Once I start I can't stop.
There's excuses everywhere and the knee jerk reaction every time is: to eat. The news gets on my nerves so I finish the sweets in one bag. Then I find my Twitter feed full of incomprehensible nonsense and I polish off the chocolate caramel bits.
The offspring sends a message telling me she's coming home because of an expiring visa. The thought of her having to travel gets me eating in front of the fridge with the door open and obviously it's not the chicken stock I'm after.
For two whole days I graze my way through cupboards and pantry until there's nothing left that I can just pick up or open and eat.
There's still sugar, flour and butter I could make a batch of shortbread and caramel.
The ingredients on the counter are ready to be transformed. I realize the deciding factor in all of this is going to be the dishes. I don't want to do them.
Phew, that really was a close call. I've been known to sit down and eat caramel out of the pan and not stop until it's all gone, add ice-cream and -
The offspring arrives in a flurry of excitement:
"As we drove up there was this massive fox ambling by. Broad daylight and all. Look, I have him on video...!"
The sinkhole inside of me screaming for more is gone. No more gaping abyss.
The dishes get done. I soak chickpeas and cook up a batch of red lentils with carrots for soup, the sourdough gets fed.
We sit out back and I watch her eat the hummus and naan I made especially for her and one of the things she's missed most: cheese.
I know it's all the rage to be into farmhouse cheeses and man, if I'd have the money we'd have cheeseboards every day for the duration of her stay. However we agree that Lidl's 'Rathdaragh Irish Extra Mature Red Cheddar' is the bomb if you like cheese but you don't have a lot to spend. In fact when we were all still travelling I used to bring blocks of it to my friends in Amsterdam.
At first they laughed, sure Holland and cheese. They produce one of my all time favourite cheeses: Old Amsterdammer. And then there's all the other hard cheeses from rich to lean, young and creamy to creamy and sharp or old, blow your socks off crumbly varieties with cumin, nettles or walnuts of the cow and the sheep varieties. Some from the islands, some from the North others from the East.
But then as we serve the cheddar thinly sliced on fresh brown bread with unsalted butter you can see their pupils widen and the smirks drop.
"That's really good!"
"Don't I know it."
It's not surprising to me that they won top spot in both 2016 and 2017 at the Irish Quality Food Awards.
And you know what the price is even better: €2.05 for 400 grams. At that very reasonable price you get a crumbly, strong cheese that makes all savoury dishes that are better with cheese even better.
I do have a word of warning, do not confuse this cheese with any of the other Mature Cheddar Cheeses of the same range. The Extra Mature Cheddar doesn't come in a white version and both the Mature White and Red Cheddar don't come even close to the 'Extra Mature Red Cheddar'.
Although the cheese is said to be available in Europe under the' Milbona' and in the UK under the 'Valley Spire' brand it seems to have a limited distribution for I've never been able to locate any of it outside of the Republic.
It's really nice to have the offspring home and even better to have her asking for dishes and a little more cheese on the naan.
"Sure beautiful child."
"Can you slice it really thin?"
"Of course," I say. It's all good so. I'm back to cooking again.
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| The best cheap and cheerful mature cheddar |
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