This One’s For Carl

Does this blog thing still work? *poke* Hmmm.

My friend Carl sent me foil-packed Japanese snacky delicacies from Narita and the QBB Smoked Cheese (or should I say “Smoked” “Cheese”) has apparently reignited my blogging fires.  Or something.

Perfect for relaxation time

The foil packet contained five little Vienna sausage-sized-and-shaped “smoked cheese” bites. Ingredients are written in hiragana/kanji-only so who knows what’s in there but I tried the cheeses anyway and they’re not bad.  They taste just like the smoked cheese I remember my parents serving at dinner parties when I was a kid.  A bit peppery.  The packet says “Rich taste of QBB’s smoked cheese is perfect for your relaxation time.” I do feel relaxed! – probably more than I should given what I am ingesting. “Rich” may be a little overboard. Texture is a little softer than a candy corn, but not much.  I will probably not eat all five (safety first) but I do not anticipate regretting eating between one and four.  Although the over/under is 1.5…

I also will not eat or microwave the “oxygen absorber” packet that I guess was helping keep the cheese “fresh” — it says “DO NOT EAT DO NOT MICROWAVE” and you don’t need to tell me stuff like that twice.  The allcaps were unnecessary.

Several other QBB “cheese” products are reviewed on the Japanese Snack Reviews blog.  I’ll see what H Mart’s QBB selection is next time I’m there (surely soon).  I wonder* if the soon-to-open Wheaton Safeway (!!!) will carry OBB products?

* I do not wonder

Wheaton Cheese Chase

Not yet a reality, but it could happen. The Gloucestershire cheese chase has been cancelled for the first time in centuries due to overpopularity. The chase is inherently unsafe to begin with, and too many spectators makes it worse. But I think this would be a fine cultural and culinary event for Wheaton to pick up the slack. We could roll three rounds of Double Gloucester in the Metro, one per escalator; for extra challenge the escalators could be running up. Or we could stage the roll down Reedie, starting at Georgia and ending at Viers Mill.  Traffic could be temporarily diverted or not, depending on one’s goals for the event.

What could possibly go wrong?

Markets in Cheese

I am so so sad that I am only today, too late, discovering the existence of the National Cheese Exchange, which actually doesn’t exist anymore, having folded in 1997 as America’s regulated cheese trading moved into the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The NCE was incorporated as the Wisconsin Cheese Exchange in 1918 and changed name from Wisconsin to National in 1974. There is something evocative about the name “Cheese Exchange” that the CME can’t quite match. Just another sign of the decline of Western civilization. Get off my lawn…