"You eat a lot of dairy."

A balanced diet of yogurt, cheese and sour cream.

The latest trend with me and a small group of friends have been posting pictures of our grocery shopping trip. I’m not sure why this is so oddly fascinating to people… But then again, I find myself equally fascinated by it when other people post the results of their shopping trips. So, because I’d hate to deny y’all my latest shopping trip, you can see it to the left.

It was a pretty purposeful trip, since I’m thinking about moving out of my current apartment. As a result, I’m trying to mostly contain my buying to smaller items (yogurt), items to facilitate the emptying of my fridge and cupboards (chips for salsa, cheese for crackers), and drinks (iced tea mix, diet soda).

Yes, the shadow is me.

The only “splurging” I did was on some Havarti cheese, which I haven’t dipped into yet. However, even that was on sale at $6.99 a pound – that tends to be the entry point for non-Cabot / Cracker Barrel / store brand packaged cheese.

Obviously, I will provide the full review via Steve on Cheese when the time comes. I will say that some Gouda I bought the other week was disappointing, and I eventually just melted it down and used it to top my pasta with. Here’s hoping the Havarti fares a little bit better.

Steve on Cheese: Brie and Cabot Cheddar Chipotle

I must admit that I have bad luck when it comes to late night cravings. I typically work late night shifts at my actual job as a reporter, and by the the time I'm off the clock, it is often past 9 p.m. As a result, the options for food are scandalously low and I end up eating a lot of fast food, unfortunately - Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's are the only places serving hot food that are open.

But! They just finished opening a new Stop and Shop in Westerly. As a result, there is now a new, classier option available to me: fine cheeses. Well, OK - I'm not sure how fine the cheeses I'm trying are. But, I figure it is better to experiment and taste them with some crackers following work, as opposed to eating so much junk like burgers and fries. Therefore, I welcome you to the latest feature of this blog, Steve On Cheese.

Cabot Cheddar Chipotle. I don't think Cabot cheese is anything special, since it looks to be mass produced, and there were several varieties available at Stop and Shop. However, I wanted something relatively conventional for my first try on Wednesday night, something I knew I would like regardless of how the second cheese tasted.

This cheese did not disappoint. While the cheddar was clearly there - nice and sharp - the chipotle wasn't overpowering, which I appreciated. Given that there was also a haberno variety, I figured that the chipotle wouldn't be too overwhelming for my heat-sensitive taste buds.

Brie, President-brand. Again, I kept it pretty basic for this first time out, sticking with a well-known brand of a classic cheese. I've had this before, and to me, as a stinky American, the oddest part has to be that rind! It is so white and freakishly hard, to the point where the President label stuck against it from how the cheese was packaged. I had to peel it off.

The cheese itself was pretty solid. I like the contrast that the hard rind gives to the essentially creamy softness of the brie itself. This became a problem after a couple minutes though - As the cheese became room temperature, as well as the knife I used, it got almost spread-like. Next time, I should try refrigerating the cheese or the knife, or both, beforehand.

Anyway, that's it for now. Have any cheese recommendations for me? Let me know, and I'll see what I can do for next time.

The picture of the Cabot Cheddar Chipotle is from their web site, where you can order their cheese, apparently, for $3.49 per eight-ounce bar. The picture of the Brie is from this forum, who discuss eating the rind vs. not eating the rind.