boys and girls club of portland showcase of wine and cheese 2010 Archives

Grilled Cheese Please to honor FDR, and more cheese opportunities

Ever since I made those asparagus and cheese sandwiches based on Homesick Texan for her Parmesan coated toasted bread, I have been also using that parmesan coating for regular grilled cheese too sometimes when feeling like I want a hug from the gloomy winter weather. You can tell it was one of those days based on the poor lighting in my kitchen 🙁

All you have to do is sprinkle shredded parmesan on the buttered part of the bread. The upgrade is easy, and it adds a bit of crispy cheesy crust to the toast and oozy cheese inside for a textural upgrade to a normal grilled cheese. I don’t have a toaster oven so I melt my cheese in the oven, and I will flip the sandwich and top the other half with parmesan once the color looks right (depending on the bread). I prefer making grilled cheese in the oven rather than a pan or griddle because I can be sure the cheese will get melty and oozy, which doesn’t always happen when I’m using the pan before the bread is already toasted and starting to take the approach of getting burned.

Besides, that gives you time to heat up your soup or stew, or prep a side salad. Mmmm, winter hug with food. And, it ties in nicely with this month and upcoming Presidents’ Day- grilled cheese was one of FDR’s favorite foods. Franklin D Roosevelt is one of the most quotable presidents of history, and his quotes reveal his introspection and understanding of the nature of humanity and the path America was on – including stating several warnings about the rise of private power and how poverty and unemployment and a culture of fear was the enemy of democracy.

And… back to food. I always have a preference for seedy oat bread, which is what you see here, as well as two slices of smoked provolone- and a bit of melted butter and pinch of parmesan on each side, that’s it! I have historically always kept it simple, using a really nice cheese that is flavorful so that I only need a couple slices in it rather than stacking up a multi-cheese sandwich.

parmesan crusted grilled cheese

Though now, looking at all the food porn photos of grilled cheese at Grilled Cheese Social and whenever I glance at the Grilled Cheese recipe books by Laura Werlin, it is something I might reconsider. These ladies really puts together some incredible sounding grilled cheese combinations. Now Laura Werlin has a new Mac and Cheese book out too. I’m so jealous of her life. Her ability to just remember and list out recommendations of various amazing cheeses is something I aspire to- which is why starting this year I am now starting a cheese notebook to track what I try.

I’ll aspire but probably never be cheese champions like Laura or Steve of Cheese Bar, but I hope to be more conscious of learning instead of just eating it! But of course, I will continue to just love it even as F points out the contradiction of trying to eat healthier but never ever being able to give up cheese and wanting more cheese. One of the best ways I learned about cheese was during Steve and Ten 01 (since closed) one time event the Cheese Bar Spectacular in summer 2010. 100 cheeses is a lot to try and even I got cheesed out, but it made me hone in what I liked and didn’t like though comparisons.

There is an upcoming event that can help you (and me) with this though: the annual Boys & Girls Clubs’ Showcase of Wine and Cheese. Every year this is a ticket that grants you entrance to a room in the Oregon Convention center where you can sample hundreds of wines and there are cheese vendors and an appetizers buffet. I missed this event last year because I was traveling internationally for work and the year before that because of family in town, but I plan to support them again this year. The cheeses are not going to be artisan cheeses as they are too small to donate to the hundreds that attend this event, but I don’t discriminate against any cheese and it is still a great way to get introduced and practice your palate.

Also consider this kickstarter for a community cheese club that Cyril is starting:

B&G Club of Portland’s Showcase of Wine and Cheese 2010

At $40, the price tag to attend might seem steep to the Showcase of Wine and Cheese Event… until you do a little research and find out that it goes to the Boys and Girls club, and there are no additional tasting fees for any of the wine or cheese. When we entered, there was a long aisle of silent auction items that we got to peruse, and then when we walked into the Portland Ballroom we greeted by Sinatra-era music (with a singer on stage crooning- perhaps the same guy I have seen at Olive or Twist) and tables of 10 numbers each arranged in a big square or line, with each number being a wine station for 3-6 wines. The tables numbered from 1-83. Holy crap.

We picked up our 2 tasting glasses and also a big bound book which described the offerings of each station and had a lil space for tasting notes. The front section was all cheese… 60 some cheeses. Ok, maybe a handful of those were actually cheese mix spreads, or chocolate, or cheese crackers, or pears with advice on how to match it with cheese… but seriously. Most of my photos are of the cheese, because it was just put together so well.

And there were two buffet stations of antipasto and toasts topped with diced tomato or eggplant spread, vegetarian sushi, lil crabcakes, breadsticks… and 4 carving stations of beef round with horseradish and au jus. The site had mentioned hors d’oeuvres and there were some passed by servers that first hour, but having the 4 stations of food (along with all the cheese) was a great combination of wine pairings.

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It started at 6:30, and by 10 when it ended I was so full and exhausted I tell you! The atmosphere was very classy- I kept shaking my head in wonder at some of the lovely ladies I saw wearing 3-4 inch heels with their lovely dresses because there were only 20 something tables seating 10 by the stage, but otherwise everyone was on their feet tasting away. They were probably more comfortable temperature wise then I though- even in just a tank top and long sleeved shirt with jeans, I was really warm. I appreciated during that they had big iced containers of soda and bottled water by the exits.

Volunteers were hard at work at all the cheese stations, prepping trays of cubed cheese or lil containers of cracker/cheese combinations so you could help yourself to a tasting. One of the tastings actually cemented by purchase of what brand of marscapone to purchase today to make a tiramisu fondue. At the very end during clean-up, some of the trays of already prepped cheese ended up in ziploc doggy bags- we took probably 20 small cubes of a swiss cave aged gruyere, yum!

The atmosphere was super classy- besides the music and the auctions at 8:30 (there was also a live voice auction), beautiful decorations of red cloth and arrangements with red roses made it much more of a cocktail event then a bunch of tables with tastings at the convention center a la the Beer and Wine festival (which I have already marked on my calendar!). There was never a line of more then maybe 1-2 people for wine, and it could be a bit slower then cheese, but somehow people naturally did a clockwise rotation 🙂 I plan to mark this showcase for next year as well: I will be happy to return many times.