Mostly whimsy and drivel of no consequence. And CHEESE.
Turophiles: The Next Generation
22Sep2006 Filed under: Blood is Thicker..., Cheese Thoughts Author: Kate BartholomewYou cannot imagine how delighted I was when I read the following on Ashley’s Blog:
P loves cheese. She would eat a whole brick of it if I let her. Instead I cut up one slice at a time, and she has all the pieces stuffed in her mouth in less than 10 seconds. It scares me because I worry she’ll choke, but it makes me laugh as well.
So Paisley is not only brilliant and beautiful, she is discerning, too. A budding turophile before she even turns one! Here she is with “cheese cheeks:”
And she has just learned to sign for “more,” too:
How cute is that? I am so overcome with the cute-iosity that I know I’d find it rather difficult to deny her the whole block of cheese.
Isn’t it stupendous how she’s gaining the personality traits of her VERY Favourite Aunt day by day? She’s smart, discriminating, has crazy hair, and, sometimes, erratic mood changes (e.g. The Cookie Incident).
Here, for instance, she is very, very MAD at her shoes:
A split second later she is DELIGHTED with her shoes:
Never fear, Charles and Ashley, as the comparisons, no doubt, end there. But I’m still nigh unto blissful about the CHEESE.
terry
September 24th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Well, this depends now. Is she scarfing Velveeta? Or eight-year-old cheddar?
Older Turophiles want to know.
Kate
September 24th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
My guess would be a nice mild cheddar, perhaps even made locally, believe it or not. I guess there some tiny town in Kansas known (at least known in KANSAS) for its handmade cheeses.
Kate
September 25th, 2006 at 2:21 am
For some reason your question sparked an old (and odd) reminiscence. When my Great-Grandparents were alive (double Maternal? – Maternal Grandmother’s Parents…) we got their cheese – their GUV’MENT cheese, that is.
Senior Citizens got it for free at that point (don’t know if that is still the case – vaguely political insinuation – BUT I DOUBT IT). So, in the spirit of people who’d lived through the Depression and saved everything and whatnot they’d go and pick it up (the GINORMOUS block – at least several pounds, that “Guv’ment” Cheese). However, my Great-Grandmother, who was an incredible cook, would NOT deign to eat it. So she gave it to our family (under the premise that kids will eat pretty much any crap – true enough). Ah, the good ol’ days of “Guv’ment” cheese and baloney boats (a story for another time – or not).
Translation for Canadians and other “Foreigners” (I mean that in a good way, but as soon as I typed it it seemed vaguely pejorative – sorry): Guv’ment Cheese = Government Cheese = “American” Cheese = YUCKY CRAP CHEESE
terry
September 25th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
You know, that’s a pretty neat story, because nobody I know has ever mentioned Murrican Gummint Cheese. Heard of food stamps and such, but not large blocks of free cheese.
There were days in my life I was so broke, I would have eaten even yucky crap cheese and been happy to have it.
Pam
September 26th, 2006 at 7:40 am
I remember your huge blocks of cheese! They came in long brown cardboard boxes. There was always so much cheese at your house.
Kate
September 26th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Yes, Pam, it’s IMPORTANT for one to ALWAYS have cheese in one’s house. Well, at least it’s natural that I would think so…
At the moment, there are even CHEESE SLICES (because Leif must have them on his grilled* cheese sandwiches when he sleeps over) – you know – the one’s probably made out of “artificial flavoured and coloured cheese food,” whatever the hell that is, despite all those advertisements that try to convince us that cows have discovered SUCCESSFUL cold fusion and use it as a means to infuse each slice with a gallon of REAL MILK.
Sometimes, life has very good timing. We became more snobbish about our cheese (thus the ubiquitous and HUGE block of cheddar always on hand) as we got older, and by then my Great-Grandparents were infirm for a few years and then dead (come on – don’t think I’m being crass – they lived on their own and DROVE and everything WELL into their nineties), so they didn’t go and get any more “Guv’ment” cheese (tempted to adopt your version of the spelling, Terry).
As for being broke and settling for pretty much ANYTHING vaguely edible, I hear you. I knew someone who claims to have lived for a while on ketchup soup. My first year at University, through I had a wee refrigerator and hot plate, money and transportation (took the bus everywhere) usually made generic “toasty O’s” with skim milk the bulk of my diet. I did purchase my ONE bowl and the now defunct but slightly hoity-toity Weinstocks… After a while my hair started breaking off and my fingernails started to fail, to I had to diversify a little more…(YES, FOLKS – walked everywhere on a BIG campus and around the city, took aerobics, ate practically nothing the bulk of the time – STILL WAS NOT THIN – so they can stick a SUPER-SIZE bag of no-name “toasty O’s” where the sun don’t shine if they think everyone “LARGE” sits and stuffs their face all day).
Pardon me. One of my huge soap boxes just fell RIGHT ON MY HANDS so that I interrupted MYSELF very impolitely with ranting.
I had forgotten about the cardboard boxes, Pam. That was great…
Does anyone know if they still distribute “Guv-ment” cheese? Now I’m curious.
Oh – Terry – now I can tell you ANOTHER “Murican” innovation. People still talk about food stamps, but they don’t distribute them that way any more (one of my Sisters worked for the State for a number of years for the welfare department and the health department – and she learned SO MUCH no one really wants to know). They now have the “horizon” debit card (I think that’s the name). I think that’s a lot nicer and easier then when people had to turn in actual food stamps.
*My brain is going, going, GONE. I, a renowned Turophile, actually asked my Mother this question a little while ago (I honesty couldn’t remember0:
lattégirl
September 30th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Turophile standards relax a bit when a teenaged boy is involved. We have always loved cooked cheese sandwiches (because I DID grow up with Velveeta), and I have always put TWO slices of processed cheese food into each cooked sandwich. So it was with delight that I found, this very week, new Kraft slices at DOUBLE THE THICKNESS. Our cooked sandwiches are gooey, yummy, and grilled to perfection.