Our speaker, Katie Quinn, Owner of Mullahy’s Cheese Shop in Hudson
 
 
Guests:

Katie Quinn, speaker and owner of Mullahy’s cheese shop in Hudson, MA

January birthdays:

January 7: Fatima Serra
January 18: Bob Johnson

Happy/sad fines:
 
  • Howard: happy for the new Rotary year and that Fatima and Richard are en route to Cuba today.
  • Bob: happy for a holiday at Killington with his daughter and family.
  • Carolyn: happy for the great holiday and her best skiing ever on Friday.
  • Laura: happy for her visit with her daughter in Germany, that her son has been home for a couple of weeks and all is well, and for fresh starts and new beginnings.
  • Carol: sad that she has new software installed, resulting in a week from hell.
  • Carl: happy for a wonderful holiday season.
  • Ron: happy for a wonderful holiday even though it was in Scranton and happy that his son got in his college of choice, Marist College.
  • Nanci: happy for the great holiday, including a trip to Italy.
  • Chris: happy that his son has been home a whole month (not a couple of weeks) and all is well and for his trip to Berlin, but sad that he broke another bone in his hand two weeks before he was to have his brace removed from a previous break.
 
Announcements:
 
  • Club holiday party: Everyone had a great time, and thanks go to Nancy McPherson for the great food, Fatima and Richard for the great decorations, and Dan Hnatio for the great sound.
  • Razia’s Ray of Hope global grant: Presentations to clubs continue, and donations are coming in.
  • Alina has had family issues but is benefitting from the NICview cameras, a multi-club district grant project led by the Shrewsbury club. Alina can watch her newborn granddaughter online!
  • The December issue of the Rotarian magazine featured photos from our August brewfest! (This is the second time our club has been included in the Rotarian.)
  • Morning meetings: The sense of the members in attendance was to move our morning meetings officially to Emma’s. The Board will vote on it at the next meeting.
  • Power of Change: The third annual event will be January 23 at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts and will recognize Budget Buddies, which helps low-income women become more economically self-sufficient and transform their lives by teaching them core money-management skills. See the flier (on the website and Facebook page) for more information. 
  • Repair Café: January 21 from 9-1 at Florence Sawyer School in Bolton. Contact Ray Pfau for more information.
  • Meet and Greet: Invite a friend or prospective member to this low-key, informal event at Slater’s on January 24. Pizza will be served. Bring business cards. See the website and Facebook page for more information. 
  • Stop Hunger Now: Scheduled for March 18, meal packaging will be from 10-12. We are targeting 15K meals, and registration is encouraged through the Stop Hunger Now website. We current have commitments from the Clinton and Westborough clubs, and Chris is reaching out to the other clubs in the area. He will also notify our Interact Club. More information will be forthcoming.
  • We have three people from our district serving our zone: 2 from our club!
  • Rotary district directories are available. You can get a hard copy from Chris, or download an online version from the district website.
 
Speaker:
 
Katie Quinn from Mullahy’s cheese shop in Hudson was our speaker. She is a Certified Cheese Professional (CCP), but you can call her a cheese whiz. She is originally from Hudson and worked on various political campaigns and with local politicians but decided to go back to food. She learned more about cheese when working at a specialty cheese department.
 
On July 2015, she signed papers for rental space in Hudson, where she still has family, and opened her shop in October 2015. She has three part-time employees and seasonal help and sells cheese and things related to cheese. The shop also offers cheese-based sandwiches and soups Tuesday through Friday. Katie received her CCP certification after 6-8 months of training and a four-hour test. She currently sponsors tastings and advises on pairings, working with local restaurants, in addition to running her shop.
 
At our meeting, we sampled four types of cheeses: a goat Gouda, a Landaff cheese from raw cow’s milk, a St. Stephen triple cream brie, and a Manchego from sheep’s milk. All of these and many more are available from her shop, and she generously distributed 10% off cards for purchases of $15 and more.