The Cheese School

In case you hadn’t already figured it out, I will say it once again. I love cheese! So, Reid, being the best boyfriend in the whole world, bought us tickets to The Cheese School, a school dedicated to teaching students about all things cheese. Wednesday night we attended the class Locavore: Cheeses of Marin, Sonoma and Napa. For two hours, we sampled a plate of locally made cheeses, learned about each cheese, the cheese makers and drank some vino. Obviously, I was in heaven. Our instructor was insanely knowledgeable, as she just recently finished writing the book, Cheese for Dummies.

A few takeaways from Wednesday’s class:

If you like to peruse the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, I recommend searching for Andante Dairy and sampling their Cavatina, a pasteurized goat’s milk cheese. It was, by far, my favorite cheese of the night.

Both wines were great picks and reasonably priced around $20/bottle so they are worth checking out:

·       2011 Waterstone Winery Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon

·       2009 Twenty Rows Cabernet Sauvignon

Cheese needs accoutrements! The Panevino breadsticks and the Panforte, a Tuscan honey nut candy (purchase at these locations), were quite a hit.

This class is a great way to mix up your traditional wine and cheese night. It’s a unique date idea or a fun girls night out. The Cheese School offers a variety of cheese classes, instructed by different cheese enthusiasts, multiple times a week, at their cute, homey nook in North Beach. Sign up for a class soon!  

The Cheese School, 2155 Powell Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.

Lucky Strike

  

The art of bowling may strike you as somewhat less than glamorous. Visions of bowling alleys smelling of stale cigarettes, dated 60’s décor, men in short-sleeved polyester shirts with embroidered name tags and clown shoes might flood your mind. But, my friends, bowling can, in fact, be very glamorous. Welcome to Lucky Strike, the new, very trendy, bowling alley/bar/restaurant that opened up in the old Borders space across from AT&T ballpark in SOMA. 

I was blown away with the old bookstore’s transformation. As we walked into Lucky Strike on Friday night, the place with swarming with young twenty-somethings, either perched at the expansive bar or dining at the surrounding tables. We proceeded past the restaurant/bar area, into the new era of bowling; where projector screens flank the end of each alley,  playing NCAA games (in the spirit of March Madness) and groups of people are lounging on couches, cheering their teammates to knock those pins down, as waiters serve cocktails, beer, wine and all that really unhealthy bar food that always tastes so good after you’ve been drinking. 

Along with fourteen others, we overtook two lanes at Lucky Strike and for a mere $60/person, we drank to our hearts content and bowled till we could bowl no more (for two hours). If only they offered the option of bumpers, as a high score of 26 proves I am no bowling champion. 

Lucky Strike, 200 King Street, San Francisco, CA 94107.