Cheese

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well, I know it's perhaps not the healthiest thing to be eating these days, fat-wise.... but DH and I went to a special gourmet shop yesterday and brought home some fabulous French cheeses. The owner is French and he was so delightful. I don't know cheese all that well, but I told him the kinds of tastes I like and he knew just what to have me taste. What a treat, I've got 4 different kinds sitting out now in the kitchen, waiting for us to savor them for lunch along with some olives (d'oh, more calories and fat!), some crusty bread and some raw veggies.
It makes me want to learn more about cheeses. A local cheesemaker (well, only 3 or 4 hours from us) has recommended a book to me called "The Cheeses of France" which I think I will get. I don't drink, so the whole wine tasting thing is of no interest to me, but I LOVE strong cheeses so this might be a great subject for me to learn about. Anyone else here into fine cheeses?

[Bikingmomof3]

Lisa,
My family enjoys fine cheeses. I personally eat cheese everyday, sincewhen a cheese is truly flavourful, not much is needed. Manchego and Drunken Goat are two of my current favourites.

[DarcyInOregon]

Lisa, good for you in liking cheese. The food is another source of calcium, which is important in preventing bone loss. The only way cheese is not healthy is if one eats so much of it that it becomes excess calories, or if one has very high cholesterol.

My favorite shopping trick for purchasing cheese is the small dairies around the United States, the ones who produce splendid cheese, but in small quantities, and so we don't normally get a taste unless we stop in at the dairy, well those dairies put together cheese gift baskets at Christmas and one can find them for sale on such web sites as Amazon.com.

Here is my favorite cheese photo. I had purchased a large round of some kind of expensive cheese from France. I could not cut through the rind and I tried all of my knives. I finally gave up and gave the entire round to my large Anatolian doggie. His name is Milo. He did not share the cheese with the other doggies. It took him a few days to eat it. He loved every bite.

[KnottedYet]

I love cheese!

We have a lot of really good cheesemarkets around here, and oh, BOY!!

My favorites are the stinky cheeses: stiltons and bleus and fetas and such.

Dare I say it... I like cheese even more than chocolate!


Edit: what a great picture of dog-n-cheese!

[East Hill]

Lancashire* cheese. Cheshire cheese. Double Wensleydale. Stilton.

Hot toasted cheese sandwiches...mmmm.....

*the World's Best Toasting Cheese
http://www.britishcheese.com/cheese/lancashire.cfm

hehehehe

East Hill

[kelownagirl]

I cannot wait to go to France next summer since my favourite foods are wine, cheese, bread, and chocolate.... I foresee a great deal of exercise and dieting when I get home...

[rocknrollgirl]

Cheese...oh, just the thought of it...the one food that I could not live without.

I am such a cheese head that a 12 step program has been suggested.

My students even gave me cheese for Christmas....


AHHHHHH.....cheese......

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Anyone have a favorite cheese book to recommend so I can learn more about fine cheeses of various types?- especially French and Italian cheeses...

[Bikingmomof3]

Do not forget Spain. Some delightfully wonderful cheeses come from Spain. Yum!

[freshwater_pr0n]

Oh, cheese, I love you so.

The greatest thing about cheese is that when you accept cheese her your heart, she gives love back to you. Unlike most snacks, cheese is a real food with real nutrients and real character.

Really delicious food encourages mindful, healthy eating. I can scarf down 200 calories of potato chips in an instant and still not feel satisfied, but eating the same amount of aged gouda is ten minutes of meditation. I nibble and chew and enjoy the sweet, caramelly goodness of it all.

Chevre just cries out to be accompanied by sliced, ripe tomatoes and fresh basil, a mound of sauteed greens or maybe a bit of honey.

Bleu cheese loves nothing better than to be crumbled atop a huge green salad.

Paneer would never be seen in public without her best friend, mounds of perfectly spiced spinach.

Cheddar prefers the company of sliced onion, a whole-grain roll and plenty of Branston pickle.

To paraphrase Emma Goldman, if I can't have cheese, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

Cheese. Yum.

[emily_in_nc]

Cheddar prefers the company of sliced onion, a whole-grain roll and plenty of Branston pickle.

Or apple pie. Hot from the oven.

Yummmmmmm........

Emily

[KnottedYet]

Or honey.

I have fond memories of eating slices of cheddar and apple with honey.

[MomOnBike]

Or Gouda. One of my favorite memories with DH was lying half-out of a tent at the top of a mountain eating smoked Gouda and watching an eclipse of the moon.

[kelownagirl]

I have a lovely chunk of applewood smoked white cheddar in my fridge. I slice off a tiny 1 oz piece every couple of days, if I've been a good girl. It's my treat to myself.

[bmccasland]

Fave low maintenance dinner - some nice cheese, walnuts, an apple or pear, a few crackers, and a glass of wine. Remember the softer cheeses are higher in butter fat than the hard cheeses, consider your *sin* count accordingly.

Went to a wine and cheese tasting sponsored by a local wine shop a while back, very interesting and tasty. Amazing how some wines or cheese tasted differently - separate then paired together.