CHEESE!

Amy and I decided to start Weight Watchers a couple weeks ago. (We actually started a week ago today.) We knew we wouldn't be able to gorge ourselves on cheese in the near future, so the only reasonable thing to do was to have a cheese dinner the night before we started.

(to note: a pizza stone really doesn't make for a good cheese board. the knife on the stone is almost unbearable. (we had so much cheese, I didn't have a wooden board large enough!))

Below is our sophisticated dinner: cheeses from around the world, crackers, wine, chocolate covered figs. Amy and I know how to dine.

This is Corey and Christopher's dinner: pizza from Ronnie's in Clemmons, wings, mozzarella cheese sticks (not from Taco Bell) and ranch.

I did take some notes on the cheeses we had. Some were old favorites, some were new! And, yes - I know we didn't exactly use sophisticated terms to describe these cheeses.

Dubliner Cheese: Amy and I both liked it. It was dry but somehow very creamy at the same time. It had kind of a parmesan-y flavor.

Provolone Mandarino: this one was kind of grainy. We liked it as well. It had a much more smoky / aged flavor than your standard provolone cheese. Corey tried this one and stated, "it's better than Subway provolone."

Gouda Meadowkoas: We likey! It's very creamy.

Farmers Gouda, 5 years aged: ugh. I could hardly swallow this. Just as I was about to put it in my mouth I decided it was the color and texture of what I would expect 10 year old ear wax to be. I almost vomited. Amy didn't like it either. She also did not appreciate my description as I she was chewing.

Cave Aged Gruyere: we liked this one too! Another "dry and creamy" anomaly.

Drunken Goat: two thumbs up! Very creamy, soft and kind of tangy.

Gorgonzola Piccante: Christopher noted, "it smells like feet." Corey noted, "it smells worse than Christopher's feet." Christopher noted, "and I wore my Sperrys today!" (Those are his stinky shoes.) I can't completely disagree with either of them. I typically like gorgonzola on salads in restaurants, but I have never purchased any myself. I think I might have picked a rather pungent variety. Oh yeah - it didn't taste good either.

Manchego, Raw Milk, 8 months: AWESOME! A bit creamier and milder than the 1 year. While creamier and milder, also harder.

Manchego 1 year: I think I speak for both of us when I say this was our favorite...yes, Amy? My notes say, "delicious as always!"

Amy trying the chocolate covered fig...she didn't like it. Neither did Christopher or Corey. My coworkers reaped the benefits the next day.