In Praise of Stilton Cheese

We bought some lovely white Stilton with blueberries at the local "boutique" grocery store last evening. For me, a nice Stilton evokes images and memories of meals scraped-together from Marks & Spencers convenience stores while we traveled in London. Stilton was a staple... and what a lovely staple it is! I have since learned that Port, my after-dinner drink of choice (well, one of two, with Moscato coming in a close second), is the traditional pairing. I shall have to become a traditionalist, it seems!

Sonnet to a Stilton Cheese:

Stilton, thou shouldst be living at this hour
And so thou art. Nor losest grace thereby;
England has need of thee, and so have I--
She is a Fen. Far as the eye can scour,
League after grassy league from Lincoln tower
To Stilton in the fields, she is a Fen.
Yet this high cheese, by choice of fenland men,
Like a tall green volcano rose in power.
Plain living and long drinking are no more,
And pure religion reading "Household Words",
And sturdy manhood sitting still all day
Shrink, like this cheese that crumbles to its core;
While my digestion, like the House of Lords,
The heaviest burdens on herself doth lay.

- G.K. Chesterton

Stilton Fact:
A 2005 study carried out by the British Cheese Board discovered that when it came to dream types, Stilton cheese seemed to cause odd dreams, with 75% of men and 85% of women experiencing bizarre and vivid dreams after eating a 20g piece of the cheese 30 minutes before going to sleep.