“Can I try a bit of the crumbly and cream cheeses?” Miina asked. She looked so excited that I couldn’t say no, so I nodded with a smile.
She wiped her hands clean with a towel, then pinched off a bit of the crumbly cheese. “Mm, it’s so tangy and refreshing! I bet it’d be really good on a salad.” Then she dipped her spoon into the cream cheese. “Ooh! I could put this on the Danishes instead of the Chantilly crème! You know, if we added chives and garlic, I bet it’d work well with savory breads too. Can I use a bit of this?”
I figured that she had something particular in mind. She looked so hopeful that I told her it was okay.
“Just wait here!” She dashed off to the kitchen in a hurry. A few moments later, she returned with a tray loaded with toasted slices of fluffy bread, each one topped with a different kind of cream cheese spread. One contained minced garlic and chives, while the other had apricot compote, made from finely diced dried apricots soaked in syrup. There were three toasts with each kind of cheese.
“Mmm!” We both exclaimed in unison as we tried them.
Just then, Marcus peeked in. The traffic in the bakery must have slowed down. “Hey, are you two sneaking off to try new recipes while I’m stuck minding the shop?” he complained, but he had a gentle look on his face, maybe since he saw how much we were enjoying the food.
“Don’t worry. There’s some for you, too,” said Miina.
Marcus quickly washed and dried his hands, and then he picked up one of each type of toast from Miina’s tray. First, he tried a big bite of the one with chives. “Whoa, this is really good! I wish I could smear a thick layer of this on some fluffy bread and chow down!”
Next, he tried the apricot one. “Yum… This would be popular with children and ladies. And I bet it’d go great with berry jam on top of a Danish.”
That night, the three of us held a tasting party for the round cheese. We sliced up flatbread, topped it with the cheese, and toasted it until it melted into gooey, piping-hot perfection. We also tried it raw, popping slices of it into our mouths. It was sweet, milky, and rich. Everyone loved it.
Since it was such a success, we decided it was time to invite Ana over for dinner.
The evening that we invited Ana over, she arrived just as the church bell rang for the sixth time and the sky had turned a golden orange.
Our living space was upstairs on the second floor above the workshop. We had a bathroom complete with toilet and tub, a cozy living room and a dining table that seated six, and some sofas for relaxing. Marcus’s bedroom was also on that floor, as well as the storage room.
Miina and I stayed on the third floor. There were three bedrooms, including one that was still vacant. Since I was the owner and had the most stuff, I got the largest room, which was double the space of the others.
We led Ana upstairs to the dining area.
“Oh, this is lovely,” she said, blinking behind her tiny round glasses.
The table was packed full of dishes with cheese, all made skillfully and carefully by Miina. She’d prepared two appetizers: one was toasted fluffy bread with garlic and chive cream cheese, and the other was toast with cream cheese layered with smoked salmon and sprigs of dill. She had also cut up some of the round cheese and topped the pieces with slices of fresh tomato, torn basil leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil and salt.
For the salad, she tossed warm spring vegetables and sliced black olives in vinegar and oil, then topped it with crumbly cheese.
The main dish used flatbread dough rolled out into a circle, topped with tomato sauce, slices of round cheese, and fresh basil. She’d just pulled it from the oven, so it was still bubbling with heat.
And dessert was a cheesecake made with cream cheese, sugar, eggs, cream, flour, and lemon juice.
“All of this is cheese?” Ana said. “I thought coagulants were so hard to get! You didn’t spend a fortune on this all for me, did you?” She looked a little guilty at the thought that we might have bought an entire calf for the meal.
“Don’t worry! I used a plant-based coagulant that was very affordable,” I said lightly as I showed her to the seat at the center of the table. I sat across from her while Miina and Marcus sat at the other sides of the table. “Miina came up with the whole menu and cooked everything from scratch, just for you! So don’t hold back—dig in!”
“Goodness!” Ana chuckled, her eyes crinkling into her usual smile. But then tears welled up in them, spilling down her cheeks. She dabbed gently at them with a handkerchief. “I’m sure there’s a proper order to things, but let’s eat the hot ones while they’re still hot!” She picked up a knife and fork and dug into a piece of cheese toast, which was already cut into slices, then took a bite.
“Ooh, it’s so hot and gooey! Almost too hot!” She gasped and fanned her mouth, laughing with delight. “I’ve never had this before! Who knew bread, tomato sauce, and cheese would taste so good together?”
Once we saw Ana had started, the rest of us followed and sampled a little bit of everything.
The smoked salmon and dill with cream cheese was incredible, the fresh dill helping to mellow out the smokiness of the fish. And the slices of round cheese with tomato and basil were just divine. The cheese had a subtle, milky sweetness, which paired perfectly with the slightly acidic tomatoes. The salad with crumbly cheese was light and refreshing. Everything was just so good.