It's the Cheese

In the words of Pat, a recent RPCV (returned Peace Corps Volunteer) that returned to the USA (and all the good cheese) last week:
"When the choice is between cheese and no cheese, the answer is always CHEESE. When the choice is between cheese and more cheese, the answer is always MORE CHEESE."

After being here for four months, when someone asks me what I miss the most about home, it’s the cheese. Ok, so maybe my family and friends and then the cheese. But I really miss the cheese. Cheese is not something that I have ever really thought about before; it has just always been a part of my life. When I was three, I threw a cheese sandwich across the room because it wasn’t made how I liked it. That’s how strongly I feel about cheese. I have been known to enjoy hunks of cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella, swiss and gouda all by themselves (or with the help of a cracker or two). My favorite kind of pizza: cheese. I always get extra cheese on my burritos at Chipotle. I’ve never met a macaroni and cheese that I didn’t like. Nachos. Quesadillas. Anyway, you get the idea.

The most common type of cheese here is djath i barth (white cheese), basically a really salty feta. The other kind of cheese is kaçkaval (no translation- pronounced kach-ka-val) which tries to describe any kind of cheese that isn’t white cheese. I think of it as catch for all, but it doesn’t even come close. I have found versions of kaçkaval that I don’t hate, but not yet any that I could say I truly like. Closer to the coast and in Tirana, you can find other kinds of cheese, including actual mozzarella for decent pizza, but in Peshkopi, no such luck. Even the “Mexican” food I had in Tirana was just ok, why? The cheese! (the salsa wasn’t very good either, but they did do good tortillas). Maybe it is because the cheese that they have here tends to be “fresh” and I actually tend to like some artificial cheeses better than natural ones (Tostitos queso sauce, Kraft in the blue box). Or maybe they just don’t have good cheese. Yeah, I think that’s it.

The point? Enjoy it while you’ve got it and sometimes the things you miss the most are the things you thought about the least . . . and send me some good cheese ☺ .