If you're reading this, you must be really bored to come find my blog. Either that or with the waning moon, you were meant to.
I have been undisciplined in writing. You know, I really thought "what's once a week? it will build discipline in me and lead to fantastic things in the rest of my life." which proved true, until (see last post....Mothers Day!) I sort of put it aside.
Well, comes my once again Saturday. Kim has left for Sierra Vista and his ailing father's tired heart. He won't be back until tomorrow. Just me and Addie and the dogs for the weekend. Kim charged me with the task of getting the Food Bingo Box . We live in Phoenix and the local Food Bank has some kind of thing going whereby they sell boxes of food, much of it from Trader Joe's, Sams Club, Sunflower Market. These boxes vary in content. We call it BINGO, because it is a crapshoot and you have no say in what you will get. I'm not one to complain and I have to admit I've been pleasantly surprised by the organic produce offerings and some of the goodies. (oh, like the flourless Choc cake from TJ). In amongst all the stuff stands out a few items and I think they are worthy of written report. Today we got 2 bunches of organic (beecause the label says so) leeks, a tad wilty on edges, but that's ok. If I bought leeks at the farmers market, I might ignore them for a few days and then frantically work on them, in an effort to save them from the compost pile and remind myself how expensive they were. The food boxes are only $30 (which goes to fund the free breakfast and lunch programs in Phoenix, which has been extended to all year, which is feeding hungry kiddos, which is a well spent $30).
Along with the leeks, a hefty wedge of a cheese I have not eaten before. Listen, my son is a cheese whore, a cheese glutton, a cheese snob. And I have never even heard of this cheese. The label says Raclette. On first examination, reminds me in weight and pokability of say fontina or somekind of wierd brie thing. What I didn't expect was the odor. Katie thought she'd nab some before work, but announced it smelled like it was bad and maybe we shouldn't eat it. Now, my kids are used to coming across stinky things in the fridge. They are not strangers to jars of kimchee or pickled radishes. You know, the kind of things you open and the neighbors go, "What's that smell?". I didn't smell what Kate smelled. A couple of hours later, I thought I might like a piece of cheese and some bread and remembered there was THAT cheese. Katie dutifully rewrapped it. Really wrapped it. Not like a 16 year old would wrap something, this cheese was like mechanically rewrapped. I unwound it and discovered she never removed the original vacuum wrap. The smell from the 1 inch scissor cut sent her scrambling for the saran wrap. Ha! More for me. I do love it when the rest of the house is not as excited about something I like. It lasts longer and I get to enjoy it when I get a hankering. Is that why my dad drank scotch? Katie was right! It stunk. Like it went bad 2 weeks ago. I'm wondering if it's still food. And yet, I'm curious, maybe it's supposed to stink like that. Growing up, our neighbors, the McNanleys' mom used to Limburgher cheese and (gasp!) chicken livers. I know why. So she didn't have to share. I stood back from the counter. The dogs are going wild. I'm convinced they think I've hauled in something dead from the bumper of the car and I'm going to dish it up for them. Sure smelled like it. They really didn't understand why I wasn't allowing them to stand up and smell it on the counter. A quick google search and viola! Raclette is supposed to be stinky. And that it is. It's salty. And the taste is very different melted, the internet tells me. I don't have a fancy raclette melting apparatus and look! there's people who have raclette dinners, melting cheese with pickled goodies and cold meats. Anything remote to fondue and I'm game! But here, lacking a melt the cheese machine, a small all clad skillet over med heat will have to do. Indeed, it did lose it's stink (I can still smell it in the kitchen. Not sure how to get rid of the smell. It's driving the dogs batty, so it has entertainment value anyway. ) The bubbling melty mess slid off the pan onto an uncooked corn tortilla (well, we do live in AZ and it came in the box.) Delicious! Not at all stinky. Raclette. Been there done that.
Happy Heart day.
