Lady Insane's Goat Cheese

I have a friend who is even more interested than me in quirky food projects. Lately her obsession has been goat cheese. Rather than happily buying a fresh log or a fragrant round of goat cheese she wanted to make her own.

She drove an hour and a half each direction to obtain the purest, unpasteurized goat cheese and then took it home to make the magic happen. She told us in detail how she made the goat cheese but all I remember is something about the ramekins of goat milk and enzymes sitting overnight in a cold oven. In the morning -- goat cheese!

I might have listened more carefully were it not for the sampler of goat cheeses that lay out before me: there was lavender goat cheese, rosemary goat cheese, Italian goat cheese, and plain. I went back and forth between each before deciding I liked them all equally. Mild and creamy and tart they were truly a treat.

There is nothing, yes nothing, like a meal outside on a September evening with rose and olives and hazelnuts and bread and dish upon dish of delectable treats made by hand by the girlfriends you love.