Dear cheese,

Why must you be so expensive? I long to melt you down and stick bread on sticks and dip and eat, but you are so pricey. The yummiest recipes call for Gruyere and blue and gorgonzola, and especially the Gruyere makes me just cringe at the price tag. Even at costco, land of bargains, you remain $10.49 for 8 ounces. Why oh why?

Gruyere, I know you are merely fancy swiss cheese. Why the hate? Why the lack of love? Why can't you lower yourself down to Cheddar's level and make yourself a bit more middle-class?

Love,

J&B

PS: In case you can't tell, we went to Costco this weekend. Half an hour later after yelling out types and amounts and prices, we had all of Costco's cheeses on a notepad. Some fondue recipes were crushed (due to price), some were elevated. We tried a cheddar beer recipe last night, and that one is likely going on the list as a possibility for yes. Our friend's recipe which involves Gruyere and other expensive cheeses: Likely off. :( Sadness.

FUN weekend!

Sucky Saturday aside, what a FUN weekend!

Friday evening: Jenn came over and learned how to make lanterns. I think she's now addicted. We cut out so many circles (you need 20 circles per lantern), and she made a bunch of lanterns! She likes all of the ideas, which is so comforting you know? I think it's pretty easy to get side-tracked and lose track of if everything goes together.

We also tried out one fondue recipe... she liked it, and it wasn't bad.... but the cheese didn't do what we wanted to It was good, but all the solid cheese bits somehow became tasteless (after an hour or two) and migrated to the bottom of the pot. This left cheese-flavored cream at the top (which wasn't bad), but the overall impact wasn't too positive after about hour 2. I'm not sure what caused it. I'm liking more and more Erin's idea about using the Campbell's cheddar soup instead of cheddar cheese. I wouldn't have the problem with the grated cheese bits, right? So maybe cheddar soup, blue/gorgonzola, wine, cider, salt/pepper, and some sort of swiss-type cheese. I know gueyere (spelling?) cheese is often recommended for fondue, but I think it's expensive. I think we may have to scout out Costco...

Saturday: Besides the sucky morning... B had to go to a conference during the day. So I cut cut cut circles and more circles. And then folded more circles. I took photos, will post later today.

Sunday: We changed from red to orange and repeated Saturday. Thing is, on Saturday I was able to actually construct a bunch of lanterns, whereas on Sunday, we just prepared the circles (cut, fold, separate) for construction. I also did the first parts on the placemats: cut fabric, ironed, spray glued onto backing, and tucked in sides. My goal was to set up one complete placemat before B had to leave this morning, that way he could tweak and change what he didn't like. I like having his input, and it feels a lot better to work on a project that he likes and agrees with rather than me just being bull-headed, my-way-only girl. I took photos of the process, but I'll post those later today when I have the entire process photographed (missing 3 steps right now).

Today: My goal for today (besides work) is to photograph the remaining steps of the placemats. Then, it's wedding stuff aside because I have to work on a couple of presents for people.

The apartment is clean & GUAVAS! & fondue!

And it feels good. Well.... I should elaborate: 2/3 of it is clean. The bedroom is more of a laundry-keeper than a bedroom at this point, and the office is FULL of boxes and wedding stuff. Laundry: this weekend. I need to sort, but I figure that will be done out in the living room where there's more space (and not bed for socks to flee under). Office: this weekend. I'm going to go to Home Depot and get a bunch of boxes. I want relatively uniform boxes so I can stack them with little effort and they won't fall over, and Home Depot offers those kind. I plan on plastering them with labels so I don't have to paw through all of them every time I'm needing something.

But seriously, cat fur. Why does my vacuum not want to pick it up? I mean, it gets SOME of it, but I still know the carpet has lots there.

Rumpole has forgiven me for yelling at him (though I think he learned his lesson). I woke up this morning nose to nose with him as he purred up a storm.

Tonight is end of the week fun with Jenn-- FINALLY! She's coming over (and giving me a ride home, bless her) to get all craftified, eat delicious broiled sandwiches, and try my guavatinis. Ok, they're not true martinis because there's no gin, but still, delightfully yummy. Guava juice (try it; it's delicious), sparkling water or lemon soda, and vanilla vodka. Oh.so.good. We decided to get all splurgified tonight, so poor B is going to come home to girlie fest 2009. We may even rent that Chihuahua movie. Luckily, though B is quite manly, he is a great helper, so I think he'll take part rather than scoff and retreat to the laundry-filled bedroom. But SO much fun; I cannot wait.

I had hoped to try out a few fondue recipes tonight to figure out which one(s) we'll have at the reception, but dang all the recipes are full of expensive cheese. Um, hello, can I please have a recipe that calls for like plain cheddar and wine? Ugh. I would feel all guiltified if I spent $50 on a pot of fondue. Grumble. I'll keep searching, but for now the plan-stan is to have fantastic broiled sandwiches. We'll see if fondue gets added to the list...

Nom nom nom...

I have been SO good all week long. SO GOOD! I think I will be careful tonight and not overdo it, but I will also have a little fun. I'm not going all diet nutto, but I have lost a few lbs, and I am quite happy.