Sunday, January 21, 2007

A little of this, a little of that.

I bought some new cheeses to taste last week. I am always fascinated by the selection of cheeses in the specialty foods section of the grocery, but never sure what I will like. This time I bought three for experimentation:

1. Vlaskaas aged gouda - tangy yet smooth
2. Iberico (from spain) - kind of an "american" taste
3. raw milk aged cheddar - very sharp and crumbly texture.

What are some of your favorite snacking cheeses and how would you describe the flavor?

I went to a scrapbooking workshop on Friday night and got a lot done on my current scrapbook. I'm trying to think of friends who would like to go to parties with me. If I go consistently, I can get a lot done that I have been wanting to for a long time.

I cleaned out my car this evening. Woo hoot! This is a huge accomplishment for me... The inspiration was the possibility that a friend may call me to help with driving her son around Monday or Tuesday because her husband is having surgery.

16 comments:

Rachel said...

I don't try too many different types of cheeses, but I love provolone, and I have to make mac and cheese with extra sharp cheddar..yum!

I love to scrapbook, but ask my sister Martha how much I usually get done when we've scrapbooked together, and she'll probably tell you, "Not much". I usually end up talking way more than scrapbooking, but I keep telling her that we need to get together again to do it anyway. I love ecuts, which I've just discovered online, because I can make a really nice page without having to put a lot of thought into it, and it's pretty cheap! The parties are always fun though because you get the socialization and the yummy food to go with it. I tend to skip those in order to spend more time with my hubby and kids.

Rachel said...

Sorry for all that boring rambling...

Tracy said...

It wasn't boring to me... I've never heard of ecuts. What exactly is it?

I like these "workshops" that my Creative Memories consultant puts on. You pay $5 to go to her house where you can use all her tools and eat her snacks and work for 5 hours. I get a lot done and there is no agenda to distract me.

Rachel said...

Those workshops are the "parties" I was talking about. (I guess I'm easily entertained.LOL) I've been to several, but I hate to leave Dave and the boys when I haven't seen them all day. They do have an all day one this Saturday, but I'm not going. I love it when they do the "make it, take it" pages, but I'm not too artsy on my own.

If you punch in scrapbooking on google, you'll find ecuts. You have to go into scrapbooking.com I believe. They're really nice, and I get my pages done quicker with them. They're also a lot cheaper than Creative Memories. I just get the acid free cardstock from a scrapbooking store or Joanne's.

Nixter said...

I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee cheese. One of the things I could never give up. I think I would eat cheese on nearly EVERYTHING if I could..

I love Brie, Camembert, Blue cheese, cheddar - you name it I probably like it. My cousin used to joke and ask me what I was having with my cheese as I used to put it on everything.

Rachel said...

Sorry, it's scrapbook.com.

kristina said...

I love cheese. I can't remember trying one that I didn't like, but I don't buy anything fancy for myself. Since I don't eat meat or fish I like smokey flavors in cheese because there really isn't anything else that you can get smoked.

I don't scrapbook. I do own a scrapbooking tool though- a tape dispenser that wheels along leaving a track of little tape squares. I use it to mount my portfolio. Slick.

Tracy said...

Kris, I have a little one and a big one... I agree, they are slick.

Kim said...

Tracy, I think you are my twin.

I love cheese, I'll try anything but I love Brie and Havarti and trying different kinds of which names I can't remember. I once went to a Wine class and ended up liking the cheeses they were serving better than any of the wines.

I work retail at a photo memory store called Archiver's. Their website is Archiversonline.com. They are expanding quite a bit but I don't know if they are looking into Oregon or not. I just scrapped last night with all of the employees there. I didn't get much accomplished but did do a lot of laughing which is good.

BTW. I've been meaning to ask you where you shop for clothes. Since we are both petite I thought I'd ask. It's hard to find nice and reasonably priced petite clothes that don't look like something for a 70 year old woman. Do you have good luck anywhere?

Tracy said...

Kim, I have thought the same thing when looking at your profile... My family always did say that I seemed like someone else's child. :o) (My whole family wore glasses but me, they all liked steak - I like it now, but didn't as a child, no one else liked some of the foods that I do.)

Anyway, I have the same probs finding clothes. My legs are long enough that petite pants are actually too short, but the rise in regular pants is way to long. I've had too luck with pants now that the low-rise look is so in. Petite tops, dresses and skirts really are better for me, though because I have a very short waist. I've found some good stuff at Eddie Bauer and Penny's. I've been thinking of trying some higher end shops to try to find some cuter clothes.

Tracy said...

I brightened up my profile pic.

Kim said...

Oh my gosh, I'm the only one in my family that doesn't wear glasses too! People tell me that I am nothing like either of my parents although I think that's because I don't talk non-stop and don't mind being in my own little quiet world. I order tops from Land's End but lately even they haven't been fitting right. Oh well. I like the brighter picture.

Tracy said...

Try Eddie Bauer. I think their clothes have a more modern fit than Land's End. We have a store in our mall, but they don't always have the petite version of their clothes in stock. However, you can see what the regular version looks like and get an idea of whether the shape is right and then order the petite from the store. They don't charge shipping if you pick it up in the store.

Have you looked at my "51 things" list? It would be interesting how much of that you can relate to. I don't remember what month I wrote that, but you could find it by using the search box at the top of the page.

Martha said...

Cheese, Gromit?

Anonymous said...

Hi Tracy,
I really like the Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar. It has a sharp bite to it.
Kathy and I were back there in the Northwest around New Years and I bought 5 bricks of it to bring back to Missouri. They have nothing like it out here. There is only one store we found that sells Tillamook brand cheese but they only sell the mild yellow cheddar and something else.
We went to Kansas City before Christmas to this place called "The Plaza", huge shopping area. Anyway, there was this place there that sold cheese from all around the world and a person could sample them. We tried just about every single one of them. (Places like that loose business when a guy like me comes in, I sample everything, sometimes twice.) If you and Denis come back out this way, maybe we can take you to Kansas City. Its a pretty city.
Have a good day.

Tracy said...

Hi Brian! Thanks for leaving a comment. :o) That store you found sounds very cool. I wish that I could sample all these different cheeses before I commit to buying it. Unfortunately, I HAVE met some cheeses that I didn't like.

I'm particularly fascinated to try all those famous French cheeses.