There are many great things about having kids. Especially in the early stages of parenthood, it means you get to wake up/ be woken bright and early each and every day, early enough to greet the sun in summer or take a pre-dawn walk in winter (yeah, we really did that – out of compassion for our neighbours who probably wanted to sleep a little longer).
Later in the game parenthood gives you a free pass to indulge in stuff you’d otherwise have to pretend to be too grown-up or too sophisticated for. Thus I can devote an afternoon to making Halloween decorations even though I am probably supposed to resist the Americanization of our culture and have more important things to do. I do it with my son, you see, and it would be heartless, denying him a holiday that the other kids get to celebrate. Also, my desire to cut bats out of black paper directly correlates with the number of articles I should be writing, because they are due…soon.
Apart from playing with scissors, I also get to play with food. But here my willingness to indulge my offspring has its limits. Food can be funny, but it still has to taste good. And it still should not contain tons of food coloring and other dubious substances because that, to me, constitutes food that is truly scary.
This cheese log looks like something that’s been lying around and molding for some time. Which technically, it has, since in blue cheese, the blue part is mold. It’s easy enough to make, and good enough to serve on other occasions, too.
Petrified cheese
Adapted from Martha Stewart
180 g (6 ounces) blue cheese
180 g (6 ounces) softened cream cheese
black sesame seeds and/or poppy seed
crackers, for serving
In a medium bowl, mash the blue cheese with a fork. You can add 2 or 3 drops of blue food coloring, if desired to maximize the mouldy effect (I didn’t). Combine with the cream cheese.
Roll the mixture into a log, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, I left it overnight. Unwrap, and roll the log in the seed mixture. Serve with crackers.
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