Overreaching your goals, oh yea and cheese to go with the whine...

"Blue cheese contains natural amphetamines. Why are students not informed about this? "
Mark E. Smith

Umm yea, the whole baking multiple loaves of bread coupled with the reality of running a household and chauffering kids to games and practices, nevermind the cleaning and cooking (my family likes to eat for some reason), throw in there an "I have to clean my house" meltdown - I had to do a little adjusting in terms of what I could realistically accomplish.

So, no cinnamon bread for the kids this weekend. Instead we combined the "clean the house" meltdown with the kids desire for baked goods and made some Honey Bran muffins that I had the mix for in the cupboard (thank you Martha White!).

Also good because after having the epiphany that home-baked goods are leaps and bounds better than packaged mixes, I'm resolving to try to bake from scratch this year. Check in with me on that goal about mid year when I say "eff it" and become a Martha White and Duncan Hines devotee again.

However, I did manage to bake the bread from that wondeful recipe I found. And now that I know I haven't completely butchered it, I can tell you I found it via Ivory Hut. She's convinced me that I need to pick up that book.

Let me tell you, that bread is better than advertised! It is fabulously crusty on the outside and soft and perfect on the inside. It is also very very easy to make. Trust me on this one. I was all stressed out about it not coming out right because I used tap water (following Ivory Hut's lead) and then my kitchen is all sorts of drafty so the Hubby had the brilliant idea to set the bread mixture on a cookie cooling rack on top of the heating register to proof. I should have taken a picture! I was worried about the kids knocking it over while they ran circles around the house, I was worried about a random house bug crawling in, or it getting TOO warm. I was all sorts of worried, until I got too busy running kiddo to practice and going to the store for the cornmeal I needed but didn't have and defrosting the sausages for the dinner I was making, and trying to tackle the laundry, and oh my god how did my house get so dusty... so then I forgot about it. And when I remembered, it had proofed perfectly!! So that's my advice, be too stressed and crazy to think about it, and it will come out perfect. Because after all of that juggling and running around, here was the end product:















And believe me, the picture does not do it justice.

Other things I managed to accomplish this weekend? Well, we did have the chicken and the lovely Chardonnay went very well with it. I also cemented my belief that this wine has to be one of the best value priced reds around:

Seriously, I've tried it with the short ribs from last week, with the sausage and garbanzo beans from last night, with the standing rib roast I made over the holidays and also as a sipping wine when noshing with my best friend or while cooking dinner. Go out and get it before everyone realizes how good it is and they jack up the price like they did with my beloved Sexto.




Ok, so what about the cheese portion of this post? Here it goes... did you know that blue cheese contains natural amphetamines? I mean, that quote up there says it, so it must be true right? Something to do with the ageing and mold and all. But anyways. I love cheese. I mean, I really love it! So I tend to hunt out artisanal cheeses to try out. I like to pair different combos for interesting flavor profiles, I like to eat them with bread, or crackers and fruit. I like to pair them with different wines. Some of the most fun ever is going to my guy at the liquor store (yea, I got a guy) and hunting down a wine to go with a cheese I'm swooning over.

So, I thought, I need a schtick. Everybody's got one, a recap or recipe or something. How about "the weekend cheese"? Couple with the "weekend wine"? Hmmm still fleshing it out. But at least for now, here is the weekend cheese:

The weekend cheese:


Montagnolo cheese

Montagnolo is a triple cream soft ripened blue cheese, carefully crafted by the master cheese makers of Kaserei Champignon in the alpine mountain region of Bavaria, Germany. The buttery texture and rich, piquant flavor intensifies as it ripens. This cheese was inspired by delicacies of the Renaissance and a time when cheese making was performed by cottages and families in this region.

Seriously, if you've never had this and you have a halfway decent cheese shop in your neighborhood, run out and get it now! It is amazing and worth every penny of that $10 you are likely to spend on a medium sized wedge. Besides, it contains natural amphetamines, which is really helpful if your weekends resemble mine and you tend to get weirdly high strung and stress yourself out. We could all use some nature-endorsed drugs, right? I mean, that's why we run, work out, eat chocolate, etc and stuff.

Anyways, this is like the perfect middle ground blue cheese. It's so creamy and smooth that it entices those that shy away from the spicy bite of the more traditional Roquefort Blue Cheese. And for those of us that completely groove on that spicy bite, it has enough of the bite to make you happy, but the creamyness of it gives it a whole other dimension.

Ok, I'm tired now. I think this is the most I've written. Time to get on with the rest of the week!