True Loaf Love

How to create brand loyalty if you're a cheese company:

1. Make amazing cheese.
2. Make amazing ice cream... and amazing dairy products in general.
3. Allow people to go on factory tours.
4. Have a guy dress up as a baby loaf of cheese and make appearances.

5. Join Twitter, and have an awesome website.
6. Have amazing ad campaigns.


Basically, if you live in Oregon, there's really only one brand of cheese that you buy: Tillamook. Maybe Bandon, but that's owned by Tillamook, so basically, just Tillamook. Also, if you grew up in the Willamette Valley or on the coast, chances are you went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory on a field trip in elementary school once (or twice... or basically any year your school had money to send classes on field trips (I guess I went to a poor school, so we really only got legitimate field trips every couple of years)). I even had a friend smuggle some Tillamook Cheese into Scotland (okay, so she claims it was by accident - for some reason she had some cheese in her suitcase? Anyway, Customs didn't find it, so no big, right?). I also once got an entire mini-bus full of high school students lost on the way back from an FFA forestry contest/cheese factory trip (our bus then broke down in the woods... That day is known as "Kelsey's Grand Adventure" now). So, naturally, when you get home from your first year at college you make the pilgrimage with two of your best friends pretty much immediately to that fantastical world of happiness... and cheese.

After a delicious lunch in a small diner (called the Cow Belle Cafe – hilarious, I know) in Rockaway Beach, we headed down to Tillamook, the land of cheese. (Well, they also have an amazing air museum and a forestry center, but those will be visited on a later trip to the coast...) Upon entering the doors into their magical dairy kingdom, we were presented with a great number (okay, so only two) of possibilities: do we eat ice cream now, or after the tour? Clearly, the answer to that question is after the tour; we could build up our appetites, and we'd be able to truly appreciate the work the Tillamook County Creamery Association put into the product. Just before heading upstairs to the viewing areas, we stopped for the requisite photo (when there are boards with paintings or pictures on them, and cutouts for faces, a photo is required, no if's, and's or but's).

They're probably going to hate me for that...

Then we headed upstairs to the viewing areas. They tell me pictures are worth a thousand words, so rather than attempting to explain all of the awesomeness, I'll just post photos.

Because I'm a food science nerd, I was naturally excited to locate all the HACCP checkpoints...
So. Many. Ice. Cream. Flavors. (38, to be precise!)

Award-winning deliciousness.

After we were done learning about the wonders of cheese-making, it was time for SAMPLES! Medium, sharp, extra sharp – there was cheddar aplenty. I may or may not have taken more than my fair share of cubes of the extra sharp... It's pretty tasty stuff. Then it was gift shop time!

Mmmmm... Cheese curds!

A whole freezer of Tillamook ice cream! Yum!

We explored the gift shop for a while, then we had ice cream, because that's pretty much a requirement when you go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory (okay, it's not a requirement, but if you don't get ice cream, then you're doing something wrong). Normally, I get vanilla, or some permutation of vanilla (e.g. French Vanilla, Vanilla Bean), but when you're faced with 38 delectable flavors, it's time to branch out. I told my friends that they weren't allowed to let me get anything involving vanilla. Fortunately, my order of Orange Sherbet* was acceptable. It contrasted nicely with the bright blue tables (and are the Tillamook colors, no less!). Also exciting: they use the "plastic" silverware made from corn!

* I've always been so confused about the pronunciation of this word. I can't seem to get it right; I just know the wrong way. My computer's dictionary sounds like someone gets a little annoyed by people pronouncing it incorrectly, though:
"USAGE The tendency to insert an r into the second syllable of sherbet is very common. Frequency of misuse has not changed the fact that the spelling sherbert and the pronunciation |ˈ sh ərbərt|are wrong and should not be considered acceptable variants."

All in all, it was an awesome trip to the coast; the Tillamook Cheese Factory never fails to disappoint, and now I have a mini squishy foam Baby Loaf that I can throw at my younger brother when he tries to make me listen to bad rap music or talks during Jeopardy!.

Culture Shock

Okay, you'll realize in about five seconds why that was the worst pun in a title EVER.

I'm on the Tillamook Fan Club website again!

(Tillamook makes cheese. Get it? Cheese? Culture? *sigh*)

Anyway.

So, turns out they don't have bots posting things; they have robot interns! And these robot interns have a sense of humor! So humorous are they that I am once again on their online buzz page on their website. It also appears that my site was passed around the office or something, judging by the increase in Portland readers in my Sitemeter statistics.


Lost? It's okay. It all started with this, and continues here and here.

Also on the interwebs: my MIT Admissions Guest Blog (courtesy of Snively - thanks!!!).

In other news... It's IAP at MIT! Basically, that means the next month is going to be full of fun awesome-ness (and I think I'm going to spend some time concentrating on expanding my vocabulary...). I'm re-taking 18.01 (don't ask) and I'm also taking a darkroom photography class. The photo class is going well - I'm halfway through it right now. It's a refresher course for me (I started playing around with 35 mm cameras and darkrooms about five and a half years ago, but I haven't been in a darkroom in a while) and it's strange to realize just how much I missed the darkroom. Today we went through the film development process, and it was kind of funny how the smell of developer and fixer triggered so many memories of working in the darkroom at Sheridan High School for hours on end, only emerging to eat lunch. Included in the class fee is darkroom access for the whole month. Essentially, I'm going to be spending a lot of time in there (when I'm not enjoying all the other amazing things going on around campus and Boston).

Post of the Day

I fail to understand.

Somehow, my original post that mentioned Tillamook Cheese is the "Post of the Day" on the Tillamook Cheese fan club website.

I am by no means complaining, I'm just kind of confused. Has no one over there at the Tillamook fan club headquarters actually read my blog? Do they realize that I don't have anything to offer the cheese-lovers of the world? Or is it just some bot putting it up? It's definitely freaking me out, not going to lie.


Weather Update: It's currently raining and it's really windy. Which is awesome. Trees are dropping snow like there's no tomorrow. I might actually be able to leave my house soon. We also might get power back soon. Hopefully the weather isn't instilling a false sense of hope. Because that would be cruel.

Happy holidays everyone! I doubt I'll be posting tomorrow, as I'll be dealing with the usual Christmas merriness, visiting family and all that jazz, so I hope you all have a great Christmas (or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate) in advance!

Say Cheese!

My dear and faithful readers, I have a question for you.

Do I exploit the Tillamook Cheese fan club website?

I suppose I should explain. See, in my last post, I described my experience with making a grilled cheese sandwich using Tillamook Cheese. I believe I described the bread and cheese combination as "perfect." Going through my sitemeter statistics this morning, I discovered something.


That thing off on the sidebar that looks like a speech bubble? The link at the top of it?

A link to my blog.

A few more people (okay, two so far) have visited my blog because of this link from the Tillamook Cheese fan club website.

So, do I exploit this? Do I exploit the fact that this site will link to my blog if I mention how wonderful Tillamook Cheese is? I'm thinking I should. I mean, I feel bad because I have nothing to offer these poor souls that just want to read about cheese and instead happen upon my blog chronicling the live of a student at MIT. And MIT is hopelessly devoid of Tillamook Cheese. Maybe these new readers will take pity on me and find a way to get Tillamook Cheese to Boston (because, frankly, this "Vermont Cheddar" business just ain't cuttin' it). I think the most I could offer these people are a few comical anecdotes and a picture of my sandwich.
But I could get increased exposure for my blog. Which is always preferred, right? So I think I'm going to do it. All I have to do is mention how AWESOME Tillamook Cheese is in every blog post, and then I'll be linked to a lot on their site and then more hits for Kelsey-Pedia!

In other news...
This was after some snow had melted a little. Our neighbor says he measured 36 inches of snow in one spot. And it's snowing again right now. And we still don't have power. And I'm still complaining.

Basically, this is getting really old.


[Oh, and sorry for the tiny pictures. I'm on a slow internet connection.]