Fourme D'Ambert, by Joy Manning

Photo credit: Joy Manning

One of my favorite things to eat, aside from blue cheese? Oysters. That’s how I got to know Joy Manning of the blog, The Oyster Evangelist. She writes in this week for the Blue Cheese Invitational:

I have a terrible affliction for someone as crazy about cheese as I

am. Let's call it cheese amnesia. For whatever reason, no matter how

many times I buy, order, eat and enjoy my favorite blue cheese, it's

almost instantly erased from my memory. At Whole Foods, in

restaurants, and at cheese shops it happens over and over. I see a

half moon of blue cheese that strikes my fancy, looking just the right

amount veined and likely to become perfectly creamy and spreadable if

left at room temperature. And I say to my husband, "Let's try this

one. This one looks great."

And he rolls his eyes at me, shows me the identical one he already has

in his basket and says, "Oh my god, Joy, you've had that a million

times! It's your favorite blue!"

And then when I spread it over a toasted slice of baguette, maybe with

a drizzle of honey over top, I rave about its sweet creaminess, its

understated mushroomy funk. If cheeses were people, this blue wouldn't

be a hipster. As one of France's oldest cheeses, she's self assured and

dignified--never desperate of trying too hard. She would die of

mortification if anyone described her as "racy." But she is the

laid-back love of my blue cheese life.

But no matter how many times I forget how much I relish it, the wildly

available fourme d'ambert remains my favorite blue--for snacking and

for cooking. Sure, other cheeses often catch my eye and I am prone to

stray. But I will come back again and again.       --Joy Manning

Happy Monday, everybody! I’ve got more bloggers on blue cheese, later this week.  And if you’d like to submit a post – yes, you – there are still two weeks left. March, she is a long month.