Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Buying, Eating, and Playing With Your Cheese

"Sure, Millie, I've thought about buying those little Mini Babybel Original Cheeses," you're saying. "But the thought of convincing my husband I need them, unwrapping that daunting packaging, and eating and enjoying my Baby Cheeses is such a foreign idea that frankly, it gives me gas. What can I do?"

Friend, snort nasal spray and tank up on cabbage no more - we've all been there. As an oppressed Mormon wife who is only allowed outside on Jewish holidays - and even then, only while wearing a burka and a flowered apron - I can tell you that procuring these sweet little succulent cheeses for your gastronomical enjoyment is just a hop, skip, and a "Yes, master" away.

1) Convincing the Skeptical Spouse: While $3.48 for a pack of six at WinCo might seem a little spendola, too bad. You need them. They're just so cute. Look at that package of adorable little cheeses in their happy red netting wrapper. Wouldn't you love to get little cheeses like that and have them in your fridge for snack time? Wouldn't it make you happy every time you walked by your fridge, just to know that they're there? And best of all, they're made by The Laughing Cow. There's nothing but happy snacking when you eat these cheeses. I say, whine and throw a fit and kick and scream in the aisle until your errant husband puts them in the shopping cart for you. Better yet, go shopping by yourself and eat them on the way home from the store. He'll never be the wiser.

2) Actually Opening the Thing: Now stay with me. There are a few steps to this tricky process but I promise they're worth your time.

Look above at the net bag covering the cheeses. It appears as though the netting is tied together in teensy little knots, right? But this is an illusion, as the netting is actually fused together by a mysterious net-fusing process. Rending a nice hole in the netting couldn't be easier - just pop in a finger and give a big yank. Not too big, you don't want to rip so gaping a hole that the rest of the cheeses fall out - just big enough to get one cheese out. (You big cheese hog.)

Each cheese is covered by a crinkly red plastic wrapper. Find a convenient corner and delicately tear the wrapper. If a convenient corner can't be found, find something sharp - scissors, perhaps - and cut a small hole in the wrapper. BE CAREFUL - you're wielding a sharp instrument near your very precious body. Don't be in such a snit to get the thing open that you slice yourself open. This should be a happy experience, not a "I wanted cheese but instead I ended up with an I.V. and 45 stitches" experience. Please don't hurt yourself, or the delicious little cheese inside.

3. Really Getting Your Money's Worth: Once the red plastic wrapper is gone, you will find that the cheese has been encased in a tight red wax covering. Don't panic! It's easy to get inside. Simply find the white plastic tab protruding from the red wax casing and gently pull. See how easy that is? And look what you have as a result:

You have a red wax Pac-Man! Sure! After you remove the cheese from its layers of wrapping and begin to enjoy its cheesy deliciousness, have some fun with Pac-Man. Be careful with Pac-Man - the wax is fragile. I know, it was hard enough to open that you'd think it would withstand some pressure, but alas. It's pretty weak stuff.

This can work to your advantage, however. When Pac-Man is squished after a few moments of play (as he inevitably will be), just look at the fun options you can try.

Break Pac-Man apart, and voila, you've got a fun red pair of wax lips to mold to your mouth. Go around with those on for a while and make your kids laugh. Or make them scared. Make your neighbors think you've had collagen injections gone horribly wrong. Make those lips your own, honey. After all the work you've done to get this far, by all means, have some stinkin' fun with them. They'll be gone soon enough.

Now again, remember, that wax doesn't stay together long, so after your lip fun has met its tragic end by falling off your face and onto your lap, take one of the lips and mold it to your nose. Look, you're Rudolph! And what's great about the nose idea is you can do it with a friend. What a sweet moment, bonding over leftover cheese wax. Ah, the memories you'll create with that special someone...

Next time you hear those little cheeses cry out to you from the deli case, don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated. Don't tell the check-out lady they're actually for the kids. You enjoy the heck right out of those little cheeses. Come on... you know you want to.