Dreamy Comte' Cheese Dreams

We are still being fed by the contents of our CARE package received from Wenirs and Ray well before Easter. One of the last remnants was a nice block of Comte' cheese that I squirreled away and almost forgot until this week when My Beloved was away on a business trip and I was looking for something easy for dinner.

Scrounging around in the fridge, I found bread to toast, the Comte' and some of that easy bacon to make Cheese Dreams.

I know I've told you about Cheese Dreams before but these were truly something special. Comte' is a kind of Gruyere but my block was aged, so it was harder than Gruyere, had no holes, and was imbued with tiny crystals of a crispy, salty substance that gave the cheese a wonderful, unexpected feel as well as a nutty, almost musky flavor. In short, it was really delicious and you should run right out to your local cheese emporium and treat yourself to some! Great nibbling cheese, it also melted beautifully and sang a pretty French song with the bacon bits on toast.

Eternity

Dorothy Parker defined eternity as "A ham and two people." She was mostly right. However, at the Marin farmer's market this week I found Range Brothers Applewood Smoked Maple Ham, conveniently small and really tasty. We've been using it in all kinds of dishes.

Lunch after the market run was a new version of Cheese Dreams, toasted English muffins topped with ham and melted cheese smoked Gouda cheese.

For dinner, a tasty new version of "Ham and Swiss," coarsely chopped red Swiss chard sauteed lightly in the rendered fat from the maple ham "lardons."

Breakfast included fresh Marin Sun Farms eggs scrambled with more of the lardons.

At this rate, we'll need a new definition of eternity - it's going to be here 'way too soon.