who moved my cheese?!?! oh wait, *i* did!

today i went with my friend katie to the artisan cheese festival in petaluma, ca. this was right up my alley as i [heart] cheese and 10% of the proceeds of the festival goes to helping to protect lands for pasturing goats, sheep, and cows.

strangely, this event was at a sheraton hotel...not exactly the place i would think a cheese festival would be. then again, i imagined a cheese festival would be most appropriate on an open pasture, where we would be surrounded by goats or sheep idyllically making goat or sheep noises (respectively, of course) while we all admired them from up close... aaaaaand, this is why someone like me isn't in charge of setting up events like this. obviously, having any sort of anything near farm animals and well, farm animal poopy, is a patently bad idea. [question: "what do you think of our award winning wine?" more than likely response: "hmmm, smells slightly of cherries, vanilla, and oak...but mostly i smell cow pie."]

on saturday night, i remembered that daylight savings time started the next day. i then moronically forgot to carry the thought out by changing my clock. so, today started with my waking up an hour later than i actually wanted to (which, btw, was still a good 2 hours or so earlier than i normally get up on sundays, so :P). my grand-master plan to wake up and make buttermilk biscuit breakfast sandwiches went out the window with an unceremonious and unladylike: "what the --...oh $%&&&&&&&&&&&&#!!!" (followed by frantic text messaging to katie informing her of aforementioned bonehead move.)

i got ready as quickly as i could (midway, i realized not only had i somehow completely forgotten to shower on saturday, but also that i wouldn't be able to correct this most unfortunate oversight until after the cheese festival. ...there's a joke in there, right?) and drove to katie's house. when she opened the door, i was greeted by a mirror image of me. and by that, i don't mean katie somehow had turned from a tall scandinavian blond into a *not-tall* (unshowered) korean girl with a large asian head. no, what i mean by "mirror image" is she was wearing exactly the same colors i was: bright green top and navy pants. how does something like that even happen? and you want to hear something even more disturbing? [dramatic pause] SHE WOULDN'T CHANGE HER CLOTHES! i know, f-ed up, right? peeps were going to think we were "booth chicks." or, worse still (but much, much closer to the truth): weirdos.

at any rate, brain farts and stubborn refusals aside, we still got to the cheese festival right at the beginning. we had bought our tickets ahead of time, so we stood in the "pre-registered" line to pick them up. now, i don't know about you, but i would assume that if you've taken the time to make sure you get to stand in the "pre-registered" line, you're supposed to get a leg up on riff-raff who are "walk ups"... well, let's just say for next year, i'll be perfectly fine being "riff-raff" and leave it at that.

once we got our "fast-track" tickets (ahem), our personal 3-hour cheesefest began. and it turned out it was actually a good thing that we hadn't had much in the way of breakfast. there were 26 cheesemakers (you can check out the entire list here), 8 wineries, and 4 breweries. and they all really really wanted you to try their generous samples, and we were more than happy to oblige them. below is the stuff i liked; i was able to buy everything except the wine and beer - for whatever reason, they weren't for sale today. yeah exactly: big-time buzzkill (and i had a really good one going, too, by the end ;).

alcohol heisman aside, this was a great way to spend a sunday afternoon; it was 70 degrees, sunny, and filled with cheeeeeeeese, glorious cheese!*

cheeses:
beechers flagship cheese (a mix btwn gruyere and cheddar; can you say "mac & cheese"?!)
cypress grove truffle tremor (goat cheese. AMAZING)
la clarine sierra mountain tomme (goat cheese. yum)
cowgirl creamery mt. tam (cow's milk triple cream)

butter:
spring hill organic butter (taaaasty)
clover farmstead organic butter (comes in a cute crock...i'm such a sucker for packaging)

artisan foods:
della fattoria panforte (snack-time treat!)
claire's squares flapjacks (crispy, toffee-oaty goodness)
the girl and the fig black mission fig jam (tastes like pure fresh figs)

wine:
keller estate (always been a fan of their pinot; finally bit the bullet and signed up for the wine club)
black kite cellars (pinot)

breweries:
lagunitas brewing saison ale
russian river brewing damnation
marin brewing company mt. tam pale ale (i think...not positive it was this one)


*cheese commercial jingle from the 80's
cheese, glorious cheese,
so sumptuous and lucious!
cheese, marvelous cheese,
makes everything scrumptious!
what else is so versatile?
real cheese is always a hit!
it's cheese: marvelous cheese,
versatile cheeeeeeeeese,
glorious cheeeeeeeeeeese!!!!!!