The weather is still dropping cold in San Francisco, so I see no reason not to dip into a new fondue book. Written by fellow Cowgirl, Lenny Rice, and her friend Brigid Callinan, Fondue is witty, cute, and perfectly delicious. Dropping allusions to Laverne and Shirley and Hawaii 5-0, this cookbook takes you through fifty fondue recipes — sweet and savory — as well as fondue accompaniments, like mango marshmallows, Irish soda bread, and spiced doughnut holes.

While I didn’t make it yet, my favorite recipe by far has to be the one that came out of Lenny’s football-watching childhood in Oklahoma. It’s called “Whiskey Tango Game Day” and the recipe includes ground beef or pork and Velveeta. (Yes, Velveeta — stop your pearl clutching.) Lenny writes, “And the name? If you’re familiar with military radio alphabet, you’ll probably know how we came up with it!” While drink recommendations for other recipes guide you to specific wines and beers, this recipe suggest you pair your WT Game Day fondue with Dr. Pepper, Bud Light, and RC Cola. Awesome.

The other night Big Cheese and I melted up a big pot of California Country Roads, which throws together the tangy-stinky combination of Cowgirl’s own Red Hawk and Bellwether Farms Carmody. The recipe notes suggest using walnut bread, Fig Newtons, Graham crackers, and apples as dippers and pairing with a blanc de noirs. The Fig Newtons were definitely an interesting idea and the Fig Newton lovers in the group became addicted to the combo after the first bite.

With all these recipes at the ready, and a whole lotta cheese out there just begging to be turned into bubbly, velvet masses of goo, I hope these cold nights continue for quite awhile.

California Country Roads

Makes 2 cups

1 (12-ounce) round Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, rind discarded and cubed
8 ounces Bellwether Farms Carmody, grated
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup Napa or Sonoma sauvignon blanc
2 tablespoons muscat or other sweet dessert wine

Toss the cheeses with the flour in a bowl and set aside. In a fondue pot, bring the sauvignon blanc to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to low and add the cheese mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until melted after each addition. Add the muscat and stir until smooth. Serve immediately.

Serve with: toasted walnut or other rustic bread cubes, pear chunks, apple chunks, fresh figs, quartered, fig bars, Graham crackers.

Beverage Suggestions: pinot noir, blanc de noirs (sparkling wine), fino sherry

Ask five people what they taste when they suck a plush gobbet of Cowgirl Creamery’s Pierce Pt. off their finger and you’ll get five different answers. “Chamomile!” “Fennel!” “Coriander!” Personally, I always manage to pull out a flavor that reminds me of the big steaming bowls of oatmeal my mother used to dish out on cold Minnesota mornings. And now, with San Francisco skies waxing chill and nights that stretch dark and long like a Halloween cat flexing its supple spine, Pierce Pt. is once again of the season.

Once upon a time when I was a sweet young cheesemonger, Pierce Pt. was thick with herbs that scattered messily as a knife pulled through the encrusted round. It was a delicious mess, however, because I delighted in taking small white wedges and stamping them all over the plate, sticking up the herbs in a woodsy, furry collection.

Although it continues to be made with organic whole milk from the Straus Family dairy, today’s Pierce Pt. is more restrained, refined, and graced with a delicate scattering of herbs that grow around the coastal climes of Tomales Bay. A quick spritz of a sweet and golden wine from Fetzer deepens the cheese’s flavor and encourages the gilding of chamomile, fennel, bay, and coriander to cling fast to the natural, soft mold.

Delicately creamy, Pierce Pt.’s many levels of flavors unfold gently on your tongue.

Taste fall.

On rare days when all the scheduling stars align, I take a long walk during the day with fellow BAB-writer Stephanie. We use walk time to catch up on projects that we’re working on, and any other news worth reporting. For months now, Stephanie has been referring to her Library of Cheese project. While I knew that it was a project for Cowgirl Creamery, the nationally recognized artisan cheese shop in San Francisco, I didn’t know much more about the Library of Cheese.

A couple weeks ago I was clicking around on the Cowgirl Creamery website to find out more about my beloved burrata cheese — it’s a mozzarella cheese that is made with cream to create one of the most wonderful, buttery, rich tasting delectables that I’ve ever eaten — and I found my answers in the Library of Cheese. The Library includes over 250 cheese descriptions. Most entries have history and flavor profiles of the cheese along with information such as the cheesemaker, the proprietor, the affineur, the region the cheese is from, the milk type, the rennet type, the rind type, the texture, and how long the cheese has been aged.

The database is searchable by provenance, milk type, and milk treatment, which is helpful for me when doing a project such as the Eat Local Challenge. The database appeals to the part of me who wants to know all about the Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, but doesn’t want to have to ask a million questions to the cheesemongers at the store — I like to have a little research in my pocket before walking up to the counter.

If you’re familiar with any of Stephanie’s writing, you won’t be surprised that the cheese descriptions are interesting, thorough, and often witty. About the flavor of Serena, a cheese made in the Central Valley of California, Stephanie says, “If classic Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano and tulip-sniffing Gouda were to marry, Serena would be their delicious progeny.” And reading about buffalo mozzarella, I found out the following: “Stories, fables, and oft-told anecdotes about mozzarella abound. Some say mozzarella was first invented when cheese curds in a Neapolitan cheese factory accidentally dropped into a vat of hot water. Others yarn that in 41 B.C., Antony and Cleopatra spent a good part of their clandestine courtship feasting on the cheese as they floated in barges pulled by water buffalo.”

Whether you’re using the Library of Cheese to do research before going to the store, or you just want to browse through to learn about some of the world’s best cheeses, check out this wonderful resource!