Let’s get one thing straight: I will not be giving tips, recipes or talk about what I’m eating for Valentine’s Day. This faux holiday can suck it (and that has nothing to do with my single status, I just don’t buy into it), and quite frankly, I’ve done my share of silly roundups and prix fixe menu blasts about it over the years. I think we need a break from the pink-hued haze that’s settling over the day, so I’m going to write about goat cheese, something I truly love.

Goat cheese is like cilantro: People either love it or hate it. I fall into the first camp because, really, there isn’t a cheese I don’t like (at least I haven’t found it yet). I can’t exactly recall the first time I tasted chèvre, but I imagine it was sometime in the 90′s, when I was just out of college and working in restaurants and cafes around the country. It was probably encrusted with herbs and breadcrumbs, warmed, and served with a salad; even if that dish is as ubiquitous today as it was then, I still adore it. And it was only in the last 10 years that I discovered a full spectrum of fresh and aged goat cheeses from California–I went through a massive Humboldt Fog phase–and around the globe.

So I was pretty excited when I came across this new locally produced goat cheese from Ontario’s Drake Family Farms. You can find a few flavors at most SoCal Whole Foods, and just recently, chefs at restaurants like Gjelina, Napa Valley Grille, and Mendocino Farms started using it (if a sandwich queen like Judy Han loves it, you know it’s good).

Why is this goat cheese better than others? First, the cheese itself is wonderfully creamy with just enough tang. It’s not super earthy or “goat-y,” as most non-goat-cheese-lovers usually proclaim about goat cheese. But it’s also the farmer, Dan Drake. The man is crazy about his goats, which, I think, results in a great-tasting cheese.