Introduction Cheese Week

As you may know I am interning with Cowgirl Creamery in Petaluma, California. So far so good; things have been a blast. Becky and I got to help set up a tour in the Petaluma creamery where they make their signature cheeses. If you aren't familiar with their cheeses you really need to check them out. They are certified organic cow's milk and honestly when you bite into their cheese, you know it is made with the best milk. 

Mt. Tam
Cowgirl Creamery's most popular cheese. It is a triple cream cheese (meaning that cream is added to whole milk in processing) that is soft and gooey when you bite into it. You can;t go wrong with this.

Red Hawk

This cheese is only made in Cowgirl Creamery's Point Reyes location. This cheese has an orange rind on the outside. This cheese has a similar recipe as Mt. Tam, but is different due to the bacteria that grows on the outside. Here comes my nerdy side! This certain bacteria called B. linin is found naturally in the air in Point Reyes. This bacteria is known to give the cheese its orange-red tint. Because Point Reyes is right by the coast line, this certain bacteria can flourish since it perfers moist enviroments. Without this environment, Red Hawk cannot be produced which is why it is not made in the Petaluma creamery. 

Wagon Wheel

This is Cowgirl Creamery's hard aged cheese. It's produced in a big wheel hints the name. It is one of my favorites and is fantastic to melt. Cannot get enough of this cheese!

So this is only three of their collection. The others are just as amazing and have their own special characteristics. They also carry other local cheese makers cheese that can be seen in their retail stores; Point Reyes retail store, Ferry building in San Francisco, and Washing DC store. But if you're like me and not from around those areas you can order it online and look through their cheese library for more amazing cheeses that they have. 

This was just a little fast reading information of Cowgirl Creamery. Let me tell you, there is so much more to know about this business and what they stand for it's worth to read on their website. This first week just continues to be so much fun and I can't see it slowing down.

Family Weekend

This weekend was the "coming to the end" part of my family's time here in California. Of course I won't be going back to Knoxville with them, but I will miss having that comfort. Before they leave me to fend for myself we did some more exploring in this beautiful state.

We went to Point Reyes National Seashore and went to Abbott's Lagoon. This was 1.5 mile hike on pretty flat land to a beautiful quiet lagoon. Past the lagoon about 0.5 miles, you could walk the coast of the Pacific Ocean. If you know me you know I find so much beauty in God's natural creations. It's breath taking how every mountain, stream, and field work together to make the pictures we get to see everyday. I would go back to Abbott's Lagoon and bring a blanket to sit on the shoreline and just be still. 

 If you are from this area you know the significance of the IN-N-OUT Burger. So naturally we had to get IN-N-OUT before the family left. I'm not a fast food person but I see myself eating this again.

Family Week

I am so blessed that I got an amazing opportunity to intern at Cowgirl Creamery in Petaluma, CA. But before I started my own adventures my family and I took time to site see, visit family, and spend every waking moment together... long week. Only kidding, but we did get to do some amazing things and spend time together that was long overdue. 

We first landed in San Jose where my cousins lived. There we spent two nights catching up, playing with my two little cousin, and eating A LOT (as most Persians do).

Persian dessert

The first traveling we did was to Stanford University. And let me tell you, it blows UT out of the water. This is obviously a school of the wealthy and highly educated. The most beautiful part of what I saw was the court yard with the campus church. It looked like something straight from Europe. 

After our mini campus tour we went to a near by town called Los Gatos where we had lunch and walked around. Once lunch was done and we walked around looking at all the shops we went to Capitola. This was such a cute town. The buildings were Latina inspired with bright fun colors. It had a small boardwalk that we went on that over looked the ocean. Fun fact: Capitola wharf is the largest marine sanctuary. This was such a beautiful place. I loved that I got to spend it with the little cousins :)

After the sweet visit with my cousins the family went to Modesto to visit my father's uncle and his wife. We were previously told that my uncle's wife cooking was amazing and to get ready to eat some amazing Persian food... oh heck yeah!! Unfortunately the pictures of the feast are with my dad, but I can promise you that that it was great. 

After Modesto for a night the family finally headed to San Francisco or SF/ San Fran as the locals call it. Our hotel was in Larkspur which was just a ferry ride away from San  Fran. We were told that driving downtown was not worth it. It worked out for the better since our hotel was within walking distance to the ferry. Downtown San Francisco is similar to many big cities, but it had a special charm to it. Maybe because it was surrounded by mountains and the ocean. Whatever it was made this city a great visit. 

A big point of going to SF was to see the Cowgirl Creamery sidekick shop in the ferry building. This building is well known since it's the main water transportation to and from SF. Here Cowgirl Creamery sells product as well as have a little cafe where they sell meals... of course many of the meals had cheese! Yum!

We walked A LOT around the city to Union Square heading down Market St. We then hopped on a cable car and headed towards the pier to check out the "tourist" part of the city. 

Hey John... 

 

At fisherman's wharf we got to see a WWII submarine. A title of one of the info booths was "78 men, 88 day, no shower". The first thing I thought of was HECK NO. That is so gross... 1 man, 2 days, no shower is enough for me. But regardless it was great to learn a little history and see the submarine and see Alcatraz in the background.

 

 

 

Alcatraz

She was too excited about this haha

We ended our day in downtown San Francisco by running back to the ferry building to hope onto on ferry a exactly 8:10 pm. We made it on just in time to see the beautiful sunset and this evening skyline. What a beautiful view and what a great day.

Advice to people traveling to downtown San Francisco. 

1) Do not drive; take the Larkspur ferry (it's about $18 rt)

2) Get on the cable car if traveling to tourist areas (China town, Fisherman's wharf)

     It's $6 each time you get on and you pay when you get on

3) If staying more than one day downtown look into getting a "passport" package

4) Any little trips you want to take such as the Alcatraz tour, reserve tickets

5) Don't know where to eat? I can promise everywhere you go is great. If you want seafood go to Fisherman's wharf