European History: The Cheese Approach
Tonight we have:
- Provolone Piccante, because we like sharp, aged provolone.
- Manchego, made from cows herded on the plains of La Mancha, homeland of the fictional Don Quijote--either the most pitiful of comic or the silliest of tragic heroes, depending on how you read the greatest novel in the Spanish language.
- Valterina Casera: everyone who has read C.V. Wedgwood's history of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) knows of the critical importance of the valley from whence this cheese comes: the Val Telline, control of which was absolutely vital to the ability of the Habsburgs to reinforce their legions in Germany with fresh Spanish tercios.
