For my birthday this year my sister, who lives in Wisconsin, sent me a selection of artisanal cheeses from Carr Valley Cheese. These Wisconsin cheeses ranged from the wonderful — goat’s milk cheddar, slightly sharp and milky — to the truly awful — cocoa cardona, a musky cheese inexplicably covered with cocoa powder.

Click to continue…

My friend Sue was recently in Monaco, and took some nice photos at the supermarche. It made me think about how much I love visiting markets when I’m traveling. The Tsukiji market in Tokyo is the most amazing one I’ve been to, though unfortunately I don’t have any photos of it. Below you can see some of the markets I do have photos of.

Posted by Howard

From the NY Times, a video about a “miracle fruit” that temporarily re-wires your taste buds to make sour things taste sweet. It’s one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in a while, but I have to ask: How do I get invited to the party?

Flavor Tripping
Photo via NY Times

Posted by Howard

The Amateur Gourmet posted last week about his favorite food movie, and he picked “Defending Your Life.” This is a great choice, because it’s not really a movie about food and yet features food very prominently. Also it’s a great movie.

One of my favorite food movies is “Mickey and the Beanstalk.” Not a movie about food, you say? Watch the clip below, via YouTube, and then tell me that.

Posted by Howard

*Our 100th post!

This past Saturday strawberries arrived at the Grand Army Plaza Farmer’s Market. They didn’t look that great, and they varied widely in price. The cheapest were $4 per pint, the most expensive were the ones at $7 per pint that you see above. I didn’t get any, I want to wait until they look a little better, but it was nice to see that summer is just around the corner.

Posted by Howard

I’ve eaten at House of Vegetarian twice now, and both times I got these steamed vegetable dumplings. They are perfect: chewy outside, juicy, flavorful inside. The entrees have been so-so; once I got something with fake chicken, which was pretty good, but more recently I got a fake beef with broccoli dish which was terrible. The dumplings remained wonderful. I’d say they were worth the trip alone.

House of Vegetarian — 68 Mott St

Posted by Howard