Grating the Cheese

The other night for dinner we made a Tamale Pie for the first time. It was such an enjoyable thing to do as we both worked in the kitchen together preparing our meal.

As I stood at the counter grating the cheese a deep feeling of nostalgia washed over me. I remember being young and standing in the kitchen with my mom and grating the cheese just as I did now. I'll admit though that I probably didn't fully appreciate the experience at that age. :)

Now I usually buy the bags of grated cheese at the store since it is so much faster. But this time we went to Sprouts (a great grocery chain here) and they don't carry that product, so I bought a block of cheese to do myself.

I grated what I thought I might need, then busied myself getting the rest of the meal ready. And each time I passed that plate I sneaked a few pieces "just to try." Keith caught me once and laughed - and I laughed along with him.

I think it was the cheese sneaking that brought back the memories. And I learned that grating it yourself really does taste so much better. Modern conveniences are so wonderful. But sometimes doing it the "old-fashioned" way is so much more satisfying.