FOR THE LOVE OF CHEESE.

If I had to pick one thing that I could not live without, it would be cheese.  I love cheese.  I mean I really, really love it. All you cheese crazed fanatics out there know what I'm talking about.  The smell, the texture, the ooey gooey melting properties.  If there is a heaven, it must be full of cheese.  And I don't discriminate either - young, old, stinky, tough exteriors, I will take them and find them a good home on a cracker, sandwich, pasta, or just enjoy them naked and delicious. 

My point is, we could all use a bit more cheese in our life, right? Well, how about a variety of fresh artisanal cheese delivered right to your door?  I'm talking about the Cheese Gourmand, and their amazing 'Cheese to your door!' service that I recently had the pleasure of experiencing.  This company is an artisanal cheese caterer, that definitely shares my passion.  What's even better, is that they are situated right in my neighbourhood, so when they expanded their catering business to include a new cheese tasting delivery in the Leslieville/Riverside area, I couldn't resist. 

From a selection of five cheeses, I was asked to choose the three that looked the tastiest, to be delivered to my door.  Full written descriptions about the origins of the cheese, its flavours, and its age, accompanied by pictures were provided to help me decide.  I choose the first three on the list.  The 14 Arpents promised a creamy, flavourful cheese made from a brown Swiss cow in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean.  The Compton Peppercorn Raclette, had been ripened for a minimum of 90 days and featured a subtly fruity aroma of butter crab apples.  Finally, the Rassembleu was described as tasting of fresh mushroom and caramel and was also made with organic cow's milk.  A few clicks through PayPal, and I was left excitedly waiting for my delivery date, which was planned for two days later.

Sure enough, on Friday afternoon I was presented with my box of cheese.  Happily unwrapping it, I found three solid chunks of labelled cheese, a piece of quality stock paper reminding me of my choices and their descriptions, as well as a small pack of melba toast crackers.  There was about 3/4 of a pound of cheese in total, and it's meant to feed 2-6 people.  Since we had neither anyone coming over that night to join us, or a meal planned for ourselves, Matt and I decided to go with the '2 person serving size'.  In case I'm not being clear, that means we made a lovely presentation for ourselves on a wooden board with our fancy cheese knives, and then promptly sat down with a bottle of wine to eat all of the cheese.  It was delicious.  We did as the Cheese Gourmand had instructed us, and patiently waited for it to come to room temperature before digging in.  But once we dug in, that cheese was done for.  Soft and full of flavour, the cheeses were all excellent in both taste and texture. 

I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty fantastic way to spend a Friday evening.  And at $17.50 for the box and delivery, I would also say it's a deal.  I will definitely be checking out www.thecheesegourmand.ca regularly now so that I don't miss the next 'Cheese to your door!'.