Loosely staying on the subject, or loosely getting off it, take your pick.


I know I've complained before about my in-laws unadventurousness with
food before. My mother-in-law serves perfectly good food but with
little variety. My sister-in-law gets a perfectly good diet but is
downright picky; there's so little she'll eat. She'll eat an apple but
not a raspberry. She'll eat broccoli but never touch a mushroom. I may
have found a chink in my sister-in-law's armor: cheese. She might be
adventurous with cheese.


My mother-in-law, for the 20 years I've known her, has bought big blocks
of grocery store Cheddar cheese. That's not artisanly made, but real
cheese, if it is from a giant dairy factory. She uses this for
everything, mostly cheese sandwiches at lunch.


There were more visitors than usual this trip. Jim and I found a
wonderful cheese shop. While I don't remember the specifics, we bought
some Parrano, a Canadian blue cheese, an 8 year aged cheddar, a fresh
chevre, an aged goat cheese, a Brie de Mieux, and 2 others. In other
words, we understood that some of the elderly relatives would like
something milder, but we got a fair share of cheeses with robust flavor
too. We got a nice mix to make a cheese platter.


My mother-in-law stuck with her cheddar. It's been good enough for 86
years; there's no reason to try anything new fangled now. That didn't
surprise me. I was astonished, however, that my sister-in-law went for
the Brie de Mieux. I thought it would have way too much flavor for her.
Later I noticed her going for the blue that a cousin affectionately
called stinky. I wouldn't embarrass her by making a big deal of it, but
I wanted to stare and say "You? Eating good cheese? Cheese that has
taste?"


I smiled to myself and didn't say a word.


--Lia