At 106, she doesn't need to say cheese

• Tweet

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., April 19 (UPI) -- Elsie Weinert was 106 years old Friday but didn't want the party given her by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan to extol the life-giving benefits of cheese.

"It's not my birthday," the Farmington Hills woman scowled at a TV cameraman.

She was right: The party was on Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Weinert woke up in a lousy mood, said her friend, Bill Skillen. She didn't want a birthday celebration -- and said so as she sat in a chair, stony-faced.

"I'll box your ears," she said to TV chef Jon Ashton, a spokesman for Cabot Cheese. A fellow Brit, as he ribbed her about her age and offered her slices of Cabot white cheddar.

Weinert rejected the grilled cheese sandwich, opting instead for the salmon-asparagus frittata Ashton cooked as part of a demonstration.

Elsie grew up in Cheddar, England. She and her seven siblings were raised in a humble home and would eat the scraps of cheese nobody wanted at the end of the day, she said.

Yes, she agreed, cheese probably has been a factor in her good health.