I was at a restaurant this evening on a cool, late Autumnal evening. Winter is pressing in on our coastal town and soon we will dip to our coolest part of the year. With much thanks, our winter is very mild and short. Our coldest nights will rarely frost and the coolest portion of our year will only last through December and January. We will return to our patio dining by the end of February. During this short period of cool I enjoy soup and so I ordered the soup du jour at our favorite bistro.
As I enjoyed the tomato bisque soup, which was served with a packet of stale oyster crackers, it occurred to me that this would be a wonderful bowl of soup with a really good cracker. Tomato soup is a no-brainer, which I make often, so I decided, whilst still fresh of mind, to go home and create a cracker that would be a perfect compliment to a perennial mainstay. [...]
One weekend we went on a drive that took us through Santa Margarita, and a stop at a country store. On the counter was an enormous block of cheddar cheese, right there in the room in front of God and the rest of us, perched on a wooden chopping block, covered in mold, and unrefrigerated; I about passed out when Grandma Billie asked the butcher for a half-pound slice of it to include in our lunch by the lake.
Grandma explained that mold was an important part of making cheese; that this cheese would have more flavor because it was at room temperature and covered in mold. I don’t know about all that, but the cheese was wonderful and I was “hooked on cheese”. [...]
Wonderful crackers are a must for entertaining or simply to use with a cheese board. There are lots of quality crackers on the market but I like to take a few extra minutes to make my own. Crackers are very easy to make and have a rustic, home-made look to them. Whenever I serve crackers I have created they are a hit and people are usually a bit surprised I made them. Not sure why, it’s easier than baking a cake!
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