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Arts & Entertainment WorthaLook Dance Nrityagram Dance Ensemble In the south of India, 30 kilometers from the beautiful garden city of Bangalore, lies the dance village of Nrityagram. There, dancers come to devote themselves to the full-time study of classical Indian dance forms. This Saturday, Sept. 26, the internationally renowned Nrityagram Dance Ensemble comes to Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall, 327 Lasuen St. The ensemble will present “Samyoga,” a word that in Sanskrit means the joining of two heavenly bodies. “Samyoga” will be performed in the ancient and theatrical dance style of Odissi, one of the oldest surviving dance traditions of India, an art characterized by sinuous motion and powerful emotional expression. The performance also showcases sumptuous traditional costumes and live music. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15-$65. For more information, go to live. stanford.edu or call 650-724-2464. SEE MORE ONLINE PaloAltoOnline.com li Watch videos of Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, Artistry in Fashion and more in the online version of this story at PaloAltoOnline.com. Above: Nrityagram Dance Ensemble from southern India will perform at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall on Saturday, Sept. 26. Sonia Manchanda Festival Redwood City Salsa Festival It’s going to be hot in Redwood City this Saturday, Sept. 26, when the Salsa Festival returns to town. The fun starts at noon and runs until 8 p.m. with live Latin music, Tequila and microbrew tastings, and amateur and professional salsa chefs offering samples of their fresh and fiery concoctions. The festival takes place on Redwood City’s Courthouse Square, 2200 Broadway. Admission is free. Go to goo.gl/nZGssq or call 650-780-7000. Design Artistry in Fashion Calling all fashion lovers: This Saturday, Sept. 26, Redwood City’s Cañada College, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., hosts local independent designers for a day of demonstrations, sales and more. From hand-crafted jewelry to one-of-a-kind garments, bags and accessories, the show is a great place to get new fashion inspiration — or do some personal shopping. The designer sale and showcase runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a fashion show at 4 p.m. A $10 donation is requested. Go to artistryinfashion.com or call 650-306-3370. Art Great Glass Pumpkin Patch The gourds are back! It’s time for the ever-popular annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch, which celebrates its 20th year next week. The exhibition runs Tuesday, Sept. 29 through Friday, Oct. 2 at the Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Rd. On Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3-4, the pumpkins and other glass creations go on sale to the public. Admission is free. Go to greatglasspumpkinpatch.com or call 650-329-2366. Music ‘Bing Outside/In’ For a free afternoon of music, dance, art and food, head for Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall, 327 Lasuen St., on Saturday, Sept. 26. There, you’ll find San Francisco indie rock band The Family Crest playing in the open air lobby, acrobatics performed by Circus Bella, magic tricks by Dante Mancini and more. The event begins at 1 p.m. and runs through the afternoon. Go to live.stanford.edu or call 650- 724-2464. Festival Autumn at Filoli Let the kids frolic in the pumpkin patch and try their hand at pressing apple cider at the annual Autumn at Filoli Festival, held at the Woodside estate at 86 Cañada Road this Saturday, Sept. 26. Highlights include orchard tours, live music, heirloom fruit tasting and a barbecue lunch. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for Filoli members, $8 for children ages 5-17 and free for children 4 and younger. Go to filoli.org/autumn-festival or call 650-364- 8300, ext. 508. — Elizabeth Schwyzer If you love to travel, the Star One Visa ® Signature Rewards is the perfect card for you. It’s free. And it’s packed with travelrelated perks, protections and privileges. Star One Visa ® Signature Rewards Card Packed with Perks for Travel Lovers. • Get through airport security lines faster with a CLEAR membership at no additional cost from Star One. Details at visa.clearme.com/starone. • Free Trip Cancellation insurance. • Free Rental Car insurance. • Free Signature Concierge Services and more! Plus, you’ll earn points for every dollar spent that you can redeem for travel, cash and all kinds of cool things. Apply now at starone.org. San Jose 1090 Blossom Hill Rd. San Jose 3136 Stevens Creek Blvd. Cupertino 10991 N. De Anza Blvd. Sunnyvale 1080 Enterprise Way Palo Alto 3903 El Camino Real (866) 543-5202 www.starone.org Copyright © 2013 ALCLEAR, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 30 • September 25, 2015 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Eating Out S A Y cheese The key to an elegant and satisfying cheese board is plenty of color and flavor variety. Presented here, clockwise from left: Central Coast Creamery’s Big Rock Blue, seven-yearaged Wisconsin white cheddar, Wensleydale with cranberries, Ewenique’s sheep’s milk cheese, quince jam, castelvetrano olives, Dittmer’s Italian salami, paprika sausage and German salami. by My Nguyen LOCAL EXPERTS DISH ON HOW TO CREATE THE ULTIMATE SPREAD Artfully arranged, a cheese plate can consist of fresh and/or dried fruits, olives, nuts, cured meats, crackers and, of course, cheese. But it takes more than just chunking up cheddar into cubes or scattering crackers around a wedge of Gouda to assemble a quality cheese plate. The endless types of cheese and accompaniments that create a spread can make the task a little overwhelming. Read on for tips from local meat and cheese experts on how to craft an elegant cheese board that will charm party guests — and their tastebuds. WHAT TO BUY To assemble a fall cheese board, incorporate the character of the season, said Kai Rasmussen, store manager of The Milk Pail Market in Mountain View. One of Rasmussen’s fall recommendations is Gjetost, a cheese from Norway that is primarly made with whey and cow’s and goat’s milk. “It’s a very unusual cheese because it’s kind of caramelized so it doesn’t really taste like a normal cheese,” Rasmussen said. “It’s almost sweet, but it has a rich flavor that I feel is reminiscient of fall.” Another fall option is Wensleydale, a handmade cheese that’s sometimes studded with cranberries. (It gets its name from a style of cheese originally produced in the Wensleydale region of North Yorkshire, England.) “Wensleydale is a drier English cheese,” Rasmussen said, but the cranberries, characteristic of fall and holiday cooking, add a sweetness to the cheese’s crumbly texture. Other cheeses to consider: Fourme d’Ambert, a raw cow’s milk cheese from the Auvergne region of France (it also works well with the Gjetost, Rasmussen said) and manchego, a strong Spanish cheese made from sheep’s milk. John Nava, general manager and cheese buyer for Sigona’s Farmers Market at Stanford Shopping Center, looks to the old English rhyme often used for brides — “something old, something new and something blue” — to craft a cheese plate. “Have a strong presence of blue cheese,” Nava recommended, adding that his favorite is Big Rock Blue from Paso Robles-based Central Coast Creamery, a small-batch creamery that specializes in aged cow’s and goat’s milk cheeses. The blue cheese, which is ivory in color and laced with teal veining, has a mild and approachable flavor, he said. Michelle Le “It’s a universal blue, and it’s got one or two notes,” Nava said as he nibbled on a sample. “You taste the blue, then it fades and then you taste the creaminess. It has a lingering blue on the backend, but it’s not overpowering.” For something “old,” Nava recommends a seven-year aged Wisconsin white cheddar, which packs an intense flavor. It’s “big and bold upfront,” but bitter on the backend, Nava said. The cheddar has a firm texture but becomes smooth and creamy once eaten. The “new” comes from Ewenique, a sheep’s milk cheese made in Holland specifically for Central Coast Creamery. The cheese is white with a delicate texture and an earthy sweetness. Other cheeses to look for: Moo-Na Lisa (Sigona’s private label), a Gouda-Gruyere cheese; truffle Gouda, a creamy and luxurious cheese infused with black truffles; and Fromager d’Affinois, a French doublecream soft cheese made from cow’s milk. Nava suggests serving enough of each type of cheese so that all guests can taste them, adding that the best cheese boards are diverse. If you’re serving a small party (five people), choose four to five types of cheese. Expert’s tip: Let the cheese sit out before serving time, Milk Pail Market’s Rasmussen said. “Let them get adjusted to (room) temperature, otherwise it’s a little too cold or too hard (to serve).” ACCOMPANIMENTS Once you’ve decided on which cheeses to serve, it’s time to pick the accompaniments. Rasmussen likes to keep things seasonal. In the fall, she looks to fresh red and green grapes, pears and quince or quince paste: a sweet, thick jelly made from the pulp of the quince fruit. Fried and salted Marcona almonds add a salty crunch. Partner the cheeses with honey, which complements the salty nature of cheese and crackers. Rasmussen recommends serving a thinner cracker, “so you can taste the cheese more.” Cured meat can add substance to the cheese and act as a perfect vehicle for spreads. Mark Dittmer, whose father owns Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus in Los Altos, recommends doubled-smoked paprika sausages (a Dittmer speciality), whose spice and heat go well with white cheese or cheddar, he said. “Especially with our heavy smoked stuff I like (a) nice mild cheese,” said Dittmer, who suggests slicing links into quarter-inch-thick coins for serving. Consider these other meats at Dittmer’s for your cheese plate: German salami, Italian salami, pepperoni and prosciutto. For sweeter accompaniments, Dittmer recommends a spreadable chutney or jam, including red currant, quince or lingonberry to add a contrasting flavor to the fatty, salty meats. For garnishes, place pickles, olives and other acidic accompaniments next to the meats, Dittmer suggested. Expert’s tip: For an easy and impressive treat to include on a cheese board, purchase Medjool dates and stuff them with mascarpone cheese and walnuts, then top with salt. (If you’re going high-end, Nava suggests Salt of the Earth, a 600-million-year-old salt from West Virginia.) PRESENTATION Cheese is best displayed on a natural surface, such as wood, slate or marble, said Alison King, a sales associate at Sur La Table at Town & Country Village in Palo Alto. King prefers an olivewood cheese board because of the wood’s natural beauty, but “it’s a little more expensive because the wood is rare.” A cheaper alternative is an acacia wood cheese paddle, which features a natural grain pattern and provides a rustic backdrop for the cheese. Slate cheese boards are also a good option — and double as a writing surface. You can use chalk to write the names of the cheese directly on the slate. Another favorite of King’s are boards made of half wood and half marble. “You can put certain cheeses you’ll be slicing on the wooden side and other ones like brie, where you are just going to scoop, on the marble side,” she said. And don’t forget about the knives, said King. Spreadable cheeses such as brie or goat work best with a spreader or butter knife, while harder cheeses like parmesan work well with a square-shaped knife, she said. And for softer cheeses, like cheddar, King prefers a soft-cheese knife with a forked end to pick up the slices. She also reccomends putting out small serving bowls filled with olives and almonds to add warmth and texture, as well as placing labels in the cheeses so guests know what they’re trying. “The biggest thing is to have color,” King added. She reccomends placing a combination of red and green grapes on the board or serving cheese on serving paper that resembles a slice of wood or leaves. Digital Editor My Nguyen can be emailed at mnguyen@paweekly.com. www.PaloAltoOnline.com • Palo Alto Weekly • September 25, 2015 • Page 31
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