The End of the Petit Basque

We love cheese - but only a certain few. We eat it sparingly every day for breakfast along with French,  pita, bagels, or English muffins, scrambled eggs with spinach or over hard, and fruit of some sort. We usually have Boursin cheese with herbs and garlic and Alouette crème de Brie. Lately we have also been getting a Boar’s Head hard white cheddar cheese. Once in a while we split either a waffle or French toast and sausage. We discovered a wonderful hard cheese when we were visiting friends in France many years ago. When we came back home, petit basque was recommended as a substitute. It’s not easy to find and is very expensive. So we were thrilled to get a whole “wheel” of petit basque for Christmas from our family. They know how much we love it and also know that we prefer consumable gifts over things. Sadly, today was the last day of the cheese. When we opened it a few weeks back we saved half of it in the freezer while we munched on the first half. It surprisingly lasts very well in spite of what one might think. So it was with a great deal of sadness that it all disappeared. But it certainly was worth it! 

Cheestique in Del Ray - "I Wish I Had the Courage To..."

Instead of going to Costco for our favorite Petit Basque cheese, we decided to take a ride to Del Ray and see what was going on at Cheestique. We've been there a couple times just to get this delightful white mellow cheese. We originally learned about it in France about fifteen years ago when we were visiting friends there, described it's flavor and texture to the cheese shop in Milwaukee, and have never looked back. On this visit, it was unusually busy on the weekend... There is also a small restaurant that serves everything cheese and a late night wine and cheese bar. Someone from Australia was giving lip service to their favorite wine, and a lot of folks were waiting for service. The cheese is twice the price here compared to Costco, but it's a very different vibe in this "historic" neighborhood. When we left the store we drove around a bit and noticed the quaint shops and restaurants - including a custard stand that we learned about even before we moved here - although nothing compares to Kopps in Milwaukee! What was most interesting on this trip was a large billboard located near a sidewalk that was titled "I wish I has the courage to..."  It was completely filled in and then some. I think "trying guacamole" took the cake. What do you think you might write there for the world to see? Something to think about after a nice bite of cheese. 

Cheestique in Del Ray

This is my last day of vacation. We went to England and France to visit friends. Last Wednesday I caught a miserable cold, and have been feeling lousy ever since. On top of that, I am still jet lagged and my head is in a fog. Neither my husband nor I like to travel, even under the best of circumstances. But both if us still feel like we are overseas, and needed to get our fill of cheese. So this afternoon we rode out to Del Ray, where there is a shop that carries Petit Basque - our favorite cheese that we discovered in France. We not only got that delightful light cheese, but he got something called Dragon Breath, and a Brie with mushrooms. Since the baguettes's were fresh from this morning, we got one of those too. When we came home we wondered what we should do for dinner this evening. We don't feel like going out...so what could be better than bread and cheese with a little soup? There is something very European about that. Maybe we liked the trip more than we thought. With each passing day as the inconveniences fade and I'm beginning to feel better, it was actually very nice.