I realise I moan and whinge every February, but it really is a b*tch of a month. As if being broke wasn’t depressing enough (Stadsdeel Westerpark is currently enjoying about a third of this month’s pay cheque), there’s the awfulness that is Valentine’s Day. It’s conventional and cliché, not to mention expensive. And, it makes it irritatingly difficult to get a table for dinner, amongst the thronging couples and overpriced ‘special menus’.
Still, on the plus side, there’s a trip to Krakow to look forward to (expect reviews of cherry vodka and – well, whatever one eats with cherry vodka!), an evening at the ballet and… and Vacherin Mont d’Or cheese. I swear it’s sent by the Goddess of Winter to make all this cold, dark, sleeting misery that bit more bearable.
It’s made in the Alps on the Swiss-French border, only in the winter months, and preserved in a wooden box lined with pine bark. The good stuff is unpasteurised, and carries the Apellation d’Origine Contrôlée label, which means it comes from a specific region and is made using a specific process – much like wine. You can eat it ‘neat’, as it were: at room temperature, with bread. Or – like I did for the first time this year – you can bake it in the oven with a clove or two of garlic and a glass of white wine for about half an hour, till it’s melted to the texture of thick cream… And you don’t even need a fondue kit.
To buy a box from the Noordermarkt will set you back about a tenner. But head down to the cheese stall on the Ten Katestraat market on the corner where it meets the Kinkerstraat and you can pick up a box for a fiver. I went a bit nuts and bought three. And then I wonder why I’m skint…
So, this V-Day, eschew the flowers and Hallmark cards and Valentine menus; invite a mate over and dip into five well-spent euros’ worth of winter luxury… better than a dozen red roses any day.
