Cheese.
As part of my Tightening the Belt in 2026 I have cancelled my cheese box. It pains me, but unfortunately $100/mo for a few blocks of cheese was not a justifiable expense. Thankfully I have found the cheese aisle and can still post about cheese without spending as much. I think the breaking point was when I went to the store and I found something I had gotten in the box. If even my shitty grocery stores have the same cheese, what is the point?
In order of appearance, left to right: Merlot Bellavitano, Marbled Goat Pesto, Fromager d'Affinois, and Humboldt Fog.
Yes, these are real pictures. I don't have an AI supercomputer capable of generating 8K images. The Kiwi Farms verification coin is present and I'll post a video on stream of me eating one of the cookies again. People don't like to imagine a neighba eating this good.
Merlot Bellavitano
The rind is purple because it's soaked in wine. Surprisingly, you can taste the wine. This is an American cheese and it has a distinct Parmesan taste to it. It's a sharp taste but it's buttery with only a slight crunch from the protein crystals.
Marled Goat Pesto
Really incredible. I think one thing the box strayed away from was 'flavored' cheese, because it's kind of cheating. If you take a block of cheese and cover it in Dorito crumbles or something it's going to taste really good because Doritos are really good. Incidentally, pesto is one of my favorite things, and some of you may remember that during Covid I told Dick Masterson on his podcast I had resorted to eating nothing but bread dipped in olive oil and pesto. All the restaurants were closed and I had not figured out how to feed myself yet. I don't recommend this.
What I'm trying to say is: this is really good, and it's hard for me to say if it's just because I love pesto so much or if it's because the cheese itself is good. I think the cheese is good. It's a California goat cheese and I've become partial to goat cheese over time.
Fromager d'Affinois
It's unfortunate that this cheese is next to the pesto cheese because it encapsulates what I mean by the flavored cheese cheating. This is super high quality, extra creamy, and it has a really good nutty aftertaste that is honestly more pleasant than the main flavor. Really good. Made in France.
Humboldt Fog
Usually I am a blue cheese kind of guy. There's one I get at the store that's super moldy, super blue, and very tasty. However, if I go overboard and eat too much of it, I get a soap taste that I could compare to cilantro. That's only if I eat too much; there's some sort of chemical burn that comes from the mold. However, this honestly had the soap taste and nothing else - but only in the middle. The outer quarter of the cheese is basically an entirely different cheese. It's not solid, it's very soft and creamy with no soap taste. It's unfortunate that I don't get much from the blue because that kind of texture and combo would be really nice.
At this point I'm basically just doing cheese reviews to show off the nice pictures. They're very nice, aren't they chat? Check out that composition, the plate setting, the tasteful art decor, the table runner... Your cheese pictures would look like shit next to mine.
Happy Valentine's Day! See you tomorrow for a very romantic Friday the 13th stream.
