Sitting at work two days ago, I decided I was in the mood for a simple,
but high-class night at home. At 4:30, I left work, paid a visit to my
local <a href=”http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/” target=”_blank”>Whole Foods</a>, grabbed the ingredients, head
home, laid down in bed with a glass of port, my fancy-shamncy
headphones and iPod, and took some time off from the real world. Ten
minute before Caitlin’s arrival, I got up, and prepared the
meal.<br/><br/><span style=”font-weight: bold;”>Ingredients<br/></span><a href=”http://cheeseunderground.blogspot.com/2006/05/sid-cook-master-o-cheese.html” target=”_blank”>Mammoth Cheddar</a><br/>Generic <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouda_%28cheese%29″ target=”_self”>Gouda</a><br/><a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarlsberg_cheese” target=”_blank”>Jarlsberg</a><br/><a href=”http://www.champignon-usa.com/products_9.html” target=”_self”>Champignon w/ Mushrooms</a><br/>Parrone – A hard, delicious cheese that I can’t find more info on<br/><a href=”http://www.wineloverspage.com/wines/tn.phtml?id=496″ target=”_self”>Six Grapes Reserve Port</a><br/>Water
crackers<br/>Organic Grapes<br/>Bartlett
Pears<br/>Locally grown (<a href=”http://www.allaboutapples.com/orchard/wv.htm” target=”_blank”>Mountaineer</a>) Apples<br/>Cashews<br/>Almonds
(we didn’t have these)<br/>Walnuts (we didn’t have
these)<br/><br/><span style=”font-weight: bold;”>Prep</span><br/>1. Slice apple and pear, place in
small bowl<br/>2. Wash grapes, place in small bowl<br/>3.
Place cheeses, with labels, on cutting board<br/>4. Place cheese
knives next to each cheese<br/>5. Pour half a glass of port per
person<br/>6. Lay out crackers<br/><br/>Simple and
delicious. I tried to have two glasses of port over the course of the
night, but it just wasn’t happening. I love it, but you simply can’t
have much of it. The hard cheese was absolutely to die for, the soft
cheese was also great, the Jarlsberg was very good, the Gouda just
alright and the Cheddar also just alright.<br/><br/>Total
time: 15 minutes<br/>Cost: $6/ea assuming you get ripped off on
grapes, like me<br/><br/><span style=”font-weight: bold;”>8.1/10</span> – Need to work out some cheese tastes,
but the time this meal took and the pretentiousness of it were major
plusses.<br/>