Who is happy it is Friday!? Meeeeee! It has been one of those weeks where Friday afternoon seemed to creep on by, time was just standing still. It felt like it was 2:30 for over an hour and a half! But the good news was once I got through the afternoon, I knew I had a three day weekend, packed with holidays -- the Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, and President's Day, to look forward to.
Now, now, don't get ahead of yourself, I certainly wasn't looking forward to the end of the week so I could go out and get drunk...I'm sitting here in PJs with an icepack on my hip drinking a glass of red wine listening to oldies music and it's 11:15 on a Friday night..ahhhh relaxation, the realization that I did not have to get up at 6am to run in the freezing cold and then go to work. I had three blissful days of sleeping till at least 7 if not 8am.
Moving along, since when do people sign business emails wishing you a Happy Valentine's day? Has Hallmark really done it, turned Valentine's Day into a mini pink and heart filled Christmas? I don't think so! I think celebrating it is a nice thing, that is if you have someone to share it with, but it certainly does not need to be made into a big deal. After receiving multiple emails from business colleagues wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day, I got to thinking...and got to reading the New York Times piece in this past week's dining section entitled, "A Viagra Alternative to Serve by Candlelight."
Since when do doughnuts, licorice, pumpkin pie and lavender scents put a man in the mood? And apparently baby powder, Good and Plenty candy and cucumber scents put a woman in the mood....To see the article from this week's NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/dining/10erotic.html?ref=dininghttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/dining/10erotic.html?ref=dining
Not that there is anything wrong with these new supposedly scientific discoveries, but what happened to the quintessential aphrodisiacs like oysters, lobsters, chocolate, champagne, honey, even the long stretches of avocado and asparagus or figs? Were those to take a back seat to these elaborate sensory combinations designated by recent scientific studies? Hmmm....
Did anyone ever think that cheese and its inherent complements could create the perfect aphrodiasic and perfect mood for any romantic evening with that special someone? Guess what, I think so! Were you expecting me to say that, well you are right! When I first met my current special someone I said something to that effect and in response, I got this weird look like, "Reaaaallly? Did you just say that?" YES I most certainly did!
Let's consider what cheese pairs best with for a moment and then you can decide if you can potentially see where I am going, granted, I never said you had to believe me, but here you go:
1. There are a lot of cheeses that pair really nicely with honey, even lavender honey...
2. Cheese plates are often adorned with grapes and pine and other nuts both of which were considered to have "libidinal powers" in ancient Greco-Roman times..
3. Cheese's natural partner is wine, a natural aphrodisiac, enough said.
4. Cheese even pairs with chocolate and champagne.
What better food to be the base for your aphrodisiacal experiments and moments with that special someone, I certainly do not know!
Some people believe that foods like asparagus are natural aphrodisiacs because they trigger the mind to drift to the male's sex organs, just like avocados could do the same for the female's organs. But if you utilize that argument, asparagus can resemble sticks, poles, bats, etc and avocados could resemble baseballs. I'm not really of the mind set that this is a viable aphrodisiac, but to each his own.....
Yet other people believe that scents greatly contribute to determining whether or not a food could be considered an aphrodisiac like the doughnut lavender combination mentioned earlier...I'd like to make a statement about aphrodisiacs, simple and to the point, it depends on what triggers each individual, period end of sentence, yes, for some people lobster and a glass of champagne will do it and for others chocolate and chili will, it simply depends on the individual.
But I suggest that you suspend your judgement and think of cheese for a moment as the most wonderful aphrodisiacal base -- I think there a few things better than a delish glass of Blanc de Blancs, some Crottin de Chavignol (a small disk sized aged raw goat's milk cheese from France) with some nuts and raisins and maybe even some of that Raisin Walnut Balthazar bread I mentioned earlier this week. But that is just my preference, I am sure you too have your prefrence. Going into Valentine's Day weekend, I hope that if you are in the mood for an aphrodisiac on Sunday, you think outside the box!
I hope you enjoyed my musings, another weekly addition, talking about cheese in a non cooking context...I thought I'd give you all some time to digest my idea of cheese as a prime aphrodisiacal base before Valentine's Day...whether or not you believe me, think about it!
Happy Weekend All!
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