http://pnwcheese.typepad.com/Last month, I wrote about Samish Bay’s Ladysmith cheese, a fresh cow’s milk cheese that I tasted for the first time the Broadway Farmers Market. At the time it was new to me, and it’s possible my enthusiasm for the Ladysmith came from its novelty. But one month (and several tastings later), I can say with certainty that this is truly a remarkable cheese. There are two things that I love about the Ladysmith: its freshness and its versatility. Pick up a wheel or a wedge (one eighth of a wheel will cost you $7) at any of these farmers markets, and chances are good that you’ll be eating cheese that was made less than 24 hours ago. Because of this you get the full flavor of the cow’s milk–and by the taste of it, these must be some happy cows, with plenty of pasture to roam, and plenty of sweet grass to munch on. The fresh Ladysmith is flavorful, but also pretty mild, as well as simultaneously tangy and sweet. It really does go with almost anything. In the last three days alone, our wedge of Ladysmith has been eaten the following ways: sliced inside quesadillas (where it acquires a melty, queso oaxaqueno quality), crumbled on top of chilaquiles (a la cotija), spread with homemade blackberry preserves, salted and crumbled over roasted beets in a salad (a decent enough approximation of feta), layered on toast with honey, on a sandwich with cold slices of grilled steak and chimichurri. And, of course, plain, in all its glory.