In 8th grade I often felt sick during band. Band was after lunch. Lunch is when I’d load my tray with whatever was on display that day. I’d also have a milk. It turns out I didn’t feel sick on the days I didn’t have the milk. I haven’t had it since.
Am I lactose intollerant? Maybe, I’m probably on the spectrum. I love pizza and ice cream, but I find that my days without dairy are often more pleasant.
That brings me to this week’s mission, beth’s “Say Cheese”, a sampling of a bunch of different cheeses…
Before we get into the details, here’s the proof:
So yes, I generally don’t eat cheese (unless it’s on pizza), but that doesn’t mean I don’t like it. In fact, a lot of times I miss cheese. So when beth made this mission, I was stoked. In fact, I’d been thinking of making a cheese mission for a long time so it was really cool to have someone beat me to it.
The Debrief
What’d I think of these cheeses (say that 5 times fast)? I thought: “ooo”, “meh”, “yick” and “like death”.
The “ooo” Cheeses
My favorite cheese by far is gouda. Maybe I like it because it tastes a little like bacon, I dunno. Second place is provolone. I used to love provolone and salami sandwiches. Third place goes to swiss. I’ve always liked swiss. I think because I like saying the word “Swiss”. Pepper jack comes in fourth place. I like it’s spicy taste.
As you can see, I’m a man of simple tastes.
The “meh” Cheeses
“Meh” doesn’t mean I don’t like it. It’s more that I’m ambivalent to it. Most of the cheeses I tried fall into this category. American, mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan and asiago live here. I think most people kinda of like these popular cheeses, but few would say they loved them.
The cheeses of note in this category are brie, gruyere. I’ve had brie before. It’s an interesting cheese being super soft and having a distinct flavor. When I picked up gruyere I thought it was a cheese I’d never had before. Then folks informed me it’s popularly used in french onion soup and fondue, both of which I’ve had. Gruyere has a sharp flavor that’s hard to describe. The thing I noticed most is how stinky it is.
The “yick” Cheeses
Just because I’m not a fan of these cheeses, doesn’t mean they’re bad. I just don’t like them much. Sure I’ll eat them, but don’t expect me to smile. Goat cheese and feta are my “yick” cheeses. They have a similar flavor (feta is usually made from sheep or goat’s milk) that I’d describe as being “high pitched” (if that makes any sense). I’ve had these in salad before, but on their own (or with a cracker), they’re not my favorite.
The “like death” Cheese
Notice this category is singular. There is one cheese on this list I knew I wasn’t going to like (and still don’t): blue cheese. Blue cheese has a really strong flavor and looks like mold. It’s basically begging you not to eat it. If blue cheese was a frog, it would be one of those bright orange poisonous ones. People don’t care, they eat what they want.
As I mentioned, I knew I wasn’t going to like this cheese ahead of time. In fact, it’s one of the few cheeses where I distinctly remember my first encounter. Cue waves and chimes…
When I was in high school, my friend invited me to have dinner with him, his parents and his grandma at the country club his grandma was a member of. When we sat down to order, I didn’t want to order something too expensive or too cheap (so as to show my hand of being concerned about spending too much), so I waited till my friend ordered and got the same thing he did: steak with blue cheese. I’d never had blue cheese before, but how bad could it be? After a little while the food came out. The cheese was melted onto the steak. I took my first bite and was immediately introduced to my least favorite flavor, past, present and future. The blue cheese was so strong I could barely taste the steak. I didn’t want to be rude though, so I ate as much as I could. Tiny bite by tiny bite. Then when it seemed appropriate. I requested a doggy bag so I could throw it out myself.
So yeah, I don’t like blue cheese.
Well that’s it for this week’s mission. Other than the blue cheese this was really fun. I had a nice little sampling session to try most of them. Thanks beth!
Till next time!
Anton
If you like it then you shoulda putta heart on it.
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