Cheese and wine.

Inspired by a recent Lyonnaise foodblog at eGullet.com, I've been thinking a lot about cheese lately. MMMMMMMMM...cheese. Is there anything better? I used to think chocolate was better, but now I think not.

Here's my reasoning: even when you add things (milk, flavorings, fruit, etc.) to chocolate, it retains it's essential "chocolate-ness". Most people that like chocolate can handle it in most of it's forms, although they might prefer one to another. Maybe they don't like coconut, so they don't eat a Mounds bar - but their objection is to the coconut, not the chocolate itself.

Cheese, on the other hand, just has a much wider range of flavor, texture, etc. And therefore it is perfectly possible for someone to love one cheese and gag at the thought of another. Do you see the difference?

Plus, fermentation is just sooo cool.

What inspired me most about this foodblog written by the lady from Lyon was her cheese tasting plate. In France (and in higher brow establishments elsewhere), the cheese course is "dessert". She had close to 9 different cheeses arrayed on the plate (and such a pretty picture they made, too). I want a cheese-tasting plate like that! Perhaps 9 is a large number, but I would love to replace sweet desserts (which I rarely eat for dessert, but snarf down any time of day) with a pretty cheese plate. YUM.

Most hi-falutin' folks have wine with cheese. There are certain wines that go with certain cheeses, etc. I always despaired of trying much of this at home. I was not about to buy both multiple cheeses AND multiple wines, only to drink half of each bottle. And I had no idea how to put together a decent tasting.

Thankfully, the folks at igourmet.com have taken care of this for me. They sell cheese assortments (some under $20, some insanely expensive) of about 3-4 cheeses that go with a particular wine. SCORE! I am going to order the Riesling selection at some point - it was quite reasonably priced. Furthermore, Laura and I have found a great (fairly cheap) Riesling that we both really enjoy, and I'd love to have a "get happy and eat cheese" evening sometime in the near future.

I am so hungry right now, thinking of the hunk of Manchego I have sitting in the fridge at home. Is it wrong to make a meal of only cheese? If so, I don't want to be right...