chipotle | It's the cheese. Really.

The Slow Food site reminded me of something I'd come across years ago and been intending to try--Dry Jack cheese, a variant on Monterey Jack that's closer in consistency to good Parmesan, although richer and not quite as hard. So last night I made a quick jaunt by Lunardi's, and sure enough, they had some Vella Dry Jack. (About the only other company making it is Sonoma Jack, and while some of their cheese have national distribution, that doesn't seem to be one of them.)

And you know, it's a pretty damn good cheese. I don't know if it's instantly become my favorite, but it's already vying for it.

Last night I wasn't too hungry around dinnertime, so I just had some of the cheese along with white nectarines and figs (both fresh, and far as I could tell locally grown). I learned I don't like figs. But the cheese made up for that mistake.