Say Cheese

I recently read a quote attributed to Princess Margaret regarding her relationship with her sister, Queen Elizabeth. The quote said the two had had "rows" but "never a rift."
The same can be said of me and my sisters. And it's mostly true of my own children.
Most of their "rows" have been verbal. The only time  it ever got physical was when they fought over cheese.
I am serious.
That is how serious they are about cheese. My children love cheese.
They especially love cheese apples.
Cheese apples are really not apples at all. They do not have apple in them. Rather they are more in the nature of a cheese ball.
The recipe has been perfected by and remains the secret of my brother-in-law's family. Every Thanksgiving them make dozens.
They are a favorite family gift and are a staple at the annual Native American Museum auction. They are the hot ticket item at the auction. They usually sell out.
Folks in these parts have developed a real liking for the unusual taste and texture of them. In my family it is more like  love.
We all recall, and in recent years, recall even with humor, an exchange two of my children had one year over the last cheese apple of the season.
It seems my son was "lopping" off huge hunks and plunking it onto saltine crackers.
His little sister, who is a most serious connoisseur was offended.
"He obviously does not know that you must cherish the last cheese apple" she said.
Now at that time I did not know that one is to slice small slices and spread them gingerly upon a specialty cracker of some sort. But that apparently is the rule.
That this cheese apple discussion almost turned violent is not something I am proud of but it does give some indication of just how much my children love the things.
My middle sister, who married into the cheese apple family told me this weekend that she has two left for the claiming. "Might we want them?" she asked.
A rhetorical question, that!