Cheese, Cheese, what a wonderful fruit!

I spent this weekend in PA visiting my sister and her husband (of 232 Green Street fame). The whole weekend was lovely and included a 1st birthday party, a shopping spree, great Firefighters meatloaf, terrible whole wheat banana & walnut pancakes, building a garden trellis, running in the rain, Skipbo, and a 5 hour delay at the airport on the way home. I can't possibly pick a highlight, but one (and this really shows how well AF and JF know me) was a trip to Ramondo's!



(Note: If you can say Ramondo's! without a cheesy Italian announcer voice, you are definitely more mature than I am!)

Ramondo's is in downtown Phoenixville, PA - which is an adorable little town about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia. We got there just as a parade was ending and got to see Ronald McDonald!! Which of course got the whole excursion off to the right start.

The quaint PA cheese shop became legendary for me when last Christmas, JF (my brother-in-law) stopped in and asked for cheese to compliment a Gin & Tonic. AF and JF had gotten me some fantastic gin for my present (again, how freaking well do they know me? It's almost scary!) Wouldn't you believe it, but the owner took the request very seriously and helped select a wonderful Stilton with Lemon from England. The cheese was perfect paired with my G&T and I spent the holidays enjoying it immensely.

Our stop in there only proved to me that Ramondo's lives up to it's reputation. The shop is pretty much everything I need in life. It is two cases and a small counter. Once case is cheeses from all over the world and the other chocolate truffles - what could possibly be better.

We tried a couple cheeses and ultimately settled on Bica, a blended cow, goat and sheep's milk cheese from Portugal. Cheeseline.com explains that it has a "distinct flavor, slightly salty because its milk comes from animals that graze on land that sits by the sea." It was a great appetizer with some grapes, crackers and of course, a G&T.