Cape Cod Photography, Styling and Cheesemaking Workshop

A couple weeks ago Carey and I held our Cape Cod First We Eat workshop; we got to meet so many outstanding people and had the most brilliant time shooting, styling, and making and eating cheese. It was my first time in the state of Massachusetts and I was completely awed by the natural beauty of New England. The sea breeze crept up the hill our saltbox house was perched atop of, bristling the branches of the old growth trees that surrounded the home. The deck of the home was built around each tree, with a little forest coming up through the planks, and it looked out over the ponds of Plymouth with the most awe-inspiring view. A wild turkey roamed the property, and greeted us with loud squaks from time to time (sometimes obnoxiously early in the morning), and we were lucky enough to arrive just in time to catch the large lilac bushes around the property in bloom. We ate crab-stuffed French toast, mussels in white wine, homemade clam chowder, strawberry dutch babies, caramelized ramps, rhubarb tarte tartin, and roasted radishes among other tasty seasonal bites. We went out to the sea and ate ‘lobsta’ rolls, fish n’ chips, and fried clams at a little beach shack. We drank Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignons and Chardonnays and ate a truly astounding amount of cheese. There was Bonne Bouche, Bijou, Coupole, Crottin, Cremont, feta, and goat’s cheese from Vermont Creamery, wheels of Bay Blue and Original Blue from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, Moses Sleeper, Weybridge, Oma, and the much relished Harbison from Jasper Hill Farm, Mt Tam, Red Hawk, St Pat, and the petal-covered Pierce Pt from Cowgirl Creamery, Ricotta, Soft Fresh Original, Soft Ripened, and Chive Cream Cheese almond milk cheeses from Kite Hill, Clothbound Cheddar, Sage Cheddar, 1 Year Aged Cheddar, 2 Year Aged Cheddar, and Smoked Chili Cheddar from Grafton Village Cheese. I stretched cheese curds to make mozzarella and we all enjoyed the perfectly creamy simplicity of homemade ricotta, still warm from the stovetop. We got a visit from cheese expert extraordinaire, Molly of Jasper Hill Farm, and picked her brain about all things cheese, while eating even more cheese. It was a cheese-tastic workshop, indeed.

I want to give an especially grateful thank you to New England Cheesemaking Supply for giving us so many helpful and easy cheese making kits, and for providing all of us with the cultures and tools to make our own cheese at home.

A huge thank you to Renee Beaudoin for helping Carey and I with absolutely everything, for preemptively anticipating our needs like the best kind of psychic, and for leaving a fragrant trail of fresh lilacs and lilies of the valley wherever she went. And another big thank you to all of our awesome attendees for making the weekend such a blast. Becky, Jennifer, Jenn, Brandy, Leslie, Olga, Camaron, and C.J. We will have to have a cheese reunion again soon!!