Black Star Cheese, Petrus & Mother's Day Wishes

Raw Sheep's Milk Cheese Tuna Melt In Your Mouth- Over a year ago 5 Star Foodie and I featured a 'Duo Lunch' experience where I had mentioned my recipe for Raw Milk Cheese Tuna Melts. She said her daughter would love the idea of this sandwich and of using up some raw cheese she had left.

Stelling philosophy- If you are going to eat and drink, make sure it is good quality ingredients!

One of my favorite discoveries is raw milk products, and when I received Black Star Gourmets 'humongous' assortment and wheel of raw sheep's milk cheese(s), I knew my Raw Cheese Tuna Melt was in order.Yes, I took a regular everyday blue plate special menu item and kicked it up about fifty notches. The flavor is just too out of control, so you have to try it. The raw sheep's milk cheese, along with a few other- French brie and Caprifeuille Saint Mauew, a delicate French goat cheese, well, need I say more.

Normally I would be writing so much more, because I love to talk and write about food. Today, I am keeping it short. We just found out a good friend has pancreatic cancer and has less than a year to be with the man she loves. They met the love of their life later as I did my husband. They are devastated. I do not handle death so well, as many of you know. Loosing my daughter, and then my parents so quickly, and a best friend in Dallas to the same cancer all around 9/11 changes your outlook on life.

My wish for all of you out there is not to take holidays such as Mother's Day lighthearted. Love life to the fullest. Treat your spouse and family like kings and queens everyday possible. Eat good food and wine as often as you can. Enjoy every taste it has to offer with gusto. We may only be able to eat small amounts due to the economy right now, rather than large amounts of cheap processed and fast food, but in the end- no regrets.

Black Star Gourmet-

Soureliette du Fedou – sheep’s milk raw, semi-hard cheese (recipe for Raw Cheese Tuna Melt)

This cheese from the French Pyrennes has a classic, tight flavor. Rich, nutty, and bright. This brings French sheep milk cheese to a new level.

(Cheese in photo appears smaller than it really is, and I knew I hit the mother load when I opened my free gift box of cheese from this company. I want to say Thank You to the company for allowing me to use their product.)

Wine Pairing-  Along our thirteen year journey together, my husband and I have collected some good bottles of wine. Being the wonderful loving man he is...he will suggest we open a good bottle of wine to match the mood, moment, or reason for a meal, and its ingredients. He said I was like a fine bottle of wine for Mother's Day, so he opened this for my gift and efforts in keeping our palates happy. Petrus, made from Merlot grapes, was truly a good match for the assortment of cheese from Black Star Gourmet, and our 'gourmet' tuna melts.

Interested to know what one of the most expensive bottles of wine in the world taste like after aging for 20 years? If you get beyond the hypnotic price tag that might make one feel as though the wildly lush and exotic character of smoothness might float you off to heavenly vineyards, but it obvious aromas and flavors of black truffles, olives, earth and chocolate wrapped up with super velvety tannins, and every sip is a nuance that simply cannot be duplicated.

If you are ever involved in a special occasion where a bottle of this magnitude is opened, and you feel you are not a mature wine drinker, still ask for a small pour so that one day you will remember the experience. I hope you will enjoy it, maybe as much as I enjoyed pairing it with a high end cheese tuna melt!

Happy Mothers Day and hugs to all my friends ~ Elizabeth & Robert Stelling