Advice you can taste. Adventure you can feel.

Party Weotta Style (Part2) Cheese

Now that you know all about drinks let’s move on to food.

Let’s start off with our favorite food to serve at parties, cheese. We love serving cheese. It tastes great, and in our opinion, it is a mandatory part of any cocktail party. There are so many different kinds of cheese to choose from… you have hard ones like parmesan, soft ones like brie, fresh ones like mozzarella, funky ones like blue, and salty ones like Manchego. You can have a lot of fun mixing them up, and don’t be afraid to try new ones. O ya, and never get the sliced stuff… it is for sandwiches only.

We are lucky to live in California where we have so many wonderful cheeses made right here. Some of the California cheeses we love are…

• Cowgirl Creamery’s Red Hawk: It’s a triple cream brie-like cheese packed with layers of bold pungent flavors.
• Cypress Grove Chevre’s Humboldt Fog: It is quite deceptive. Yes, it is a nice mild goat cheese, but inside there is a layer of ash that gives it a tangy cool sharp flavor.
• Rouge et Noir’s Marin French Gold: Roug et Noir’s produces some of the best traditional bries and camemberts outside of France. Their Marin French Gold is our favorite. It is so light and fluffy, perfect with berries or an ice wine.

O ya and once a year we have our very own California Artisan Cheese Festival. This year it is March 20th-23rd. Weotta go enjoy some great handcrafted California cheese.

Some of our favorites from outside California are

• Parrano: It from the Netherlands; although, it thinks it is Italian. It can be best described as mild, a little salty, a little crunchy, pretty hard, and somewhat sweet.
• Cave-aged Gruyere: Ya it is from Switzerland, but it is way different than normal Gruyere.  It is a little harder, nuttier, more rustic tasting, and packed with flavor.
• Raclette: This cheese kinda stinks, but it is packed with flavors that are so lovely. Once you taste it you will either hate it or want more… lots more. It is traditionally melted and served warm, but we love it cold as well. In fact, a few of the folks at Weotta can consume a half pound block of this cheese in under an hour… it really is that good.
• Haloumi: We have mentioned this lovely cheese before. It is the Greek grilling cheese…we love it, everyone we serve it to loves it and no-one can ever get enough of it…just ask Naval. It is quite unique and really only comes to life when pan-fried or grilled. When done it has a nice golden brown outside, a creamy center and the saltiness of feta. Don’t worry, it never gets too soft and yes, it is obvious when it is done. Enjoy it smeared on bread. If you aren’t convinced you will love it watch this short clip…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtToWrL42_o]

So now that you are craving cheese… bet you want to know where to buy the good stuff. Here in SF we are lucky we have some fantastic places to buy cheese, like Cow Girl Creamery in the ferry building and Rainbow Grocery. We go to Rainbow a lot for all sorts of foods, but they have an amazing selection. In fact, Rainbow has all the cheeses we have mentioned above at quite reasonable prices. BiRite also has a nice compact selection of unique things. Whole Foods has a little bit of everything as well. For those of you on a budget or just like a good deal, Trader Joe’s has many of the same things as Whole Foods for quite a bit less… it really is your best bang for the buck. And for those of you who want some really unique stuff go to artisanalcheese.com … you will find all sorts of cheeses you never knew existed.

Wow, never expected to go on about cheese that long, guess we really do love the stuff… if you want to learn more you could always sign up for cheese school.

To be continued…

Party Weotta Style (Part 1)

We love our friends and we really enjoy throwing parties. For those of you who were able to join us for our New Year’s Eve affair you know what I mean : ) It was pretty sweet! Thanks for joining us and thanks to all those who helped us put it on. A lot of people have asked how we throw such nice affairs. Well, that is a big question and it is going to take more than one post to answer. So let’s start off with drinks.

Champagne: Now, who doesn’t love bubbles? Always a party draw and oh so much fun. As many of you know we had quite the selection on New Years thanks to our very own sommelier, Nivi. And before that we had Jim’s Champs party co-hosted by Patti and Rob. At this point I think we have tried everything from the driest dry to the sweetest sweet and the whitest white to the pinkest pink. Bottom line, there is the good stuff and there is everything else, and price is not the best indicator of what is good. Check out K&L liquors, ask for Scott and tell him we sent you. Tell him the flavors you like and I bet you will get something pretty darn good for around $30. Or stop by BiRite in the Mission, they always have something interesting for about $15 or so. One of our personal favorites, Henriot, pronounced On-ri-oh, is at K&L for a steal of $32… you will love its crisp fresh flavor.

Gin: It sits and looks boring… for some reason people love gin and tonics at bars but at house parties it never flows… you can do without it.  But if you gotta have it, try Anchor Steam Junipero Gin, made in SF by Anchor Brewing.

Vodka: Goes like water at parties so get lots of it. If you are mixing, Smirnoff is fine. On the rocks, you will want Ketel or better. Our personal favorite is Hanger One, made here in the Bay Area. It is a little pricey, but o so smooth… drink it on the rocks or with a splash of soda or tonic. You will see what we mean. You may want to keep it out of sight for it has been known to sprout legs.

Whiskey: It is always good to have a bottle of Makers or Bullet on the bar… fills it out nicely. Forget about putting out the really good stuff, few people really appreciate it and Bullet really drinks quite well. If you want to try something a few steps up try Michter’s Rye… so tasty… so sweet… you may not want to leave this one on the bar, it just screams, “I am special. I am different, drink me”.

Rum: Ok, it goes with Coke and a few juices. Definitely a distant second or third – nothing special, but a must-have for your tropical drink friends. Although, you can have some fun with it, try making The Pineapple Express.

Tequila: There is such thing as tasty tequila and it’s not Patron. Patrons isn’t bad, but try Partida or Don Julio Anejo neat. People love Margaritas, and that is what Jose Cuervo is for… it should always be mixed and never done as a shot. But if you really want to know what tequila is good for ask Joe Nichols.

Wine: We really enjoy good wine from all over the world – Pinots, Cabs, Malbecs. But the problem with wine at parties is everyone and their mother is always bringing it, and usually it is just some random bottle. Know why? Re-gifting. You know, the act of taking something someone gave you and giving it to someone else. Wine might very well be the #1 re-gifted thing in the world. If you want to have good wine at a party ,don’t put it on the bar. Carry it around, pour it for your friends, and let them know what they are drinking. They will appreciate it more and you look like quite the consummate host.

Glassware: One more thing, we like to have real stemware and highball glasses to drink out of. Nowhere is better for this than Ikea. They have champagne flutes for $0.75 a glass, you can’t even buy plastic ones for that. If we have to do plastic, the clear small plastic ones are ok. No big red cups! Just forget them. People drink too much and trash your house; trust me, I know from experience.

That should cover things for you alcoholics. Weotta get a drink

Next up, cheese and after that all the other tasty bites.