Things have been as hectic as ever in the cheese world and so I’m only just finding time to write my first blog of 2018. As ever January is a time when we reflect on the year that has gone and make notes on what we need to improve upon. Ali and I always try and get away for a week in order to revitalise after the festive mayhem and then knuckle down to writing copious lists in order to make new year as brilliant as the last one was. We endeavour to record every positive (as well as every negative) to make sure that things here in the cheese shop are always moving forwards. We go through all of our supplier catalogues and make sure that we are getting the best value for our customers. I also try and touch base with as many of our cheesemakers as possible so that we know what’s in their minds for the year ahead. Our local cheesemakers continue to go from strength to strength with new ideas being tested and new products filtering through. We were recently visited by a goat cheesemaker who is based near Basingstoke and we’re very pleased to be stocking her cheese – our counter is an ever-evolving space. I wish we had more room to stock even more cheeses but at the moment I’m having to be happy with what we’ve got. There are so many cheeses out there and I would like to expand our French offering but we really struggle to find reliable suppliers for French cheeses. I don’t know why but it’s always been an issue for us. We have an amazing Italian supplier and great Spanish connections but the French are a protective bunch when it comes to their cheese. We have been invited to the Cheese & Dairy Products Show in Paris next week and I am debating whether to go over for a day. Trouble is I’ve given up cheese for Lent and so can’t do any tasting! I know giving up cheese is pretty radical for a cheesemonger but it’s only for 40 days (although I’ve just discovered it’s actually 46 days!)
We have just had a couple of days in Berlin and whilst there wasn’t much cheese on the menu – we could only find one specialty cheese shop – we had a great time seeing the sights. It is an amazing city with an incredible history and it was fascinating wandering around and taking it all in. We are hoping to get over to the Netherlands in the spring to visit our Gouda makers and we’ve been invited to Le Gruyere to see their unique production so hopefully there will be lots to report on in the coming months.
On a real positive personal front, my running is improving all the time 🙂 I did a heavy week last week (60km) and so am on an easier one at the moment but I’m so chuffed with how it is going and with no pain at all in my ankle, happy days!