PromQueenSubdued

Two readers offline asked me what cheese could be so grand that it caused me to lose my equilibrium and hit my head. (Aside - why offline? Happy to hear folks are reading, but you can post here. Just make up a name and a fake email if you do not want me to know who you are. Am I mean to Arthur when he comments?)

Okay, you who asked are probably the one who are annoyed when I am hanging out in food and politics instead of sex. Truth is, if I am not having sex, then I overcompensate with amazing food. I have occasionally wondered if I went a month with exactly the type and frequency of sex I wanted (selfish I know), if I would not care the slightest about epicurean delights. Something tells me they are very related for me, both being such hedonistic pursuits. Perhaps they actually beget each other. But, if you ever hear me doing a week on Chick-Fil-A and beanie weenies, you should wonder what the hell I am up to.

I had three cheeses. The first was Fog Lights by Cypress Grove. I had tried their Humboldt Fog before, and it amazed. Fog Lights is a knock your socks of tart, flavorful cheese. You would think stinky, but it is not. Unless you did not like the flavor, and then that taste-olfactory connection would lead you to believe it smelled bad. This is a Grand Dame/Diva cheese. No one else has room onstage if you are eating this one. Instead of a more traditional ash line ( that is what Humboldt Fog has) this has ash all between the cheese and the rind. It is a soft goat cheese, and normally with those I eat the rind, as I did here. But should you choose to do that, this cheese really belongs at the end of the meal in a true cheese course. Think assaulting your taste buds with wasabi, then trying to taste the nuances of food. Not very damn likely. It was wonderful. It was amazing. I will certainly eat it again. But it is not for the faint of heart. And at room temp the rind remained a little stiff, so next time I think I will just scoop out the gooey goodness in the middle to see if that makes it play better with others. If you are unsure of your audience, Humbolt Fog is the safer, delicious choice.

Cheese number 2 was Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert. This cheese at room temperature is meltingly delicious. On apples - it was the bomb. Last night its star status was obviously eclipsed by the Fog Lights. I think the Hudson Valley felt a little pouty at being relgated to second fiddle. It was so close to a triple cream that I kept checking the label. Amazingly wonderful. Perfect to share. Any fan of soft cheeses would love this. Even here it is not getting the due it deserved because it was so upstaged.

Cheese number 3. If I hade been doing a cheese tray for company, obviously here I would have put a cheddar variant. Or at least something orange. My personal fave here is Cahill's Porter Cheese because it is laced with Guinness and it looks amazing on the plate. But, this was for the princesses, so I picked my favorite semi-hard Spanish cheese, Iberico. it is a blend of three milks, and it is not as dry as a manchega which makes it easier to slice when on the board. Their vote was that it ws too soft. Good Lord. My 12 year old said, "Mom you could have just bought Port Salut." What a sassy little cheese snob I am raising! So, when I am including cheese for them, one click softer than a brick of parmesan is apparently as soft as I am allowed to venture.

The frommage amazed, however my scale and my pocketbook will have me back in life-sans cheese for at least a month. It will take at least that long to run off the effects of last night.