This past weekend, Whole Foods set a Guinness World Record of the most wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese cracked around the world at the same time. Every single one of their stores participated in this event on Saturday, April 12th, importing at least one, if not multiple, 85-pound wheel of cheese from Parma and various Northwest regions of Italy.

See their video demonstration after the jump!

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I have lovely friends.

Some of my friends are so lovely that when it’s their time to take a break and relax (aka they’re on a break from med school), they spend all week planning a wine and cheese night instead. And what do I do? I just attend. Man, how unhelpful am I?

So I go, since that’s my one and only duty, and I’m greeted by a fabulous spread of much more than wine and cheese. I thought I was in heaven but it turns out it was just a med school dorm room full of bakeaholics.

There was homemade…
…banana bread, and carrot cake (w/ homemade frosting) and blueberry pie…

Oh yea, and wine and cheese. The wines were a choice between a German Riesling (the white) and an Argentinean Cabernet Sauvignon.

And the cheeses were cheddar, pepper jack, and an ammmmaazing pepper goat cheese which i devoured with pita chip after pita chip.

My friend also served homemade guacamole with tortilla chips, and later on, by request pulled out some of her mom’s homemade strawberry jam for dipping.

Can you say your wine and cheese night turned into dinner? I can.

And if you’re clueless about wine tasting (like me), click here for a guide to wine.

-Hillary, hoping for a relaxing weekend
Editor, Recipe4Living

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I haven’t raved about it much (if at all) on the blog, but I am, to put it lightly, absolutely wild about fondue. Whenever I discover a restaurant with fondue of any kind–savory, sweet, pricey, cheap, whatever–I make an immediate phone call.

“Hey,” says I.
“Hey!” says Foodie Friend.
“So there’s this new place I want to check out.”
“Have you read any reviews?” She asks suspiciously.
“They have fondue,” I reply matter-of-factly, the thought of that pot-of-cheese (or chocolate, or oil, or…) as good as a pretty triad of Michelin stars and a Zagat 30 in my mind.

I first encountered fondue after trekking for hours up a frozen mountain, so no wonder it’s made such an impression on me. …okay, okay, it was after perhaps forty minutes of trekking up a ski slope, but it was cold! And the snowshoes were ill-fitting! And the air was thin! I’m lazy! Regardless of just how manly and trying this journey was, it definitely made me hungry; stepping into an elegant, nearly-empty restaurant tucked away alongside a Utah green run and smelling rich melted cheese didn’t help much. If biting into the first slice of apple and tasting the savory cheese as it gave way to crisp tartness was a revelation; tasting the first slice of banana dipped into melted chocolate was almost erotic, and I’ve been obsessed ever since.

Problem is, you can’t just up and make fondue. Unlike, say, guacamole, it’s not just about the freshest ingredients, a bowl, and some tools. You need a double boiler, probably a portable burner, a bunch of those goofy skinny forks that look like the brain picker out of Total Recall…it requires aforethought, is my point, and devoted readers may be realizing I’m not a master of that particular skill.

But I’m trying anyway, because of this recipe: Fondue Royale.

Oh yeah, you read that right. Truffles and Champagne. Adapted from the long out-of-print Fondue Cookbook by Ed Callahan (apparently they were nuts about this stuff in 1968), it looks right up my alley, possibly even up my driveway and into my front hall.

Of course, if that ain’t your thing, we’ve got other fondue recipes, like:
Sharp Cheddar Cheese Fondue
Cheese Fondue
Chocolate Grand Marnier Fondue

Whichever you choose, enjoy it, and be sure those Total Recall forks only stab into the food!

-Jim is strangely unimpressed by chocolate waterfalls

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So there I was yesterday, wandering around Trader Joe’s as I often do after work, waiting for dinner’s inspiration to come to me. I had had a big lunch and wanted something lighter for dinner, and with the temperature breaking a very humid 90 degrees in Chicago, I didn’t want anything too heavy. In fact, I wanted to avoid turning on the oven at all costs.

When R called to see what was for dinner, I was standing in front of the cheese section (oh, glorious cheese section!) and reported, “I don’t know… but probably something involving goat cheese.” So I picked up a log of goat cheese and a ball of fresh mozzarella and soon the gears in my brain were whirring. I’ll let you in on my train of thought…

That ripe tomato at home would be perfect with the mozzarella. Great. Instant caprese. But I should probably have some protein… no chicken, tofu would be weird… what about beans? OH! What about that chickpea salad that Molly at Orangette always raves about?

Bingo.

I knew that reading the food blogs would pay off someday.

At home, I began to prepare my trio of salads: caprese, chickpea and greens. But when I went to reference Molly’s recipe, I realized I had forgotten a crucial ingredient: Parmesan! Let this be a lesson to us all: never doubt yourself when hovering around an extensive cheese section - always buy the cheese! Nevertheless, the chickpeas were already drained and the lemon was already squeezed so, figuring there was nothing to lose, I crumbed some goat cheese atop the salad.

It turned out not to be a terrible choice. The creamy texture of the goat cheese actually went well with the crunch of the chickpeas, but I can definitely see how Parmesan would be a better choice. (Molly, please forgive me for butchering Brandon’s recipe!) But I did love the salad and can’t wait to have the leftovers for lunch today.

All in all it was quite the satisfying meal. True, there may have been a bit too much cheese on the plate by a nutritionist’s standards, but clearly, that didn’t bother me.

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It’s possible that my affinity for mozzarella has gotten out of control. But with all the fresh basil and tomatoes that keep appearing in my grocery store, it’s hard to walk by without dreaming of caprese.

This weekend, we had dinner at my parent’s house for Mother’s Day and my mom wanted to do something special for appetizers. When I arrived, I was told that the mozzarella appetizer was my job and was handed a recipe. The recipe was actually unnecessary because the process of making Mozzarella Skewers was so simple.

The contrast in colors of the white, red and green looks gorgeous on a serving platter. Make sure to use cherry tomatoes that are on the smaller side, otherwise there will be a fair share of tomato juice squirting going on as people attempt to bite into the large tomato and end up blinding their neighbor with tomato seeds. Also try to keep the grouping close to the bottom of the skewer to avoid tongue-stabbing whilst consuming.

And although I just made them sound like quite a hazardous affair, these simple skewers are delicious and are so easy to throw together!

Mozzarella Skewers

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I like to think of myself as an honorary Cheesehead. Although I was not born in the state of Wisconsin, my four years of undergrad in Madison only encouraged my love for cheese and the need to melt it on just about everything. This desire has not waned in my post-collegiate years, although perhaps my taste has grown more sophisticated. I choose Brie or Camembert over cheddar and I’ve found that a good, hard Parmesan makes all the difference in Italian cooking.

And when springtime comes around, one of my favorite cheese dishes is a classic caprese salad. There is nothing fresher and more satisfying than a firm beefsteak tomato, fresh mozzarella cheese and just-picked basil leaves. A few dashes of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper make it a colorful side dish that no one can turn down.

Clearly you can see that my love for cheese is pure. Which is why I feel a tinge of guilt telling you that I actually substituted it out of the dish. Running short on time and ingredients, I decided to swap an avocado for mozzarella and the results were fantastic! It made a gorgeous salad, especially with a bit of balsamic vinegar drizzled over the top. And it tasted great too! It’s actually a good alternative for lactose-intolerant foodies who still crave the creamy texture combined with a firm tomato.

The recipe is so simple, it seems silly to write out the ingredients and directions, but I think you get the idea. Do you have any other variations on the caprese? Running With Tweezers writes about a refreshing summer twist with watermelon and basil granita!

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