Every couple of months, my family holds the equivalent of a black tie event at our home. We call it the Fancy Cheese Party.
Fancy cheese has felt like a bougie luxury throughout most of my life — a treat for the monied elite. It felt like they got the brie, while we got the neon yellow processed cheese singles in individual wrappers.
For me, it was that way until college, when I tried my first fancy cheese, a tangy goat cheese, at a function. I learned a lot of stuff in college, but mainly I learned that fancy cheese can be, and should be, for everyone.
Our Fancy Cheese Party helps my wife, Jessica, and I teach our 8-year-old daughter, Maria, that we, the non-rich, deserve to have nice things, too, while eating delicious cheeses. It’s a win/win.
Here’s what we do. On payday, or really close to it, my daughter and I head to the Kroger or Meijer to pick a few cheeses and a couple of sparkling grape juice bottles.
Once home, we set the Fancy Cheese Party mood with a little night music, usually classical. I grew up watching Looney Tunes, so my love of classical music is real and deeply ingrained.
After the mood is set, my wife and I serve the cheeses on a cutting board with water crackers and apples. We then taste the cheeses individually and talk about whether we liked the cheeses and what they made us feel. We try to get different ones every time to expand our cheese knowledge.
We all deserve nice things. Maybe you should try your own Fancy Cheese Party.
Enrique Saenz has been a parent for 8 years, but he’s still trying to figure it out. You can reach him at enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org.
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