Be my guest

Feeling blue: Roaring Forties rocks My Sunday evening ritual involves HBO (currently Rome, but soon to be The Sopranos and Entourage), a handful of friends in my tiny living room, and snacks — the more, the better. The group consists of me, my foodie/fashionista friend, and a bunch of hungry guys who’re game to try anything, so Sundays are usually when I dish up something I just made for fun, or when I bust out my latest novelty food purchases.

Last night was a particularly successful party, foodwise, which is so ironic considering the No Reservations rerun we ended up watching. (Did you see the one where Tony goes to Namibia? It’s the only episode in which he seemed truly grossed out by what he ate, even though he kept telling his hosts, “Ah, it’s good, it’s good…” I won’t describe it here, since this is a food blog and any further details might make you lose your appetite.)

The spread consisted of these new Carr’s Rosemary Crackers I found, some cherry-flavored dried cranberries, and cheese: an aged Irish cheddar, some Roaring Forties Blue, and a wedge of Mirabo Walnut. I know I made some good picks because by the end of the night, the only thing left was a chunk of the cheddar. The Roaring Forties was so pungent and savory that we ate every little crumble, but the walnut cheese — a German take on Brie, with crushed nuts in it — was the hands-down hit. After sitting out for awhile, it became so wonderfully gooey that you could just sink one of those herby crackers right into it. The cherry-cranberries were also really good, which was surprising. And to think — I’d only bought them because I couldn’t find regular ones.

That spontaneous little snack menu will be hard to top, I’m sure, but I’m already eyeballing something new that I found at La Grande Orange: charcoal crackers. Has anybody tried these yet?