Cheese!

The name of this shop isn't the most imaginative. I thought it might be better if at least it was Formagge! But, this way they are not confusing anyone. Last night at dinner we served blue cheese dressing with the salad. One of the children remarked that blue cheese had mold in it. Another child cried "ewww!" Today, after some work was completed in the morning and feeling as though we all needed a walk, I remembered that a cheese shop had opened in Phoenixville this month. "Perfect," I thought, "we will take a walk to the cheese shop and buy some real blue cheese!"

When we walked in I realized that we could eat our way through Europe in cheese. How fun....how expensive. But, food is a necessary part of life, so I spent a little more than I usually do for cheese and supported a new business. Let me tell you, you do get what you pay for. Actually, you get more than you pay for in this case. The owner knows how to win customers. He compliments the children on their behavior, and then gives them a bag of Asher's nonparells as a reward. Later on the woman in the shop (his wife?) gives me some day old bread (still very yummy) free of charge. They were so friendly and answered our questions (do you know that they used to put grape leaf ash on cheese to preserve it? - now it is more for show). Each cheese in the case had a little pin stuck in it with a sign that told you about the cheese. We bought some stuffed grape leaves as well. (Most of those were eaten on the walk home.)

After a little lunch, we placed the cheese on plates and served it with little squares of the yummy bread we got. I looked up the cheese on the internet, talked about where it came from and if anything special was done to make it (pressing, soaking in brine, etc). After reading about a cheese we would try a piece. The blue cheese from France was creamy but still a little strong for the children. Most of them really liked the Applewood Cheddar from England and the Gruyere from Switzerland. A few liked the Gouda and the Manchego (from La Mancha, does the literary reference to Don Quixote count as English?) We looked up the countries where the cheese was from on a map.

So, I think our little cheese excursion besides being a nice fall walk and providing some delicious nourishment also touched on a bit of geography, science and if I stretch it, literature. It also gave us a great excuse to invite two of our favorite neighbors over for dinner and a cheese tasting. (And also be reminded by the husband of the famous "This is a cheese shop?" skit.)

Filed under:

• food
• phoenixville
• culture