Valentine's with Rush Creek

This 2/14, rather than roses and chocolates, the centerpiece on my table was cheese - Rush Creek Reserve to be specific. The raw cow's milk Vacherin Mont d’Or style cheese, debuted late last year by Uplands Cheese Co. is a rarely found style in the American cheese market (with the exception of Jasper Hill's Winnimere). This winter cheese, unctuous and creamy, tasting meaty, a little mushroomy, a bit vegetal (like broccoli), and woodsy from the Spruce bark wrapped around its exterior, is a force to be reckoned with. I brought this cheese to both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but Valentine's was by far the ripest. (Last of the season I later learned). Hands down, a cheese that begs to be shared.

While amazing on its own, the experience was only further enhanced by Blossom Bluff's dried Spring Bright yellow nectarines, locally grown almonds, and a crisp, mineraly Ligurian white. Sadly we won't be seeing this cheese again until late 2011. While it will be missed, the chilly Winter days and holiday excitement I now associate with Rush Creek hold even more impact and (hopefully, soon) memories than any other exceptional cheese I can purchase year-round. Definitely a treat well worth waiting for. As they say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder".