Cheese Heads

And, no, I'm not referring to Packers fans.

I'm referring to how much freakin' cheese I've eaten lately. So much!

Monday Night
Porkchop and I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods. As much as I sometimes make fun of Whole Foods...I really really enjoyed it. After grocery shopping most of the time at Shop 'n Save or the not-so-great Schnucks, going to WF was like entering a magical land of pretty produce, cheese, tapenade, bulk foods, organic frozen items, and gelato.

We bought a lot of good things for our $78, but we were most excited about the Saint André cheese. I went to sleep that night thinking of the triple cream goodness to come.

Oh, but before going to bed, I enjoyed a spicy cheese roll from the WF bakery. It took me back to Madison's farmers market and Stella's spicy cheese empenadas. Stella!!

Tuesday
Parts of my interview Tuesday evening were fabulous, while other parts were awkward. I only hope that they don't get turned off by my writing samples. Because, apparently, I can only write 20-page papers about feminist anthropology and female genital cutting. Or male circumcision. Or trans erotica. Actually, I only gave them the paper about FGC. And maybe they'll dig it because I discuss "development" programs in Africa and the political and economic aegis behind FGC "eradication" programs. Along with some stuff about the false dichotomy of universalism and cultural relativism. Anyway...

After the interview, I went home and made tomato-basil bisque, which I've posted about a couple times before, but I must re-iterate how absolutely wonderful it is. And, the meal was made even better by the accompanying Saint André on crackers.

This is where I must tell you how I nearly ate the whole block of cheese. It's so creamy (maybe because it's triple cream?) and tasty....the whole thing can disappear quite quickly because I HAVE NO RESTRAINT with cheese.

After the cheese and soup course, Porkchop and I rented Capote. Very good. Much different than I expected.

Wednesday
Knitting night.

Also, maybe...bail out on plans and go to a Cardinals game night. I won't name names here.

Soozi came over and made the most delicious 7-layer dip ever! All the ingredients were very fresh and organic. Yum yum yum...I wanted to eat more of it, but we also had....

Cheese! And more cheese!

Havarti with dill and a hard sheep's milk cheese from France's Pyrenees. I like to imagine the French mountain sheep being rounded up and milked and baa-ing in little French accents. Also maybe wearing berets. And eating crêpes and drinking red wine.

Soozi also brought over another TRIPLE CREAM CHEESE: Délice de Bourgogne (P.S., don't you love the description on the website I've linked to? I want to be a food writer!). For a few minutes, I had Soozi convinced that triple cream cheese is dessert cheese. It kind of is, in a way.

We also had chicken satay and my favorite salad of baby greens, edamame, red bell peppers, mandarin oranges and sesame-ginger dressing. I embarrassed myself by claiming that I could drink Newman's Own sesame-ginger dressing from the bottle. In reality, I wouldn't, but I really really like it.

Next knitting night, we're going to make easier food so that we have more time for knitting. I made more progress on my second gift bag, and I convinced Soozi to start a scarf using some Bernat Boa yarn that someone thoughtfully gave me for Christmas. I write thoughtfully sarcastically because I'm a bit of a yarn snob. Don't worry, it was no one here who gifted that yarn to me.

Soozi is a bit accurate when she describes the scarf as looking like purple kelp.

But don't fear, Soozi has big plans for a yarn shopping excursion after receiving her first huge paycheck in September.

Tonight
I'm making rosemary-citrus cookies. I'm quite excited.

Other Things
I am finally ready to transfer my car's title to Missouri and obtain a new license plate. Porkchop (who is technically co-owner of the car) said that she would do the paper work tomorrow. After living in Wisconsin and Iowa, where transferring a title and getting plates takes 2 seconds, it's rough to come back here. So many things to do: obtain a personal property tax waiver, get an emissions test done, have a safety inspection, and of course have car insurance.

I'm actually glad for the safety inspection, which I had done yesterday (you can't just walk-in around here - you have to make an appointment), because I had a cracked serpentine belt! That's no good! So, I feel safer traveling to Arkansas this weekend. Of course, I didn't feel unsafe before because I had no idea.

Someday, I'll get a Missouri driver's license, too. But I'll put it off as long as I can because I hate taking the vision test. My vision is fine, but something about my head doesn't fit the vision machines. In order to take the test, I have to shut one eye for one side of the grid, and then shut my other eye for the other side. And then I have to focus really carefully because the lights in the machine and the colors used for the grid hurt my eyes.

It's rough times. Porkchop actually got to witness this routine in Iowa. I think I kind of embarrassed her because I took so long.

But seriously, my vision is fine!

The Compton Street bridge re-opened yesterday!! 3 months early!! This shaves like 10 minutes off my commute. Seriously.

Sorry
For the no-picture posts lately.

Here's something for you:



Have a great Thursday!