Cheese!!!!!!

I know, I know it's savory. But cheese is a product that must be given credit for it's divine trips in the world of flavor (english translation: I love it and I'm going to write about it).

The life of the party is not the people. It is not the music. It's the food. One of the most common party foods is cheese. Seems easy right? It is, as long as you follow these steps.

Step 1) select cheeses that people know, or taste like they know. Choose cheeses like blues, bries, goudas and cheddars. And if you are going to use cheddar, this my motto.

           "My motto with cheddar is the sharper, the better."
                                                                                     -RI Red

This means when using cheddar, go for sharp, extra sharp, or Cabot makes a seriously sharp (that's really good).

Step 2) If you can try a cheese at the grocery store, and tastes good, get it. Just make sure that your taste pallet corresponds with what most other people like, just in case your the person who likes things that not many other people like (If you like deep fried fish roe, than that's what I'm talking about).

This was a sample at Trader Joe's

Step 3) Keep cheese refrigerated at all times

  Step 4) Before serving your cheese, take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Your cheese won't taste good if it's cold. 

Step 5) serve cheese spread apart, so that knives don't cut different cheeses. 

Step 6) don't, under any circumstances, cut cheese up before hand. It dries the cheese out and looks really cheep. One time my aunt asked me to cut the cheese (ha ha) I was bringing into fun shapes for thanksgiving. I said no, because then there wouldn't be any good cheese left, just dried out milk mold.

Step 7) have a different knife for every cheese. This prevents weird flavors mingling together in a not so lovely way. With multiple knifes, you get the cheese you cut.

Step 8) Enjoy! For an even better cheese board, serve your cheeses with extra nosh like grapes, nuts and crackers.

Brownies

The brownie is a simple bake good. A chocolate square that can be gooey, cake, chewy, fudgy or any other way you could possibly want it. a good brownie will bring a smile to anyone. This brownie recipe is the simplest way I have ever heard of.

Materials

• a large pyrex (glass) bowl
• a whisk
• a wooden spoon
• a cup measure
• a teaspoon
• a pan or muffin tin (if using muffin tin, see special brownies for topping ideas)

Ingredients

• 4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate (i like bakers. it comes in a box of 8 squares. 1 square = 1 ounce)
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup of flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 3 eggs

Brownies

1. melt baking chocolate and butter in the microwave for 1 minute. stir until all the chocolate has melted (don't put it back in the microwave, chocolate might burn, just keep stirring. try to break apart the pieces.)
2. put all the rest of the ingredients in the bowl. whisk until combined.
3. pour into pan or tin
4. bake at 350 for a 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a couple crumbs on it (completely clean means brownies are completely dry).
5. See special brownies for topping ideas or enjoy!

Special Brownies

I love Chow.coms You're Doing it All Wrong videos. recently i found one with brownies. Kir Jensen was talking about how to make brownies amazing. she filled them with chocolate ganache. i like it. here's how, in a super easy way.

Materials

• a sauce pot
• a glass measuring cup with spout

Ingredients

• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 recipe brownies (muffin tin style)

Chocolate Ganache

1. pour heavy cream into sauce pot. bring to boil with out lid.
2. while the cream is boiling, pour chocolate chips into measuring cup so it about level with the 1 cup line. 
3. when cream has boiled, pour over chocolate chips. stir until there is no lumps.
4. with a napkin, press a dent in the center of each brownie with your fingers. fill with ganache
5. enjoy!