Inside the American Cheese Society Festival of Cheese

In mid-June, Eric, cheesemaker at Monroe Cheese Studio and number one son, emailed to say he was driving the Maine Cheese Guild‘s entries to the American Cheese Festival in Chicago at the end of July. If I wanted to come and help drive, my lodging and some food would be covered. I’m a sucker for a road trip and had nothing pressing on my plate, so I said, “Why not?” The fact that my wife Carol hates road trips and I hadn’t been on one since ought-four made the decision easy.

But to do this trip, I’d have to fly red-eye to Boston to hook up with Eric, then drive 16 hours to Chicago. Not attractive. Looking outside the U.S. box I found that I could fly 6:30am to 5pm to Montreal and have Eric pick me up there. That makes a shorter trip to Chicago and no red-eye. Now my juices were flowing with anticipation. Who knew what age 70 would bring.

The American Cheese Society Conference and Competition Awards. All I knew was that last year it was in Vermont and Eric won third prize for his Thistle Blue Cheese.

How big is it? Research told me that last year 1,209 cheeses and dairy products were entered involving 181 producers from 30 states and 3 Canadian provinces. It took 30 judges to determine the prizes. Wow. Eric sent me a form to volunteer for work setting up the Festival in exchange for a free apron and a ticket to the evening Festival tasting (worth $85). Who could pass that up? Continue reading →

Son Brian traveled from France to present a paper in Vancouver, June 21 to 27, Saturday to Friday. We had often talked about seeing Vancouver sometime. What a perfect opportunity. We went. We ate.

Orientation: Downtown Vancouver is a peninsula between Vancouver Harbour to the north and False Creek to the south. Stanley Park occupies the west end. Brian stayed in his convention hotel, the Westin Bayshore (W) at the west end of Georgia Street — Vancouver’s main drag — Carol and I stayed in the Sandman Hotel (S) at the east end of Georgia. Westin = resort hotel, Sandman = Canadian chain hotel, catering to European tour groups. We hung at the Weston and slept at Sandman.

Here, I recount a walking tour and our last few days of dining in Vancouver. As with most of our unfamiliar big city experiences, there were highs and there were lows; the highs were very high, the lows were merely ordinary. This installment takes us Tuesday through Friday.

Tuesday Breakfast
Rosie’s on Robson
Even though Moxie’s is a good value, for a change o’ pace, we breakfasted at Rosie’s on Robson, a few blocks from Sandman. Pretty good. We shared the BIG BREAKFAST. Carol took the bacon, eggs and toast; I took the potatoes, sausage and beans. Perfecto.

Our BIG BUS ticket expired, so Carol picked a “loop walk” out of our guidebook. It took us down the Granville Mall — a quasi-pedestrian street that just now is having a subway built down its center.

Continue reading →

Son Brian traveled from France to present a paper in Vancouver, June 21 to 27, Saturday to Friday. Carol and I had often talked about seeing Vancouver sometime. What a perfect opportunity. We went. We ate.

Orientation: Downtown Vancouver is a peninsula between Vancouver Harbour to the north and False Creek to the south. Stanley Park occupies the west end. Brian stayed in his convention hotel, the Westin Bayshore at the west end of Georgia Street — Vancouver’s main drag — Carol and I stayed in the Sandman Hotel at the east end of Georgia. Westin = resort hotel, Sandman = Canadian chain hotel, catering to European tour groups. We hung at the Weston and slept at Sandman.

Welcome to Vancouver

Here, I recount our dining scene in Vancouver. As with most of our unfamiliar big city experiences, there were highs, there were lows; the highs were very high, the lows were merely ordinary. This installment takes us through Monday. Continue reading →