After consulting the suggestions in the last report, I went on another trial run. I was unable to find any unflavored Feta cheese, so I grabbed some Manchego instead. I totally forgot about looking for goat cheeses or Roquefort, so that will have to wait until another time.
During this taste test, I had a much bigger arsenal of foods to pair with the cheese, and perhaps the combinations helped make the entire experience a great success. I had some crips sliced apples, cranberry juice, and crusty fresh bread with this platter. I noticed that Cheshire cheese from last time went especially well with the apples, but most of the cheeses this time tasted best paired with bread.
- Manchego: I had a young Manchego, and it was surprisingly mild and soft. I really liked the taste, and it could be eaten alone. The taste was mild and not very salty; also the consistency was a bit creamier than I would have expected. This was a very nice cheese, and the first sheep’s milk cheese I tasted. I think the use of sheep’s milk really imparted a pleasant taste to the cheese.
- Parmigiano-Reggiano: OMFG this cheese is so expensive, but on the other hand, it’s close to being worth it. This is easily my favorite cheese now, and the taste is so complex. The tasting experience had various stages of deliciousness, although it is a bit hard to explain. It doesn’t start too sharp or salty, and there is a very agreeable aftertaste. It also melted nicely in my mouth, in spite of its grainy texture. The one bad thing about this cheese (aside from the cost) is that it is really difficult to cut into nice slices.
- Camembert: It was very similar to the creamy Brie in texture, but the earthy taste was a little different. The Camembert had a fairly delicate taste, and was salty. I paired it with the crusty bread this time (instead of crackers) and it tasted a lot better. I’m not sure if this is because the bread was so good, or if it was because the slightly different taste was enough to affect the cheese, but I enjoyed it a lot more than the Brie.
Recently, I’ve been trying to expand my horizons with a variety of cheeses. I am a total cheese newbie, but it has been fun and exciting to try out various new types of cheese. Thus far I have been trying mostly cheaper cheeses; I get a very small slice, just in case I don’t end up liking it. Here’s what I’ve tried so far:
- Gouda: I’ve tried both the aged and the young varieties. Probably my favorite cheese so far. The aged one had a sharp taste, and even a few grains, but was still very pleasant. The young gouda has a very nice buttery texture, and a mild flavor that allows the cheese to be eaten by itself.
- Cheshire: A very sharp cheese, with a rather strange texture. It’s somewhat crumbly (but still easily sliced) and not really hard. It reminded me of a cross between Ricotta and Cheddar. I thought this one was alright, and I’d try it again.
- Swiss: I always hated the kind you get on a sandwich, but I was hoping this would be different. It wasn’t. I hate Swiss cheese. It has an ok (but oily!) texture, but I despise its very distinctive flavor.
- Blue: On its own, blue cheese can be a bit too sharp and pungent for my tastes, but it pairs extremely well with a variety of foods. The crumbliness makes it annoying to serve, but overall it tasted fantastic when matched with an appropriate food.
- Brie: This cheese had an absolutely wonderful texture, but there was something about the flavor that I wasn’t thrilled about. Perhaps the earthy taste didn’t go as well with the delicate texture. I didn’t like the bloom either, but I would try this cheese again.
The intruder took a sip of their Château Malescot St.-Exupéry and said, “Damn, that’s good wine.”
The girl’s father, Michael Rabdau, 51, who described the harrowing evening in an interview, told the intruder to take the whole glass. Rowan offered him the bottle. The would-be robber, his hood now down, took another sip and had a bite of Camembert cheese that was on the table.
Then he tucked the gun into the pocket of his nylon sweatpants.
“I think I may have come to the wrong house,” he said, looking around the patio.
What the heck?! This report almost sounds like an advertisement for Château Malescot St.-Exupéry or French cheese makers! Now I really want to try that wine and cheese!
Malescot St.-Exupéry
Always restrained and never full-bodied, Malescot St.-Exupéry wines have an intense flavor profile and almost ethereal aromatics of red and black fruits intermixed with black tea, truffles, coffee, and spices.
That does sound good… Unlike this story.
“There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time,” Rabdau said. “Then it miraculously just changed. His whole emotional tone turned — like, we’re one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?”
Or was it the combination… Hmmmmmmmm.
Had an amazing experience at Chipotle today. I was ahead of this average looking guy (average height, maybe on the thin side), and was going about ordering my rather plain chicken burrito. This guy also ordered a chicken burrito, but he got practically every single possible extra on it. He even sprung for the $1.50 guacamole. He got three different kinds of salsa, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream. He even got a side of chips! By the time the server was done, his big tortilla was completely covered with food, and she could barely fold it. Everyone was just staring at this gigantic burrito in amazement and the server was laughing as she tried to fold it up. When I remarked, “That is an impressive burrito,” he smiled and replied, “I have an impressive appetite.” Well played!
The feeling in the Chipotle was seriously electric. I felt like someone could just start breaking into a slow-clap at any second. Since we ordered next to each other, it was clear that his chicken burrito was TWICE the size of my chicken burrito. In fact, it was so huge that the cashier mistakenly tried to overcharge me $0.20!!!
I’ve never actually been to a Cheesecake Factory before, but they recently opened one near the mall. Bunky was being her usual picky self, and refused to eat at any of the places in/near the mall, so I suggested we go to the new Cheesecake Factory. Even though it was nearly 3:00 PM when we went, we still had to wait over an hour to be seated.
The food itself wasn’t bad, and the portions were huge. I thought I ordered a small chicken salad sandwich, but what I got was a monstrous helping of very fancy chicken salad on gigantic buttered and grilled bread slabs. Even the side salad was huge. The big guy sitting next to use had a side order of coleslaw that was the size of one of those small footballs that dogs/kids play with. It was very good, if a bit too greasy.
Even though we were both very full, I still had to order cheesecake. We got it to go, and it was expensive as hell ($7-$8 a slice). I thought it tasted good, but not really anything super special. Bunky didn’t like hers that much. Overall, I thought the food was a decent value and tasted good, but probably not worth the wait. The dessert was not as good as I hoped, and was way too expensive. I’d say that Cheesecake Factory provides a good meal but not a good value overall because of the wait time and the dessert prices.
Was lazy about posting, but quite a bit happened over the New Year’s weekend:
- I watched the raising of the ball in Pittsburgh. I know we’re trying to be different and all, but I thought the raising of the ball was kinda cheesy. They need to have a little light or something on the top of the pole because it was nearly impossible to tell when the ball had reached the top. The lack of a counter or even a time display on the local news channel was also disappointing. I’d say they dropped the ball… except they didn’t.
- Bunky was very excited as she brought home a “New Year’s Pretzel”. I’d never heard of such a thing, and so was surprised to see her come in with a 2 ft. long 1 ft. high pretzel with icing and a few candied cherries on top. In reality, it was just a dried out danish in the shape of a pretzel, but it did have a certain odd appeal.
- Got sick with a cold over the long weekend =(.
- On Saturday, someone cast Contingency:Timestop on my watch and it ceased to function. I thought I could get the battery replaced at the mall, but they told me mysterious forces prevented the watch from working, even after a new battery was put in. At least I wasn’t charged.
- Also on Saturday, the new mattress was delivered. We recently got a new frame, and so the old, hard, full-size mattress was replaced with a plush queen-sized mattress. While the mattress is almost obscenely tall, it is soooo comfortable.
- From the trash she was talking, you’d think that Bunky was some kind of cookie baking genius, and she volunteered to bring cookies (made from scratch) to some New Year parties. Although she claims to have done some baking in highschool, I had my doubts while watching her work. Let me put it this way: she destroyed a brand new mixer, causing it to start smoking. Favorite quote: “Wait, this is a TABLESPOON not a teaspoon!!!” The first batch tasted like burnt popcorn, which is never a good sign. I laughed so hard while she was baking that my stomach hurt and tears flowed from my eyes.
- Got to experience being raid leader for once. Sure I got plenty of help and advice, and it was only LBRS, but the rush of power was undeniable. I got to make my own marking protocol and abuse /rs all night. Obviously the run was super smooth and I don’t think I dropped below 90% the whole night. I was a bit rusty on Rozamystica, and so it was a bit slow at first. At one point Faalena feral-charged a mob, and after hearing the whoosh noise and seeing the charge motion, I switched to defensive stance and tried to Taunt. It took me a few seconds to realize that Taunt wasn’t working because I had never actually charged… This LBRS run actually spanned 2006 to 2007. Some Powerful Mojo dropped, and I ninja’d it.
General | Kabitzin 8/3/2007 | 
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