My first ever blog post: Fromage

In 2010, I started my first blog called “Voyage & Fromage” dedicated to my love for food and travel. I found it the other day and it was so fun to take a little trip down memory lane. I wish I had stuck with it (think about what it could have been!), but I only posted a few times. Here’s my first ever post all about the food love of my life: cheese.

It's plain and simple: I love cheese. I have always loved cheese. Every and all kinds of cheese: creamy, smoky, buttery, nutty, stinky, blue. I will eat it and I will love it. Given the choice between candy and cheese: cheese. Cheese as an item on a dessert menu: yes, please. Stranded on an island and I can only have one thing: cheese. In high school I saw a movie about how cheese was made. While my classmates gagged as they learned about curds, bacteria and goagulating, my mouth watered, wishing I had a large block of the hardened milk right there on my desk.

I will even settle for good old American cheese slices. The fake stuff at least resembles the taste of my first food love. A childhood friend always told me the sliced cheese was reserved for their dog. She looked at me in disgust as I peeled back the plastic packaging, tearing off pieces of the bright orange square. I'll take any cheese I can get.

One year for my birthday my best friend gave me a basket of cheese. A perfect gift. She also took me to a cheese bar in Chicago. Just like at a wine bar, you can order flights: four small wedges of the most delicious cheeses I've ever tasted. When I went to France with that same friend in college I only had to know one word: fromage. And even better, two words: trois fromage (three cheese). I ordered trois fromage pizza, trois fromage sandwich, trois fromage plate. Needless to say, I had some of the most amazing food of my life. Now I'm counting down the days until I'll be back (116, eeek!!).

I buy the groceries in my household, so I try to buy things on sale, look for the generic brands and occasionally clip coupons. I'm perfectly happy filling my cart with cheap, frozen meals and the discounted meat. But I have been known to spend a ridiculous amount on a couple ounces of brie. I get mesmerized by the cheese counter at Whole Foods. Even more so by the display case at Austin's very own cheese shop, Antonelli's.

So while it is true that I love all food, it is cheese that has my heart, and it is cheese that inspired me to start this blog.

Cheese and charcuterie from Spread & Co. in Austin