Try Anything at Least Once...

I've got to love La Suegra sometimes...she tries so hard to make me feel at home that its sometimes a little funny.  She will come home from doing groceries with a huge smile on her face and in a singsong voice will tell me, "I bought you something!!!"

"Oh no," is the first thought that crosses my mind and then I usually smile when I see the treat.  I've made it my mission to find Spanish staples on my shopping trips and she's just helping me out.  The other day she came home with 8 cans of Goya juices ranging from Guanabana to Mango, a block of guava marmalade and frozen empanadas.  She's done good by me!

Sometime last year, we went to a potluck party and I wanted to show these Americanos what I considered one of the best appetizers on this Earth. I found some Mahon cheese at Sam's Club and I had a block of guava paste that mom had sent me in a care package. I wouldn't say that it was a hit, but I sure as heck enjoyed eating the leftovers for the following week -- I can even recall Mi Gringito and I making a meal of it one day when I told him that we needed to eat it before it went bad.

Mmmm...

La Suegra came home sometime last week and warbled, "I got something for you!" and I saw this huge block of cheese. Just by looking at it, I knew that it was either Manchego or Mahon (the rind gave it away) and I smiled.  Happy, but not.  I'm trying to avoid any and all temptations and that, my friends is a HUGE temptation! You're talking to the person that as a child would sneak into Abuela's fridge and take a bite out of whatever cheese was in there. Abuela would announce that there must be un ratoncito on the loose and I would giggle in a corner thinking I was the sneakiest thing this side of James Bond...but I digress.

So this hunk of cheese has been sitting in my fridge for a week now and I hear it calling to me sometimes at night.

"D...eat me! You know you want to! I'm so yummy!"

I finally gave in on Wednesday and pulled it out of the fridge when I was hit with the munchies. Now, I'm a weirdo in the sense that I will not eat any type of dairy without inspecting it thoroughly (expiration date, smell, look, ingredients) -- If I don't know how long its been there or what's in it, there's no way its going in my mouth. For some odd reason, I didn't do this with this particular hunk of cheese.  Maybe it was because I knew when it was brought home and I was the one who put it away, but whatever the case, I just grabbed it and cut into it. I stuck a huge morsel of it in my mouth and instantly said, "WOW!" as well as, "This is NOT Manchego nor Mahon!"

I grabbed the cheese and peered at the label as I popped another chunk in my mouth (readers, this stuff was DELICIOUS!) and saw that it was called Iberico. Ingredients: Cow, goat and sheep's milk.

Thinking back on it now, had I read the label first, I might not have been so keen to taste this cheese.  I'm glad I had a lapse in weirdness and gave it a go.  It's a sharp cheese, but its creamy with almost a buttery taste...After about two or three more morsels, I went back in the fridge and grabbed the guava paste and paired it with the cheese.  OH WOW! Party in my mouth!

I think I now have a new favorite, but I also know I need to eat this delicacy in moderation.  A 1oz serving  is about 120cal and 10g of fat. Who in their right mind would only eat 1oz of this yumminess??

Moo!

So my readers, what I want you to gather from this is to be open to new things.  Maybe something you've said you would never eat might be pretty darn good.  Give it a shot!

Hasta la proxima! Un beso!