Thank you, Dr. Atkins

You know what would make the Atkins Diet more palatable? Carbs.

Seriously, though, there is one good thing that came out of that Atkins craze. It introduced me to mashed cauliflower. (Only one thing, you ask. Yes. What did you think I was going to say? That the best thing was the irony of the people who went into McDonalds and ordered a Big Mac, hold the bun, and thought it was a healthy choice? You're right. That was another good thing to come out of Atkins.)

But I wasn't kidding: I love carbs. So, tonight I decided to add some potatoes into my cauliflower. Oh my gosh, what a great addition. Normally, my only complaint about mashed cauliflower is that the consistency isn't quite right. It's a little too runny, a little too gritty. Well, throw in some potatoes, and it evens it right out. The garlic, butter, sour cream, and Parmesan cheese probably helped, too. Whatever, it was awesome. So thanks, Dr. Atkins, for banning carbohydrates and forcing people to find an alternative to mashed potatoes.

Random tangentially related thought: I'm a cheese fanatic. So get used to my cheese reviews! Two more local cheeses to review. The first is an herb goat cheese from Westfield Farm. Wow, this was outstanding. It was creamy and neither meek nor overpowering. I'm usually not a huge goat cheese fan...it's okay on things or in things, but I'm not much for eating it by itself. This one, though, yum! As an additional plus in its favor, I served it over my roasted veggie polenta. Yes, some eat local meal. I'm fully aware most of those veggies are completely out of season and were assuredly *not* local. But, as I said, small steps. At least the cheese on top was local. And the meal was outstanding. Worth the week-long polenta quest.

The other cheese was a blue from Great Hill Dairy. I love blue cheeses. They're definitely in my top ten favorite cheeses. This was an acceptable one. It had a bit of a bitter bite, if I can be alliteratively descriptive. Interesting, certainly, and quite good crumbled over a salad (with a great blueberry vinaigrette dressing). But not my favorite blue. Of course, if we're being honest, what I really love is a triple creme bleu, so I'm not sure any traditional blue can really compete.

I found both of these at Wilson Farms.