Nothing But a Cheese Thang, Baby...

I love cheese and often want to have an impromptu cheese-tasting at home, but buying several wedges of the expensive stuff for one person is kind of silly. Anyway, struck with brilliance mid-morning yesterday, I thought cheese would be a great theme for Tasty Tuesday with the ladies. Quick email to my girls, good response rate, off to the Co-op at lunchtime to make my purchases, where I incidentally, or accidentally even, paid $4.59 for a dozen eggs but that's another story. If you've never had Humboldt Fog, I highly recommend it. It's a goat cheese with a layer of ash running through the middle and as it warms to room temperature, three distinct areas emerge; the dense, creamy mid-section, the rich, oozy outer section and the pleasantly chewy rind. I also got a Bier Meck, which is a Dutch-style cow's milk cheese from the Finger Lakes region.

Keeping my fingers crossed that no one would roll up to the cheese party with a block of Cracker Barrel medium yellow, I was happy to arrive and see Meg setting out two kinds of Brie; one with a warm pecan-cranberry topping that made the insides of the cheese delightfully melty, and a garlic-herb variety that I ate way too much of. Maria showed up with a Valmont blue cheese from France, that was the funkiest-looking thing I ever did see. It smelled dank and aged and while it was incredibly intense, the blue wasn't overwhelming and in fact had a very delicate flavor that expanded as it warmed in your mouth. I should have written down what we were saying while tasting because now I'm having a hard time conjuring it back up! Maria also brought Torta Ambrose, a cave-aged Italian cheese that I would liken to an upscale Muenster. Add slices of red pear and a onion and garlic-studded crusty loaf of bread, we feasted!!!!