Party Time!

Just returned yesterday from our trip to the Zingerman's compound. I'll get into details of the whole weekend in a bit, but for now I thought I'd share the main reason for heading there in the first place:

2nd Annual Tomato and Mozzarella Party

August 27, 2011

Ann Arbor, Michigan

We arrived at the creamery about 5:00 pm, and were handed name tags so that we knew we were Officially Invited. Then we headed over to the main event hall, where our cheese-making hostess Aubrey demonstrated how to make mozzarella!!! Really excited about this, because she provided lots of helpful tips I wouldn't have even thought to ask about. Such as - it's ok to wing it a little bit. You can always correct it if it's not quite right. (Seriously forget to think that when I'm in the process. Hearing it from a nine-year veteran is encouraging.)

It was while watching her stretch and form the cheese that I had a thought: I feel really weird. Wait, I know this feeling - I'm about to pass out! Maybe it's just the warm sun combined with the cool breeze... Or maybe I just need water. We've been traveling all day and I've hardly had any. OH MY GOD - I've hardly had any water all day!! I should get some before... Wait, what's she saying? I can't make out what she's saying. Ooh, out-of-focus tunnel vision... I'm definitely, definitely about to pass out.

At which point Matt hauled my ass over to the shady side of the building, where I sat in the cool grass drinking out of a large water bottle until I didn't look grey and clammy anymore, and then we rejoined the group.

Adventure!

(There was an appetizer served - burrata [a pouch of mozzarella filled with cottage cheese and heavy cream] mixed with roasted red pepper and olive oil served on a leaf of endive - which was delicious, but I didn't get a picture of it because I was busy not fainting.)

We were soon ushered inside to tables featuring centerpieces of fresh basil, accompanied by large vessels of water. This was a good thing.

Then we were fed this:

Fresh cheese on three tomatoes: Cherokee Purple, Aunt Ruby's German Green, and Kellogg's Breakfast. The Kellogg's Breakfast one was really sweet. I liked the Cherokee Purple best. (No, not because of that.)

Pain de Mantagne (a hearty, rustic bread) rubbed with garlic and plum tomato, drizzled with olive oil and served with Italian and French sheep's milk cheeses. I don't think this picture expresses how big this piece of bread was. It was about the size of both of my hands placed next to each other.

Fresh cheese rolled with prosciutto and pesto, paired with an Hungarian Heart tomato.

Eggplant fried in cornmeal with smoked mozzarella melted on top, later to be accompanied by a slice of Brandywine tomato because they cut up too many. The acidity of the tomato is just what the dish needed. :-)

Pain de Mie (hearty white bread) with Brandywine tomato and bacon fat mayonnaise. WTF? Who thinks of something like that? It was really, really good. And really, really rich. And by that point I'd eaten so much that I took one bite and thought, Hm, this is really good and really rich. I think I might throw up.

But I did not!

I was saved by this:

Vanilla gelato topped with Portugese tomato jam. This was a sweet tomato jam, made with cinnamon and sugar. I guess you really can't find it outside of Portugal. Aubrey fell in love with it last time she was there, and couldn't find it anywhere. So she got it added to the menu just so Zingerman's would import it and she could taste it again. She ordered one too many jars for the crowd that night. We now own a jar of Portugese tomato jam.

Before you worry - No, we did not try to finish everything that was put on our plates that night. I think that might be impossible. Though there were those who attempted it.

Along the way, there were informative discussions about the history of the tomato and the importance of species differentiation, cooking demonstrations, friendly banter, and a 20% discount off purchases at the creamery!

It was beyond fantastic to be surrounded by people getting excited over what kind of tomato and cheese they were currently tasting...

Here's a too quick snap of all the different tomato varieties we sampled (taken on the way out of the door; didn't watch my framing):

Emily, the farmer who provided Saturday night's produce, said she harvests between 800 and 1000 pounds of tomatoes every two days this time of year. We did not actually sample any Green Zebras that night, but she had brought some along just in case, and since they were there and all... We had those alongside some cheese fondue last night.

*bounce*