Bleu Cheese

When I got done with dinner last night I was still kind of hungry.   I’ve been eating pretty healthy for the last couple of weeks so I decided that I could treat myself to dessert.   I had a very small portion of bleu cheese, 7 or 8 mixed nuts, and 3 “wafer thin” crackers.   I enjoyed this with the last of a Pinot Blanc that I had opened when I got home from work.   It was all good.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t like bleu cheese at all.   I thought it was nasty tasting, nasty smelling, nasty looking, and generally unpleasant.   I really did not like it.  That fact bothered me though.   I hate seeing other people enjoy things that I don’t enjoy.   If there is some reason to like something, then I feel that I should be able to like it.   This was the case with bleu cheese and I decided a few years ago that I was going to learn to like it.

I embarked on my quest by eating some bleu cheese every time there was some available.   I tried the salad dressing.   I ate various bleu cheese variants like gorgonzola and stilton.  It took a long time.    I had to endure many unpleasant bites of cheese.  I still remember the moment when I had my first absolutely, truly, completely enjoyable bite of bleu cheese.   It was at the restaurant El Gaucho.   They serve it at the end of the meal and it’s a part of their regular service.   With that bite of bleu cheese I turned the corner and began to love it.   I now can’t imagine life without it.   It’s one of my favorite things.   If I’m putting together a cheese plate, bleu will always be on it.