese available. Swiss, Cheddar, Brie, American, Mozzarella, Munster, Blue, Gouda, Jarlsberg, Parmesan, Ricotta…  well, I’m not going to list them all but I think you get the picture.

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We put cheese, or use cheese, for hundreds of dishes or just enjoy it by itself. It is believed that cheese was first discovered around 7,500 or 8,000 B.C. in what today is Poland. It is also believed that it was discovered by mistake. So see, not all mistakes are bad!

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Pair cheese with wine and you have a party! The Worlds Fair in 1964 displayed a block of cheese that weighed some 34,000 pounds. I guess that makes it the world’s largest potential party! But did you know that cheese is best served at room temperature? That is when cheese offers it best flavor (Albeit not necessarily it’s best scent).

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If you are  cheese lover, which most of us that do not suffer from lactose intolerance, today is your day. Just remember you should always tear your cheese because it would not be polite in public to cut it.

How to celebrate – Eat some cheese today! List all the cheese you like. Throw a cheese tasting party! (And don’t forget the wine)

 

April 17th National Cheeseball Day

Unboxing the Bizarre

When I started doing these blogs I thought how interesting these holidays might be.  Little did I know I would be writing one about cheese balls.  I do like cheese balls, but there’s not much to say about them.  They are made out of cheese and in a ball shape.  Depending on what you add to them they can be either healthy or not, crunchy or silky, served with meat or without.

You can use practically any kind of cheese, make it spicy or mild and serve it with vegetables, crackers, pretzels, fruit, bread, well… just about anything you can imagine.  No one knows when the first cheese ball was made, or where, but my best guess is that as soon as cavemen realized how to make cheese, the cheese ball came into being.  It’s meant to be dipped into, peeled away but never cut.  To cut the cheese would be rude.  There are many recipes for cheeseballs.  Depending on your taste of cheese some will be wonderful, others… maybe not.  So what really separates one cheese ball from the next?  Aside from the flavors, it is what they look like.  Below are a few samples I found that at least amused me.

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Obviously the cheese ball can be used to celebrate any holiday, even the weird and bizarre.   In fact, you really don’t even need for there to be a holiday to enjoy a cheese ball.  Again, Congress did not declare the day and no president ran on a cheese ball platform to get elected. (They have their own kind of cheese anyway.)

So how do you celebrate?  Well, make one of the recipes supplied above.  Create your own recipe remembering you really can use anything to make your cheese ball.  Or find a party to go to and take them a cheese ball, even if it’s just because you want one yourself.

April 4th National Cordon Bleu Day

Unboxing the Bizarre

Today is National Cordon Bleu Day.  The actual original name was schnitzel cordon bleu.  I always thought it was French but apparently, its Swiss.  (Hence why we spell it Bleu instead of Blue.)  The original version was made with veal but it has gone on to include ham and chicken.  By definition it means a meat wrapped around cheese, breaded and then pan-fried or deep-fried.  (For those health conscious, you can also bake it)

Here’s a recipe for Cordon Bleu for those of you that are do not have one of your own.  I suppose you could use anything you want in place of the meat, as long as you put cheese in the center.  There was even a recipe for fish Cordon Bleu but I passed on that one.  The first time it appeared in a cook book was in the 1940’s, a veal recipe.  Ham followed next in 1955 and finally chicken in 1967. (I could have sworn I had cordon bleu before 1967 but that was so long ago)

Cordon Bleu actually means “Blue Ribbon”, which is French. It came from Henry III court in France and was given to the “Highest Order of Knighthood”.  Known as L’Ordres des Chevaliers du Saint-Esprit, 1578.

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Some inventing chef even mixed ham and chicken together to make their Cordon Bleu, what most of us commonly know today. So I guess Chicken, Veal or Ham served up with cheese, breaded and fried is Blue Ribbon material.