So this is an over flow topic from the sex topic that very fast turned into talking about cheese (oh what a tangled web we weave).  So favorite cheeses people?

2006 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Winner  in the Old, Extra old aged cheddar category:

5 year Heritage Cheddar, Balderson Cheese (ON)  - This marks the second straight year that the Balderson 5 Year Heritage has won this award. It sooooo so good... normally I have the 3 year which is great but the 5 year is absolutely one of the great tastes of the world.
 

I haven't yet tried the Grand Prize Winner but hope to do so at Thanksgiving:

La Sauvagine, the winner for the washed rind category and also the 2006 Grand Champion, is a beautifully creamy cheese with a moist rind that ripens from the outside in. Its distinct flavour is both smooth and delicate, and uniquely balanced with a hint of butter and mushrooms.

For me it is baked brie, so creamy and smooth!

The local coffee shop has a Turkey, Red Onion and Brie on Focaccia, baked to melt the cheese just before serving, that is positively sublime...and while we often do the baked brie thing at home (its my wife's fav) I'll stick to a good solid aged cheese with a wonderful Port as being one of the great experiences of life.

I've also had a pan-fried Brie and Cranberry sandwich which was positively sinful (I got the idea from the BBC and we had left over Cranberries from either Christmas or Thanksgiving):

oh my mmmm drooling all over my computer!

There's a cheese shop up in the Southern Highlands town of Robertson that has a cheddar and onion cheese that is great with Jatz peppered crackers and a nice red wine.  A good way to end a pleasant day in kangaroo valley.

Soft danish blue in my scrambled eggs.

Cornish Yarg is great, other wise camembert without the rind

Yarg is great!  I used to work in the UK, and the Waitrose had Yarg in the cheese shop (no, not like Monty Python).  Looked terrible (like it was rotting or something)  but tasted wonderful.

I honestly love every cheese besides blue cheese, it is like eatting mold

You should try some of the King Island Cheeses that Woolies has.  Good stuff.  There's also a Tassie Sun Dried Tomato cheese that is quite good.  Aussie cheese is very good in general.  Gotta do a trip down to Tilba soon and pig out.

mmm sun dried tomato cheese yum!

I've been told that Gouda (the city) has various stalls in the marketplace selling all types of Gouda (the cheese) with different flavours. Apparently you can have chili Gouda, Apple Gouda, Tomato gouda, Smoked Gouda...the list goes on

This topic is making me very hungry indeed....

Serious cheese indeed!  I make a Jalapeno burger for lunch.  A turkey burger patty, hot pepper jack cheese, sliced jalapenos, and Mrs. Renfro's hot green sauce.  Wonderful.

Direct from Texas.

Oh hot pepper jack cheese!  I have yet to find that here in Oz, that would certainly spice up some of my sandwiches

I miss my Aussie cheese, but Jalapeno jack on burgers is devine.  I've not seen anything close to it there, but hot food (non-asian, at least) is hard to find there.  The fruit and veg in Hornsby has black beans from Texas, so that's an improvement.  I put those in my USA-sourced chilli mix.  Good stuff from home.

Jalapenos I tried growing some but the slugs ate the seedlings

oops

Yeah it was partly my fault

bet those were happy little slugs

They probably died shortly afterwards due to excessive spice

I planted a new veggie garden one year only to have my seedlings chomped by evil snails.  I had to go to Paris on business shortly thereafter, and ordered escargot at dinner to return the favour.  Snails and garlic are a wonderful combination.  Yum!

I've only had them served in the shells a few times.... many other timesI've had them in "dimpled" dishes swimming in the garlic butter or better yet in mushroom caps.  A couple times I've had them prepared as Escargot Profiterole (the baby snails, roasted garlic, and herbed butter are served in puff pastry) but I do prefer them without the pastry.

The dimpled dishes are pretty good, as long as the double up the garlic.  Sometimes the garlic/butter ratio is off and they're too buttery.

I really need to try snails, everyone who knows me says with my tastes I would really like it

There must be decent French restaurant in Sydney that has good escargot.  Alex?  You know a place for snails?

...the backyard.... 

Heliciculture please! Not all snails are edible!

Especially the ones with noxious goo coming out of their shell

The noxious goo adds flavour.

Ahhh thats where I went wrong

Does anybody else enjoy dropping bricks on slug?

That's cruel.  I like to salt them and watch them squirm.  Far more entertaining than crushing them with bricks.

ya all are just evil!

haha oh dear

That's the mascot of the University of California, Santa Cruz.  I have a shirt with the Banana Slug on it.  Go Slugs!

haha I didn't know that the slug was their mascot haha, that is great!

Yeah, my dad is a big fan of salting em to death too

seems like such a cruel way to go

Is there a non-cruel way to go?

Even the commercial snail & slug treatments are cruel and kill the same way as salt. These should be banned.  Maybe Kevin Rudd will support legislation to require a no kill policy for slugs.

If you really want to know your Banana Slug you might follow this suggestion from the pages of the BBC: give a Banana Slug a lick: "Not just a touch with the tip of the tongue, but a full-on 'puppy dog happy to see ya' kind of lick. As you watch the slug shrink away from the sudden stimuli, you will notice a most remarkable chemical reaction: your tongue goes numb. The slimy trail of slug ooze is really the only adaptation for slugs to have a chance of survival when lapped up by some human-looking puppy dog. Truly biochemistry at its finest." I'm not sure what the safe limit of consumption might be - so this is at your own risk!

Myself, I think I'll go back to thinking about, and tasting, cheese.

I wonder if you can smoke them?

I'd rather lick frogs

hmm smoked slug, nah don't think I would even do it on a dare.

@ dek you might get yourself into more more then you thought if you go around licking frogs

This I could do with:

Polenta dumplings stuffed with cheese
 

mmm thank-you.... I'm away  starting tomorrow and unfortunately back on the diet on my return.... but these will be part of the Christmas day goody package I whip up for sure!  I think I might try substituting some goat cheese in the recipe.

mmmmmmmm

Polenta in a bowl with gorgonzola cheese on it is great.  I had this in a restaurant in Switzerland once.  They had a machine the constantly kneads the polenta, and they just "cut some off" and put it in a bowl with the cheese drizzled on top.  Like porridge but so much tastier.

That sounds even better.... the Swiss do some wonderful things from small beginnings.... I really enjoyed the couple of Raclette restaurants we took in.

I will give Erik's suggestion of  Polenta with gorgonzola a try as well... sounds great!
 

Polenta con gorgonzola.

honestly I would die if cheese wasn't in my life! It brings my tummy so much joy!

I just love melted cheese! I despise all that dislike it

yeah there is nothing better then gooey warm cheese.  Domino's here has this crust with a layer of cheese wedged in it through out the whole crust!  And it is always melted to perfection!

speaking of melted cheese... might have been all the subliminal messages here, but i just realised I had melted cheese on crackers for brekky both mornings over the weekend!

oh very nice!

A good use of melted cheese is on chilli.  I take one those Sourdough (can't get decent sourdough in Sydney, unfortunately) round u-bake loaves, bake it in the oven, cut the top off and hollow it out, and add a can of Stag (or better yet-homemade) chilli and a bunch of shredded cheese that then melts on top.  Yummy!

oh I love bread bowls!!! and cheesy chilli is the best! yum!

Without cheese, unfortunately.  I also add heaps of Cholula Hot Sauce.

I'm assuming you're talking abt American 'chilli' and not chilli

What does it look like?

Actually, I was thinking more of this:

Which is what I cooked last night
 

That looks good!  Save some for me!

wow I miss good old Skyline Chillie from Cinni! With noodles!

@Erik - I had it for dinner last nite, and I tell ya, not a good idea with cracked lips! They were on fire!

 

I made eggs with fresh Habanero peppers once.  Rubbed my eyes whilst cooking.   Almost had to go to the emergency room, plus the vapours from the peppers cooking was like capsicum spray.  Next time I'll use a gas mask.

Next time?

Watch out or you could be in the same position as the Thai Cottage in London and cause a call out of the hazardous material teams for putting noxious gases in the air.
 

My favorite cheese is called "Herve", made in Belgium (cow milk), pretty similar to Munster, with a much stronger smell, a bit more salty, very tasty...

People around Liege eat it with syrup made of apple&pear. Really delicious.
 

Not too sure about that-I'm not a big fan of savoury and sweet together, but the cheese alone sounds wonderful.

Yeah I agree with Erik, sweet and salty in the cheese form hmmm.  But the cheese sounds fab!

I agree too; we put the syrup on the table for tradition sake, but rarely touch it... or just a tiny drop

Interesting Facts about Cheese

There's an interesting table in that article showing the composition of different milks. Whale milk anyone?
 

Okay I really don't remember the name of the dish I had on Friday night at the Lowenbrau, but is was cheesy good. It had those homemade German noodles with fried onions and baked cheese on top!  Sooooo good!!

Erik do you remember what it was?

The noodles are spaetzle, my mother in law has a press to make them.

Dunno what the dish was called.

Allgäuer Käsespätzle (Vegetarian)
      Baked Cheese Spätzle (fresh home made Bavarian
      Pasta) with Melted Onions and Served with a Side Salad

Probably was this, above, from their menu.  Kaese = Cheese, spaetzle is noodles.  So, like Bobo on Fat Pizza, they're big and cheezy noodles!

I'll ask my girlfriend to cook that for me when she comes over