Sometimes, Less is More

It's true. There are times when I think that maybe I go overboard in my food accessories. It's Artisan Cheese month at my favorite fancy-pants high end market, but god help my checkbook if a Whole Foods ever opens up here in Tacoma. I would somehow create a tent camoflaged as a giant bag of wheat flour -- because most people who shop there now are gluten-free - and live in the prepared foods aisle, only showing myself at night when I roll out of my bag to grab another tub of spinach dip, made with parmesan cheese and the captured giggles of pinenut fairies.

Okay, stop. This post is about not going overboard. It's about enjoying the simplicity of a dish; on occasion, that's not a bad thing. Yesterday, I prepared some yummy appetizers for Mr. Mustard on his return from rehearsal, including a delicious artisan cheese (mentioned above, before I started rambling on) called "Beecher's Flagship." I placed gluten-packed crackers on a plate, with a bowl of roasted tomatoes on the side. Then I opened the fridge and started pulling out some possible good accompaniments to the cheese: Marionberry Chipotle jam, Balsamic gel, and truffle paste. I then worked my way through all of the various pastes, slathering them onto the cheese and each time, I was disappointed. The cheese was strong and flavorful enough on its own. My condiments tasted as bitter as my hubris.

Here's the perfect sequence of bites:

1. A bite of cheese.
2. Sip of lovely Spanish wine.
3. Roast tomato on gluten-packed cracker.
4. Sip of wine.
5. Sip of wine.
6. Cheese.
7. Wine.

And on and on and on.

Of course, at this point, we could always make a case for the wine being a condiment for the cheese, but that's sort of a chicken/egg argument. Is the cheese a condiment for the wine? Or are they just as they are, and there's no labels man, just two foods that compliment each other perfectly.

Condiment Grrl