I think I’ve mentioned that Slick has recently returned from No Man’s Land and is currently taking up residence at Casa de Jane & John. Awesome!
I first met Slick through Albany John. I believe it was after a day of drinking while watching rugby. And by drinking after a day of watching rugby, I mean that Albany John was actively watching the game, and I was actively drinking. God, I’m a good sport. But any way, they’ve been friends for what I’ve thought of as “forever”.
So now the Little Guy has returned to us and will be living with us for an indeterminate period of time. This works well since both Albany John and myself are pretty much incapable of cooking for only two people. And Ellsbells has been working like a madwoman, so it’s not like there’s anyone to foist all that food off on. (Foist? Uh, I mean, lovingly feed. Lurve Yew.)
Here’s a trio of goat cheeses I got from Trader Joe’s when we all went to Amherst, MA on Sunday. I took a pit stop in Hadley, MA. This was only $4.49 and all 3 are vacu-sealed. They are garlic and herb, plain, and four pepper goat cheeses.

I also have a fetish for Belletoile brie cheese, and Trader Joe’s sells it for insanely low prices. My arteries clog with happiness every time I eat it. Cheese is one of those foods that the mister and I just can never seem to finish in entirety. This was a lot of cheese for our house to purchase, and it has a tendency to go marginally uneaten, so cheese for dinner it was!
The three of us ate about half of the Belletoile, the garlic and herb goat cheese (on the right in the pic above), and the peppered goat cheese (on the left) along with some crusty bread I’d made earlier in the night. I liked them all – the Belletoile was buttery and delicious (I’m getting OK with eating the rind, too!), and the goat cheeses were creamy with a bit of a tang. The garlic was really garlicky, and the pepper was moderately spicy for me. I slathered brie on it though, which made it deliciously fatty, ergo, palatable.
All that’s missing was wine, but the boys (Albany John and the Little Guy) had just come home from playing disc golf and were working on some beers before opening the wine. I’ve been really spacey this week, so I’ve been opting to not drink for the past couple of days. I can’t tell if it’s because I’ve been using old contacts, not sleeping enough, or some kind of inner-ear/water problem from swimming, although I am leaning more on the last one. Albany John also theorizes it might be some kind of iron deficiency. See? Spacey.

Also, to toss a veggie in the mix, I peeled and mandolined some beets from my CSA that have been kicking around in the fridge since last week. We had 3 small golden beets and several more tiny red beets. I nicked off a bit of my nail when slicing them, which to me says “This is a good reason to keep your nails long-ish”. Shh, don’t tell Albany John. He hates my knife/cutting skeelz.
Albany John walked in after I cut up the yellow beets and went “What the FUCK are those?!” and it took some convincing to have him believe these were indeed beets. And then more convincing that one could eat beets raw. But the thin crisp slices of beets went really well with the rich cheeses and bread. Lightly sweet, but not bitter, they were very complementary.