marcellathecheesemonger

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My Little Piece of Heaven

Hydrangea Six feet tall gardenia bush When The Man and I lived on the West Coast, I often called home, and my mother would invariably say, “Your dad and I have been working in the yard today.” This always made me wonder what they could possibly do to work in the yard every day. It kept them healthy, but how much effort did it take to keep the yard “nice”? Miss Anne Then I inherited the house with…

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PIG with Nicolas Cage

The Man and I love anything with Nicolas Cage; but Pig is one strange movie that leaves one thinking, “Why was this movie made?”. Production values are excellent; acting is superb; but what was the purpose of this film? It has no arc and no satisfying ending. Not as bad as Owen William’s Paint, but pretty damn close. Were my beloved Spaulding Grey still with us, he would give PIG 1 Paw out of 4…

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Mission Impossible Movie Franchise

For Memorial Day Weekend, The Man and I decided to binge the entire Mission Impossible movies Series, available free to Amazon Prime members. First by MI 7, Tom Cruise has finally started showing his age. I was convinced he had made a pact with the Church of Scientology to never age. The “church” may be able to “clear” (whatever the hell that means) but cannot preserve youth indefinitely. Good to…

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It's Been a Long Time and I Apologize - Plus AI is Scary...

To paraphrase John Lennon… life gets in the way. The past few years have been challenging but we deal. Although I am “retired” from cheese, this website remains mine and I plan to continue updating it from different facets of my life. I recently discovered GROK, Elon Musk’s AI app and for fun typed in “Marcella, the Cheesemonger” and this is what GROK had to say about this site (along with links…

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Too Funny Not to Share

Goes without saying, I have been absent. So much has happened, it’s hard to decide what to share and what falls under… NOBODY.CARES. Here are the highlights since my last post (This is NOT, the “Too Funny Not to Share” part – stay with me…): September 3 was a regular First Sunday: flea meds for the cats, clean the drains and water plants and… My WSOP online poker team continues to dominate its…

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Miss Anne's Little Free Library

My mom, known locally as Miss Anne, was an avid reader all her life. She never traveled without several books and had a stack beside her favorite chair. There were books everywhere. When she passed away in 2017, I donated hundreds of books to Habitat For Humanity, her favorite charity. Her favorite books were romance novels and she would read the ending first to make sure it had a happy ending.…

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What Would You Do to Win a Wheel of Cheese?

A woman from Canada was knocked unconscious at the annual Cheese Rolling in Gloucestershire UK – and went on to win the contest: If you are taking the 2023 CCP exam, be sure and check out my CCP Cheese Education Guide. In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional,   am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe…

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France 2023?? Why, Yes!!

I plan to return to Paris this fall, my first solo trip. I am already making plans and pulled up my Tips for visiting Paris to review along with the additions my friend, Mary, added in 2022. Because Karol and I did many of the touristy stuff in 2019, this trip will be a “deep dive” for me into the culture and the off-the-beaten path” places.. and a lot of simple people watching and relaxing. If…

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New 2023 Updated Vegetarian Suitable Cheeses

New 2023 Updated Vegetarian Suitable Cheeses

Updated 1/4/2023 -Now more than 1000 vegetarian-suitable cheeses from The USA, UK, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.  Generalities�� – not 100% – but generally: Traditional cheeses of France, Italian and Spain with AOP, AOC, DPO, DOP designation use ANIMAL rennet and are NOT vegetarian-suitable. Portuguese cheeses – many use thistles to coagulate milk for cheese; especially along the…

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It's Holiday Time: Order Platters and Pimento Cheese for Thanksgiving

It’s Holiday Time: Order Platters and Pimento Cheese for Thanksgiving

Time to order your cheese platters and pimento cheese for Thanksgiving!!! This year I will be making a batch of Miss Anne’s  original pimento cheese ( traditional and spicy) made with Cabot Co-Op Cheddars and Jack cheeses and local pimentos from Jan and Zen Garden here in Lavonia. Starting at $10 for 8oz; $15 for 16oz and $25 for 32oz. Perfect for your veggie platters and appetizer before main…

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Iconic Lavonia Depot Photo on Canvas - Order Now

Iconic Lavonia Depot Photo on Canvas – Order Now

Lavonia Depot Photo – ORDER NOW FOR HOLIDAY DELIVERY!! Offered exclusively. Rare snow-coated Lavonia in the winter of 1980. My father, Richard Bielski (at the time Pastor at First Baptist), caught the train passing the iconic Lavonia Depot. You can own a copy of this wintery Lavonia Depot photo on stretched canvas for your home or your favorite Lavonian. (X across this photo WILL NOT appear in…

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Marcella's Travel Tips

Marcella’s Travel Tips

Originally written in 2019 with my travel tips for first-time visitors to Paris. Updated August 12, 2022. My Friend Mary, who studied abroad in her youth and is a world-class traveler, recently returned from Europe and posted her tips for travel in post-Covid days. They are reprinted below with her permission: These are my tips for first-time visitors to Paris based on my…

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Every Cloak Rolled In Blood by James Lee Burke

Every Cloak Rolled In Blood by James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke. Copyright Frank Veronsky I read. I read a lot. And finish only books I enjoy. If a book lose my interest, I move on. If a book is not well-crafted, I move on. Once in a while, a book affects me profoundly. Every Cloak Rolled in Blood by James Lee Burke is one of the few that touches my soul and doesn’t let go. James Lee Burke is an American treasure. His body of writing combines…

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My Street Corn

I finally got around to making street corn – at least my take on the classic Mexican dish. Corn has always been the foundation of Mexican cuisine starting with tortillas and goes back to the Aztecs. Mexican Street Corn originated in Mexico City as a late night treat, called “Elotes”, meaning “corn cob”. Another variation served on the streets is “Esquites”, grilled corn off the cob (cooked in…

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Van Leeuwen Limited Edition Ice Creams

Van Leeuwen Limited Edition Ice Creams

Last July when the news hit the cheese world that Kraft had teamed with New York’s Van Leeuwen Creamery to create Mac n Cheese Ice Cream, I laughed and dismissed it as a “stunt” to break the internet click world. As it turned out, the stunt did indeed capture the ice cream world and when released, the mac n cheese flavor sold out in one hour… and I forgot about it… until… Last week I was in…

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Spring Fever at Marcella The Cheesemonger

Spring Fever at Marcella The Cheesemonger

Six year old rosemary My apologies for slow posting. I have a writing assignment for another cheese website which is taking most of the time generally used for this blog… but I shall return… in the meantime, I thought I would share with those of you interested in deck gardening and how I figured out how to make it work here in NE Georgia. (As part of my announcement of “expanding my horizons” re…

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Do You Know Which Cheeses Are Vegetarian Friendly?

Do You Know Which Cheeses Are Vegetarian Friendly?

Originally published at Cheese Professor Do You Know Which Cheeses Are Vegetarian Friendly? Editor’s note: Marcella Wright is a cheesemonger, educator, and founder of the Facebook Cheese Study Group. Because she has developed a very comprehensive list of vegetarian suitable cheese, we asked her to explain this category in depth.  In the cheese world, there is still debate as to whether cheese…