Cheese Plate

I don't think I watch that much TV - but it sure does make ironing and folding laundry less boring, so I DVR my favorite shows and watch them after everyone is in bed.

Last week I was watching "Top Chef Master's" when they had the chefs prepare a picnic lunch for Diner en Blanc (I'm on the waiting list.) Anyway, the founder's son was commenting on one of the meals and that it was too sweet. He said in France a cheese course would have been served instead of the dessert to cut the sweetness

The next day I was grocery shopping in Fairway and passed by their impressive cheese section and had a thought - my kids love cheese. One night when on vacation in Bar Harbor we'd ordered a cheese plate and the kids tried all of them. Rick and I often order a cheese plate when we eat out instead of dessert. What better way to continue my children's food education in a way they would enjoy than by incorporating cheese plates into our meals?

I decided we will have a cheese plate with dinner each Sunday. I'll choose 3 cheeses each week. One I am sure they will enjoy, one they will probably enjoy and one that might be a reach - a new experience for them.

This Sunday was our first attempt. I'd purchased the cheese on Thursday and told them about my plan, and showed them the cheese - but told them they WERE NOT allowed to try the cheese until Sunday. The anticipation near killed them and just as I had hoped, they were very excited to try it by the time we got to dinner on Sunday.

For our first attempt I chose Smoked Gouda with bacon as their "for sure", a washed rind sheep's cheese as the "probably" and a stronger English Whiskey Cheddar as the "stretch". I also served cashews, crackers and red pepper jelly. I meant to stop to get some green grapes on our way home on Saturday but had forgotten, so we skipped grapes this time. They inhaled the smoked Gouda and sheep's cheese. Jacob and Jane tried the cheddar but thought it was a bit strong - Emily loved it. It goes without saying that Rick and I loved them all.

 An eating success for our family :)

I need to buy a nice wooden cheese board but for now this platter worked well. I think I'll also print up a little card each week with an explanation of the cheese (it's right on the wrapping, I can just copy it over), which will make it feel more special and teach us about the cheese. I also thought I'd like to see if I an get a book from the library on cheese and learn more myself. Maybe also learn how to properly put together a cheese plate.

Eating "French"

We met our new neighbors a few months ago and they are lovely. The Mother is French, the Dad was born in Australia but raised in Ireland (with Irish parents). They have 3 kids just younger than my three - who are very polite and well behaved and speak French. I am completely enamoured with listening to children speak French, I could listen to them all day.

They were a few months behind us in building their house and planned to move in in July. I had already been thinking about my children's lack of general manners and planned "The Summer of Manners" for us but knowing we would soon have such delightful children across from us made me really determined to get on it.

Then I saw Karen Le Billon's new book on Lindsey's blog. I had just promised Rick I'd stop spending money so I stopped by the library to see if they had it. The didn't but said they could order it for me. You buy it instead of me? OK!

I couldn't wait for it to arrive and devoured it like a racy novel when it did (OK, I don't actually read racy novels but you get the picture.)

I have often, half jokingly, said that our girls are picky because they are not hungry enough! I come from a family of 8 kids. If you didn't want to eat it - someone else would! I love these food rules. They just seem to make good sense.

Although I think we mostly already ate according to a lot of these rules the one thing we were terrible about is snacking. My kids snack all the time and because I usually give them very healthy snacks, I let them. I've also been trying REALLY hard not to eat in the car. We've also started (gently) insisting that they try anything that is put in front of them. Just one bite.

I already tried really hard to vary our menu and include new things but I am being even more diligent about that now.

One happy change is that we have started having warm baguette with chocolate tucked inside it as a snack once a week - they LOVE that part!

 Lest you think it has all gone smoothly - here is Jane, crying because we told her she had to try a bite of the tomato in her stuffed chicken breast before she had dessert. (She eventually did, with little to no pressure from us.)

Overall, I am thrilled with the improvements my kids have made. They have been trying a wider variety of food and we have been taking them to real restaurants - one's without a kids menu :)

It's a process I think we'll be working on  ... well, forever but we are on our way.

Gelato

We have a total weakness for ice cream in this family. One of our favorite things about our new town is the Gelato place less than a mile from our house, where we are frequent visitors! Our favorite summer treat is to head into town and sit in the little garden a couple of doors down and enjoy a cup of Gelato together. It's run by an Italian woman and very authentic. Actually, I think it's better than any of the Gelato we had in Italy and the servrs there are always happy and friendly.

When we can't go to enjoy the Gelato in town, I have been trying the new Telenti Gelato. So good and just a few ingredients - all of which are recognizable. My absolute favorite is the sea salt caramel (excuse me while I die & go to heaven!)

We've also tried Roman Raspberry, Blood Orange, Tahitian Vanilla Bean, Sicilian Pistachio, Belgium Milk Chocolate (shouldn't that be Belgian?), Chocolate peanut Butter Cup and Black Raspberry.

Wow, that's a lot of Gelato. I figure dividing a pint 5 ways isn't too bad.

We use our very small bowls and it's a lovely way to finish off a summer meal.

Definitely worth a try if you see these in your local grocery store!