Brick Street Market

2011-12-22T08:44:00.000-08:00

Brick Street Market does really have the best holiday cheese collection in Walworth County! I am thrilled to be able to present some of our favorites for your holiday gift presentations.
We have Carr Valley's Menage, Cocoa Cardona, 4 year cheddar block, and Apple Smoked Cheddar. Or perhaps a Sartori selection - bold asiago, crunchy Sarvechio, and any number of Bellevitano flavors! Marieke goudas from foenegreek, to black mustard seed, to smoked. Blaser's Antonella's in several savory flavors. Roth Kase and Sugarbrook with Gruyere, Butterkase, Buttermilk Blue Affine and holiday spreads, too!

Not to mention our European Collection - Bucherolle - a delicate and lovely soft ripened goat cheese with white fuzzy external mold. Beautiful served with a heated apricot compote and your favorite Champagne or buttery Chardonnay. If you're in the mood for international, we can 'fly' you from Italy to France to Spain and back! Need something unique but small - Pave Sauvage is a goat chevre from France that is rolled in Tarragon and 3 peppercorns: Place on a few sprigs of juniper or evergreen for a unique intimate plated presentation. Need something more outlandish - try a Langres - the beautiful squiggly ripened cheese with the final of pouring champagne into the well of the cheese.

Got all your cheeses selected and purchased? Perhaps, you just need a between course palate cleanser for the big meal? I have just the thing for you. We recently received a Fromage Blanc made by Vermont Butter and Cheese Company. We made up their recipe for a light and refreshing dip, and I have been using it in store with sliced broccoli chips and florets as an appetizer. Stop in for a tub and a recipe card.

Some thoughts on a staged Carr Valley Christmas dinner pairing:
I recommend serving the Menage as an aperitif with a light bubbly. You can serve the Cocoa Cardona after the salad with a buttery Chardonnay. After soup, I'd serve the 4 year Cheddar, I'd be looking for a great merlot, full of black and red summer fruit to complement the saltiness of the aging cheddar and amplify its sweetness. After your entree course, I recommend finishing with the Apple Smoked Cheddar and a sherry like Duet, classically deep amber colored with hazelnut overtones. The fortified wine is a perfect foil for the heavier cheddar, and it's overlying sweetness enhances the fruitwood smokiness.
Enjoy!

Another hurdle cleared!

2011-10-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally have done it. Brick Street Market was awarded it's Class B Reserve License last week! It's been a year and a half long conversation with the City of Delavan and many committee meetings trying to figure a way to add this program. It's a tale of the determination of a small business, and how the entrepreneur must be ever steadfastly loyal to their dream.

We opened in July 2008, received our Class A retailer license in October 2008. By January 2009, I knew what we really needed was the license that allowed us to not only sell the bottle for off-premise consumption, but also serve our customers a glass to enjoy with our wonderful cheeses. Preliminary investigation - $10,000 for the initial year, $625 every year after. Whew! That's a lot of wine, and not just a little bit of cheese as well. As you no doubt recall, we were in the height of recession woes at that time, and I decided I'd have to wait until we were better established. Still, that year when I renewed my 'little' Class A license (I use quotes because any entrepreneur will know that a $625 fee is hefty in the budget of a fledgling business), it just bugged me that TIF districts in our community's industrial parks and big box shopping centers had received financial support to get up and running, but downtown businesses were failing for lack of any support, past or present. For the better part of 2010, I had the ongoing support of one alderman, Dave Kilkenny, in my search for a solution. Dave has been a great champion of downtown business, and I so appreciated his being in my corner. While I continued to lose customers who just wanted to have a glass of wine, I started doing some 'light' reading.

Wisconsin Statute 125 is all about how to put someone in a deep trance, from which there is little hope of recovery. Fortunately for me, I also have one of Southeast Wisconsin's most helpful wine distributor reps around - Beth from Purple Feet. She helped break down the details, and give me examples of nearby communities and how they creatively encouraged the small business through development grants. At about this time, I was invited to participate in the Revitalize Downtown Taskforce, and talk eventually came around to how development grants could also help downtown businesses. Lo and behold, 9 months later, the City hired a new Adminstrator, Denise Pieroni, who came on board with new ideas and energies and the dialogue turned in a more positive direction.

Over the summer, a plan was proposed to provide an economic development grant for small businesses within the historic business district. I was the recipient of the first grant approved at the October Common Council meeting, and received the license last Friday! Woo Hoo! We are thrilled at the prospect of our customers coming to our store and sitting down with a glass of wine and a cheese board, featuring our great lineup of cheeses. Thank you to all our customers who continue to appreciate what we are trying to accomplish here in Delavan, and to friends and family who put up with my, at times, complete focus on Brick Street Market. As I said at the top, one hurdle cleared - on to the next!

A blustery Fall week here in Delavan

2011-09-28T09:55:00.001-07:00

Too long since I've posted - Summer takes such a huge commitment here in the Southern Lakes region. We wait for summer through damp and cool April, hope for May to bring us flowers. Flowers are slow to appear though as May turns to a cool June. Our summer doesn't really seem to kick in until July, and then all of a sudden it's Labor Day! Four months just flew by.

At any rate, I was just reading one of my Farmer's Market vendor's posts* to her customers and thought I'd share, while I'm sitting here hoping to have some kind of lunch traffic to pass the day. Made a roasted red pepper and tomato soup yesterday, and an eggplant soup for today. Farmer's Market vegies are really making my soup selections quite eclectic right now.

*Thanks to Sonja Schresner, Peach Tree Organics, for her 'Ruminations'.

**Jennell took the picture (above) from inside out through a bottle of olive oil. I love the look, like you're looking through a golden fall filter, at scudding clouds with small wisps of blue sky and a flag almost perpendicular in the wind. She has a great eye, that Jennell does!

ljw

Ruminations...

In The Garden

As the growing season nears its end I find myself feeling like a bear. Lumbering slowly around the farm. Ruminating over what I can do better next year, what I can plant more of, what I can plant less of, how I can adjust the beds, what grew best and where, which beds need the most compost. . .the list goes on. With the rain coming down and the frost holding off I get to witness the spinach seedlings pushing up through the soil to yield their fall crop. As I get better at sowing these fall greens I'll be able to offer subscriptions that go later into the year.

With the cool wet weather looming, a profound tiredness seeps into my bones. I want to curl up into my cave, draw the curtains and sleep for at least a week. As a kid I always remembered fall feeling so vibrant and invigorating as we would begin a new school year. The excitement of learning new concepts and skills. Now I check my stores, hoping I have put up enough food for the winter month. I examine the poorly stacked wood pile and realize that a whole new set of chores are beginning, so I had better revitalize, at least for another month or so. But then what, the holiday season slams up, raining us with chocolate bars, turkey leftovers and Christmas cheer. The bear in this momma is going to have to wait, at least until the quiet snow of January begins to fall gently on the rooftops. For now, I guess I'll just settle for a good night's sleep (I hope) and a hot steamy cup of tea at sunrise.

Your Farmer, Sonja

A great bean for a french press!

2011-05-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Checked out the Stone Creek Coffee Roasters yesterday at the Grand Avenue Mall skywalk. They are a Milwaukee coffee roaster we've been following for a couple of years now. I am considering using their beans in the in-store coffee we offer. Thanks to Kate for a nice tour of the 'factory', where they roast the beans. I use the word 'factory' very loosely, as the space they use for the nerve center of their operations is in a building much like our store (dating from the 1880's) and with lots of exposed walls and floors. It's very much a hands on organization, and we were welcomed at the 'new' store' and later at the factory by owner Eric Resch, who seemed somewhat surprised we would travel from Delavan for the Grand Opening. But, timing is everything, and I had been following their mission and decided it was a good fit for us. I will be sampling a couple different beans in the next week, so come on in and ask for a FREE cup of Stone Creek Coffee with any lunch order, fill out a comment card and receive a 15% coupon on your next Brick Street Market purchase.

To brie or not to brie- Is that the question?

2011-02-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

Many of my customers come in looking for a natural product, less preservatives, a whole food. Many of those same customers are becoming expert label readers. But, one thing does confuse them. Increasingly on cheese labels, (in many cases those that are imported) FDM amounts are cited on the labels. This raises a lot of eyebrows, and we are all well acquainted with difficult to cipher technical terminology on food labels. Is this an additive? Is it harmful?

I happened upon a great commentary on the following website that gives a very in-depth look at Brie and why it is the lovely that it is... as well as why we don't have to completely avoid it.

http://blog.formaggiokitchen.com/2011/02/10/what-exactly-are-double-and-triple-creme-cheeses/

To review:

FDM - Fat in dry matter - when all the liquid is expressed from the cheese, how much 'dry matter' (the solids that make up the curds) is left?

*As the author states, given that Brie is a fairly young cheese, with higher levels of moisture - a level of 60 - 70% of butterfat on the whole cheese equates to 31 - 39% actually fat. (Many young cheeses can contain up to 50% moisture - including water volume.)*

Is this still something to be taken in moderation? NO DOUBT! However, I believe that the key to participating in a full, enjoyable life is by following our ruminant friends and grazing through the pastures - or 'little bit of this, a little bit of that'!

* Parmesan, the real deal, must have 32%FDM to be considered authentic. So, in essence, your Parmigiano Reggiano contains similar amounts of fat as does your brie, but with less volume, since it is also a much denser cheese. And where, with Parmesan, you only need enough to grate on your pasta, but you don't say no no to that wonderful cheese, let's not ignore the wonderful brie.

Go ahead, ask for a slice of that wonderful brie! Take it home, cut the slice in two, have a bit with your morning toast and jam (I prefer apricot or orange marmalade), and save a bit for your pre-dinner appetizer with a bit of bubbly! TO LIFE! L'CHAIM!

Crunchy Crystals!

2011-01-05T08:24:00.001-08:00

The question we are asked most often?

What are those crunchy crystals in my cheese?

A simplified answer: Those are amino acid clusters that form in many
types of well-aged cheeses, including those that are found in our
cases like:

Pleasant Ridge Reserve
Sartori Sarvecchio Parmesan
Hook's 5,7,and older cheddars
Marieke's aged plain gouda
Old Amsterdam Gouda

The official name for those bits are: Tyrosine - non-essential amino
acid found in casein (milk protein). These are small deposits left
behind as protein chains begin to unravel as the aging process
continues.

These particular cheeses can complement certain wines.

The contribution of crystals lends a distinctive texture that can
match up to a complex Merlot or Cabernet.

Happy Cheese Eating!
Laura

Rush Creek Reserve: limited supply at Brick Street Market!

2010-12-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

When I got wind of a new cheese from Uplands Cheese, I couldn't help but be very curious. How could they possibly come up with something that was different enough from the Pleasant Ridge Reserve (which they've had such outstanding success with), and make it a cheese small stores like mine would be able to find a market for? Nevertheless, after all the release date media attention, I decided to try to get a small case of it for my customers added on to my order of Pleasant Ridge wheel. Andy Hatch told me he could maybe squeeze a case of 4 into the shipping schedule and it arrived last week. After looking over the wheels, I told Jennell to keep them tucked away until this week, when I planned to preview them at our monthly "Wine w/Beth!" sampling!

About 40 minutes before the sampling, we took the cheese out to allow it to warm. At table, I introduced it to our guests, explained what a momentous occasion it was when a new wheel of cheese is opened up and that we were adventuring together, since I had not tried this particular cheese yet! As I cut off

the top and we all took small spoons and tasted it all at once, I heard "Wows", "Hmmmms", and "Say this is really good", I felt the cheesemaker (Andy Hatch) was immediately vindicated in my mind! And what a great boon to the industry that is artisan cheesemaking in Wisconsin!

We sampled it with several wines, including a La Playa Chardonnay and Rodolfo Torrontes. The Torrontes came away with the most favorable comments for the way the crispness of the wine on the tongue was immediately smoothed and the twist of citrus-y grapefruit scents in the nose changed to elegant orange blossom. At the end of our tasting, I had Jennell cut the wheel in wedge

s and we sent what we could home with our guests.

My sadness is that I was only able to order a case of 4 wheels, and we did sell one yesterday to a gentlemen from Beloit who called specifically looking for the cheese. After using one last night, I now only have 2 wheels left, and am told I will have to wait until some time in February before I can get more. Color me blue for me and red and green all over for the folks at Uplands Cheese! What a great Christmas present!

* If you don't happen to get in soon enough to pick up on the new cheese, we just cut into a new wheel of 6 month Pleasant Ridge Reserve yesterday, and again I was amazed! Jennell and I nearly fell on the floor at the smell - redolent of pineapple, and the texture full of crunchiness! I love these cheeses! I think it has replaced my love of the Grand Cru Gruyere from Roth Kase!

Ah, cheese!

Laura

(My son Anthony with our first wheel of Pleasant Ridge Reserve the week of our grand opening in July 2008. He's 12 in the picture, and the wheel came with the date stamp of July 13, 2007 (nearly a year earlier on his birthday!) We consider our relationship with the Uplands Cheese to be a special one as I worked with the American Cheese Society when Mike Gingrich was just getting started making this wonderful cheese! )ljw

Your local business owner needs YOU!

2010-11-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

If you did not watch 60 minutes Hallowe’en night, you did not see the citizens of Newton, Iowa desperately grasping for any straw of hope in an local economy that is drying up. Newton, IA is just 29 miles east of Des Moines, with a population of just over 15,000. Delavan is not so different from this community. It really hit me that we here in Delavan are very fortunate to have the industries we do, especially in light of the recent Lake Lawn news. Our employed population is supported by a variety of light industry that feeds into businesses that have not been as seriously impacted by the recession. Has it still been a struggle? Absolutely! And, I have personal experience with the struggle.

I am the face of downtown Delavan, and of entrepreneurship in America. I opened my business 2 years ago in the historic blocks of downtown. I started my career working in banking, 5 days a week and having my weekends off. You can stop in any time for my full story, but my path was always leading me to the July 4 2008 date on which I opened my business here. What I have found to be true since I opened is that my initial desire to join your other downtown business members in their small club has proven to be one of camaderie, friendship, and a daily joy at meeting each customer who choses to honor us with their choice to purchase services or goods at our stores. Local Store owners are committed to your community!

We know that you have many choices for where to spend your family dollar. Do you know how much positive impact you truly have in the success of your local independent business owner? I became aware of a not- for- profit organization earlier this year that puts this all in perspective. The organization is the 350project.net, and you can look them up online. You may have heard of this endeavor as they have received some national press. It is an organization begun by a former retailer consultant, Cinda Baxter. She has worked very hard to find successful strategies for indepenent businesses. Here are some interesting numbers I found on their website:

If half the employed population in the U.S. spent just $50 each month in 3 independent businesses (that’s only $16 per month in each of the 3, folks), $42.6 billion in revenues would be generated. By spending that money in a locally owned business, you will see $68 of every $100 stay in your community. If you spend your dollars in a national chain, just $43 stays in your community, and if you spend it online, none of that money stays in your community. I realize it is not realistic to expect our modern population to completely forgo buying online, or looking for the best deals to be had at that big box store. I am only asking that you consider saving out $50 each month and spreading it around to your local independent retailers! We need you and your beautiful downtown district needs you in order to stay vibrant, attractive, and alive!

Laura Jacobs-Welch, owner

Brick Street Market

A week at the Palace!

2010-11-04T23:43:00.001-07:00

I've stolen this line from Gordon Edgar's book "The Cheesemonger"! Do you know what motivates your local cheesemonger? Cheese is more than cheese to us. It's earth, sky, humans partnering with animals (not fighting with them for every small bit of territory)! And it's a good thing we are motivated by so many outside influences because inside the store, there are just times ....

Well, anyway, here this week's cheese 'tail':

We all have those weeks that start out normal, you know, just the same old stuff:Monday getting back in to the swing, looking forward, but a bit tired, but customers begin to show up and pretty soon you just get caught up in the routine.

Tuesday - Emergency trip to Milwaukee to pick up things we're running low on. Thank God Jennell is so capable! (Well, some lunches and cheese sales to people out enjoying the weather), even though it's very difficult to think Thanksgiving and Christmas with the weather like this, we are figuring out our holiday window decorations.

And, then BAM - Wednesday brings what appears to be a major crisis! Controller malfunction in the walk-in - temperatures reading 10 degrees when I arrive! Okay, flurries of phone calls, waiting on a couple customer at the same time. (Get Jennell in early to help sort everything out) check with the experts, postpone this and that, do some more research, check everything 14 times, documenting all the product, finding out it has been getting colder and I hadn't been paying close enough attention (even though we log temps every three hours on each of the deli cases)! Sometimes you just start seeing numbers and forget to make meaning! Another lesson learned!

Ok, take a breath, begin to realize we will probably be able to salvage all but the fragile and fresh fruit, vegies, etc. Well, I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought. Maybe the losses won't be so bad. Pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, hitch up my girdle and walk on, as someone's grandma used to say!
Thursday - consulting with Jennell, tasting cheese and checking textures after yesterday's mechanical failure. And while we're at it, better start thinking about open houses, getting our cheeses lined up for Christmas shipping, find just the right boxes for shipments. Making a list for the holidays, checking it twice! Ruth McBride and her son, Bill McBride of Lake Geneva, join us for lunch for her 94th birthday.

Doesn't she look lovely? We love these types of occasions! Thanks for sharing your day with us!
And for telling us of the next BAM - this time a good BAM - the Janesville Gazette gives us outstanding 5 - plate rating in all three areas of Food, Service, and Value (kind of like a star rating for fine restaurants. You can find it in the Kicks Section of the Thursday Gazette. Thanks to Tracy Douglas for the nice thoughts. )! What a bonus! And as much as I'd like to take credit, I couldn't do it without Jennell's finely tuned and very enthusiastic palate. She takes my suggestions in stride, we try things out, she tweaks it and makes a beautiful presentation out of it! The customers seem to love it!

The local florist stops in and asks when we'd like to be put on the schedule for holiday boughs, i put them off until after Thanksgiving. I'm afraid with the extreme warm weather, if the boughs go up now, all we'll have is pine needle dust by Christmas!

A very busy weekend, with a special benefit event for the Lakeland Animal Shelter here in Walworth County, so prep on Friday for cheese trays and gift boxes to be picked up! Looking ahead to next week with 2 big events (a wine dinner at Kirsch's French Country Inn, the Delavan Scholarship Foundation Benefit, and the Downtown Holiday Walk! Better go and print out a couple more planning sheets for the 'week of'!
You can just feel the excitement as the season is starting to kick into gear! I hope you come in to say hi the next time you're in Delavan!
Laura

This week's special wine & cheese feature!

2010-09-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

WI Cheese meets French Wine

Okay, I understand all about the 'terroir' thing - a cheese of a certain origin being matched with a great libation from the same region. But, sometimes, a great friend can live in a completely different place from you. We found that this past week when we sampled Holland Farms Smoked Gouda with a wine from France called Corbieres Col de Vent ( french for neck of wind). This particular wine is a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan grapes. The Carignan grape varietal was the feature of this month's Saveur magazine Special Feature, in a review by David Rosengarten. It comes to us from the south of France, just 60 miles north of the Spanish border in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.

I find it most helpful to smell the wine first. This helps me to identify some of the components before I coat the inside of my mouth with either cheese or a myriad of elements of the wine. The wine by itself is blueberry and raspberry fruit-y from the beginning, and is a medium easy drinking red wine with just hints of spiciness and black pepper. I found the wine to almost have a watery finish - but when paired with the smoked gouda, the spiciness and black pepper enhance and lengthen the effect of the natural smoke flavor!

A number of our customers were pleasantly surprised with the pairing, and took home this bottle of wine with a small piece of the beautiful cheese. Congratulations to Holland Farms Marieke & Rolf and to the Castlemaure folks for a delightful pairing!

Corbieres Col des Vent - $12.00 - 10% off all week at Brick Street Market!

Anybody got a 'pensieve' handy?

2010-09-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

I feel a bit like Harry Potter's Dumbledore and in need of the 'pensieve' (for those of you who haven't read that series, please bear with me).

I came back from Seattle with my brain 'a point' as the French say of their cheese. I was like that bit of brie that, when left out at room temperature, gently oozes itself out of its rind! So much information, it's taken me the better part of the last week and a half trying to sort through it all. Still glowing from the experience though, so I thought I'd share just a bit more before closing the chapter.

We attended some great classes with our own 'industry notables', like Ari Weinzweig from Zingerman's Delicatessan in Ann Arbor Michigan; and Greg O'Neill of Pastoral in Chicago. We listened to moderated panels on logical line extensions - how to best add things that might please our customers. Or, why is customer service so important that everyone speaks the talk, and only a small portion of businesses actually walk the walk and how we can walk it. I know, it sounds very technical - but I look forward to implementing things in small ways at Brick Street Market that will help us stick around over the long term.

After Friday and Saturday's similar routine to our first day (read previous blog of 8/30/10), and beautiful receptions at the Seattle Acquarium and at the Seattle Visitor's Bureau and Convention Center - oh yes, marvelous food and cheese was present for all), my sister Shelly was really anticipating our closing speaker, Michael Pollan, and what he might be able to tell an industry that has been promoting eating 'real' food for all of its 27 years of existence. (The ingredients label on most artisan cheeses has, in many instances only 3-4 ingredients. Email me the top three ingredients, and I will send you a $5 gift certificate!) Polland didn't so much give us new information, (his books are well know in most circles) as he did confirm what the majority of these conference goers have been living day to day.

After taking to the stage and promptly calling cheesemongers "Masters of Rot" - (you'd think we'd all be highly offended, but not this group!) We laughed heartily, and the new moniker made it into the press that very day! Words to remember:

You are what you eat and what you eat eats!

We retreated to our hotel room to prepare for the Award Ceremony, then everyone gathered at the Benaroya Hall (home of the Seattle Symphony), for announcements and Festival of Cheese, the much awaited culmination of a year's hard work for many cheesemakers. Many amazingly good cheeses were recognized that night, but the best was when BEST IN SHOW was announced: Upland Cheese's Pleasant Ridge Reserve!

The Festival of Cheeses was just over the top. Fourteen hundred plus cheese displayed for the adoring public!
And the pronouncement of Pleasant Ridge Reserve as the Winner of the Best in Show title proved that MIke Gingrich has truly passed the torch to the newest "Cheeseman" has arrived! Congratulations to the Patenaude and Gingrich families, and to Andy Hatch!

Now that I've got my feet back down on terra firma....

2010-08-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Memo: To all my 'cheese - y' friends in Delavan - I'M HOME! AND ... contrary to my earlier assertion, my head did not explode. :)

However I am putting myself on a low-cheese diet this week. Whew, what a marathon!

So we arrived on Wednesday, and girded our loins, only eating a light dinner of ... wait for it --

Macaroni & Cheese at Beecher's Cheese!

Thursday brought us face to face with breakfast and cheese platters at each table sponsored by the Vermont Cheesemakers. Then we were entertained by an opening presentation on the topic of Consumers: What's going on in your minds? We learned of trends, lifestyles, and what we might expect from you, our customers in the coming year. I'll let you know how you make out.

This presentation concluded, and the doors opened and the crowd flowed out to be faced with a networking and cheese sampling sponsored by Forever Cheese! Taste, Taste, talk, talk, talk. Then on to the next session.

Cheesemakers went to cheesemaking panels, retailers (myself) went to retailer panels, distributors ... well, you get the picture. And then, it was LUNCH TIME! And, you guessed it, more cheese - this time sponsored by distributor Zuercher & Sons, of Chicago.

The afternoon arrived with very relevant topics like Marketing in the age of Twitter, or American Cheese and Beer Pairing! And then, again break out sessions for more talk, talk, talk, and taste, taste, taste - this time sponsored by Belgioso Cheese from Denmark WI. My favorite there? The burrata scooped onto a small scoop - y leaf of romaine lettuce. Burrata is a wonderful ovaline of mozzarella with gooshy, squishy mozzerella curdiness inside! When you cut it open, it just flows out! Wow that was good!

Another round of panel discussions like "How to taste cheese" (?!! - Really!) and then it was on to a Meet The Cheesemaker Event - with, you guessed it, more cheese! Woo Hoo!

I loved this because I got to meet Marieke and Rolf Pentermann, of Chilton, WI - the makers of Marieke Goudas! Unless you haven't been in a cheese store in WI, you will probably have experienced any number of their sublimely delicious goudas! Life is full of ironies as you well know, and it hasn't escaped me that I met Marieke and Rolf for the first time - not in our home state, but in Seattle, WA. The universe is a funny place folks!

Anyway, that pretty much finished up our first big day! Stay tuned this week for further tales of 'cheese-ing' !

Next - the Cheeseman cometh!
Laura

Why is this cheese so "goat - y"?

2010-08-04T06:39:00.001-07:00

Why does my goat cheese taste

... so 'goat - y'?

A basic cheese 101

Cheese Is Milk. Milk varies in composition between the commonly known milking animals we know in America; cow, goat, and sheep.

Specifically, cheese is made from the milk fats and proteins, and in particular, the fatty acids (acids that are present in the fat globules) are those that give milk its flavor and aroma potential.

Tasting Thoughts - Goat milk cheeses often finish tart, sheep milk cheeses with a creamy perhaps nutty quality, and cow's milk with an underlying buttery, but deep 'meatier' flavor.

Both goat and sheep milk have smaller fat globules than those of cow milk, and those globules contain more short-chain fatty acids. While this scenario can aid in digestion if you are somewhat intolerant, it can also add to the flavors of pronounced sharper, peppery or 'lemony' (sometimes a hint of lanolin in sheep cheese) tastes and aromas. In addition, those small fat globules are even more fragile in our smaller ruminant friends, and the milk can exhibit all of those 'animal - y' tendencies when it is not handled carefully at the milking time.

Goats tend to be browsers (like deer - they like the crunchier and often more bitter tasting vegetation), and the buck (male ) gives off very noticeable scent (also like deer). Male goats are kept in separate housing in many larger goat farms, but by their nature, goats will keep eating a varied diet when let out on pasture. When I had my own herd of dairy goats, I often observed them leaving the lovely leaves of prime alfalfa for the stems!

All cheeses made from one season to the next in many artisan or farmstead operations will have a change in flavor profile, so your favorite cheese this summer season may not remain your favorite by Christmas.

Additionally:

1. Milk is a highly fragile commodity.

2. Milk is specific to the animal it came from, and flavors can be very seasonal, so large dairies (and in large part, the American industrial cheesemaking industry) focus on providing consistent feeds year round.

3. The animals metabolize foods differently. Again, large dairies depend on the blending of a number of animals' milk (as well as testing of milk) to maintain a consistent flavor (and therefore the finished product - a cheese that doesn't vary off a particular flavor profile).

4. Artisan and farmstead cheesemakers use the differences in each milk's physical makeup to play up certain flavors with aging. A young gruyere with its grassy characteristic will develop the more 'burnished' nuttiness of wheatberries as it heads to a 2 year age.

So, as you look at my cheese case, think of your mood for the day, and pick a cheese to compliment. Feeling a bit SASSY? Go for a goat milk cheese and celebrate the very nature of this capricious animal!

Laura

Cheese is good for your teeth, too!

2010-06-14T12:51:00.001-07:00

Interesting forward from my facebook page. I had to go look up dental caries (seems its soft or 'weak' spots in your teeth). So, another urban myth stands up.

Milk and cheese
Cows' milk contains the sugar lactose - the least cariogenic (decay-causing) sugar. Milk on its own doesn't promote caries and this has been attributed to the presence of protective factors: calcium, phosphate, and the milk protein casein.

Cheese protects against dental caries, partly because eating cheese causes more saliva to flow and neutralise acids, and partly because the cheese increases calcium concentration in the plaque stopping demineralisation. The fat in cheese also reduces the amount of bacteria on the surface of the teeth. So a small lump of cheese eaten after a meal or a sugary/acidic drink will help protect tooth enamel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/nutrition/dietary_dental.shtm

Summer Cheese Tips - June 2010

2010-06-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

Summer cheese and wine tips!

If you are looking for something unique, we have a wine tasting this weekend with Beth Moyer on Saturday from 1 until 3 p.m. As always, I will have the cheese picked to match Beth's Summer Wine selection, and we'll have great fun! Join us and be entered into a drawing for a BSM Gift Certificate! Free and open to all!

It's time to relax, to take a deep breath, to move your living out of doors. Many might think that summer is not the time for cheese - it's heavy, it's thick on the palate, it doesn't match up well with all those light summer foods!
Here are some examples of how well our cheeses really do match up to your lighter summer fare:

A light appetizer tray featuring these 3 cheeses is a guaranteed hit:

1. Menage by Carr Valley - a lovely blend of three milks (cow, goat, sheep) matured into a light and elegant, yet creamy white cheese, paired with a crisp, chilled Sauvignon Blanc or our new Basa. This would be a standout on a tray featuring fresh pop-in-your mouth blueberries or strawberries, and a great crisp cracker like Madison - made Potters crackers.

2. Now add a savory or flavored cheese like Hook's Sundried Tomato Basil Cheddar or Holland Farms Gouda with Foenegreek. Either of these would be perfect companions with a thin sliced Molinari Sliced Salami. Pair this with a summer red like a Tempranillo or a Zinfandel.

3. A third could be the elegant and creamy Buttermilk Blue from Roth Kase, and a top favorite here at BSM. Let this cheese warm to room temperature and spread on crackers (Potter's Hazelnut Graham) and drizzle with a local honey, like Wisconsin's Natural Acres raw honey!

Bring on the grill, bring on the cheese!
Laura

American Craft Beer Week May 17 - May 23

2010-05-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

You've read my ramblings now for over a year and I often talk of wine and cheese pairings. And that has suited me just fine, until recently. You see, I'm a fraud. I live in Wisconsin, I grew up in Colorado near Coors in Golden - and I'm of German heritage, and I (sshhh - don't tell anyone) just never have acquired a taste for beer! Nah, really? Yeah, really. Several of my brothers and sisters know and love their microbrews, but I wouldn't know a Pale ale from a Guinness! I just couldn't jump on the bandwagon. But ever since we started carrying the Bellevitano Parmesan soaked in New Glarus Raspberry Tart Ale, I've been curious. If soaking a cheese in beer results in such a great cheese, the beer can't be all bad. Of course, I think I could find lots of things that would go with such a delicious cheese!

And, of course, the timing could not be better as the newest Culture magazine is out with a great little pull out booklet full of fun facts about: AMERICAN CRAFT BEERS! I think the universe is just looking down kindly on my un-educated state. So, I'll be studying my 'little' text to get ready for Saturday and our in-store New Glarus Beer sampling.

And if you plan to be in the west next September, Denver is hosting the Great American Beer Festival from Sept. 15 - 18. 450 Breweries, 2000 beers ....uff da!

Lunches at Brick Street

2010-04-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

One of the wonderful things about WI cheese is that it is so good on a sandwich! We have a small selection of great sandwiches which all feature two main ingredients - an artisan bread and a really great WI cheese! I like to say our sandwiches are hearty and wholesome. The bread we buy from Waterhouse Foods in Lake Mills is the best tasting bread I've eaten in a long time!

And, I cannot say enough about our WI cheeses! Great flavor and lots of varieties! My 13 year old son is hooked on our "Colonist" - a toasted turkey with Hook's Baby Swiss cheese, melted and then slathered with Cranberry Chutney! We add a leafy lettuce, and serve with fruit, pita chips and shortbread cookies (baked right here each week!). Wow! I'm getting hungry. Gotta go order a sandwich!

Delavan, WI - A great place to shop!

2010-04-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

This is my PSA (public service announcement) for Downtown Delevan, WI.

Driving through Delavan this a.m. on my way in to the store, I was thinking how lucky I was to have landed in this area some 20 years ago. Delavan is a beautiful city, with a quaint history, and committed parks and recreation department. The tree-lined main street is now being 'colored' up by emerging tulips of red & yellow. The apple and crabapple's are blooming, and all the willows and other trees are looking quite beautiful in their new spring green colors! We have beautiful garden spots all over the city, just waiting to burgeon with the summer flowers planted by our able-bodied and dedicated P & R crew.

Being a member of this downtown is a treat! When new customers to the area come in, they are always very complimentary that the city is clean, and the businesses are unique! Just like our cheeses - very unique!

We have a little bit of something for everyone to eat - from taquerias to hot dogs to sit down cafes to take to go sandwiches (and our own toasted cheese, of course!)

We have a little bit of everything for you to shop for - from turn-of-the-century antiques and mementos to artwork, to framing and garden themed gifts. From women's better clothing lines to gently used clothing for the frugal but career minded woman. You can shop for your pets and you can shop for your homes. You can buy gifts, wrapping paper, and shipping boxes right in downtown!

I truly think downtown is becoming a place where you can find it if you need it!

And, of course, if you need cheese - we have you covered!

Real Food, Whole Food!

2010-03-29T06:21:00.001-07:00

Here in Delavan, I'm involved as a member of the Downtown Business Association in researching a Farmer's Market. Farmer's Markets have been instrumental in re-acquainting the consumer with real, whole food. To that end, our little committee has come up with a couple preliminary ideas of what we do want:

1) A market that is produce oriented
2) Representative of local farmers and their efforts
3) Available to local chefs and consumers alike
4) Fun - suggestions for some type of artist in residence and musician in residence have been made
5) Begin an education program with our school district where children come to meet the farmers and experience really great fresh food

Our store's mission is to bring the best artisan produced cheeses to our friends and neighbors and our community. The artisan cheese community is another that has been trying to re-acquaint Americans with great tasting all-natural food. I have to believe that once Americans get accustomed to tasting real food, and understanding that the flavor impact of combined whole ingredients can benefit them, they will start a switch away from all the highly processed boxes that fill our current grocery store shelves.

Books are everywhere recounting the importance of moving away from processed foods. We are being encouraged by doctors and health professionals to eat our fruit and vegetables each day. As Michael Pollan tells us: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Neighborhood boys know that if they come in to the store after school or on a weekend, they'll get a snack of the best cheese in the county.

While recently watching Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution", I realize he is saying the same thing. "Eat Food!" While the government has been busy making synthetic 'food' more affordable, the health care system in the country has been reaping the costly benefits of the resulting obesity and sugar-overdosed population. Oliver's goal is to turn our nation's schools (with the help of parents) back to an education platform for children and provide them with food habits that will enable long and productive lives. He wants teachers & parents to take a role in what has basically been the parents responsibility in the past.

From ancient times until about 60 years ago, parents were involved in where their children sought jobs, as well as teaching homemaking skills which not only enabled them to cook what they brought home, but also how to act in social situations. Now, with so many parents working two jobs to keep their families afloat, sitting down to any meals together as a family have become a thing of the past. Those teaching moments of how to correctly manage fork, knife, and spoon have disappeared. A comical moment in the second episode came when Jamie tried to institute having the complete set of tableware available. He was completely flabbergasted when the kitchen staff resisted allowing anything but forks. His comment: " We allow scissors in the classroom, but no knives at the tables?!"

I applaud Mr. Oliver's efforts, and have noted the same issues existing in my own community school district. Before I opened my business, I was blessed to be a substitute teacher in our school district. One memorable Thanksgiving week meal featured two lovely slices of turkey breast, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beens, fruit cup, and a roll. However, there were no spoons with which to eat our mashed potatoes, and no knives with which to cut our meat. The students at my table were stabbing and picking up the whole slice with their fork, and literally "chomping" it off with their teeth. I used my spoon as a lever, and pulled the turkey apart in pieces manageable enough to eat! Good Grief, Charlie Brown! (Please watch Jamie in this video -http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html. )

My husband and I have three children, so have been involved in the school district for many years. Fellow parents and teachers and myself have had conversations about various incarnations in the school lunch program. "Yellow Days" were particularly notable - everything on the plate was yellow or a varying shade thereof. Example: A breaded chicken pattie, potatoes, bun, canned pears, and cooked carrots. Not a raw piece of fruit or vegetable was to be seen. No green, no red - no other colors!

The public mandate must be to get involved in our schools to ensure that education programs include 'real food' - and that we are helping by volunteering ourselves to increase the dialogue about how to make that come about for the nation's children. Additionally, cook at home - show your children how to shop for great ingredients - and then cook with them! Put them in charge of one meal - but make sure you are present as 'sous-chef' if need be! Teach your kids to eat whole, real food - and eat it yourself. It will give you and your children energy and keep you healthy and active for many of your children's years!

Spring Market

2010-03-13T12:14:00.001-08:00

Spring always gets the blood flowing, and we've added a French market table in the front window of our store. We are offering our wonderful collection of Waterhouse Foods Breads, a great organic greens ensemble, some lovely red potatoes (Thinking corned beef and cabbage with steamed red potatoes), and an organic ground wheat flour! It's to be a rainy weekend, and the wind has turned cold here, but we love seeing a few inveterate walkers enjoying the brief sunny respite today!
We have an ongoing spring selection of white wines for sampling as well!

Drop in this Saturday the 20th, for a special "Market Conversation" with Susan Carpenter - a 'locavorist' and Master Gardener who speaks on the importance of shopping local and supporting your local producers. Susan and I have been 'conversating' about how we can have a truly producer oriented farmers' market in the Watertower park across from our store. She brings a lot of enthusiasm for the project to the table, and I'm hoping our little table is the start of a great array and display of really good food for our families.

Yes, Virginia, they do ship cheese!

2010-02-10T05:11:00.001-08:00

At Christmas we were fabulously inundated with requests to ship cheese! And, we ship cheese throughout the year too! Not as much as then, (does Jennell seem a bit overwhelmed? - Never!) and we have a nicely appointed station in our basement organized and ready to create a great presentation with our WI cheeses for your friends and family! The USPS flat rate box program worked out well for us! What did we ship this year?

Some Tilston Point - a great "Stilton - esque" blue from Tony Hook at Mineral Point's Hooks Cheese. This salty, crunchy, pungent blue is a standout on any cheese plate!

A bit of Antonella - a great salsa infused creamy white cheese with cilantro around the rim. The cheese makes a beautiful presentation on a tray - I like to slice it lenthways, about an 1/8 inch slice, then make the cutest triangles with rounded edges.

Sartori's Bellevitano - both the Black Pepper Parmesan and Raspberry Soaked Ale Parmesan have been popular with our customers since we added them to our collection! These are also great with a fruit - forward Zinfandel or Cabernet Franc. HMMM!

It was a fun season - we saw a lot of our summer customers, and had a lot of help from our local community, so now in the quiet soup-days of mid-winter, we're reminiscing and thinking how fun it will be come summer!

Small business owners constantly re-inventing themselves!

2010-02-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's a challenge to offer new and exciting things in a small business! But it is critical if you want to keep your customers coming back to you, in the face of overwhelming competition. That is why over the past year of doing business we've really tried to add to the services we offer. We've incorporated specially appointed 'tutored tastings', after the success of our in-store classes got such rave reviews. We now offer our customers a 'pick a night' for their group to enjoy tailored tasting just for their group.

And, our latest store event is our monthly wine tasting, held cooperatively with Beth Moyer of Purple Feet Wines. Last weekend, summer employee, Cameron, (in town for his brother's wedding) joined Jennell and myself for a great wine event! This was our second, and we now offer them each first Saturday of the month, along with a cheese sampling. We featured a lovely fondue using what was left of our Christmas Chardonnay.

The Christmas Chard is from Beau Joubert Cellar. It is light yet elegant, with a gentle touch of oak, and finishing with a hint of apple and vanilla. (Like my mom's old recipe for French apple cobbler!)

We had a great time!

The cheese fondue was a recipe from the "Melting Pot" cookbook - with Roth Kase's Butterkase, Carr Valley Fontina, and L'il Boy Blue. (Email me for the recipe.)

We also sampled Carr Valley's Black Sheep Truffle with a Milton Park Shiraz - the creamy nature of this sheep milk cheese was just perfect with the black cherry fruit of the wine. Wow! What a combination it turned out to be! What a great event for a cold February day.

Holidays continue with some favorites still in our cases!

2010-01-03T20:08:00.000-08:00

Even though the holidays are over, I am keeping some of our favorite holiday cheeses through the long winter months of January and February. Like White Cheddar w/Cranberries from Maple Leaf Cheese! And, in our grab and go case, we have fine cheeseballs from Kelly's Kitchen, one made from White Cheddar and infused with Chardonnay, then rolled in slivered almonds. I used one this evening as an appetizer for friends who came to dinner, to rave reviews. Sometimes, it's nice to do the easy thing. We spread this on our Waterhouse Foods Baguettes, sliced thin. So good! Had to rein myself in so I wouldn't fill up and not eat dinner!

Honestly, I realize I really have always loved cheese in all its forms!

:)

Laura

Ah, the afterglow of the Holiday of Christmas!

2009-12-27T22:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Customer:

Hello, my cheese-y friends!

I know I haven't published much recently. It seems that around Hallowe'en time, I found myself hunkering down and totally focusing on getting through the Christmas holidays, once again. One morning in November I woke up and realized I was just going to have to jump on and let the Holiday come. We did quite a bit of shipping of cheese to our customer's out of state family and friends, and our loyal customers - and there are many - have been so supportive in this past difficult year! Thank you to the many of you who kept walking through our doors, for always responding so positively to our product selection, and for continuing to make suggestions about how we can do a better job to serve your needs. I love that about you!

My partners, brother Gary and sister Shelly, and I are dedicating ourselves anew to our vision of creating a destination retail market that our community can be proud of! We are planning a 2010 that will offer new services, new product offerings, and more fun in-store events!

I am thrilled everyday I can open my doors to serve you and your friends and family and hope you will continue to make our store a scheduled weekly stop.

Thanks so much for a wonderful holiday season! On to a new year!

Laura Jacobs-Welch

Soup and Sandwich time!

2009-10-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it's officially arrived. Hard frost last night and tonight! Got my cider at the Apple Barn here in Delavan! That's one of those seasonal things I cannot replace with the stuff you find in the store after apple season! Real apple cider that settles, and you have to shake up the jug! I love it! And it's a great non-alcoholic choice to pair with Gouda Cheeses rather than the Gewurtztraminer!

Doing lots of lunches and just introduced soup this week! We made sandwiches to go for a soccer team today! 30 of 'em! Some of the Colonist - a great turkey and swiss on hearty multi-grain; some of the Rye Wrangler - a roast beef on rye with 2 year aged swiss; and plain ole' Wisconsin cheese on Rustic Country bread! Game time is at 5:00 and it will be a chilly one!

Come and visit us!

2009-10-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

Importance of Local

2009-10-01T05:40:00.001-07:00

I'm fortunate to belong to a community of businesses, the Downtown Business Association of Delavan, whose members gather once a month in a networking-business planning meeting. We discuss how to bring guests into downtown for their unique shopping needs. In the course of one of those meetings earlier this year, Linda Siert of the Memories From the Heart scrapbooking store mentioned the 3/50 Project. She is supporting this grassroots organization which encourages communities to support their local businesses. I hope you will support your local businesses by spending the $50 in 3 local businesses each month. We all need each other to survive!

Laura Jacobs-Welch

That's entertainment!

2009-09-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

With the economy still slowly chugging back to 'normal' (someone define normal, please!), many folks are staying home and entertaining friends and family. We have your entertainment needs covered here at Brick Street Market! I love creating event trays for any occasion, and our customers are finding these trays a unique way to impress their friends and family. We consider the occasion and the guests - like the trays I put together for the a new 'friend' who brought us her authentic French bread boards to build them on. (You too can bring a tray for us to 'decorate' in style!) I like to play a bit with shapes and not just place a pile of cubes - so yesterday's cheese! And, we include the things that go with the cheese selection!

Come and see us or give us a call! We can help!

Artisan Cheese - following the American Dream!

2009-09-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

Why we want you to buy your cheese from us?

These cheeses are so, so, good!

You will stun your family and your guests with your intimate knowledge of the food you set before them! (We impart the knowledge at our store when you buy your cheese!) Hey, we only want you to look good!

I am passionate about supporting local agriculture!

These cheeses are the results of the efforts of individuals like yourselves, hard-working, creative, impassioned!

It's patriotic! It is a product that supports our national and state infrastructure! The dollars that go out into the community from one artisan cheese plant support city and state governments through taxes and fees paid!

It's a product that Americans can be proud of, not just some mass-produced, cookie-cutter stamped food! American artisan cheeses reflect all the integrity and individualism that made companies like Harley Davidson or Apple!

More of those dollars also go into the state government to support state and local agriculture programs.

The product that is created in the artisan cheese plant lifts the quality of all other 'like' products striving to 'imitate' them, or to pair with them!

So many more reasons, but so little time - so I'll finish with....

how can you resist?

New products and general thoughts

2009-09-09T06:12:00.001-07:00

We've a new product in our store - croissants! Made buttery and lovely
by Waterhouse Foods bakery - we can do a breakfast tray featuring
cheese, fruit and a savory croissant or fruity turnover! We will
sample Saturday mornings (Croissant and coffee Saturday mornings!)
through September at our store. Another great locally produced food
right here at Brick Street Market!

Laura

It's tomato and mozzarella time!

2009-08-15T18:46:00.001-07:00

Well, the heat finally came back to summer in Wisconsin! Tomatoes are
turning, it's mozzarella time! We carry the Crave Brothers Mozzarella
through the summer, and wow it is great.
I love to slice the ovalines (nice round balls of creamy mozz!) , set
them on top juicy slices of tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and
sprinkle a bit of basil on! Set them on vegetable sprayed foil and put
the whole thing on your grill for 4 - 5 minutes - Whew! That is summer!

I can't wait to get home!

Laura

Cheese Roll!

2009-08-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

These people really love cheese!

I don't have the heart to tell them that they could've just stopped in our store.

Cheeses Coming

2009-08-04T07:11:00.001-07:00

I'm very excited about a few new cheeses we are receiving this week.

Castle Rock's Organic Blue and Smokey Blue - these blues are made from
raw, organic cow's milk. Creamy and melt in your mouth. I tried the
Hickory smoked blue at Fromatination in Madison last spring - and wow!
This one should be excellent on a grilled burger or steak!

Castle Rock is a certified organic farm (MOSA, Inc.), ranked high(1150
points out of a possible 1200 points) in a recent report on the
organic dairy industry in the U.S. The dairy produces ice cream, milk
(delivered in the Eau Claire area, and cheeses.

More to come on our new cheeses!

Laura Jacobs-Welch
Brick Street Market, Inc.
104 E. Walworth Ave., #101
Delavan, WI 53115
740-1880

A chance to show off!

2009-07-24T22:59:00.001-07:00

What's new?

I've decided to jump on the social networking bandwagon. You can now join us on Twitter, as well as keep tabs on us through our blog! My hope is that the short "Tweets" will be a bit more up-to-date, and help to stimulate my creative juices for the longer posts of the blog.

The weather this week has us all a bit puzzled. Rained cats and dogs two of the days, blew like crazy, even got a bit of hail out the deal. Not a normal state for usually hot and dry July!

Got a chance to present cheese for a client in Elkhorn. Just arrived, and the weather took a turn for the gray and rainy. I'm standing under the tent with the metal poles, along with the other vendors, thinking I need my head examined. Just as we had everything set up and looking great, the rain started to come - in sheets! We had wind, lightening, and hail. Second day in a row! Craziest thing! We haven't had to complain our summer has been too hot, but I've had visitors to our area this week from Arkansas and Oklahoma who said this was a welcome change from the heat back home.

If you are a Charter cable subscriber, you might have seen our Downtown Business Association ad running recently. If you come to our store to buy cheese and mention the station and time you saw the ad, you'll receive a 15% discount on your cheese purchase.

Hopefully Saturday a.m. brings us some sun and stability! See you on the cheese-y side!

Laura

Black Sheep Truffle by Carr Valley

2009-07-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

I can't help myself, I really enjoy this cheese!

Wow!

I've now enjoyed it grated in an omelet, and with roast beef in a toasted cheese sandwich!

Today, in the store, I've been shaving it on a little crostini I made from the WHF baguettes we carry in our store. I drizzled a bit of a little honey w/white truffle that we have in the store! Yum, what a great afternoon pick me up.

I love this cheese 'cause it's creamy (sheep milk is higher than cow or goat in butterfat), and the truffle is just the right amount. Not overpowering. Thanks Sid, you've done it again. What a great cheese!

Bread and cheese - so much in common!

2009-07-03T06:58:00.000-07:00

On bread and summertime...

Bread and high summer temperatures and high humidity are not necessarily good companions! And we offer an awesome bread in our store that I want all my customers to be satisfied with. So, a little information about how to manage an artisan baked product is in order.

What it is? We carry Waterhouse Foods baked goods. These breads are so wonderful, and full of great flavor. The baguettes and loaves are an all-natural bread, lacking those preservatives which lengthens shelf life, and that many of us have decided we are better off without. This 'better' bread is meant to be eaten soon after it is baked. Like loaves you get at any great local baker, the bread leaves the baker still living. It needs to breath. Just like cheese, it doesn't like being wrapped in plastic for long periods of time, and, while you can keep it refrigerated for a short time to thaw, it is best to leave it on your counter or in a bread box. If you must wrap, just use a paper or waxed bag.

How do I choose a bread?

First, no two loaves or baguettes are going to look the same. That's the beauty of the product. Hand made and individually loved into existence by a passionate creator.

Why is it frozen? A lot of confusion about breads occurs when people realize the bread comes to us frozen. First, as to the nature of business in a small store. We see perhaps 10 people in our store on a normal weekday, and maybe 20 - 25 on a busy weekend day. Of course, not all those people buy bread! So, I order weekly from Shawn and Rae at WHF. The bread he brings me promptly goes in to my freezer, to remain as fresh as possible, to be brought out daily as needed.

How do you care for it?

All you need do, after purchasing, is set it out to thaw and warm to room temperature, and it's good to go. In winter, we recommend 10 minutes at 350 degrees in your oven. In summer, you can leave the bread in a warm, sunny spot in the kitchen.

If you need to keep a loaf of Shawn's great bread for more than a couple days, it would be wise to take home the already frozen bread, place it in an airtight freezer bag, and store it in your home freezer. And, this is the only time your bread should meet a plastic bag!

Look at the picture below of Shawn's European sourdough, and tell me they are not too lovely too resist. Come on in and try a sample! We can special order just for you. To order WHF breads, just call Laura on Tuesday with your order, bread is delivered early Thursday morning. You can pick it up after we open at 11 a.m.

*You can check out all the Waterhouse Foods baked products at www.waterhousefoods.com.

Wisconsin Cheese - Flavor Wins!

2009-04-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

I am writing this to encourage you to visit us, and when you do, be open to something new and flavorful! Give a new cheese a chance! Wisconsin specialty cheeses are enjoying a rejuvenation in identity! There had been a serious decline in cheesemaking factories in Wisconsin since the early part of the last century. At that time, there were close to 3000 cheese plants in operation. In 2007, only 115 plants still operated. However, production at those plants grew from 3.5 million pounds of cheese to 19.8 million pounds since 1977, and Wisconsin still makes 25% of all domestic cheeses.

Many still believe Wisconsin is only home to the commodity cheese. And I admit, you do have to search out the stores that carry the more unique varieties, but we are doing our best to bring a more varied selection to our Walworth County residents and customers. This is becoming easier as new Wisconsin cheesemakers are now contributing and being recognized for their unique and innovative cheeses. The combination of the rise in popularity of artisan goat cheeses led by Laura Chenel of California in the 1970s, as well as a consumer weary of 'big food', has spurred a turnaround in the sacrifice of flavor for quantity. That coupled with the global travel so many of us now experience, has allowed for the American palate to grow up and demand cheeses of flavor!

The majority of our customers come looking for something out of the ordinary, something that cannot be purchased at the grocery store. Innovation in technology has changed shipping systems world-wide, so we now have access to so much that was unknown even 10 years ago. Ten years ago, you'd be lucky to find a chevre (soft goat cheese) in a retail store located outside of any larger metropolitan area. We currently feature two to three at a time, as well as one or two in the aged category.

In addition, we have added two new sheep milk cheeses: the inimitable Pecorino Romano; and a Wisconsin cave aged washed rind cheese from Carr Valley. Think Pleasant Ridge Reserve or Roth Kase Grand Cru Gruyere, but in a sheep milk. Long on finish! We already sold out of one wheel this spring, and I'm thinking the current wheel won't last long either.

You really need to come in and sample some cheese. You'll love 'em! I guarantee it!

*Thank you to www.wisdairy.com for the facts and figures above.

Congratulations Kate Arding and Culture!

2009-03-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday night I attended an event in Madison at premier cheese store, Fromagination in honor of the new magazine dedicated to cheese - "Culture". You will find the new magazine in our store for purchase (as it is in other specialty cheese retailers around the country). The current issue has articles about the most current trends in artisan and specialty cheeses for the cheese consumer! If this is your new passion, you need to check out the magazine!

A great article about goat cheese and wine pairings pushes us to look
past Sauvignon Blanc as the wine we always fall back on, and take a
look at Cabernet Franc - with a list of 10 with potential. Spring is a
great time for goat and sheep milk cheeses. While most cows are milked
year round - ( and some larger, commercial goat milk producers too),
many goats and sheep are still milked in smaller farm dairies from
spring through late fall. The flush of milk that comes in spring means
some of your favorite cheeses made from the small ruminants' milk will
be available once again.

Pick up a "Fog Light" from Cypress Grove - try it with the Chinon! I
think you'll find you've got a couple new favorites to come home to!

Laura Jacobs-Welch
Brick Street Market, Inc.
104 E. Walworth Ave., #101
Delavan, WI 53115
740-1880

Winter is not letting up! Cheese will keep us going!

2009-02-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

Hi all:

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post! Whew! I'd love to say it's because we've had so many customers beating a path to our door! Unfortunately, Not!

That's not to say we are on the verge of collapse! No, our "good and true" customers have been supporting us all along! We love seeing you in our store, familiar faces, locals and visitors, friendly people to converse with during the cold winter months here in Wisconsin. I'm sure this is true of my fellow downtown business members as well - you just can't know how much we appreciate you helping us to keep our doors open. Our businesses are truly our passion - and we want to continue to share that with you. So thanks to all of you who have come in - purchased a quarter pound or a pound - bought a friend a basket or just took home a loaf or baguette of our bread! Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Huzzah for Waterhouse Foods Artisan Breads!

2009-01-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

I'd like to write a couple lines about our bread baker, Shawn Rediske of Waterhouse Foods.

I really do believe that the independent business will be the salvation of us all. Shawn is such a businessman (just like us), who believed in the power of good breads so much that he is providing great artisan breads to us (and a number of other retailers). If you haven't had one of Shawn's great loaves, it's high time you came in and bought one!

These breads tower in their flavor and texture - the crunchy crust baguettes like those you can get all over Europe. I had a toast of the rustic country white this a.m. with some of the cherry chutney from Door County! Yumm!

We use their baguettes and loaves in our toasted cheese sandwich offering for lunch, as well as in a our cheese samplers. Specials this month were: Creamy havarti/dill on rye, Sundried tomato basil cheddar on rustic country white, and baby swiss on rye.

Or you can get a great baguette of Garlic and Sea Salt that perfectly complement those big winter plates of pasta! They come with the big chunks of roasted garlic in the bread and are so flavorful.

You absolutley must come in and try this excellent bread! You'll find what your missing!

Warm sandwich time!

2009-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

It goes without saying that a warm, goo-y, cheese-y sandwich is much better in the dead of a very cold winter (like the one we've been having this year in Wisconsin).

According to Laura Werlin, author of "Great Grilled Cheese", the modern 'grilled' cheese can be traced back through 18th century England and France. And, since the American population has re-discovered foods with flavor, small towns across the country are seeing a renaissance of cottage industries including bakeries featuring artisan breads. Contrary to the average American's experience, a great grilled cheese sandwich is really comprised of a wonderful artisan cheese melted onto a crunchy artisan bread - all natural, no preservatives and wow! what flavor! Hold the sandwich in front of your nose before you take that first bite, inhale the smell of warmed bread and melted cheese - now that is real comfort food!

Recommendations from Werlin include:

1. Removing the rind. Do this when the cheese is cold. Even the natural rind on some cheese is drier and does not melt well. Save it for your minestrone soup!

2. Grating the cheese. This allows for better melting, and avoids having the bread burn.

3. When using slices go no more than 1/4 " thick and 3x4 squares. When using a thicker bread -like our Waterhouse Foods' rolls - remove some of the bread from the center, making a small trough or well.

4. Using two cheeses to pump up flavor - one sharper, aged and one melt-y. Example: Parmesan-style or aged drier cheese and Monterey Jack. Grate the parmesan-style cheese on the smaller holes, but not too fine.

5. Really great WI cheeses for your sandwich that I'd recommend:

Hook's 3-year cheddar -smooth yet sharp, and great on a sourdough.

Roth Kase Havarti with dill - very good on a nice rye.

Marieke's Plain gouda - a creamy, old-world style gouda, but full of flavor.

Roth Kase Grand Cru Sur Choix Gruyere - the reknowned and flavorful alpine style swiss from Monroe.

Mmmm- I think it's time for a warm cheese indulence.

Laura

Cheese-y days and Mondays!

2008-12-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

Whew! We made it through the Christmas holiday, and I hope you all had a chance to put your feet up and enjoy your family for a bit. We will be open tomorrow, Monday, December 29, so that I can take care of preparing trays for a number of folks still participating in Christmas celebrations!

I like Mondays - I usually close the store and do all my housekeeping chores, getting time to remove all the cheese from each of our deli cases, unwrap, and taste while things are quieter. We clean the cases thoroughly before replacing the cheeses in their respective homes. Two cheeses we received in early December were from Petaluma, California - produced at Bellwether Farms by Liam and Cindy Callahan.

After the Christmas foods redolent in spices and followed by the heavy doses of chocolate of the past weeks, these two cheeses are a welcome departure.

Carmody Reserve from Bellwether Farms in Petaluma, CA is an aged raw-milk cheese made from Jersey cow milk. It's been described as having a cultured milk aroma, like yogurt. The pale paste smells to me of cheesecake, and I love to eat it paired with almonds and dried apricots.

San Andreas, also from Bellwether Farms, is an aged sheep milk cheese. I'm really liking this cheese, and our pairing notes for wines recommend a red with good acidity, like a Spanish garnacha. It's a cheese that leans a bit to the nutty, and carmel-y notes. Very good!

I hope to see you this week! Let me know how your cheese purchases were received by friends and guests during your Christmas entertaining.

Our Tuesday night pairing features Swiss - a "holier than thou" experience. Call us at the store to make your reservations! (262) 740-1880.

What is all This Fuss About Cheese?

2008-12-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

People I know come in frequently and ask "Why a cheese store?" and "Why in Delavan?"

The first question is both harder and easy to answer. Why cheese, really?

I love the life of agriculture. Very simply put, smelling and tasting cheese takes me right back to my childhood vacations on the Kansas wheat farms of my grandparents. I come from a long line of farmers, as do many across the mid-west, and I live for the breath of the different seasons and crops. In the spring, you can literally smell the dirt, all minerally and deep. You often get that earthiness in a great blue, like Bayley Hazen Blue.

And, summer winds in the farmland can be heady with the early green of young wheat and oats. Not unlike the scent and taste of Mike Gingrich's great raw cow milk cheese, Pleasant Ridge Reserve.

And smelling some cheeses transports me to the milkhouse of my grandpa's dairy barn, and milking time on my husband's family farm before the cows were sold.

And the cheeses I keep in my shop often come from communities like the one I live in. Many towns in Wisconsin are still small communities in the grand scheme of things. And many cheesemakers I've become acquainted with over the years come from communities of this size. Perhaps, 10,000 people down to 100 people. Yes, we know the names of the people in our neighborhood, the neighbors are just a bit more spread out.

Oh, and of course, the cheese itself in all its glory. Who can not be impressed to get a great and marvelous looking cheese and be the first person to look inside? I love the thrill. It's like my own private weekly Christmas.

The second question is easy. This is our hometown now, and my husband's family's hometown for 4 generations back. Dairy farmers. I like the commute, it's 4 miles from home. In the good months, I can even ride my bicycle to work. I haven't yet, but there's always spring!

Holiday gifts and new cheese - y arrivals!

2008-12-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

November flew by, and it looks like December is going to do the same! Holiday traffic is really picking up in the store! People are looking for unique gift offerings! Here's a lovely idea for your holiday host or hostess with the mostess! A lovely Brick Street Market cheese board - a beautiful hand-crafted board adorned by just the right amount of our three most popular Wisconsin cheeses - Marieke Gouda, Carr Valley's Menage, and Roth Kase's Buttermilk Blue Affine, sliced thin or in crumbles, and ready to "nosh" on short notice. We can include a nice set of cheese tools, planer or cheese grip, too!

A little bit on some new products we received Thanksgiving week. I love all the cheeses from my old 'gal' pals in the Cheese Society! A couple we have in the store - Mary Keehn and Cypress Grove's Midnight moon - Michelle likes to say this cheese is somewhere between a great gouda and a great cheddar! Doesn't matter, customers seem to love it both ways!

Judy Schad's Old Kentucky Tomme - a simple, bloomy rind cheese - perfect and oh so yummy! A paste of white with a completely edible rind of gray-white - oh come on - if you love goat cheese, and I know there are some out there, you have to come get this one.

Come in and check out our selection of goat cheeses - here for now but not for long!

Lots of news from the store!

2008-11-21T20:22:00.001-08:00

Hi to all our loyal customers, friends and family!

What an eventful week we have had! Our 'survey' class went off very well this past Tuesday, with four hardy "cheesers" in attendance. Thanks so much to our new "friends" Kitty, Les, Ed, and Patti for their support of this new venture of ours - Michelle and I enjoyed sharing our love of wine and cheese with you in a very pleasant hour.

Our next class will be on December 2 - check our web calendar for more details.

Exciting news arrived (literally) today as the a new publication - "Culture" magazine- debuted all around the country. And, folks, I am very proud to say the girls here at Brick Street Market are featured in a short introduction on page 90 in the retailer section. Thank you Kate Arding - our cheese maven! This magazine is amazing - come in and buy one from us. It reads like a great cookbook - but you won't want to lose track of it - it will become an instant and well used resource.

We have a number of new cheeses coming next week, just in time for the holidays! We also have a number of new 'locally' produced goodies in the store you won't be able to get enough of: shortbreads and chocolates!

You'll want to make a present of Brick Street Market goodies to your families and friends! Ask about our gift baskets, the gift that is an experience! See you in the store soon!

Laura

Our turkey bucks promotion will end with Thanksgiving. Have you gotten yours? Plan to redeem them from 11/28 through 12/6 on any of the great new items.

And, don't forget we will be open later this coming Friday for the downtown Delavan Christmas tree lighting! Join local merchants for free hot beverages and goodies, and shopping ideas.

The first "2nd Saturday" Customer Appreciation Day a Great Hit!

2008-11-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

To all our loyal customers ( and to a few new customers) who visited today on our 2nd Saturday Customer Appreciation Day, thanks for making our day so much fun! It was a grand success, Brittany and I had a blast! And we got to move a lot of cheese through our cases! After all, that is why we are here - or at least it is for me! I want Delavan to have the 'coolest' little neighborhood cheese store around! To all of you who missed it - join us this week for lunch, or next Saturday for wine and cheese sampling! Here's the schedule:

1st and 3rd Saturday of the month: Wine and cheese sampling!
2nd and 4th Saturday - Teaching Table + 2nd Saturday of the month: Customer Appreciation Day - All Frequent Cheeser Cardholders get 10% off in-merchandise.
Lunches daily - Any cheese I use in your lunch could count towards the 3 pounds needed to receive a 1/4 pound of cheese free! Sign up for a Frequent Cheeser Card in our store today!

Come in, visit, taste something new!

Customer Appreciation Day

2008-11-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hear Ye Hear Ye: Brick Street Market recognizes community support by pledging the 2nd Saturday of each month to be "Customer Appreciation Day", with an all store discount of 10% off!l Need a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving? How about a lovely wine bottle basket for displaying that perfect meal's wine complement? Or maybe a "Sweets for the Sweet" basket, with chocolates, preserves, and sweet cookies for a great hostess?

Additionally, every 2nd and 4th Saturday will feature a 'teaching table'. It's an impromptu 'class' to show you Laura's favorites from cheese knives and cutting techniques to which cheeses work best in which recipes.

And, on alternating 1st and 3rd Saturdays we will feature a sampling of two of the Brick Street Markets wine collection with some of our fine in-store products. Stop by our store for a sampling on Saturday afternoons throughout the month and feel the love!

Classes at Brick Street Market

2008-11-11T17:46:00.000-08:00

We will be hosting our first "survey" class on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, free of charge, entitled "Cheese 101". Laura will set out a sampling of three of our notable cheeses which we will sample with two wines, and additional foods which pair well with our cheeses.

We will also be previewing our class series for December and into the new year. A nominal fee of $10 per class has been set for the series, and can be paid at the time of registration, or pay $80 in advance for the whole series and attend 2 sessions as our guest. Successful completion of the whole series entitles the attendee to a certificate and an item from Brick Street Market Merchandise. Topics covered in the series include topics such as "Curds & Whey", and "I'm awfully fondue Friday!"

Call us to pre-register for next Tuesday's class and for the new class series by Friday November 14th, by phone at 740-1880; or by email to Laura at cheesemonger@brickstreetmarket.net. Just insert Cheese 101 in the subject line.

Join us on Tuesday November 18th for a preview of things to come!

Holiday Walk in downtown Delavan

2008-11-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend is the beginning of the holiday season in Delavan. During the three days of Thursday November 6th thru Saturday
November 8th, participating businesses will have special sales and promotions, including the Pick a Snowflake promotion (do your shopping, pick a snowflake out of the basket and discover how much your discount on that purchase will be!). Many stores will be offering refreshments and free gift wrapping as well. Be sure to shop in downtown Delavan and discover all that the downtown has to offer!

At Brick Street Market, we are sampling our new shortbread cookies (baked by Karen at Kenny's daughters). These little cookies make a perfect hostess gift for all your holiday parties, accompanied by our Marieke Gouda.

A new program is in place at the store - the Frequent Cheeser Card! If you have signed up on our mailing list, you already have a card in our file. We will record your cheese purchases by the pound, and when your poundage equals 3#, you can choose a complimentary 1/4 pound of cheese! Of your choice! And if you refer a friend who comes in and buys cheese, we will add a half pound to your accumulating 3 pound total.

Hope to see you all soon!

Vino Et Veritas!

2008-09-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

That's Latin for "In WIne There is Truth!"

Far be it from us to reiterate what doctors around the country have stated about the health benefits of wine. And, my partners and I were all together again as the wine arrived in the store. We all wanted to be present in the moment it seems, when our cheese met another of it's natural partners - wine!

We are big blue cheese lovers - we just can't seem to have enough in the store. Currently we have six - and we made time to sample our new wines with our blues! A real hit was the Valdeon Blue Cheese paired with Don Pedro Ximenes, a lovely Spanish Sherry that helps that lovely Spanish Blue become a dessert course that will really finish a meal quite nicely.

Another wine that met with rave reviews was the Ruby Throated Cabernet Sauvignon from Clos La Chance. This full bodied red wine with slightly spicy notes was just the counterpoint I was looking for for our earthier blues like Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese from Jasper Hill in Greensboro, VT. Your grilled steak or burgers were never so good!

We have a lovely collection of wines sure to complement your fine cheeses.

Blues in residence at Brick Street Market: Bayley Hazen Blue, VT; Buttermilk Blue, WI; Cashel Blue, Ireland; Creamy Gorgonzola, WI; King's Island Roaring 40's Blue, Australia;Point Reyes Blue, CA.

Something Different for Lunch

2008-09-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

We have a great mealtime alternative available for you - whether you need a mid-day burst or late afternoon pick-me-up! Step in to Brick Street Market and purchase a mouthwatering sampling of our best cheeses served right there on a great cheeseboard! It's light. It's very healthy. It's full of protein that will get you through the afternoon. Choose from three themes: Wisconsin, American, or International. A perfect tasting complemented by our great European style bread, some fruit and nuts, and a bit of salami! It's a great way to eat!

Scarecrow Fest in Delavan

2008-09-22T05:22:00.001-07:00

September 22, the first day of Fall, has dawned in Southern Wisconsin with sunshine burning through the fog and a successful weekend of cheese sales at Brick Street Market, due to a great ScareCrow Fest. We have been enjoying a very warm, extended summer weather pattern here, (I suspect gardeners are happy for the added time for ripening of their produce), and local farm markets are still in full swing. As I traveled around the Lake Geneva area over the weekend, I noticed many die-hard water enthusiasts boating and swimming. We had a late summer start, and we are making up for it now. Colors here in Southeast Wisconsin are just starting to change, and it appears we have another great weather week ahead of us. If you haven't made it to the area yet, you still have "summer time"!

This week brings the start of our in-store lunch program on Tuesday! I'm thrilled to be able to offer our customers a modest lunch sampling (we are calling these our Lunch flights), and will have three flights available immediately. We will offer a Wisconsin Flight, an International Flight, and an American Flight. You will be served 2 or three samples of our great cheeses, a lovely toasted baguette or muffin from Waterhouse Foods, and a lovely assortment of our in-store complements like dry-cured salami, dried fruit, nuts, olives or pickles. All will be served to you on one of our signature Brick Street Market cheese boards, with a drink of your choice.

I hope you will drop by and see us this week! Come in and lunch with us! Laura

New breads at Brick Street Market

2008-08-31T04:31:00.000-07:00

My sister-partner, Shelly, and I participated in the Zingtrain business seminar over a year ago now, and one of the things we kept hearing there was how if you put something out in the universe by stating it out loud, you'd be surprised how quickly it would come to be. Okay, label me amazed.

One of our customers has come forward with wonderful European style baguettes and smaller loaves of bread which he bakes and delivers twice a week. They taste wonderful, smell great being warmed in our store, and will be a wonderful addition to our new Lunch Flight menu. So, I'd like to say "Welcome" to Shawn and Rae Rediske, Waterhouse Foods, of Lake Mills, WI. They are producing a number of traditional artisan baguettes and loaves, as well as a line of specialties with flavors like herb and onion, olive, sundried tomato, sourdough, hearty wheat, multigrain, and a lovely little breakfast or dessert bread called a cherry and pecan.

We are offering breads for sale and sampling starting this week, and will have these breads available in our Lunch menu beginning mid-September.

Come in and try one of our new breads topped by a fantastic WI artisan cheese. What could be better!

Laura

I love my job!

2008-08-22T10:12:00.001-07:00

Well, we've been open a little over six weeks, and every new week is loads of fun as we order and receive these marvelous products that represent the artisan and specialty cheese industry.

For your tasting pleasure this week, we have a number of new arrivals!

On Tuesday morning, I was in the store at 6:30 awaiting the cheeses from Neal's Yard Dairy. The anticipation has been killing me! Ah, but it was worth the wait. The smell wafting from the walk-in cooler when I open the door make me just want to stand in there for long periods of time.

On Wednesday, I could no longer resist. I decided to take a couple out and get a good look at them. A beautiful Lincholnshire Poacher, weighing in at 42.5# now graces the cooler with a wonderful golden marbeling to it's rind. It's large size is not the least intimidating, however, to the quirky cylinder (this shape is known as a 'truckle in England) of the Hawes Wensleydale. I always wondered what that word referred to. It's cloth wrapping reminds me of the mummy, and the surprise that awaits under the mysterious wrapping. This cheese will stay wrapped until my partner and sister, Shelly, arrives to do the honors on Saturday.

I took out the Cornish Yarg next, a crumbly, yet creamy textured cheese with a beautiful exterior. This cheese has nettle leaves placed around its exterior, and then aging adds a wonder exterior mold reminiscent of cocoa powder. Just Beautiful!

The Cashel Blue arrived wrapped in a gold foil, but taking away the foil reveals a surface of gray blue mottled coloration with spaces of buttery yellow. The paste is a buttery yellow color, with the blue striations running through. A taste of this cheese takes me back to days when I was in charge of the milkhouse on my husband's family dairy farm. All the wonderful smells of animal life, green and grain feeds, and fresh milk! Wow! What a Blue!

Last for the day was the reveal of the glorious Morbier, from France. Smelling the rind is like sticking your nose into a cup of good coffee and taking a big whiff! This big gold round, is plastered with a beautiful proclamation of its origin, France.

Next post: Cabot Clothbound cheddar, aged by Jasper Hill, VT; and Mt. St. Francis, a aged goat cheese from Indiana; and Bayley Hazen Blue, also from Jasper Hill, VT.

New at Brick Street Market

2008-08-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

Well, we've had our doors open for a little over a month now, and our schedule is settling in to somewhat of a routine. Some of our favorite (and our customers favorites) cheeses continue to be Menage by Carr Valley, Pleasant Ridge Reserve by Upland Cheese Company, and Hook's Cheddars and 2 year aged Swiss.

And, new this week, Private Stock Cheddar by Cabot Creamery, and Belgioioso's Asiago.

In response to our Dutch community here in Delavan, we have the Uniekaas Leyden Gouda with Cumin. And the Marieke Foenegreek Gouda and Plain Gouda's are also top sellers.

Michelle, Brittany, and I are having fun learning each cheese's peculiarities, some just happy sitting there looking pretty, others needing some turning and moving around, never comfortable in one place for too long.

Coming this week: Jasper Hill and Neal's Yard Dairy and Capriole Goat Cheeses.

Coming in September: Our own take on lunch - grab your suitcase, pick a destination, and enjoy a little noon "Flight" - Brick Street Market's lunch offering. A piece or two of cheese, a bit of great baked bread, fresh fruit or vegetables in season, and a drink of your choice. Choose to sit in the "Vault Room", or keep it conversational in our main retail space. Hope to see you soon!

Up and "Cheese - ing"!

2008-07-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

Hello there to all our friends!

We are now open, after a fantastic weekend 4th of July! Thanks to all of our friends and neighbors who turned to help us with the ribbon cutting ceremony!

Cheese has been leaving our doors with new friends - a particular favorite which we sold out of on Saturday was the Widmer 4- year aged Cheddar, made in Theresa, WI. It seems our customers like an aged cheese - the sharper and crunchier - the better!

My philosophy for inventory at Brick Street Market is to stock a majority of the wonderful Wisconsin farmstead and artisan cheeses we all know exist! Second, I will be looking at bringing in wonderful American cheeses, many made by cheesemakers I made friends with over the years. We will follow up with a small, but wonderful core of European imports.

In the near future, as we educate our palates to the wonderful products, I hope you will stop in at our store and let us know your favorite. A cheese with many requests may end up in our regular lineup.

Michelle, Brittany, and I are available at the store, and you can contact us at (262) 740-1880, with questions about current "Cheeses in Residence"!

If you're in the Geneva Lakes area, stop in and see us. Look for the Water Tower Park on the Delavan downtown's brick street, and find "Ginny" the giraffe! She's looking right at our blue and white awnings - like she'd like a little nibble. We have something much better tho'. Come on in!

Laura

Opening Day Events

2008-06-23T18:22:00.001-07:00

You may see some of our posters in various locations.

Here Are The Days' Major Events:
10:00AM Our Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting
10:30AM Our Brunch Tastings with live music
1:00PM Our Lunch/Picnic Tastings
3:00PM The Parade on Main Street
4:00PM Our Dinner/Dessert Tastings
9:30PM Flag Ceremony Fireworks

Click below to download and print the poster:

Grand Opening Advertisement

2008-06-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

We hope that you've seen the full page advertisement announcing our opening in a number of local publications in Southern Wisconsin.

Here is a sample, click to enlarge and/or print.

Thank You Delavan!

2008-06-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank everyone in Delavan and the surrounding areas for their warm welcome.
Everyone we have met in the past few weeks is very excited about our store opening. People on the street, in the businesses and in the city hall have offered both sage advice and inspiring enthusiasm.

Above is a photo of "Ginny" the giraffe in the park across the street from the shop, in fact the giraffe is looking right at our store front. So now you know the answer to the question "What's Ginny looking at?"

Our shop front is shaping up to be quite a colorful character on the west end of the town, and certainly has heads turning. Thanks for all of the encouragement, especially to those of you who gave us a honk and a wave as we were detailing the exterior this week.

Only Three Weeks Until the Grand Opening!

Gary D. Jacobs
Art Director

A novice cheesehead finds a home!

2008-06-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Hello all! It's a good Thursday morning, and I just stopped in at our new store. Of course, the hum of activity isn't from customers just yet, but of contractors right now! We just finished up a manic week of painting and the place is really taking on it's own personality.

My family (aka partners!) worked alongside myself on our one sunny and dry day in the Midwest this week to paint their hearts and souls into the grand old building and bring it to new life as the Brick Street Market. The colors we have chosen - a buttery yellow, a heath green, and a brick red are like a new makeup pallette for the old girl, and she is truly beautiful. We did a good old-fashioned 'walk-about' last week to meet some of the other main street proprietors and our friends at City Hall. As we strolled into other businesses on the downtown main street, I was struck by how many other businesses have settled on this quaint street to share their passions with their friends and neighbors.

We have settled on a look for furniture and fixtures, and it is now arriving fast - so as each piece is put together there is less room to move around, but more visioning what wonderful product will be placed there. The walk-in cooler was installed over the weekend, our two beautiful new True Deli cases are in place and as I turned them on last night, i could envision all the wonderful cheeses that would find a home there.

I am anxious for all this contractor talk to turn into cheese talk - so come back here soon so we can talk cheese!

Laura Jacobs-Welch
Proprietor

WE'RE MOVING!?!

2008-05-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Monday May 21, 2008

You know all that stuff about life being a journey, not a destination? Well, our previously detailed journey met with a curve in the road, changing the destination. While we will still welcome you to our ‘location’ on Walworth Avenue in Delavan, you will not be welcomed by a knotty-pine paneled space with tin-stamped ceiling. However, the new space is one of the lovely and historic buildings in downtown Delavan, and we are very much in love with our quaint little home. Our new space is not large – approximately 650 square feet –, but very appealing. It has two very unique features- a wonderful brick wall and a lovely old vault – complete w/ quaint vault door.

This little change in the ‘road trip’ has delayed our arrival, but we are scheduling now for our July 4th Grand Opening!

View Larger Map

Laura Jacobs-Welch
Proprietor

Visualizing our way to our first customer visit!

2008-01-19T19:17:00.000-08:00

I am seeing the first design sketches of what will be Brick Street Market, and I cannot wait to unlock the door on that first day of business. Let me offer a small glimpse into your first visit at our new store. The Brick Street Market may be one of only two ‘dedicated’ cheese stores in the Southern Lakes region, and while not the oldest, it will be the most distinctive – from it’s front door opening off historic brick Walworth Avenue in Delavan to its product offerings of the finest in American and imported artisan cheeses and many other fine food products. As you enter our new store, you will be welcomed into the golden, warm world of a premier cheese store. Ah, the heady smell of the cheese, like no other, the smell of life! Your eyes will be filled with the sight of the warm knotty pine paneled retail space, the warmly painted embossed tin ceiling… Oh, well, you’ll just have to come and pay us a visit. Watch here for news of opening day!

2008-01-11T13:17:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Brick Street Market of Delavan, WI. I am Laura Jacobs-Welch, owner/operator of the coming endeavor. This has been quite a process, a lot of research, some utter frustration, and more than a few restarts. Starting a business requires a lot of research to do what seems like a lot of justifying of the why of your passion. This week I heard a great interview on NPR, which goes to the point of one of those why questions.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storid=17859903