Cheese for dinner

No recipes today, folks, sorry--last night I had cheese for dinner. I spread $78 worth of gourmet cheese in front of me, got out the charcuterie and the cornichons, and dug in.

Now, you are probably thinking, "You were just telling us how to make soup for 25 cents a serving, what are you doing with $78 of gourmet cheese?" To which I reply, "That's WHY I eat soup at 25 cents a serving." I have to subsidize the cheese somehow. Sometimes you just gotta eat $30 worth of cheese for dinner, you know?

I highly recommend it, incidentally. Should you be tempted to try this on your own, be sure to go to a good cheese shop. (NOT the cheese counter at your local gourmet grocery store--if it comes already wrapped in plastic, you don't want it. You want a guy who will let you taste the interesting cheeses first, then carve off 1/4 lb at a time from a big wedge and wrap it in blue wax paper.) Try some new and different cheeses. Generally, the stinkier the cheese, the creamier and deeper the taste. Which is contrary to popular opinion, I know, but don't let the smell throw you. The stinkiest ones are the best.

Highlights from last night included Grayson (from Galax, VA!), a nice tellegio, epoisses (pronounced eh-pwoss, one of my favorites--it comes in a little wooden tin and is not only stinky but stanky), a drunken goat cheese (meaning the rind was washed in wine), Humboldt Fog goat, and a few others, including one with truffles in it. To have cheese for dinner, open them all up and spread them in front of you. Get out a salami or two, and a dish of little French pickles (the cornichons). That way, you're eating something green, you can pretend it's healthy. Crack open a good bottle of red wine. Get a good knife. If you must, Carr's crackers are best for cheese. But I usually just eat the cheese off the knife. Why waste valuable stomach real estate on crackers, with all that good cheese?