Garlic Scapes

Last Saturday, I was pleased to drag Calli, Jody, and Zack to the farmer's market. We started with crepes at Bradbury's, walked around the square, stopped in at Fromagination, found ourselves viewing a naked bike ride, and then went to Pizza Brutta for lunch. I think we all found some things to enjoy during the day:
I picked up garlic scapes, green onions, and three tomatoes, along with three cheeses from Fromagination.
Calli gets to enjoy whatever comes out of those ingredients, plus the enjoyment of a beautiful morning. Jody and Zack both said hello to every puppy/dog in the downtown area in addition to tasting/buying some delicious cheeses from Fromagination.

tomato, scapes, and gouda

On Monday, I made scape pesto by blending together half of the garlic scapes, a couple of basil leaves, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. So far, I've only used the pesto as a spread on grilled cheese sandwiches...three times.


I don't care that I have to brush my teeth after eating one every time. It is absolutely worth it.


I have a theory (which is practically fact) that when the Israelites were eating manna in the desert, it was in the form of grilled cheese. As a Wisconsinite who most definitely does not keep kosher, manna ideally would be grilled cheese with bacon. Whatever.

Favorite Thing Ever

I think I may have found the best website on the internet.

The Grilled Cheese Academy features 30 varieties of grilled cheese sandwiches, narrated by Jenna Fischer. They look delicious, although sometimes the descriptions are a little...cheesy. I'm sorry.

Which would I be most interested in trying?

#6 - The Flatiron.
#7 - The Heartland.
#10 - The Monroe.
#29 - The Cheshire.

I can't imagine not enjoying any of them, though. They're full of cheese! Some of them have bacon! What's not to love?

Lasagna

Today, I made lasagna. It wouldn't be that remarkable - everybody loves lasagna, right? We also all hate mondays and Nermal. These are facts of life. However, this time was a bit special because I made my own ricotta cheese.

How was it?

Phenomenal, and easy. I forgot my camera, so you'll have to believe me...but the ricotta cheese was really, really good. I found the instructions on Serious Eats, and I suggest you use their recipe if you're interested. Seriously though, I made cheese by microwaving white vinegar and whole milk, stirring, and straining. That was it.

Calli and I both enjoy a good lasagna normally, and we could tell that the ricotta was of a better quality than you normally find in the store. I can't stress this enough - I know my food tastes better the more involved I am in its creation, and when creating a major part of your dinner is so ridiculously easy...you just have to give it a try.

...and if you're wondering, yes. After we got done inhaling our lasagna, we spent the rest of the night picking on Odie and napping.

P.S. I will have you know that it took all of my willpower not to write about how now I'm a true native of Monroe, or embed a video of the Beach Boys singing "Be True to Your School." You're WELCOME.

Cheese!

For my birthday, I received a gift certificate for Fromagination. On Saturday, I stopped by Cheese Heaven (as I like to call it) and sampled some delicious cheeses. It was sublime.

I walked out of the store with 5 - count 'em, 5 - blocks of cheese. Here are some pictures and descriptions.

Sarvecchio Parmesan

This is an amazing hard cheese - I had some tonight with fettucini and brown butter.

Bella Vitano Merlot-soaked Parmesan

I have tried this cheese before - in a specialty foods store in Door County. The cheese is infused with a delicious essence of wine. To top that off, the rind is a beautifully rich plum color.
Bohemian Blue Hidden Springs

Calli and I tested about four of the store's blues, but finally settled on this one. It was much stronger than the other candidates, and I look forward to just enjoying it with crackers and wine.

Carr Valley Black Sheep Truffle

This is a semi-firm Italian-style cheese with little flecks of black truffle in it. I hate to keep referring to the cheeses as delicious, but seriously. Go to this store. You will believe me.

I used about a third of this block in scrambled eggs this morning, and they were superb.

Cesar's Quesadilla Cheese


To wrap up the day, I got a block of quesadilla cheese. Lately I've been on quite a quesadilla kick, and this can only help, right?

Here are my cheeses all hanging out together:

Cheese? or Font?

Do I really have a choice but to link this amazing game? Click here to feel worse about your knowledge of cheeses and fonts.

Typing in Cheese

I think it was back when I was taking Geography 370 (Introduction to Cartography) that I first heard of a typeface promising to save the user 15-20% in ink and toner by creating small holes in the characters (a swiss cheese effect.) I partly forgot about it, seeing as how I don't really spend much at all on toner or ink...but the idea lodged itself somewhere in the trivia-encrusted recesses of my mind. Lately I thought about it again, and found this. Ecofont probably won't help any of you guys that much; I doubt any of my readers print in such massive quantities to make it economically meaningful.

Even if Ecofont won't help me that much, it is nice to think that there's a typeface in the world that can be described as cheese-like...not counting fontina.

Oh man...that's terrible.