In which I ask a cheese, "where have you been all my life?"

I don't know what took me so long to try even a single cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. There's no excuse. And up until this afternoon, when Katie was hovering over the Cowgirl Creamery shelf of the cheese case at Sunshine Foods in St. Helena, I didn't know what I was missing.

But now I know: I know that this cheese and I were made for each other.

The cheese in question is Mt. Tam, which is Cowgirl Creamery's signature cheese. It's a mellow, triple-cream, soft-ripened cheese made with organic cow's milk. And it tastes like heaven. I ate a lot of triple-cream soft cheeses during my time in France, but in my opinion, this one beats them all. It certainly blows away all of the other domestic (American) ones I've tasted. Add in some ficelle and cranberry bread from the nearby Bouchon Bakery, and some fresh apple slices, and I am in ecstasy.

I realize that this is probably a little insensitive of me, gushing about a cheese that most of my readers can't buy in their local markets. But wait, there's hope yet! You can buy Cowgirl Creamery's cheeses online! The catch: they appear to ship only to addresses in the United States. Dear readers abroad, I'm afraid you're out of luck. But come visit the SF Bay Area: I'll take you on a field trip to the Ferry Building and buy you your very own round of Mt. Tam at the Cowgirl Creamery shop there.