Say Cheese!!

By Kate

I'm excited to welcome back to the Lair my friend Avery Aames! Not only does Avery have a new Cheese Shop Mystery out (LOST AND FONDUE -- don't you just love her titles?), but she just won the prestigious Agatha Award for Best First Book for THE LONG QUICHE GOODBYE!! Please join me in welcoming Avery!

Sexy is as Sexy does

Do you think cheese is sexy? I do. It has sensual textures, aromatic scents, and luscious flavors. Ooh, la, la! It tastes good with beer, wine, champagne. You can pair cheese with fruit, jam, honey, nuts and chocolate. Ah, chocolate. But that’s another subject to be discussed at a later time…or maybe in just a moment. Cheese tastes great alone, but it also tastes fabulous in entrees, side dishes, salads, grated on pasta, on rice, on potatoes, on soup.

What doesn’t cheese taste good on…with…beside? Some might say ice cream, but I would beg to differ. I made a delicious Parmesan ice cream that was salty and fun. I added chocolate, and the dessert was sassy, and yes, sexy bordering on decadent.

Did I say yet that I love sexy? And sensual? Delicious words, don’t you think?

But back to cheese. Other than those who can’t eat cheese for allergy reasons, do you know anyone who doesn’t like cheese? Do you know anyone who doesn’t make a beeline to the cheese platter at a party?

So why do I rave about cheese? Because I write A Cheese Shop Mystery series (the first, THE LONG QUICHE GOODBYE is a national bestseller and an Agatha award nominee, I’m happy to say). While doing research, I’ve fallen in lust with cheese. That’s right, lust. I’ve tasted, I’ve baked, I’ve shared. With family, with friends, with strangers. I’m caught in its clutches and I can’t get away. (Please don’t tell more than five of your friends.)

Did you ever see the movie Like Water For Chocolate? Talk about sensual! The movie is based on the debut novel by Laura Esquivel. Each chapter begins with a recipe. The story follows a young girl, Tita, who longs to marry Pedro, but she cannot because her mother’s family tradition says the youngest daughter may not marry until the day her mother dies. Tita, in the only way she can, expresses herself when she cooks. In quite erotic detail. In one scene, after a rich meal of quail in rose petal sauce (flavored with Tita’s sensual thoughts), Tita’s older sister becomes lustful and flees to make love with a revolutionary soldier. Need I say more? Sadly, the heat of Tita’s passion for Pedro ultimately consumes them.

I’m hoping this will not happen to me during my love affair with cheese. (I pray I have more self-control than that. No running away with a Roquefort. Time will tell.)

However, to honor this blossoming relationship, I’d like to share a cheese platter that I created at Valentine’s Day. I’ve named it: Like Cheddar for Chocolate. (Okay, so it’s not that unique a title, but it says what it is.) The question is, where did I come up with the combination. I knew I could use chocolate in cheesecake and in cookies, but I didn’t know that chocolate on its own would taste great paired with a bite of cheese. So I wanted to test my theory. Talk about sensual. The result was dessert and appetizer rolled into one.

I’m giving away three signed books today to commenters: your choice of either THE LONG QUICHE GOODBYE or LOST AND FONDUE. So answer me this. Do you prefer dessert to appetizers? Do you like to dine in or out? What is the most sensual meal you can remember…ever? And if you’d like to share, with whom did you dine? I won’t tell more than five of my friends. LOL

Say cheese!

Thanks for visiting today, Avery! Banditas, if you'd like Avery's delectable recipe for Parmesan ice cream, click here!

Avery Aames is the Agatha Award winning author of A Cheese Shop Mystery series. The first, The Long Quiche Goodbye, is a national bestseller. Avery blogs at Mystery Lovers Kitchen, a blog for foodies who love mysteries, and some of her characters show up on the Killer Characters blog.