All in a Name

 This isn't exactly writing related except that it is about words.

 It all started years ago when I saw the listings of cheeses on a cheese plate.  One of them was called Humboldt Fog.  The name captured my imagination but when I saw that it was goat cheese I thought  I wouldn't like it.  Even so the label with the cypress tree logo stuck in my mind.

When I thought of goat cheese, I thought of feta and while I like it in Greek salad, I couldn't really envision it by itself.

Time passed and I discovered that I liked the cheese that came with beets at a restaurant we go to a lot.  They called it goat cheese, but somehow I kept thinking it was feta cheese that was particularly good. It was more like background noise in my mind than anything else.  .

Then by chance someone told me that feta cheese and goat cheese weren't the same.  All it took was some searching and I found out all about feta cheese and why the cheese with the beets was so different.  Feta is a combo of sheep's milk and goat's milk and it's brined which makes it drier with a salty flavor.  The cheese on the beets was creamy and had a richer taste. 

As soon as I realized that I liked goat cheese I thought of  that Humboldt Fog and wanted to try it. Online, I found out  that it tastes like buttermilk and citrus and has a lines of grayish vegetable ash around the eatable rind.  I also found out that its pretty pricey.  On Valentines Day we went to Ojai and stopped in a market there.  The cheese case had small pieces of Humboldt Fog cheese and I decided rather than chocolates, that would be my valentine treat.

The next morning when I was getting ready to have what I call my French breakfast--a croissant from Costco with something on it along with  some fruit,  I took out the Humboldt Fog cheese and cut off a small portion.  And then the big moment as I finally went to taste it.  It wasn't exactly a disappointment..It just wasn't the big moment of deliciousness that I expected.  The name though is appropriate.  The vegetable ash and the translucent consistency near the rind does remind me of fog.

 I was too impatient with the first taste and found that it needs to be room temperature.  I so want to love it all because I love the name.