Something Tasty: A cheese pairing to try

Personal Pairings: Prairie Breeze + Nerds Gummy Clusters

One of my favorite things to do is pair cheese with non-food items, or create a cheese pairing inspired by something (or someone).

Not super shocking for those of you who know about my upcoming book I’ll Have What Cheese Having. I’ll pair cheese with anything.

But it’s extra special when I get to do it for people I love and admire.

Last week I curated pairings based on all the members of The Spark File’s Illume cohort celebrating their year of creative work culminating in an incredible showcase.

I crafted a pairing based on each of the 15 presenters, inspired by their personalities and creative projects. The sign by each pairing had a few adjectives that described the pairing…but also the person.

This pairing is so fun, stunning on a plate, and one of my favorites: Prairie Breeze and Nerds Gummy Clusters. Yes, it is surprising, and just as delicious.

The pairing was inspired by my friend Juliet, and her adjectives were:

“Fun, Colorful + Complex, Sweet, Great for kids and adults”

The Prairie Breeze is salty, crunchy, and sweet (one of my favorite cheddars of all time) and the nerds (an elite candy snack) builds on that sweetness with it’s fruity burst of flavor.

You can’t help but smile when you see it, just like Juliet ❤️ 

Do you want to see more of these? Or know more about how I come up with these personalized pairings? Let me know!

Something True: A truth about myself

“Failing” Up

Here’s the truth.

I was one of those 15 people in Spark File’s Illume Cohort. This newsletter has been a part of my creative work over the past year.

I’ve been writing to you like this for a year already…how nuts is that?

I promised you I would tell you more about how you can follow along with me when I go to Europe in the fall. And I will!

But last week was huge, and I have to tell you about it.

It was an event where we all got five minutes to pitch ourselves, or a project, to an off-Broadway theatre of ~ 200 people.

There were a bunch of industry people, potential collaborators, friends and family, and the energy was INSANE. Being in a room stacked with people who wanted to support and celebrate big creative swings was such a gift.

You all know I do many things, so I went the route of pitching myself rather than one specific project.

I gotta say, trying to describe who I am and what I do in five minutes seemed realllllllly daunting at first. But it was a great exercise in trying to distill what I love to do and what motivates me to it’s core, which, at the end of the day…

It’s all storytelling.

Teaching a cheese class, acting, writing, theatremaking, personalized cheese pairings…it’s all just different ways of telling a story, always striving to encourage authenticity and understanding.

Leading up to the big day, I was constantly oscillating between complete confidence and panic, as our brains often do when something is important to us. When the day came and it was finally my turn to pitch…I blanked. After so many months of preparation!

I got a bit emotional talking about how agriculture and the arts have been my whole life. It threw me a bit, so in front of all those people I CALLED FOR MY NEXT LINE IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PITCH.

And you know what? The crowd loved it.

Turns out showing people you’re a human can be way more effective than trying to appear 100% polished and perfect. Because none of us are.

Yes, I screwed up a line. I didn’t get to deliver my pitch exactly as I practiced. And it was one of the greatest gifts of the day. I got to show how comfortable I am on stage, and how I can improvise to easily recover from a quick hiccup.

And honestly, it was very silly, very fun, and spurred a lot of laughs. The video of this pitch is coming, and I’ll be sure to share it with you when I can.

If you’ve been here for the full year, or if you’re a new friend of the newsletter:

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for letting me share a bit of my imperfect humanity every week, and supporting and embracing this big creative swing.

Farm to Fable: How food shows up in storytelling 

The Everlasting Gobstopper

To me, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a pretty perfect film. And entire books could be written on the food in it, but the Nerds Gummy Clusters give me major Everlasting Gobstopper vibes, so that’s what we’ll focus on.

The idea of a full meal being in one tiny chewable container that never runs out brings out different things for different people. Fun? Life-saving? Convenient? Abomination? Genius? It makes us consider…what defines a meal?

The Everlasting Gobstopper focuses on flavor only, not fullness, or nutrients, or communal experience. What could this say about the world in 1971, or today?

What do you consider a meal?

Until next time,

Anne-Marie

P.S. - Sunday Scaries

A terrifying AI image to help us all rest knowing AI bots could never replace a real human artist:

This week the prompt was:

“Willy Wonka putting together a cheese board for his friends.”

Why is he made out of wax??? Enjoy your nightmares.

www.annemariepietersma.com