European History: The Cheese Approach

Tonight we have:

• Provolone Piccante, because we like sharp, aged provolone.
• Manchego, made from cows herded on the plains of La Mancha, homeland of the fictional Don Quijote--either the silliest of comic or the most pitiful of tragic heroes, depending on how you read the greatest novel in the Spanish language.
• Valterina Casera: everyone who has read C.G. Wedgwood's history of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) knows of the critical importance of the valley from whence this cheese comes: the Val Telline, control of which was absolutely vital to the ability of the Habsburgs to reinforce their legions in Germany with fresh Spanish tercios.