Cheese and Chocolate Brunch

Here is what I learned this weekend: a radiator is very good for warming a baguette. I found this out by staying with our friends Noelle and Carolyn in Manhattan. They have a very aggressive heating system.

I also learned that blue cheese and chocolate taste divine together. Especially if the chocolate has a little bacon in it. Roni-Sue's Pig Candy came recommended, and it fit in beautifully with hard-boiled eggs, baguette, and soft cheese.

I think this may have been one of my favorite brunches of all time, and for that I have to thank Anne Saxelby, of Saxelby Cheese. She is the one who inspired me. She is the one who sold me some beautiful Summer Snow (pictured above), a sheep’s milk brie from Woodcock Farm in Vermont.

It was a perfect cheese to drink with champagne, while wearing pajamas.

We moved to the hard stuff later – and by that I mean beer-washed cheese (Harpersfield with Ommegang) and a heavenly blue with a spinachy finish (Bleu du Bocage).

Not everyone loves cheese for breakfast, but I do. And so do Noelle and Carolyn. After a night of dancing, it was very restorative. I think, from now on, I will plan more cheese brunches, if only because I love going to sleep knowing that the crisper is full of little wedges that await me at first light.

Here was this morning's spread. Later this week, I'll describe the cheeses in detail. Tune in for the Brunch Redux.