Photo from http://cheeseunderground.blogspot.com/

I think that the worst thing ever in the world happened this week: I agreed to not eat cheese for a month! Why in the world would I even consider something so crazy you ask? Well it started when my husband and I were out to lunch on Sunday and we started talking about the foods that we eat a lot of. He said that my three favorite things to eat/drink are "coffee, cheese and little pieces of chocolate," (from Trader Joe's). I have to admit he's pretty right on. After discussing this he went on to talk about how bad he heard cheese is for you, and how he read this article in Men's Health about how horrible it is for you...

Now as some of you might know, I do have a BS in Nutrition (Dietetics) and you would think that I know how bad cheese can be for you...well I do, I just choose to eat it in moderation, er uh, well I guess if I still ate it in moderation it wouldn't be that bad. It wouldn't be bad if I ate it in moderation and if I ate low-fat cheeses. It wouldn't be bad if I ate it only a couple of times a week, not every day. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have let myself get slightly out of control with the cheese and I could eat a whole block of cheddar in one sitting.

With this new realization out on my plate in front of me I had to take a step back and think about how far away from moderation I have gotten and how I was going to rein it in. Well Jim Bob wanted to cut back or stop using it in cooking for a while, I decided to take a leap and say that as soon as we finished up what I have stock-piled in our fridge that I would take a one month hiatus from my love-affair with cheese and see how I feel; then I could gradually re-introduce cheese but in a healthier way.

...But I looooove cheese: cheddar, gouda, muenster, goat cheese, mascarpone, cream cheese, and feta! With all of that said, I must share something that we (Jim Bob, my sister and I) discovered on a recent trip to San Diego. The most glorious, wonderful, and delicious discovery in the world. Venissimo cheese store in the Gas Lamp district is by far my favorite store in the world, even surpassing clothing stores, shoe stores and etsy stores. My sister and I were giddy as we walked into this cheese haven and were even more ecstatic after we found out that they hand out free samples like nobody's business. I will say that if you have never been to San Diego you should go for the ocean, the weather, the restaurants but mostly for this store.

So you can see how much I am going to miss cheese this month. Is there anyone else out there that feels the same way about cheese that I do? Or is your passion for a different food? Share!

Roo