If you are a cheese-aholic like me, there are a variety of ways to enjoy eating mounds of international soft and hard cheeses. For example, orchestrating a “kitchen island classic” ”“ simply arranging three to five different cheeses by texture, flavor and milk type on your home island and drinking whatever you have on hand with other cheese-aholics. Or maybe it”™s “the no brainer” ”“ going to your favorite restaurant and asking the waiter what triple crèmes and blues the chef is dishing out and partnering the cheese with their house wine selections. Does this sound too familiar and mundane? If it does, how about trying something entirely different ”“ like climbing into a hot-air balloon with pilot Michael Blum and cruising around the Hudson Valley as you nibble on rich, aromatic cheeses from Holland?
Blum is the U.S. marketing and brand manager for Beemster, a Holland-based gourmet cheese company. He loves to take his best clients up and out (around 2,000 feet sky high) “for a breath of fresh air.”
When Blum invited me up, up and away for a Dutch-style cheese tasting, the color on my face turned a lovely shade of pasture green. The mere thought of climbing into a tiny picnic basket and gazing up at a 37-foot Godzilla blue cow balloon seemed completely zany and made my stomach long for extra strength Pepto-Bismol.
As a well-grounded cheese-aholic, I decided to MapQuest an alternative flight pattern for the cheese tasting. I suggested we load a large, colorful picnic basket with homemade turkey and roast beef sandwiches topped with an assortment of mild flavored Beemster cheeses, (mustard seed, nettles and garlic) and drive to Bear Mountain as we listen to the Wagner opera “The Flying Dutchman.”
“That”™s a tad boring,” Blum said, cracking a whimsical smile. “Don”™t you trust my pilot skills?”
I quickly replied “with all due respect, no I do not” to the newbie pilot. However, trusting my female instincts, I knew Blum and the Beemster hot-air balloon was going to be a huge success ”“ perhaps more successful than the Fifth Dimension 1960”™s hit single “Up, Up and Away.”
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For the last two years, the hot-air balloon has been attracting national media attention and rapidly gaining brand recognition for Beemster.
“When I first pitched investing in a hot-air balloon to the company CEO, I knew my idea was a little unusual but had merit. We can offer our customers the chance to experience something that they may never do; at the same time, I”™m there to help brand the product,” Blum said proudly.
Graduating from Colgate College in 2004, Blum is both passionate about the company and entertaining clients with his new friend Miss Betty Bovine ”“ a very attractive blue cow that serves as the official Beemster logo on the balloon.
“Growing up I was always infatuated with hot-air balloons. Flying around the country draws attention to the Beemster brand and I get to do something I love,” he said. “Also, no traffic jams in the clouds. It”™s peaceful!”
Last summer, the Beemster hot-air balloon could be seen departing from Sprout Creek Farm in LaGrange, N.Y. This summer, with its rock-star popularity, Beemster has an official balloon flight schedule and has hired an additional pilot.
On a clear day if you happen to look up in the sky and see something suspicious, it is not a bird, it is not a plane and it is not Superman. It is probably Michael Blum and a client, drifting in and out of the Hudson Valley clouds while enjoying Beemster extra-aged cheeses.
Note: Beemster cheeses may be purchased on the Web site igourmet.com. and at Stew Leonard”™s markets in Connecticut and New York. Visit www.beemstercheese.us for additional hot air balloon information.
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Nancy Dacey of Ridgefield has more than 22 years of experience working in the food service industry. In Dishing It Out, she offers information and suggestions on an array of food-related topics. Reach her at nancyjdacey@msn.com.
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