happy mother's day x 2

My brother and his fiance traveled to Windsor with their two dogs Harper and Tilly. And, my mom was already in town with her wonder dog Toro. I had great intentions of making a Mother's Day dinner on the verge of elaborate to impress my mom. Unfortunately, a household emergency made that impossible.

Certainly the start of our meal was impressive but not because of me -- rather the talented cheese makers from around the world saved the day. We compiled a cheese board with Saankaanter (an orange hard, salty, smoky/ashy Dutch Gouda), a Patacabra (a pungent Spanish semi-soft goat's milk cheese) and the practically perfect La Tur (an Italian creamy mixture of sheep, goat and cow's milk). The La Tur was the hit; every last smudge of it was scraped off the board.

Mother's Day menu post-home emergency:

• Lovely cheese board
• Honey-garlic glazed chicken - flattened roaster, barbecued
• Roasted local asparagus
• Caesar salad
• Strawberry rhubarb pie and chocolate brownie cheesecake served with Daniel Lenko's Late Harvest Vidal