Dear Dairy

After dropping off some stuff for work at the Hotel on Rivington earlier in the week, I headed to the Essex Street Market in search of breakfast. I entered the market on the northern side and made my way past vendors selling fish and fruit and myriad cuts of meat and poultry until I got to Saxelby Cheesemongers. I had only previously tasted Saxelby's cheese curds - in an enormous order of poutine at their neighbor stand, Shopsin's General Store (formerly of Carmine Street in the West Village). Anyway, the morning's cheesemonger turned out to be someone I knew and he proceeded to impress me with his knowledge of cheese. I first picked my bread - mini ciabatta - and he gave me a couple suggestions. His second offering, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, turned out to be the winner. Pleasant Ridge Reserve is a nutty, cow's milk cheese from Wisconsin. I liked its pliable texture - not soft and not overall crumbly. A little pour of Frankie's olive oil on the bread completed this fantastic sandwich.

I also picked up a container of Siggi's Skyr yogurt in pear & mint flavor. I had been seeing these in a couple shops - the Murray's outpost in Grand Central and also at Stinky Cheese in Carroll Gardens - over the past few months. The packaging is very clean and the writing on the label is made to look hand-written. Siggi is apparently an Iceland native now living in New York. His yogurt is super thick, like the good Greek stuff and not very sweet. I found the mint a little overwhelming and the yogurt maybe a little too thick overall until I added some honey. Not only did it thin it out slightly, but it added the touch of sweetness it was lacking.