Let’s muse about Cheese Sacrifice Purchase day (Friday)  and Cheesecake Day (Sat), I have put out a cheese plate, paired with lemonade, for us to muse over. Please, help yourself.

I tried to convince Cousin Carla to stay for Saturday’s cheesecake day, but she had to get home on Friday to her three college kids. Apparently one is moving out of a dorm because summer school is ending, one is moving into a dorm because school is beginning, and one just wants her home for Sunday dinner. I don’t know how you peeps with more than one kid keep up. I’m having a hard time figuring out Cole’s computer day camp schedule for next week.

Carla did celebrate “Cheese Sacrifice Purchase” Day with us before she left on Friday.

If you want a mouse-free house, it seems that you have to purchase and sacrifice some cheese to the house mouse trap, and if you do this on July 29th, then you will have a mouse-free house all year long.

Our neighborhood mice are currently sunbathing in the yard and frolicking in sprinklers. Just the other day, I saw one nibbling a piece of dog food kibble on the patio. She waved her tail to greet me.

The mice will start to pack their bags and move to our home after it gets cold. If I were to put out traps, the only thing I would catch is a curious terrier, a beagle with no interest in mousing, or a schipperke breed – for the express purpose of ridding ships of rats – with no interest in mousing. The whole subject of mice leaves me bitter and disillusioned. I wrote more about mice here.

I was so relieved when Emily, my food-of-the-day-for-a-year partner, pointed out that mice prefer peanut butter over cheese; she suggested that we celebrate Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day by sacrificing a little extra money on some really good cheese and eating it ourselves. I ♥ Emily.

Cole, Carla, and I went to Marion’s Street Cheese Market in Oak Park, Il.

Carla and I split a grilled cheese made with Capriole chevre, Hook’s 2-year Swiss, and Pastureland’s organic raw milk cheddar on La Briola multigrain bread with a cup of soup du jour.

Cole dined on a crispy jonah crab cake sandwich, spicy apple slaw, and cilantro soy aioli on a toasted pretzel bun. I think we did justice to the day, don’t you?

Emily enjoyed a cheese plate at some bar.

After lunch, we bid Cousin-Aunt Carla good-bye as she left us to fly off into the friendly skies. Despite the fact she might have tried to kill me with a piece of  gum, we will miss her; by the time she comes for her annual summer visits, Cole and I are thoroughly tired of each other and welcome her with open arms. Cole loves that she can converse about every movie and television show that there ever was, whereas I enjoy our conversations about purses. Having a visitor also pushes us to explore our surroundings a little more; I’m not sure we ever would have made it to the jelly bean factory if Carla hadn’t inspired us. And, of course, the fact that she is willing and happy to cook is a plus. When my mom asked what I was making for dinner when Carla visited, I told her I wasn’t sure – Carla hadn’t shared the menu yet. Carla, we miss you already.

Saturday we celebrated Cheesecake day.

When someone recently asked me which kind of cheesecake I like best – Chicago style cheesecake, New York style cheesecake, Philadelphia style cheese cake, or cheese cake influenced by the Romans – I had to answer honestly: I like my mom’s cheesecake dressed in strawberries best, and the rest, not so much.

To celebrate the day, Cole and I went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch – and guess what? They were celebrating cheesecake too! There were even Happy Cheesecake signs in the windows, and cheesecake was half-price!

The server suggested her personal favorite: a “mango key lime cheesecake with a coconut macaroon crust.” I do not like coconut or macaroons, but the server shared this cheesecake with such enthusiasm that I ordered it. I’m telling you, I am a sucker for a good sales pitch. Really, this is all Cousin Carla’s fault; if she had stayed, we would have split a cheesecake, and I can guarantee that the server wouldn’t have had a chance. I nibbled on it in the spirit of Cheesecake day, and we took it home for Cole to have for dinner.

Cole ordered the 30th anniversary chocolate cake cheesecake that had layers of fudge cake and chocolate truffle cream. He liked it.

Today (Sunday) is Raspberry cake day. I found a very simple raspberry cake recipe that I might make. I hate to leave you hanging with suspense – will she or won’t she make the Raspberry cake? – but it is Sunday, the day of rest. I might honor the right of cooks not to cook by spreading raspberry preserves on a piece of toast.

Let’s muse together soon! Please feel free to share your feelings about cheesecake or cheese. Odd Loves Company.

♥

Kb