J'adore du fromage

Non, vraiment. (No, really).

 I love cheese.

I went grocery shopping today because I have next to nothing in my apartment to eat except cereal and the brownies my mom sent me that arrived today. I mean, that stuff is delicious but not sustaining. Well I got a little of this, a little of that, and as I headed to the check out line I started to laugh because I realized I had a ton of cheese in my cart.

Cottage cheese (one of my all-time favorite snacks, and yes it's the 4% milk fat; the low/no-cal ones taste disgusting to me), cream cheese (for cucumber sandwiches; absolutely delightful in hot weather and dedicated to my darling friend Jess who introduced me to this delicious sandwich our freshman year at BYU); mozzarella (my favorite, and not the sliced stuff!), Swiss (a staple in my diet), sharp cheddar (for grilled cheese sandwiches; which I could easily live off of), and the newest member of my favorite cheeses: goat cheese (for spinach, strawberry, vinaigrette salads inspired by my trip to Rathbun's in Atlanta). All that's missing is sharp Havarti. *sigh* It was no where to be found. Not that I really shopped around for it but I do know for a fact it's difficult to find, and difficult to find reasonably priced. 

Oh well, I'm confident this "stash" of fromage will satisfy. 

Today was my day off. I had great plans of getting up at a reasonable time, like 7:30am, as I'm trying to go to bed and get up at the same time every day. It's not really working but I'm getting better. Baby steps. I woke up at 8am, rolled over and fell asleep until....10:30. Ok, ok, holdonasec! In my defense, the night before I had gotten a whoppin' 4 hours of sleep and no Sunday nap so I needed the extra shut-eye. It felt divine. 


Then I went to the library because the book I have been eagerly waiting for finally arrived: "The Shoemaker's Wife" by Adriana Trigiani!!!!!!!! I've talked about her before but she is my absolutely favorite author right now (and has held that spot for years). Her books are brilliantly written, vivid, real, indulgent, and mesmerizing. I get lost in her books and feel a little empty when I finish them. And they take place in Italy, which of course I'm smitten with. I've been to Tuscany, Roma, and all over NYC both in the present time, and the 19th and 20th centuries with her delightful characters. I love her books. I'm delighted that this one takes me to a few Italian villages near the Swiss Alps and then to NYC. I immediately started reading this book but I have to pace myself. I don't want to gorge myself on it because then...it will be over. 

I was surprised when the librarian brought me two books because I had forgotten I requested "Sarah's Key," which I also started today to see if it was worth the read. Obviously the summary got me and I'm intrigued and excited about this book too. It takes place in Paris (*enamored sigh*) both in the 1940s during the WW2 era and in the present day. Of note here, I am fascinated with the WW2/Holocaust era. This book is about the Velodrome d'Hiver (literally, Operation Spring Breeze), abbreviated as Vel' d'Hiv', which I've never heard of before, but apparently it's not something the French like to speak of. I can understand why. The Vel d'Hiv' was a collaboration of the French with the Nazis where the Gestapo asked the French police to deliver a certain number (roughly estimated to be about 80,000) of Jews between 16-50 years of age. From my understanding, a brunt of those delivered were 2-12 year old children sent to death camps, and only a couple thousand survived, few of them children. Anyway, the book tells the story of Sarah, a 10-year old girl during the Vel' d'Hiv' in 1942 and then Julia, a journalist in Paris in 2002 who is assigned to cover the anniversary. I've made it page 59 and I don't want to put it down!! I have in my possession 2 books I can't put down??? This is excellent!!!! 

I was going to make homemade gnocchi tonight but I woke up with a horrid headache that will not go away, so I'm not up to it. I forwent yoga and running today because I feel so lousy. Bummer. So I suspect I'll make it tomorrow, or most definitely this week so stay tuned!!!! 

Pic from here

sunday scribbling: cheese

The prompt for this week is: cheese. Okay! Now before you go rolling your eyes and judging the prompt, I'd like to explain. Cheese can be a great many things, and have a great many emotions attached. You say, 'Cheese' when someone takes a picture. You eat a certain cheese when you are a kid depending on where you are from. Things can be cheesy in attitude and in flavour. Think outside of the box a little and let us know what you think of cheese.
I LOVE cheese.
As a kid I was all about cheddah and American (yellow, not white).
Now I have expanded my cheese palette to include almost exclusively provolone, swiss (a tad sharp please), and mozzarella (mozzarella, tomato, and basil anyone?? YES PLEASE!).
Although I will say that a good grilled cheese sandwich is best done with cheddah.

I also enjoy cheesy things. Cheesy clichés for example. And who doesn't use and/or like them? I mean we all use them. Yes, yes you do. It may not be out loud, but we all know you at least think of them! I also have fun doing cheesy things with my friends.
Such as: True Blue Football. This entailed a slip-n-slide with blue foam. SO. MUCH. FUN.

BEFORE

AFTER

Or how about good 'ole fashioned cupcake/frosting fights? This was potentially one of best nights ever.

I took a food science class a couple of years ago and one of our labs involved tasting a W I D E variety of cheeses. Some of them....nasty. I can't believe people actually eat them....
Blue cheese. Gross. It's MOLDY! I wouldn't bite into a block of moldy cheese so why on earth do people like it? Gag me please!
Roquefort cheese. NO. That one was horrid.
Those are the only two I remember in particular causing me anguish and disdain for cheese. Maybe my palette just isn't meant for mold. I'm okay with that. Ick.

All in all, cheese is great whether it's the food, a good cliché, or a good time. I have some provolone in the fridge....bedtime snack??