Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

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Having your Cheese and Eating it too

Dishes after a party

Photography and text by Corey Amaro

A few days after her twenty-first birthday and Christmas, Chelsea will come home for a few days before heading off to China.

While talking to her on the phone the other day, I asked her what she wanted me to prepare for her "Welcome Back Home" dinner.

 

Stove top

 

Chelsea loves, (using that word in the full extent) to eat. Actually, most likely, more than me.

My father use to say to me, "Corey, how can you get so excited over a pastry window?" or, "Corey, for God's sake it is just a plate of food." You see, my father ate because he had to, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was just as good as a cold hot dog, or a bag of peanuts.

 

 

Glasses on a tray

 

Chelsea has even said regarding her voracious appetite, "There must be something wrong with me… I am never full."

Personally, I like to think she is talking about her appetite for life, though truth be told she loves to eat.

Anyway, I wanted to make something special for her when she comes home, and you will never believe what she said. Never!

 

Kitchen counter

"Mom, the first thing I want to eat when I arrive in France, is I want camembert cheese. I want to grab it, sink my teeth into it, and eat it in one big bite."

God bless her little heart Franco-American heart!

 

What is your comfort food?

Comments

37 responses to “Having your Cheese and Eating it too”

  1. The Pliers

    Perhaps you can orchestrate one of those total cheese repasts where one begins with the mildest cheese and proceeds to the strongest cheese with Camembert tucked somewhere in the middle.
    Congratulations on having her back home for a spell!

    Reply
  2. Everton Terrace

    I love The Pliers idea and would love to be invited to that dinner. I can imagine little bowls of figs, pears, walnuts etc., on the table as well – oh heart be still. Cheese lover here as well. I can’t wait to hear how she likes China. Will she be sad to leave San Fran do you think? You must be bursting with excitement. My daughter also quite a food lover. I could never just put a PB&J in her lunchbox growing up, no no no, sliced kiwi, salad etc etc.

    Reply
  3. meredith

    I’m with Chelsea on this one. I love cheese and snack on it all day long. I can keep a piece of chocolate in the house for months and months, but not cheese. Cheese disappears as fast as the speed of light chez moi.

    Reply
  4. Karen at Pas Grand-Chose

    Good French girl! As someone with an appetite for life, I think she’s going to find China an incredibly exciting experience. Isn’t it Shanghai she’s going to? They have a fabulous French quarter there (the old French Concession), so she should feel right at home too!
    I love seeing pics of your dinner table, which is always a feast for the eyes. I especially love your pewter (I think?) plates (or under-plates). If ever you find more of these, be sure to put them into your online Brocante – I will snap them up for sure!
    Enjoy having your lovely girl home. I can so identify with that pleasure of cooking the favourite dinner – my daughter will be home tonight for the holidays and the menu is planned!
    Best wishes …

    Reply
  5. Jackie

    Hmmm, my comfort food…Macaroni and cheese-made with interesting cheeses, not just American chedder cheese.
    I hope Chelsea does a blog about China!
    jackie
    bliss farm antique

    Reply
  6. Marie- Noelle

    Your menu for Chelsea’s return:
    Camembert and lettuce as a starter
    Camembert on toast as a main course
    Plateau de camemberts for dessert
    EASY PEASY for you !!!
    My comfort food would be fruit… especially clémentines in the winter time.
    I can eat them 6×6 or even by the kilo …

    Reply
  7. Liz

    soup and homemade, just out of the oven bread with…CHEESE.

    Reply
  8. Rhonda P.

    Oh, I have so many, though…LOL…but I’d have to say mashed potatoes. When I miss home or if I’m having a bad day, mashed potatotes.

    Reply
  9. Julie Loeschke

    Rice pudding.:)

    Reply
  10. Penny

    Something good elsewhere, but, great at home. Good for Chelsea. It is the food and then experience mixed into one.
    Mine favorite. Too many to mention, but, roasted chicken and potatoes always sates me in cold weather, when I’m troubled, blue, or elated. Yep! Roasted chicken, the Greek way, with potatoes. We just had some last night.
    When our daughter and family make the long trip down from MN, a good eight hours with a baby, I usually have a big pot of homemade chicken soup burbling on the stove. They bring all things in, settle, and then sit down to a piping hot bowl(s) of soup and my Katy always sighs and say “thanks, Mom”.

    Reply
  11. marlis

    that is so funny and reminds me of what I had my mother do when I would come home for a visit. She was in Germany and I was in America. so she’d have to stop at a little store called Nordsee and pick up a SauerHerring brotchen (herring in sourcream sauce on a fresh roll)… and she never failed to do so.. It was the next best thing to seeing her..

    Reply
  12. Cheryl ~ Casual Cottage Chic

    Oh, I love cheese as well! Maci cheese is a favorite comfort food; make it with Vermont Cheddar for a different color and flavor. Her trip to China will be a major culture shock…hope she keeps a journal or blogs about it and takes lots of pics {if allowed; they are sticklers about what you photograph}.
    On another note, I love the various covers/lids you have on your stove top! They would be so charming covering up my stove burners when not in use {which is often…lol}.

    Reply
  13. Sharon, Morrison Mercantile

    my kind of girl!! Love cheese. I am so glad she will be coming home for a little time with her family. Blessings

    Reply
  14. Paula S In New Mexico

    Mac and cheese with breaded baked fish and steamed brocoli.
    My mom’s pickled beets.

    Reply
  15. Jenna

    A burrito, from one of those places that make them big as your head. Hope she loves China. The good thing about never being full, there is always something new to savor.

    Reply
  16. Amy Kortuem

    Eating crackers. In bed. With a good book.

    Reply
  17. meppybn

    I know just what she means – sorry, folks, but American cheese in general tastes like soap!!!! Anything at home is always wonderful after being away 🙂

    Reply
  18. Brenda L from TN

    Where do I begin?….my Grandmother’s potatoe salad,still warm…mac and cheese…homemade veggie soup w/crusty bread…my other Grandmother’s pot roast with carrots,potatoes,onions and mushrooms…and that’s just for starters…but Cheese DOES rank up there pretty high too!! Cheese and apples…yummy!

    Reply
  19. Kathie B.

    I have such a hankering right now for crusty, still-warm extra-sour San Francisco sourdough bread (dark bake), just delivered to the market in mid-morning Pacific Time.
    Extra-sharp Tillamook cheddar cheese from Oregon. When I was little, the Louis Store (grocery) in our neighborhood always had a huge round of Tillamook, from which the cashier would cut wedges to order at the check-out counter. Of course for a long time it’s been sold wrapped in vacuum-sealed plastic; Sometimes if it was on sale, my dad would mail me a few 2-lb. blocks in cool weather, when it was unlikely to suffer ill-effects of not being artificially refrigerated for a couple days during shipment cross-country.

    Reply
  20. Cindy

    This makes me smile!!

    Reply
  21. Wandering Chopsticks

    The first Christmas I came home from college, I wanted a bowl of plain white jasmine rice. Though dorm food sometimes had Asian cuisine, the cooks didn’t know how to make jasmine rice.

    Reply
  22. Pattyg

    My comfort food is black tea with milk and sugar and french toast!
    Much excitement for your reunion with Chelsea at home! Have a Camembert feast!

    Reply
  23. Just Plain Jane

    Happiness is having kids come home for the holidays. My comfort food would fall in the realm of sweets.

    Reply
  24. sue

    Awwww–sounds like she is savoring her heritage and anticipating her visit with great delight.

    Reply
  25. yvonne

    I love french cheese and french wine.
    Now I am told I have to lay off, just for a while.
    yvonne

    Reply
  26. Marilyn

    How exciting for you to have Chelsea home for a visit. Yummmm! Camembert cheese. My comfort food right now is Pad Thai noodles and a good pot of tea, maybe throw in a nice piece of chocolate or a macaron.

    Reply
  27. Tamra/The Gilded Barn

    I have a hard time focusing on any post whenever you add a picture of those delicious dome covers on your stove!
    Anyway, I think you said something about your daughter coming home with cheese in her teeth?
    Darn you dome covers!!

    Reply
  28. Mary

    Anyone who loves Camembert, might want to check out this pizza in Villefranche de Rouergue….It was the WHOLE round! We laughed until we cried! Kick
    http://frenchgeneral.blogspot.com/2010/10/french-pizza.html

    Reply
  29. momof5

    Tell her to fill up on all the cheese she wants while at home as it is in short, nonexistent?(maybe some in Shanghai?)supply in China. My youngest daughter was a high school exchange student in Xian and so we hosted a student from China also. She hated cheese initially but then discovered she loved, loved, loved sharp cheddar cheese and couldn’t get enough of it. She still mentions how she misses it from time to time. How long will Chelsea be in China? Enjoy your time together as I know you will.

    Reply
  30. carol in CA

    What comes to mind when I think of comfort food is chocolate cake, baked macaroni and cheese, lasagna, scalloped potatoes and anything with chocolate in it. I love to bake cookies and I bring them to work to share so i don’t eat too many. The most comfort comes from the smile on the faces of my friends at work when they see the plate of cookies!

    Reply
  31. jend’isère

    Comfort to my cold hands is breaking off the tips of freshly baked bread as I leave the bakery. Creamy consistancy of cheese, chocolate and ice cream are comforting, though uncommon in China. Asian rice and vegetables, the spicier the better are also on my comfort list.

    Reply
  32. Gracie

    My mom’s lasagna, ever been!

    Reply
  33. Mark

    In the morning: English muffin or biscuit with salted butter and orange marmalade.
    in the afternoon: Cheese, particularly sheep’s milk such as Abbaye de Belloc or Pecorino Cortenese, a 5 year cheddar from Wisconsin will do too.
    In the evening: ice cream.

    Reply
  34. Alison Murray Whittington

    How do you both stay so tiny?!
    My comfort food is chocolate and anything made with chocolate. Hot chocolate, chocolate-chip cookies, chocolate cake, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!
    My other comfort food is mac and cheese, but I don’t cook, so I only eat the Amy’s boxed mac and cheese. Homemade mac and cheese, however, is obviously preferable, and the more types of cheeses, the better!
    Having eaten some great cheeses from around the world, I would disagree with the commenter who said American cheeses taste like soap – the big brand ones in the grocery stores might, but there are plenty of small farm cheeses available that taste amazing! (And big brands never taste that great compared to small ones or homemade, no matter where you are in the world.)

    Reply
  35. Alison Murray Whittington

    Oh, and also? Quesadillas!

    Reply
  36. anna nilsen

    Cheese~~~ any kind and in any form!
    Homemade turkey potpie with a side of cottage cheese.
    Bacon lettuce and fresh from the garden tomato sandwich with a touch of mayonaise and horseradish.
    potatoes~~ baked, fried, boiled or whatever!
    Does a good cup of coffee count as comfort food?

    Reply
  37. Brenda

    I love fresh, anything fresh and grown to perfection, drenched in cheese, veggies, transparently sauteed in butter, with onions, bellpeppers and garlic and parsley! comfort!

    Reply

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