Obama Cheesehead Hat

Coming soon to Ebay: a giant foam Wisconsin cheesehead hat signed by President Obama himself.

Yes, you heard it here first.

Or you probably read it yesterday in the news - I'm a little behind in my reading. Here's the scoop, courtesy of Channel 3 news in Madison (photo above is courtesy of Jessica Arp):

Liberian immigrant Mansfield Neblett, 46, told the Secret Service if he couldn't wear his cheesehead hat to see President Barack Obama's speech, he wasn't going to come. He ended up made it to Obama's speech, hat and all.

President Obama was in Madison yesterday, speaking at a middle school about education reform. Neblett has daughter attending the school, so was invited to attend.

He showed up wearing the giant orange foam hat, and after much discussion, the Secret Service determined the hat wasn't a security risk and let him keep it. But just before Obama took the stage, Neblett said someone representing the president took the hat and said she would get it signed by Obama.

The hat indeed came back, signed by the President. Neblett said he intends to sell it on eBay and put the money he makes back into his construction business. Neblett said he was wearing the hat because he owes it to the state. He immigrated to the United States seven years ago from Liberia.

I checked Ebay this morning, and no hat yet. There is a normal foam cheesehead hat on there, and after two bids, it's up to a whopping $10.50. I'm thinking Neblett's hat might fetch a bit more.

Cheese For Me, Or Not

Exactly one week from today, my First Annual Wisconsin Original Cheese Festival begins. Which means I am trying very hard to remain calm and not venture into nervous breakdown mode with my list of to-dos, last minute changes and irate phone calls from people who demand to buy tickets even though the event has been sold out for six weeks.

So I decided to kill five minutes and visit a new site designed by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, called "Cheese For Me." It promises that by just answering a few short questions, Cheese For Me will select the ideal cheese based on my flavor preferences, style and sense.

The site itself is very calming and soothing and I have to say I spent the first 45 seconds just admiring the cheese shapes swooping into the screen, followed by lovely autumn leaves slowly descending down the page. Ahhh ... feeling more relaxed already.

The first question: "Fall is harvest time. To celebrate, you'd like to sink your teeth into: a) a crispy juicy apple, b) toasted pumpkin seeds or c) squash risotto. Hmmm ... because a fresh donut from Greenbush Bakery on Regent Street was not an option, and because I don't particularly enjoy squishy squash or crispy pumpkin seeds, I went with "crispy juicy apple." Although, I'd still prefer a warm, crispy, juicy fried apple fritter, just for the record.

Second question: "To celebrate the first cold crisp day of the season, you can't wait to: a) snuggle up in your favorite warm, cozy sweater, b) jump in a pile of leaves and head for the pumpkin patch, or c) make the house smell great with a homemade apple pie." What I'd really like to do is to sit in my big purple Lazy-Boy, read my stack of newspapers and Entertainment Weeklies, and watch my husband make an apple pie. So I of course I chose the apple pie option (note it did not specify that I actually had to make it).

Third question: "It's football season and you're in charge of the tailgate party. Expect: a) store-bought chick wings and beer, b) a big pot of chili with all the fixins, or c) food and drink that match the color of my favorite team." Hmmm ... since a growler of Lake Louie beer, a wedge of Hook's 10-year cheddar and a slab of summer sausage were not an option, I actually have no idea how I answered this question. I started thinking about a pint of beer, good cheese and sausage and apparently randomly chose an answer, because the next question was:

"What's your favorite way to forage for food? a) all in one superstore, b) a couple of stops a week at your corner grocery store or c) your favorite specialty stores - the butcher, the baker and the cheese shop." This one was easy - I chose c, but let's face it, when do I really have time to visit the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker?

Last question: "Your ideal day would be: a) hanging out at the coffee shop with a good friend or a good book, b) a little work, a little play, balance is key to life, or c) one with no plans so you can follow whatever adventures you find with complete abandon." Wait -- there's an ideal day? I want to visit that world, so I chose C, the complete abandon option, but then remembered that the last time I had a day to myself I spent it sitting in front of my laptop organizing the dozens of various files that had accumulated on my desktop into actual folders. Truly sad.

Then it was time to click on the "Perfect Cheese for me is:" button. I admit it, I was kind of excited. I thought I might get something cool like Limburger, or maybe an aged cheddar, or a cave-aged Gruyere. Nope. Here is what it came up with:

"Wisconsin Farmer's Cheese"

Yawn. What the hell is Farmer's Cheese? From the picture, it looks like a hunk of boring white cheese cut into perfect little shapes perfect for a Ritz cracker. Blech. In good news, however, there was a "Dare to be different" button, based on my answers. I perked up a bit and clicked on it. The answer:

"Queso Blanco"

Wow. So what I think I can deduce from this exercise is that apparently I am a boring white person who should be eating boring white cheese. I think I'm better off getting back to work and trying to fill in a last-minute moderator spot for my seminars.

Check out the site and see what you get - maybe you'll have better luck!

New finds at Madison Food & Wine

Thousands of people are trekking through the Madison Food & Wine Show this weekend, sampling hundreds of different specialty foods, wines and beers. I've gone to this show since it started seven years ago and it just keeps getting bigger and better.

Not only do I get to spend several hours walking and eating my way through a trade show, but I get to see the latest and greatest products being premiered at the show by Wisconsin food companies.

My top three finds this year include:

1. Sassy Cow Creamery - Miniature Gallons of Milk.

Oh. My. Gosh. If you're a

sucker like me for anything that comes in miniature, you will love Sassy Cow's brand new adorable one-quart containers, shaped like miniature plastic gallon containers. They just started marketing their white and chocolate milks, as well as heavy cream, 1/2 & 1/2 and eggnog, all in these mini containers. Look for them soon wherever you currently buy this amazing farmstead milk, bottled on the Baerwolf farm near Columbus.

2. Saxon Homestead Creamery - New Cheese: Pastures.

This raw milk, semi-hard, natural-rinded cheese is just hitting retail market this week. I've known it's been in production for awhile, and was thrilled to taste it for the first time tonight. Pastures is an old English farmhouse cheddar style cheese, aged for one year, and boasts a meaty, mellow flavor and lasting finish. This may be the best Saxon Creamery cheese yet.

3. Kelly's Kitchen - Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball.

Finally! Someone has combined my two favorite foods -- chocolate chips and cheese. This product is distributed by Wisconsin's Sugar Brook Farms, and is a combination of cream cheese, butter and rich chocolate chips - you know, your basic low fat, low calorie food. With an outer layer of almonds, this may be the best dessert every created. Apparently it also comes in Cherry Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. Yum.

In addition to the above fabulous finds, this year's show was my most favorite ever, as I got to be one of the judges for the Semi-Finals for the Dueling Chef competition. Charles Lazzareschi of Dayton Street Grille went up against Justin Carlisle of Restaurant Muramoto. The event is a lot like Iron Chef, except the chefs at this show only have 30 minutes to prepare two separate dishes using a mystery ingredient, which tonight was leg of lamb.

Both chefs made amazing dishes, but in the end, we declared Chef Justin at Muramoto to be the winner. His first dish was actually three separate mini dishes of lamb prepared three ways: 1) grilled lamb with apple and fennel, with horseradish ice cream (more about that later); 2) braised lamb with sweet soy sauce, and 3) braised lamb with mini cucumber salad. The second dish was roasted barbecued lamb, with brussel sprouts, sausage, dried cherries and chipotle sauce. Amazing!

Chef Charles also made two amazing dishes - the first was a roasted leg of lamb with potato puree, mushrooms, smoked bacon and brussel sprouts. The second was roasted lamb with coconut milk, dried cherries and sweet potato hash. And, while tasting these four dishes was awesome enough in itself, here are my three favorite moments from tonight's Dueling Chef competition:

1. Watching Chef Charles grab a half pound of butter with his hands, smush it into his potato puree, and start mixing with his hands. This is proof that butter does indeed make everything better.

2. Trying to guess what Chef Justin was doing behind the counter, only to have him pull out a container of liquid nitrogen and pour it in a pan to make horseradish ice cream. That's what I call culinary magic.

3. Watching Chef Charles dunk spinach leaves into a deep fat fryer to turn them into the equivalent of spinach chips. Who knew?

The Madison Food & Wine Show continues through Sunday night, and tickets are still available. The final dueling chef will be at 3 p.m. Competing for this year's Chef Crown will be Justin Carlisle, Muramoto Restaurant, and Daniel Smith, Liliana's, in Fitchburg. Should be fun to watch!

More Sheep Milk

Take heart, dairy goat and dairy sheep cheesemakers: it's official, you have arrived. Out of a total of 314 cheeses taking home awards at the 2009 American Cheese Society, more than one-third - 133, to be exact, were goat, sheep, or blended milk cheeses.

And, of 133 of those goat, sheep or blended milk cheeses, 33 hailed from Wisconsin. Wowsers. What a difference a few years makes in America's Dairyland.

Ten years ago, if you milked goats instead of cows in the state of Wisconsin, you were most likely to fall into one of two categories: 1) you were Amish, or 2) you were considered to be nuts by your neighbors.

Even Anne Topham, who's been milking goats and making farmstead goat cheese for more than 25 years, says when she entered the industry, her dad told her it was sign she was at the end of her rope. "Only the people who were about to go broke started milking goats," she says.

Well, no more. Let me be the first to officially declare that Wisconsin is entering the glory days of goat and sheep milk, and as a result, goat, sheep and mixed milk cheeses. Whoo-hoo!

Of course, this turn-around in our state's dairy industry didn't happen overnight, and it didn't happen by accident. Three years ago, the State of Wisconsin identified the need for helping grow technical resources for our burgeoning dairy goat industry and hired a Grow Wisconsin Dairy Goat Initiative coordinator (goat guru Jeanne Meier). Today, the state has the most dairy goats (33,000) in the nation, is hosting its second Focus on Goats statewide conference next weekend, and recently had more than 100 people - the most ever - show up at a dairy goat farm field day.

And in exciting news, just last month, the Dairy Business Innovation Center (full disclosure - this is a non-profit for which I do communications consultant work) hired the first-ever Dairy Sheep Specialist in the state of Wisconsin. Her name is Claire Mikolayunas, and after first figuring out how to pronounce her last name (say: Mc-o-lay-you-nis), I learned Claire is considered to be one of the premier sheep specialists in the nation.

Just as Jeanne Meier has partnered with host of state organizations, cheesemakers and dairy farmers to help lead the dairy goat revolution in the state of Wisconsin - mark my words - Claire Mikolayunas will do the same for dairy sheep.

With an undergraduate degree from Cornell, a master's in animal science, and an expected spring 2010 doctorate degree in animal sciences, both from the University of Wisconsin, there is no doubt Claire intellectually kicks most people's butts (including mine). She currently serves as the President of the Dairy Sheep Association of North America and on October 9, was selected as an American Dairy Science Association Midwestern Branch Young Scholar for 2010 based on her research accomplishments on the nutrition of dairy ewes with emphasis on protein utilization.

And if you're eyes haven't yet glazed over with all those accolades, let me be the first person to tell you that Claire is really cool, down-to-earth and ready to help people. In fact, if I hadn't dug up her resume and Googled her name, I'd know none of the above info. Because first and foremost, Claire is dedicated to growing Wisconsin's sheep milk industry, and frankly, we can use all the help we can get in that department. It's common knowledge in the state's inner dairy circles that our cheesemakers could easily use double amount the sheep milk currently being produced in the state.

Let me be clear -- it's not as if our dairy sheep farmers are sloughing off. Actually the opposite: Wisconsin leads the nation in production of dairy sheep milk products. With only 13 licensed milking sheep herds, we produce nearly 1 million pounds of milk annually. Nearly 95 percent of that milk is used in the manufacturing of specialty cheeses in Wisconsin and most is purchased by five Wisconsin cheese plants:

• Carr Valley Cheese, LaValle, Wis., producing a variety of blended milk cheeses and sheep's milk cheese
• Cedar Grove Cheese, Plain, Wis., manufactures both its own brand of cheese and contracts with the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative to make Dante and Mona
• Hidden Springs Creamery, Westby, Wis., this farmstead dairy sheep facility produces a variety of fresh and aged sheep's milk cheeses
• Roth Kase & Sartori Foods in Monroe and Plymouth, Wis., respectively, are both new to the sheep milk market, but are experimenting with sheep milk cheeses.

The Wisconsin Agricultural Stats Service recently sent surveys to all Wisconsin licensed dairy goat and sheep operations, to follow-up with surveys done in 2006, when both industries were just starting their ascent to validity. Those results -- due to be announced at the Focus on Goats conference in Wisconsin, Oct. 30-31, will help industry specialists such as Jeanne Meier and Claire Mikolayunas better plan for research projects, educational seminars, field days and other areas of interest to help more farmers enter the dairy sheep and goat industries, and to help current producers and processors maximize their operations.

So, let me be the very first to officially welcome Claire to our dairy sheep team, and I'm looking forward to more sheep milk and more sheep milk cheeses made in Wisconsin!