![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Magnetized Cheese Displays
Dec. 29th, 2012 02:08 pmCheese is one of the worst things to have around for me when beginning a weight loss program. This fact came to mind this morning because next week starts our countdown to a summer-fit figure. Actually, it's really high time to halt all our (awesome and delicious) debauchery anyway. Of course, around the holidays, everyone's going to have sweet and savory treats. Then there's the food: the dinners, the brunches, the parties with finger foods, the gifts of food plates and baskets. One of the staples during the holidays is cheese, which must go on holiday from my belly.
Cheese and I have a special relationship. I absolutely love all of it. Actually, the stinkier a cheese is, the better it is for me. Plus, cheeses go well with wine! How many countless bottles of Zinfandel, Chianti, or Shiraz have passed these lips with delicious Morbier, Gorgonzola, or Stilton?
When Matthew and I put together a grocery list and we go shopping for dinner party preparations, he must think I'm insane when the (obviously) magnetized cheese displays just pull me in. Noteworthy is the fact that the word, "cheese" rarely, if ever, appears on our grocery lists. Anywhere. Matthew's reaction to my glazed over eyes is so sweet: "Yes, we forgot to include cheese, dear. My mistake." And then I go about my cheese hunt.
I want cheese on everything when I'm not on a diet. However, I find that cheese and seafood don't really work well together. Perhaps as with a cold antipasti and with cubes of Provolone, Caciocavallo, Mozarella, or Parmesan, but not as a gooey, melted topping for a seafood dish. Gruyère might be possible, say with shrimp, but doesn't it all become too rich? In the end, who cares?? It's just more cheese after all, right? YAY! Cheese!
Next week, I'll have to start steering clear of Manhattan cheese boutiques (e.g. Murray's Cheese) and the cheese counters in nearby grocery stores. I heard that one of specialty grocery stores we went to over the holidays about 20 minutes from here will become a Wegmans. When I heard that, my heart skipped a beat and my soul soared thinking, "Awesome cheese!"
Wegman's was the grocery store that helped me return to America culturally when I moved to NJ from Austria over 15 years ago. The store felt like a European home where I could get good breads, cold cuts, and, above all, excellent cheese. Their cheese displays are the most mesmerizing and beautiful. Happily for now, there's Whole Foods down the hill from us, German and Italian markets around the corner from our place, and other local stores that carry a nice array of cheese.
I'm going to miss cheese next week, starting Jan. 2. *sniff*
Cheese and I have a special relationship. I absolutely love all of it. Actually, the stinkier a cheese is, the better it is for me. Plus, cheeses go well with wine! How many countless bottles of Zinfandel, Chianti, or Shiraz have passed these lips with delicious Morbier, Gorgonzola, or Stilton?
When Matthew and I put together a grocery list and we go shopping for dinner party preparations, he must think I'm insane when the (obviously) magnetized cheese displays just pull me in. Noteworthy is the fact that the word, "cheese" rarely, if ever, appears on our grocery lists. Anywhere. Matthew's reaction to my glazed over eyes is so sweet: "Yes, we forgot to include cheese, dear. My mistake." And then I go about my cheese hunt.
I want cheese on everything when I'm not on a diet. However, I find that cheese and seafood don't really work well together. Perhaps as with a cold antipasti and with cubes of Provolone, Caciocavallo, Mozarella, or Parmesan, but not as a gooey, melted topping for a seafood dish. Gruyère might be possible, say with shrimp, but doesn't it all become too rich? In the end, who cares?? It's just more cheese after all, right? YAY! Cheese!
Next week, I'll have to start steering clear of Manhattan cheese boutiques (e.g. Murray's Cheese) and the cheese counters in nearby grocery stores. I heard that one of specialty grocery stores we went to over the holidays about 20 minutes from here will become a Wegmans. When I heard that, my heart skipped a beat and my soul soared thinking, "Awesome cheese!"
Wegman's was the grocery store that helped me return to America culturally when I moved to NJ from Austria over 15 years ago. The store felt like a European home where I could get good breads, cold cuts, and, above all, excellent cheese. Their cheese displays are the most mesmerizing and beautiful. Happily for now, there's Whole Foods down the hill from us, German and Italian markets around the corner from our place, and other local stores that carry a nice array of cheese.
I'm going to miss cheese next week, starting Jan. 2. *sniff*
