4.75 Pounds Of Cheese

I took a field trip to the absolutely freezing cold state of Vermont this weekend (how can people live there this time of year? NYC can be rough in the wind, but this was nuts!). Returned last night carrying this large pile of cheese in my backpack, along with a giant-yet-beautiful loaf of bread, a 1969 creole cookbook, and a few other sundry items.

We set out to see my friend Nancy Johnston and her cohort Carl Danielsen in Vermont Stage Company's fabulous production of Souvenir, and while we were there I managed to partake in a few of the state's famous offerings... A salad with local goat cheese at Leunig's Bistro in Burlington, maple syrup, and some sharp Cabot cheddar (which made kicking back after Saturday night's show all the more enjoyable).

The pile of dairy pictured above is from Vermont Cheese Traders, which is a great little store in Burlington sporting some cheeeeeap cheese, among a lot of other things. Obviously, what I picked up is not all of Vermont origin (and I'm not going to eat all 4.75 pounds), but I couldn't pass up the inexpensive Pecorino Romano, Argentine Parmesan and Fromager d'Affinois. Vermont-wise, they sold loose bits of Cabot cheese for insanely low prices, so I picked up almost a pound each of Extra Sharp, Horseradish, and Chipotle.

Let's just say, the Horseradish makes for good grilled cheese, and I will be eating many of those sandwiches for the next couple of weeks. And then I will turn into a giant wheel of cheese, just in time for spring...