Crusts and Crumbs: Gouda Goodness

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Gouda Goodness

IT CAME!!!

Yes, my lovely cheeses arrived yesterday. I came home from work to find the cute little brown box in my garage (per posted instructions.)

I was blissful.

Cute.

I opened up the box...

and the dogs went berserk. They could smell the cheese right away, and they wanted some.

Look, I even got nifty little Murray's ice packs! Yessss.

The cheese!

I love the paper...apparently, it's the best for cheese storage. "An outer waxy layer with a cheesey design and an inner plastic layer allows the cheese to breathe"

First up, the gouda!

I love the rind! So festive and rustic.

And look at that beautiful crumble!

Now, for the actual eating experience.
As you recall, the description online was "...a rough and stony wheel with a deep toffee-colored interior smattered with white patches of crystalline minerals. The milky sweetness of the younger version intensifies into a caramelized, burnt sugary treasure with a similar crunchy texture to boot."
I loooved the texture of this cheese! It was crumbly and crunchy, with the "crystalline minerals" giving an extra little crunch every now and then. It was just so satisfying to munch on. I like being able to just break off a chunk and nibble on it. The flavor was truly complex and exciting. While I don't have a sophisticated enough palate to taste all those complicated and delicate flavor notes, I can definitely detect the slightly sweet, caramelly, "burnt sugar" undertone of this cheese.
Totally loved this crunchy, munchable fellow! I have a large chunk of it eaten already...I just can't stop!

Tomorrow, the funky, unctuous Tilsiter...

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Change.

Understand, I don’t intend to stop posting recipes completely. I still love cooking, and sharing that love with others. But I’ve also always enjoyed writing, and have recently rediscovered that dusty love. I feel like digging it out of the attic, and giving it a bit of a polish. I’ve been inspired by other bloggers, by their
daily grit and grind that they share with the world. By their faith and tenacity as they plod through life. I feel like taking advantage of the flexibility of a blog, and writing what I feel like, when I feel like it. The crusts and the crumbs of my life. A recipe today, a remodel post tomorrow, a reflection on parenting next week. I face a wide open space, waiting to be
filled with whatever I desire. And I like that challenge.

Me.

Much of my writing will never even see the light. It will never make it past the parchment of my mind, where it is scribbled in invisible ink for me alone. But some of it does. That bit is what is written here. Humbly posted for the world to see, if it cares, or to ignore if it doesn’t.
I’m not a spotlight kind of girl. I’m shy, and quiet, and a bit reserved. Oh, I like a good razzing between friends, and a spirited board game with the best of them. I love hosting friends and family and cherishing moments together.
But at my soul, in my heart of hearts, I’m a quiet evening with my man, fire blazing, hands wrapped around a warm cup of tea kind of girl. That’s when I’m most blissful.
So, I don’t write for a spotlight, imagined or otherwise. I don’t write for others. I write for me. If not a single person (besides my soul mate-we’re bonded as one, so he counts as me) reads this blog, I’d be just as satisfied in writing it as if a thousand had read it.Which is good, because a thousand people definitely
won’t be reading this. No, I write because there is an itch in my soul. An urge, somewhere deep inside of my being, to craft my thoughts into words and inscribe them, preserve them, and make meaning from them. It brings me peace to take the whirling dervish in my mind and put him to rest.