Say “Cheeeeese!” Yummy…
We received 3 truly gourmet blocks of cheese in the first shipment of Gourmet Monthly Club’s Cheese of the Month Gift Club. The three varieties included a Vermont Cheddar, Percorino Pepata, and a Spanish Tetilla.

The package arrived nice and snug in an insulated envelope with a reusable ice pack inside a cardboard shipping box.

Each of the blocks of cheese is approximate a half pound, for a total of 1 and a half pounds of cheeses.

The accompanying Tasting Notes suggested using the Spanish Tetilla cheese in recipes that call for a stuffing or melted cheese coating. So we made Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was delicious! We didn’t even need to use a whole lot of the cheese because the flavor was so strong and distinct. It was a perfect choice! And the Tetilla is good to eat plain, too!

The Vermont Cheddar was described as being “creamy, smooth and gentle” as opposed to having a “strong, bitter bite” like many cheddars. They were so right! Such good flavor, still sharp, but not overly so. We have used the cheddar in many ways already… straight up on crackers, melted in scrambled eggs (although in hindsight it’s really too good to be used like that), and crumbled in a salad. Like the Tetilla, a little goes a long way. So you don’t have to use as much as you would a common grocery store variety.

We have not tried the Pecorino Pepata (pepper cheese) yet. It’s the one pictured above. But we look forward to tasting it soon!

This would make a great gift for someone who enjoys high quality, gourmet food and / or cooking. It’s one of my favorites! The cheeses featured in the Gourmet Monthly Club’s “Cheese of the Month Club” are usually varieties you won’t always be able to find easily on your own.

Photos of the newsletter:

For more information or to order, visit the Gourmet Monthly Clubs website.

We just received our first monthly shipment of beer from Amazing Clubs (also the parent company to Flying Noodle). The monthly beer selections included 4 different types of beer from 2 different breweries.

The first brewery, the Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, included Prelude Special Ale – a full-bodied ale with a deep amber hue – and Longfellow Winter Ale – a hybrid between a Porter and a Scottish Ale. Both look to be hearty beers.

The second brewery, Sherwood Forest Brewers Limited in Marlborough, Massachusetts, offered the Archer’s Ale – similar to an English Pale Ale – and Maiden’s Blueberry Ale – described as “a colored pale ale with the subtle flavor and aroma of fresh blueberries.” Hmmm… we’re not quite sure what to think about that one, but will find out soon enough!

As you can see, the beer arrived in sturdy packaging and all bottles arrived perfectly in tact.

There is also a 1-page flyer that tells a little about the breweries and each of the beers. It’s nothing fancy – just an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper that looks like it was photocopied (and some of the ink is smeared). The backside just contains sales info.

We have not sampled the beer yet. Will post again once they get nice and cold! Stay tuned…

For more information on this Beer of the Month Club, visit the Amazing Clubs website.

“Bacon is Meat Candy” – that’s the motto at BaconFreak.com. This post is for bacon-lover’s only (or anyone who is shopping for a bacon-lover)… vegetarians should move on!

How many different ways can you really make bacon? Well, at BaconFreak.com – a LOT! There’s Bourbon Street Cajun Style Hickory Smoked Country Bacon, Vanilla Bourbon Hickory Smoked Country Bacon, Smoked Jalapeno Bacon, Apple Cinnamon Bacon, Boss Hog Honey BBQ Bacon, Boss Hog Hickory Smoked Brown Sugar Cured Bacon, Baby Bubba’s Butcher Block Hickory Smoked Peppered Bacon, Rocco’s Private Reserve Country Pepper Bacon, Rocco’s Private Reserve Sun Dried Tomato Bacon… the list goes on. The folks at BaconFreak.com LOVE their bacon!

We were treated to a sample of Rocco’s Bacon of the Month Club – and it was definitely out of the ordinary!

The shipment looks like any other shipment…..

Inside the box, there are a couple “goodies” to accompany the bacon… a “Bacon is Meat Candy” t-shirt with a huge pig on the front and a bacon-scented air freshener. Yeah, these folks love bacon alright! And the bacon is wrapped in what else but bacon wrapping paper!

The bacon flavors this month included Boss Hogg Honey BBQ Rubbed Hickory Smoked Bacon and Smokey’s Savory Select Dry Cured Maplewood Smoked Bacon.

We fried up some of the Honey BBQ bacon right away. Good stuff! Meaty, smokey, and full of flavor! This is not the bacon you’d buy from your grocer’s freezer.

If you know a bacon-lover, send them this Bacon of the Month Gift Club and they’ll love you forever!

For more information or to order, visit the Bacon Freak website.

View more Bacon of the Month Clubs

This month’s Chocolate of the Month Club from Gourmet Monthly Clubs included an assortment of six biscotti with different flavors of dark and milk chocolate, as well as two boutique-type chocolate candy bars.

Now this “Biscotti” was not at all like what I think of when I envision Biscotti – it was 98% chocolate, with just a bit of crunch to it. The crunch was similar to the krispies in Krackel bars. Very light and airy.

The varieites of milk chocolate and dark chocolate was nice. Each had a subtle flavor to it, such as mint, raspberry, and apricot, and the chocolate is rich. The candy bars were exceptional – rich, smooth chocolate. Just what you would expect!

And of course, the newsletter accompanying the package was fun and informative as usual.

All in all, this would be a real treat to receive every month. A Chocolate Lover would absolutely LOVE it! It’s nice to try varieties of chocolate that you normally would not have access to or think to purchase for your self.

For more information or to sign-p for this Chocolate of the Month Club, visit the Gourmet Monthly Clubs website.