dewhitton

Yesterday I needed a few small items of food (skim milk, eggs) and some doggie treats for Snowy, so I headed down to IGA. As I entered the store I thought "I wonder if they have any farmhouse cheddar today" - they don't usually - and hit the deli section. They didn't have any cheddar, but a label caught my eye. 125g King Island Dairy Camenbert, reduced to clear - down from $10.80 to $5.50. No wait....

The deli owner was bashing away on items with the label maker. I showed her the packet. "Does that really say $2.00?"

"Yes," she said. "I have to warn you that it expires today."

"It's cheese! It'll keep for ages in the fridge."

She laughed. "I know, but jf I don't sell it today I have to give it to my pigs."

"Lucky pigs." I looked at the racks of cheeses. "I will have to disappoint them."

So I picked up:
3 x 125g King Island Dairy Camenbert @ $2.00 each (Down from $10.50)
3 x 125g King Island Dairy Triple Cream Brie @ $2.00 each (Down from $12 each)
4 x 200g King Island Dairy blue-vein brie @ $2.00 (Down from $12 ea)
6 tubs sliced olives in mild chilli-flavoured oil @ 50c each (down from $5 each)

$133.50 worth of cheese and olives for $21

I love cheese, and yet I have never had so much cheese in my fridge at one time.

I gave Mum some of the camenberts and bries. She'd not so keen on the blue cheese.

In the mid 80s I lived in Sydney and had to commute to Wynyard Station. Every afternoon a fellow would get into the carriage, find a seat, then reach into his bag and pull out two slices of bread. Then he'd pull from the bag a small wheel of camenbert, and put it between the slices. The whole wheel, unsliced. And then he'd eat it. I was always amazed by this.

My lunch for the foreseeable future will be slices of brie (or camenbert) and olive sandwiches.

I feel so decadent! And yet, cheap.