To not like being fed leftovers when I am a guest?

[alfabetty]

Or am I being precious? We went to see some friends for an afternoon, for something to eat while the children play. So not expecting a big meal, just snacks.

What is produced is 'cheese & biscuits'. Which is fine. But every bit of cheese has already been hacked about and partially eaten. So it appears to be leftovers from another meal.

AIBU to expect that if you have guests and are serving them cheese and biscuits, you either cut a chunk off a larger block from your well-stocked pantry (my preferred option... ) or nip out and buy a few new lumps of cheese to serve up?

Oh, and I handmake cheese from my flock of goats. I always ensure that I have the right sized piece for the number of people coming, so there are never any left overs. Pshaw.

It would never even cross my mind to not serve up 'leftovers'
When you are a lazy slattern very busy woman, bulk cooking every few days and then reheating meals is the way forward

It is amazing how spag bol can be turned into chili can be turned into cottage pie before anyone really notices...

I think I've just entered a parallel universe - bizarre!

YABU - its cheese FFS

You are being soooo precious, it's really funny, has cheered me right up, you much dish up "well posh nosh" then!!! Can I come to you for cheese and biscuits?!!

I now think I've committed the most dreadful faux pas putting out opened tubs of coleslaw, dips, hoummous

Shit, what will people think

OP you are aware are you not that the cheese cut into neat little squares and wacum packed in the supermarket has been cout out of a MUCH larger piece of cheese so already is a left over when you get it?

YABU

Isn't cheese tasted by one of those blokes digging that pointy thing in the middle? So if he's been at it before it even gets cut up for the shops, we're all doomed!

Ahhh, I see I may be in a minority of one then

I like the brown paper wrapped cheese. I do. A for Nigel Slater.

And cheese cut by the producer or supermarket is different to cheese that's been offered up for eating and chopping around by other, previous, guests.... I may BU unreasonable about the cheeseboard content but there is a difference between aunt Clara's butter knife and the cheese wire on the deli counter. I won't be moved on that.

I don't like cling-film wrapped cheese from the supermarket, either. But that is a whole other thread.

to be honest not everyone can afford a fresh batch every time they have company, i know i cant i afraid if its not past the cell by date and it smells ok then you might be a little bit ott about the whole issue.

[fbear]

Dear God.........

you really object to people serving a block of cheese that they have cut some off to eat previously, rather than getting you a 'fresh' lump of cheese cut at the cheese counter. From your original post I was assuming she'd served you half-chewed scraps foraged from previous diners' plates as opposed to a perfectly normal block of cheese.

Come round to ours, DS2 will offer you some of his slobbery, pre-chewed cheese. He's very insistent.

Well if I pop round to friends for a casual lunch, I would expect this at the very least, with home baked oatcakes. Old cheese for lunch?????? - this country is going to hell in a handbasket.

But Kurri - they've been CUT!

YABsoU that once I understood what you meant, it made me laugh. It's not 'leftovers'- it's cheese. Any open package of anything = leftovers? When I have a particular friend and her son over, we often have hummus (almost always from an open container), cheese (same) and homemade bread which has almost always already been started. There's also fruit but that is usually whole when I put it out. :)

I agree it's nice to have a cheese board with big hunks of cheese on it, but it would be a bit wasteful from my perspective. We don't eat cheese often enough to justify having two open cheeses in the fridge just because we 'had' to have a new one for guests.

(I think this would be different if it were a party or something, however)

No no no no. You are all misunderstanding. How to convey the appearance....

Think of that white soft cheese with apricots, half eaten, lumps spooned from the sides.

A small block of cheddar with every corner and side chopped.

A lump of edam with the spare red wax flapping, forlornly.

Brie. With the point cut clean off.

I shan't go on.

But Kurri, that selection looks very fine indeed

OP: that is the normal condition of cheese that's not been freshly opened. So long as people have been cutting or spooning bits out (and not biting off chunks) then it's not 'left-overs'; it's just cheese.

I presume this has already made the 'most astonishing thing' thread already. If not, it possibly should.

Apart from anything else, it's dreadfully wasteful to go getting new cheese every time you have it, rather than just using the stuff you already have.

Would you have preferred that she had laid nice slabs of cheese on her kids plates, and if they were uneaten neatly placed them on a nice cheese board for you to eat, and had dished the left over coeslaw into a nice ramikin(sp?) type dish and presented it as being new? Not something I would do with the cheese, I would with coeslaw though!

yabu and I think you realise x

I wouldn't object to being served 'leftover' cheese, but if I was presenting it to guests, even as a casual snack, I would probably cut it neatly and put it on a cheese board with a bunch of grapes if I had some.

And decant the coleslaw into a little pot.

Would take no time at all and mean I thought enough of my friend to make a little effort.

So I'm with you, OP - you can come and have my trimmed cheese any time. You are taking all this incredulity on the chin!

It sounds like she had it on a cheese board for a dinner party and was using it up on a low key playdate!

YANBU. I would expect all the blocks to be 'neatened up' before presentation. If the host doesn't want to waste any then she can give the offcuts to her own family. To see the imprints of knives or spoons would start me thinking about whose mouths they had been in. A neat straight edge would mean I could eat without fretting.

The only way to eat stilton is to dig it out of the middle with a spoon, gradually working one's way back to the rind. Never touch it before the maggots are crawling, of course.

I didn't realise cheese was leftovers. Sorry it actually made me giggle.

Yes we got what you meant but in the absence of teeth marks you're still being silly.