A Mission to Find Spring Hill Old World Portuguese Cheese

Ever since my girl's wine tasting day a few weeks ago when I found that Old World Portuguese Cheese made by Spring Hill Dairy at a little market in Sebastopol, I've been on a mission to find it in my home town. 

I've tried four or five different grocery stores including Whole Foods, with no luck.  The closest I came was Whole Foods.  They had Portuguese cheese but it was made with raw milk and by a different brand, not what I was looking for.  The manager at the cheese counter told me he was placing an order with Spring Hill later on in the day and if the Old World Portuguese Cheese was on the Whole Foods list of items that can be ordered, he would order it.

I felt good about making some progress in getting Portuguese cheese retailed in Novato.  Our Whole Foods is new in Novato, it's only been open a few months, this was only my second time in the store so Paige and I decided to buy something for lunch and eat it out on their patio.

Paige wanted pizza.  The slice was HUGE for $2.99 so I cut it in half for her.  She was super hungry after her gymnastics class and ate the entire thing.

I got a freshly made avocado and cucumber roll made with whole grain rice from the sushi counter.  It was really good and I ate the entire thing as well.  I guess I was super hungry after watching Paige at her gymnastics class.

As we were leaving the patio area, Paige asked to borrow my camera to take a photo of the "pretty flowers".

And the "painted birdhouses".

I still had that Portuguese cheese on my mind.....it is just that good!  If you haven't had it before, it's a hard table cheese with a nutty flavor.  I can eat an entire block of it with some crusty, whole grain french bread if I let myself.

I decided to go directly to the source, something I should have done to begin with.  The Petaluma Creamery is owned by Spring Hill Cheese Company.  They produce some of their cheese at this facility as well as on their dairy with the milk of their Jersey cows, west of town {Petaluma}. 

So now I know I can just head on over the the Creamery when I run out of the chunk of 'Portuguese gold' I just purchased!

Another bonus to visiting the Petaluma Creamery is, they also make ice cream right there at the creamery.  Paige and I both ordered a 'kid's size' to sample.....hers, chocolate and mine, lavender.

Creamy and delicious.

This was the first time I tried lavender ice cream and I really liked it!  I was expecting it to be a lavender color but it's white with a very apparent lavender flavor.  I will definitely order it again.

On the walls inside the creamery hang some historic photos that date back to 1913 when the Co-Op Creamery was founded.

So if you're ever in Petaluma, the Petaluma Creamery is a fun place to stop by to get a feel for some of Petaluma's dairy farming history.

Happy to report, my mission accomplished.

Happy Thursday!

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