Cheddar Me 2018

Okay, so here's the deal.
I suck at updating this. I just do. Thought I never gave any sort of  timeline or deadline for myself, I still should do this more than every six months.
But it's a new year and I am going to try to make it right by the five of you that probably read this.

Now, I will say, just because I haven't updated this does not mean my cheese adventures were left behind. I ate a lot of cheese. From the really fancy stuff to queso from a jar. And I documented some of these excursions. And I promise that one day I will post about  all of the ones I documented, but today I will introduce you to my latest tasting:


This cheese is from the Westminster brand, and it is a variety of Smoked Cheddar. We eventually paired this with Atlas Pineapple Mango Cider, because we were apparently out of Barefoot (I'm still holding out for that sponsorship).  Now with cheddar being a pretty common cheese that I've consumed I had a basic understanding of how this cheese tasting was going to go. But I had never actively sought out  fancy cheddar, in a small package, I'm more akin to buying the large block of boring cheddar from Costco. So we put on some Billy Joel, and cut into that cheese.

Here you can see the cheese packaging next to another delicacy in our home, the Pop Tart

Upon taking this bad boy out of the packaging two things stood out to me:

1. This smelled like straight up bacon
2. It had a rind

Now the bacon thing was pretty exciting but it was at this moment that I realize that both myself and Jeremy, my tasting companion/really cool boyfriend, had never actively figured out what to do with cheese rind.

 "What do you do with it? Do certain cheeses allow you to eat it while others don't? Am I just scared of cheese rind?"

                        An accurate representation of me dealing with rind

It was then decided that we

1. Were too lazy and hungry to research it, and 
2. did not care

And boy did that work out cause that shit was delicious. My initial reaction was that it tasted like jerky without having to chew it for ten days.
Jeremy's initial reaction was, "It's like smokey, it tastes like a cigar without tobacco."
To which I replied, " Well, it is SMOKED cheddar." He then took a few seconds to think this over while saying, "Yeah..." very slowly.
Next we decided to add water crackers to the mix, and I decided I still hate them so that hasn't changed. But these ones were flavored so it was less terrible, first we took the rind and put it on the crackers which wasn't too bad. It was like eating the rind by itself but kinda crunchy. Jeremy believed that the cracker cut down on the smokiness of the rind, though I'm not sure if it is a good thing or not. 
At this point I have figured that if I'm not supposed to eat the rind then I will die happy. 

 
                        "Is this what  I'm supposed to do?" - This guy

Next we moved on to just cheese. It was much creamier, and less smokey, not in a bad way. Overall it was a pretty solid White Cheddar.
"It's kinda like in the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, the rind, much like the start of the game, leaves you hopeful and wanting to be in that moment forevermore, when you get to the body that joy continues and really continues to build on itself and then you get to the final boss fight and it leaves you wanting more as it has faded, leaving you nothing but the taste of your own saliva." -Jeremy (future philosopher)
He continues "but luckily much like LOZBOTW there is so much more content because this block is fucking HUGE." Which I found debatable, but I enjoyed his enthusiasm.
When asked if he had anything other than a really long analogy he replied, "It's tasty. I think it  would go really well with.. I don't know... steak. Then again, I might just be craving steak because I've been watching Parks and Rec." (This moment sponsored by Parks and Rec, hopefully)

With salami:
"I made the cheese slices too thick" - I said with a mouth full of food
"Much like in Dragonball Z Trunks and Goten are decidedly good fighters on their own but when they fuse together, much like this cheese and salami have, they create a whole new flavor that heightens the quality of the show, or the taste." - Jeremy
While this is not wrong, I have also decided that my boyfriend must have been ever English teacher's nightmare with his endless barrage of analogies. (This has been confirmed by him)


                  "Who needs utensils?" - Also this guy

With the cider:

  


















I didn't hate it, but it was not the best combination. Though if I had had wine it would have definitely helped the cheese, this cider made the cheese part too cheesy. 
He had no analogy for this,  he just thought it was a palate cleanser and did nothing for the cheese. 


Overall,  I would give this cheese a five out of five wheels. We ate this before dinner and it took every ounce of will power for me to not shove the whole block in my mouth and not eat a real people dinner. Jeremy being a much tougher critic would give it a 4 out of five wheels, very bold and flavorful taste but the fact that it doesn't adapt well  to all flavors means he had to drop it down a peg.

So there you have it, I believe I bought the cheese from Fred Meyer, they have a kickin deli counter. 
Anyways, catch me next time in the cheese world, or don't, I'm not the boss of you. But if you like a non-expert, who is obsessed with stock photos, giving pointless feedback on cheese you know where to find me. Also, if you haven't read my first post yet and are wondering what sort of hell you've gotten into, you can find that first post here
 

Thank you for reading, until we cheese again. 

Kels 💖