Fleur de Maquis, the above cheese, epitomizes the festive soft-ripened cheese. This deliciously creamy and sweet Corsican cheese is covered in rosemary and thyme. During the holiday season, I enjoy rich soft-ripened cheeses, such as Vacherin Mont D'Or, that are in season. A festive cheese is one that you can have with a feast. This means it's important for it to be able to go along with several other foods at the celebration. Choose a cheese that will not dominate everything else being served. Fleur de Maquis is perfect because it's flavor tends to pair well with not just fruits and nuts, but also a variety of sparkling wines and even cured meats.

After the jump are 5 festive soft-ripened cheeses that are perfect for celebrating the New Year.

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• Looking to serve a cheese plate this season? Check out this run-down for serving a delicious platter of cheese.

Putting together a sophisticated cheese plate just got a whole lot easier. Clock Wise by Artisanal will impress your guests at the dinner table, while helping you learn how to put together a proper cheese plate. So why hasn't someone come up with this sooner and who is behind the genius of this tool? Please meet Dan Dowe, Chief Executive Officer and President of Artisanal Cheese. Mr. Dowe says: "The CheeseClock is a graphic illustration on how to select and present cheese as if you were in a fine dining environment and to pair them with beverages to offer maximum enjoyment."

While the clock explains milk types and the texture of the cheese, how do you know which cheese to purchase? Artisanal has redesigned their website so when users click on the color coded sections of the clock, cheese appropriate in texture and flavor will appear for purchase.

My obsession with sheep's milk cheeses, in particular Brebis Pardou, from the Midi-Pyrénées region of France led me to a delicious buttery raw goat's milk cheese handmade in the town of Loubière: Tomme de l'Ariège. I was at Murray's in the West Village of NY, and my palate was acheing for something delicate and creamy but with a pungent aroma. Tomme de l'Ariège exceeded this criteria!

The clerk at Murray's explained that this Tomme is actually based on a recipe for Reblochon, however, unlike Reblochon the wheels of Tomme de l'Ariège are aged for several months in damp, dark caves. The wheels are washed in a brine that results in a bright orange rind contrasting with its pristine white interior. The cheese's unique characteristics attest to the fact that it's produced on a small scale. It's a must have on any cheese plate.

Tomme de l'Ariège exudes a sweet taste of hazelnuts and conjures up bucolic images of fresh pasture. It's best eaten after sitting out at room temperature for about an hour. The insides will become runny and its goaty aroma much more pronounced. I suggest pairing the cheese with a variety of beers. It's delicious with grapes, pears, and apples. Murray's sells this exquisite tomme in their shop and online for $29.99 per pound. Currently, I haven't succeeded at finding it anywhere else.

Ah, the cheese plate! What would a party be without it? People gravitate towards the plate and it becomes the focal point of conversation at the party: "Have you tried this one? I highly recommend it!" There are many different methods to building this exquisite platter of tasty cheese.

Before putting together the perfect combination of cheeses, you'll need to figure out the aesthetics. To show off your cheese choices a slab of marble works best, as it highlights the bright cheeses sitting upon it. Something about cheeses displayed on marble feels reminiscent of an ancient Greco-Roman feast. In short, it's civilized and elegant. For those without a slab of marble at home, arrange the cheese on your best wooden board.

Now, the most thrilling part of putting together the cheese plate is selecting diverse cheeses that complement each other. Below are 8 different approaches to creating the perfect cheese plate:

1. Choose a variety: This is the classic way to prepare a cheese plate. It usually includes 4 cheeses, each made from a different milk (cow, goat, sheep, a mixed milk and/or a cheese made with buffalo milk). This plate consists of cheese with varying textures made in different styles.
2. Select a milk: You can demonstrate the diversity of either goat's milk, sheep's milk, or cow's milk cheeses by focusing on one. For example, you can display 5 goat's milk cheeses with varying textures and levels of piquancy from 5 different countries.
3. Pick out a style: Rather than focus on milk, you can pick out your favorite style of cheese, such as semi-hard cheeses. Within this category, you can choose 4 or 5 cheeses made with different milks but in the same style.
4. Focus on a region or country: It's always interesting to show how diverse different cheeses could be from one region or country. One cheese plate I love making concentrates on goat's milk cheeses from the Loire Valley.
5. Showcase the standard classics: Choose 4 or 5 different classics, such as Stilton, Appenzeller, Camembert, Valençay, and Manchego.
6. Highlight the unknown: Pick cheeses that are obscure. It's always fun trying something new.
7. Focus on the guests: There are cheeses that suit everyone's palate. Consider cheeses that your guests will appreciate.
   
8. Opt for quality over quantity: A small selection of fine cheese is always more memorable than a plate with several average flavored cheeses.
   

So one of my duties this Christmas at my sister's house (I'm also making this) is to make a cheese and cracker platter that folks can munch on before and after the main meal. I've done them before, but they always turn out to be just very basic cheese and cracker snacks: a couple of different blocks of Kraft cheeses and a few different crackers. A very basic, low-cost type of thing, and it's OK.

But this year I want to do something different. I want to get a really good selection of nice cheeses and several different types of crackers to place around them. So I need your help! What kinds of cheeses and crackers would make a good selection for my family? Any tips or tricks you can give me to make it just a bit more than the usual "cheese and Ritz cracker" affair? Anything besides the cheese and crackers you'd put on the platter too? Fruit? Chocolate?

That pic on the right looks like a cool presentation.

Irish steel cut oats, like McCann's, make oatmeal that is out of this world, but they are also very versatile. The oats can be used in savory applications, like oat risotto, as well as sweet ones. McCann's has a recipe on their website for a variation on oat cakes that use steel cut oats. Oat cakes are flat biscuits or crackers that are made with oats. They are fairly plain on their own, but the flavor of the oats and the crunch of the biscuit make them pair perfectly with cheese and other spreads. They're a great addition to a cracker tray when serving appetizers or for snack food at any time.