Parmigiano-Reggiano was next, Murray's number one-selling cheese for years. At $13.99 a pound, it's one of the least expensive prices for the Italian cheese that I've seen around town.

From there, it was on to the last cheese of the evening: a gorgonzola dolce paired with Bee Raw Star Thistle Honey. True to its "dolce" nomenclature, the Northern Italian blue cheese was sweeter (and creamier) than your standard blue, and not nearly as pungent. I ate it with my fingers, dipped into the little pot of hazy honey, enjoying the raw honey's finely grained texture against the smooth cheese. Thorpe recommends pairing it with honeyed pears for dessert and, she says, "you'll never look back."

At the end of the class, Thorpe fielded questions like "What's the oldest type of cheese?" and "How much cheese per person would you put on a dessert plate?" (Answers: feta-style salty cheese and half an ounce per person, with a minimum of three and a maximum of five cheeses.) But I wanted to know if Thorpe, in her nine years as a master of the cheese universe, had tried our Texas cheeses.

"Yes!" she answered brightly. "In fact, I just had a fabulous plate of local cheeses last night at Haven." Impressed with our local cheese programs like that of the Houston Dairymaids, Murray's is talking with local distributors about stocking local cheeses.

And a final question for the cheesemistress: What is the next category of cheeses we should watch for on the culinary horizon? Thorpe's answer: "Washed-rind cheese are horribly maligned." That means you should keep an eye out for more stinky (*ahem* pungent) cheeses on menus in the coming months in years: Taleggio, Epoisses, Raclette and -- yes -- Limburger.

This stinky cheese fan is elated. I wonder if patrons dining at the table next to me will feel the same way?