Our wonderful friends, Bart and Barb O’Brien of O’Brien Estate Vineyards took us out on the San Francisco Bay for a little day cruise (that then included an evening cruise). I was put in charge of the cheese tray so I headed over to Trader Joe’s and found everything I needed. They have a great collection of cheese, even Bon Appetite agrees, so I picked up an aged Gouda for my Northern European heritage, some Stilton Blue for my English heritage, Manchego for that little bit of Spanish heritage, Picorino for the Italian I recently found out I had and some Goat Brie, yes, I have some French heritage too.
Trader Joe’s has a pretty good selection of crackers too, I like the Fig and Olive Crisps and the Whole Grain Crisp bread I picked up was a hit. Add some sliced baguette, dried apricots, candied walnuts and some grapes, all from Trader Joe’s too, and it’s almost complete. I like to add some raw honey for the Stilton and Fig Butter for the sliced Manchego.
Tip: I pre-slice the Manchego and the baguette, take all of the cheese out of the plastic wrappers and then wrap in parchment paper. Then I package the honey and fig butter in small cups with lids to make assembly easier on the water. Cheese wrapped in Parchment stays much better in the refrigerator too.
The clouds cleared in the evening, so we headed out again, for a sunset cruise with the Golden Gate Bridge a spectacular backdrop.
