Ontario has enjoyed a lot of snow this year. It put me in the mood for some skiing at Blue Mountain which is a ski resort about two hours north of Toronto.
Blue Mountain - Image from Google Images
I visited Blue Mountain a few weeks ago to ski with my family. Skiing is hard work for an old guy like me. I get tired and hungry after chasing my wife and children around the slopes for eight hours. That’s when I got a mild case of “cheese brain”.
“Cheese Brain” is when my stomach starts talking to my brain and says – “Hey brain – Go find me some cheese, I’m hungry!”
I was thinking that cheese would make a terrific Apres ski snack. I set out to find a cheese specialty store near the mountain. My online exploring led me to a website for Dags & Willow located in the town of Collingwood near the ski resort.
Dags & Willow has a good website, good enough to lure me to visit their store. Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention to their hours of operation and they were closed the day I tried to visit.
It was a cute store, in a good location, near the center of town.
According to their website the store is named after the owner’s dogs: Dagny, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, and Willow, a Collie/Shepherd cross.
They claim to have:
“the largest collection of cheese in the Collingwood area, offering over 100 varieties of cheese at any given time & a try-before-you-buy policy that goes beyond just their superb collection of cheeses.”
They also advertise cheese boards. I would love to check out their boards since I haven’t had much luck finding a store with a good selection of high quality cheese boards.
Cheese Board from Dag's and Willow - image from their website
Their website has an option to subscribe to a newsletter, which I did. I have received two emails since I subscribed. The newsletters are well written and informative. I manage way too much email spam but Dag’s and Willow has hit the sweet spot of email frequency … not too much to annoy me, but enough to keep reminding me that they’ve got cheese I might want. It’s one, of just a few newsletters, that I actually read.
I found an article in the Toronto Star Article where Dag’s and Willow was rated the number one favorite food place in Collingwood by Michael Bonacini, a renowned chef and restaurant owner in Toronto. If Michael liked the store then I’m sure I will too.
I will be planning a stop at Dag’s and Willow the next time that I’m in Collingwood.
The Canada Cheese Man 