Incident one: Just last week, I went into my very favorite cheese shop in town and asked the guy for a small wedge of Fromage D’Affinoir. And the guy’s face fell! He wrinkled his nose and made a disgusted expression as if I’d just asked for the dumbest, most vulgar kind of cheese on the planet. He gave me the Fromage, but he practically threw the thing at me. I got out of there as quickly as I could.
Incident two: The other day, I went into my second-favorite cheese shop in town and asked for some fresh ricotta, which, as you know, is very hard to find. The owner asked me why I needed fresh ricotta. I explained that my wife was making me a lasagna from scratch, using a Kitchenaid standing mixer with a pasta-making attachment. “What is she, a mail-order bride?” said the owner.