Category Nibbles

I can still hear the screen door slam behind me as I run into the loving embrace of my apron-adorned Grandmother where she stands, heart wide open, in her happy kitchen. She left us long ago but her twinkling smile still sparkles in my heart.

I can see her, clear as day, coming in from the backyard with an apron full of ripe cherries she just picked from her cherry tree. I can taste the tartness of the plump, ruby coloured, juicy jewels that she loaded in her cherry pie.

I will always remember the life lessons she taught me, like “two wrongs don’t make a right” or:

Or to share what you have whenever you can. During hard times homeless people knew that if they knocked on her door, they could always count on my Grandmother to share whatever food she had.

Her name was Miriam but they called her May for short, having been born on the 31st of May. Today would have been her birthday. In honour of May’s birthday, I am enjoying a mid-morning snack of a handful of luscious black cherries that are the perfect foil for a small, sinful smear of buttery St. André (a soft ripened cheese crafted in Normandy, France). Olive black cherries with St. André cheese. It’s dessert without the guilt. I will wash it down with a spot of tea in this pretty and very special tea cup that was passed down to me. It was May’s birthday tea cup. Look, it has lilies of the valley and the word “May” printed on it. Isn’t it lovely?

It’s as lovely as May. Love you Grandma…and I saved the tea bag.

St. André cheese: Ile de France (available at Longo’s)

Teapot: Available from cobistyle.

Bouquet of lily-of-the-valley: Thanks to my husband. He surprises me every spring with a hand-picked bouquet. He says I look like May.

I went for a lovely country drive with my Dad last Saturday to The Mill Street Cheese Market, just off Main Street in quaint, historic downtown Georgetown. The pretty little shop is filled to the brim with the best local and international cheeses, cured meats, charcuterie, and gourmet specialty food products, from as close as Caledon to as far away as Europe and Australia. Olive the Mill Street Cheese Market. Whenever I go, I feel like I am visiting a little fromagerie shop in France.

Like a kid in a candy shop, I like to start each visit by browsing every inch of the shelves for little gourmet treasures like preserves, olive oil, pasta sauces, and even artisanal limonade from France and the iconic St-Viateur Bagels from Montreal (you haven’t had a proper bagel if you haven’t had a St-Viateur Bagel).

It doesn’t take long before one of the staff tempts me with samplings of the fabulous cheeses and cured meats that this shop has to offer. Go with an appetite and the time to learn about each product. These people know their cheese and are passionate about sharing their knowledge with you.

The first nibble that I was offered was a little spoon filled with a tiny dollop of Rootham’s Tangy Red Pepper Jelly and topped with a sliver of Aged Farmhouse artisan cheese from Natural Pastures Cheese Company in Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Wow! The sweet and spicy tang of the jelly was a delicious match for this outstanding aged firm cheese that was rich and flavourful with slightly granular and sweet end-notes. Natural Pastures Cheese Company produces a variety of world-class,  award-winning cheeses. They use fresh, pure milk from grass-fed cows who live stress-free on the pristine farms of the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.

Rootham Gourmet Preserves Tangy Red Pepper Jelly is all natural and gluten free. It is made in Guelph, Ontario with local Canadian ingredients, including fresh Ontario red bell peppers.

My next sample was Summer Sausage made by Mennonites in Stratford, Ontario. This fine textured sausage is all pork and sold whole, wrapped in a cloth bag which helps to preserve it.

As soon as you roll back the cloth, you are enticed by the piquant aroma.  A thin slice practically melts in your mouth but bursts with garlic, warm spice and smokiness. Irresistible.

I made my way to the cheese counter and tried a sample of a creamy Thunder Oak Medium Gouda made by the Schep family with fresh milk from their Holstein cows, on Thunder Oak Cheese Farm in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Their lovely Dutch cheese is award-winning and free of preservatives or added colouring.  Dill or Jalapeno flavoured Thunder Oak Gouda was also available but I bought the plain medium to pair it with Roothman’s Tangy Red Pepper Jelly.

My final treat was Magie de Madawaska,  an artisanal washed rind cheese made from full cream cow’s milk by Fromagerie Le Détour in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec.  Soft, creamy, and full of flavour.

Just visiting The Mill Street Cheese Market is a joy in itself but I am pretty sure that you won’t leave the store empty handed. It is conveniently located just off Main Street, a few steps from where the wonderful Georgetown Farmers Market is held on Saturday mornings during the growing season.

If you would like to learn a little more about the producers of these fine products, please visit their websites below.