Double Cheesehead

So on Saturday it was like 110 degrees in Los Angeles. I couldn't move but I somehow managed to make it to West Hollywood with mumsy for my aunt's mother's 90th birthday party which was being held at mon oncle's house.

Their house is air conditioned but the party was being held in the backyard on the deck and with 90 people in attendance and with the smoke from the barbie the temperature soared to about 120 degrees. The food was quite good, catered from a Middle Eastern restaurant in Santa Monica. We had the usual stuff: hummus, moutabal (sp?), the walnut dippie, fried kibbe, eggplant salad, dolmas, tabboule, green salad, fish kabob, ground lamb kabob, beef kabob, pilaf, yogurt sauce, and garlic sauce. I discovered later that pine nuts and almonds do not give me migraines (peanuts and walnuts do.)

After most of the guests left and the temp went down to 100 degrees mon oncle offers to give me this artisinal cheese that he bought in Burgundy since he's going on a long trip to Paris, then to the Loire Valley, then off to Lucarno, and then finally Moujan, then it's back to the Loire Valley. Ho Hum. But I want this cheese.

As we are leaving the party mon oncle hands me a Saks Fifth Avenue bag that contains something that looks and smells like dog poop (I have two German Shepherds, I'm a dog poop expert.) Holy crap! Literally! As we are walking back to the car we pass the cutest Boxer/German Shepherd mix and he starts attacking the bag (let's face it, dogs are disgusting.) When I get home I pull the cheese out of three Ziploc bags (after my dogs attacked the Saks bag) and I see, and smell, a cheese that is covered with a primordial ooze. I mean another life form could have easily grown on this cheese.

But this cheese has potential. So I Americanize it by cutting off the disgusting parts and what I'm left with is a cheese that makes a damn good grilled cheese sandwich.