When I came down to San Diego to attend college at UCSD, I looked for a cheese shop in San Diego and couldn’t find one.  In my naivete, I didn’t understand that cheese shops weren’t a normal and natural shop to go to.  I mean who wouldn’t want a cheese shop?!  They just weren’t to be found and it would be a very long 25 years before I discovered a cheese shop again.  During those 25 years, the grocery stores slowly started carrying more variety of cheeses as well as stores like Trader Joe’s, but it just wasn’t the same.

Then I found Venissimo Cheese.  I don’t know how I found or when I found Venissimo cheese, but I know it was on one of my many surfing episodes….this one around cheese.  I was excited to find the shop and even more excited to find one in Del Mar…not too far away from Escondido.  My excitement peaked when I clicked on Events & Classes and scrolled down to the bottom to find my dream class….Creating a Cheese Course Experience.  I stared in disbelief….

“Experience a personal one-one-one, hands-on 1.5-hour adventure with Cheese Wiz Gina where you will learn how to cut & present cheeses for the perfect cheese course & how to make a gorgeous “cheese cake.”  From selecting to slicing, you’ll create two delicious cheese treats to take home & enjoy with friends.”

It was Chrismastime, so what did I do?  I bought My Cheese Experience!!  Yesterday at 1pm, I drove over to the Flower Hill Mall for my Experience.  I walked into the store and it was like going back 30-35 years and walking into the Village Cheese House all over again.  It smelled identical!

The owner Gina was wonderful and amazing.  I spent an hour and a half sampling cheeses (drooling the whole time) and watching her put together a little “crate” of four different cheeses (pantaleo, red leicester, cana de oveja and point reyes blue), as well as the promised “cheese cake” (coulommier cut in half, drizzled with lavender honey and these oiled almonds in the middle, topped with an edible flower and cut up dried figs and apricots). She also sent me home with four other cheeses that I loved ( hook’s 10-year cheddar, bucaneve fresco, speziato al tartufo and midnight moon) to create my own special cheese experience.

On top of all that, I think I tried at least 10 other cheese, if not more!  One of the many things that I love about Venissimo is the printout that you get with each purchase.  The printout contains the name, how to pronounce it, a brief description, where it comes from, what type of milk is used, whether it’s pasteurized or raw and finally wine suggestions….all in this neat little printout!  You can go to any of their three shops and try cheeses to your heart’s content and then choose a few for your party.

I can’t thank Gina enough for My Cheese Experience….THANK YOU GINA!

I get home Friday evening and the phone rings.  I answer it and it’s my sister-in-law Joy.  She’s at Emergency with Jane and Jane’s just broken her kneecap…you’ve got to be kidding me…..

Seriously, what else can go wrong right now?  I was lamenting at work and my boss just looked at me and said “It’s your turn in the barrel”.  I guess it is….

Both services were very well done. The number of friends who showed up in support was amazing and a true testament to who Sam was as a person.  He was well-known in the community as a handyman and his daughters Joy and Carol had inscribed on the urn “That’s okay, my Daddy can fix it”.

One of the questions on the radio recently has been “What do you want to throw away from 2008?” and I’m sitting here wondering what’s going to happen in 2009?  Losing my dad-in-law has been a shock to me in so many ways and dealing with his health in 2008 was a new experience for me.  Maybe it was all preparation for what I’ll be going through this year with my family?

I just got off the phone with my sister and it sounds like the new year has already started off with numerous health issues in my family involving my mom, my sister and my brother-in-law.  I keep getting wave after wave of bad news, but like my sister said, we need to remember all the blessings we do have and live each day fully and always remember to tell our loved ones how much we love them every day.

I am thankful for my many blessings:  my health (which is still holding up it would seem!), my house, my family and my job.  Though the times may still be rough ahead, I will keep those close to my heart and do all I can to live my life fully.

Happy New Year!