Unbelievable Cheese!

A good friend of mine here, leader of Test Team J, invited me over to his restaurant for a some cheese and wine tonight. He'd been to Cebu this last weekend and had picked up some good cheese. Or, so he said.

I arrive and find a plate of Brie, Bleu Cheese d'Auvergne, Camembert (I'd bought for him in Manila), and Pecorino (an Italian cheese very much like Parmesan).

Where was my friend wrong? When he used the word "good". Perhaps it's that he's a native French speaker and his English is poor (it's not, his English is excellent). Perhaps it's that he grew up in France and is used to fabulous cheeses that make you wish eating these cheeses all day long were something for which you could get paid in both money and glory. Perhaps he didn't want to setup any expectations in my mind.

Whatever the reason, he was wrong. These cheeses were amazing. As I told him as I was leaving ... "there are no words".

See, I hadn't tried Brie or Bleu Cheese (I liked Roquefort dressing, that's as close as I got) in my life before. When I was in my early 20's, I was told by a good friend that they were disgusting and not worth trying. Being young and incredibly stupid, I believed him.

Fortunately, I don't make that mistake anymore.

I highly recommend that you don't either. If you have not tried Brie or Bleu Cheese, go do so today. Get some good toasted bread or nice crackers, spread on the cheese, and let your eyes roll back as your taste buds invite the rest of your senses to go on vacation so you can focus on the food.

A friend of mine is fattening up a local breed of salamander that gets fairly large. He says it tastes better than chicken. It'll be ready in December for cooking. To be polite, I plan on cooking a side dish for the occasion. Does anyone know what goes with salamander?