Smelly cheese

Something I like about Northern Ireland - and the UK and Ireland in general - is that you can go into Sainsbury or Tesco or whatever and expect to buy smelly cheese without paying the earth.

Cheeses like Epoisses, a half-decent Camembert, some Brie, some Pie d'Angloys, some Stilton, some Danish Blue.

One of those - I think it's the Epoisses - quantum tunnels its smell through tupperware and the fridge and pervades your entire house. (Thankfully it doesn't taste like it smells; it tastes divine.)

Of course, France is better for cheese, but your average UK supermarket is Good Enough. And the point is that it's not that expensive.

And it's a lot better than California, where unless you go to really fancy places (like Whole Foods), where everything is seriously expensive (they call it "Whole Paycheck"), you just can't get decent cheese.

Supermarkets - if they have anything like that, they might have a naff Danish Blue, and maybe a Brie or a Camembert ... but they'll have no smell and they'll be as hard as a rock. And if you just buy them and ignore them, they don't age gracefully: they just get harder. Ridiculous.

It's something I miss, that's all: NI is just better than California for cheese.