Dragon's Breath and Oculus Cherries

I love having cheese as a dessert course- OK, let's face it, I just love a dessert course. Period. When our wine and cheese loving friend, Kyle, was in town from Australia over Christmas, I knew we needed to have something special.

Dragon's Breath comes all the way from Nova Scotia and for the longest time this mysterious treat was impossible to find. It's entirely coated in black wax and left to ripen. When you cut the top off you discover a perfectly white blue cheese. There's no blue veining. Just white, creamy goodness that still packs the sharp punch of blue cheese without the moldy flavor. Janice Beaton had a full stock of it over the holidays, but you may want to call ahead to check if that's still the case.

The Oculus Cherries come from the beautiful Mission Hill Winery that we visited in the summer. They are exactly what they sound like: BC cherries soaked in Mission Hill's famous Oculus. They make an excellent addition to any cheese plate. They taste especially good when you stand in front of the fridge with the door open and eat them straight out of the jar. I haven't seen them in Calgary for quite some time, but you can order them through Mission Hill's website.