I’m from California. So what cheese have they picked for my home state? The Vella Special Select Dry Monterey Jack. The website says that Jack cheese was first made in Monterey by David Jacks, a Scotsman. Interesting!

One night we came home tired and didn’t have much food at home. We did have shredded mozzarella, ketchup, and bread, though. I made myself a couple of sandwiches with these ingredients. They weren’t as bad as I had feared. Yes, cheese makes every situation better.

It seems that people don’t eat that much cheese in Beijing, or in all of China for that matter. Cheese is pretty much served only in Western restaurants and fast-food places.

Beijing Cheese is delicious, though. It tastes like white cheddar blended with a few other cheeses. It is bold enough for our tastes, but not too strong.

We add a few slices of it to our bowls of pasta, and we use it in grilled cheese sandwiches. It tastes wonderful melted.

The creamy white color of Beijing Cheese is beautiful. Life in Beijing isn’t bad at all when you have Beijing Cheese!

Unfortunately, I could hardly taste the cheeses in the three-cheese sauce. Fortunately, I had some grated parmesan in the fridge.

I topped the bowl with lots of grated parmesan. Then I mixed the pasta, sauce, and cheese. Finally, I ate it. I am such a cheese basket!

I have never eaten edam in this way before. It is surprisingly delicious when melted. It retains its distinctive taste, yet its strength is softened a bit by the melting.

He had bought it last time as well, which made me wonderfully happy because it meant that he had enjoyed it.

The edam cheese had been part of a very round cheese ball, and it was very orange.

They have a “Cheese of the Month” club, cheese tastings, classes on cheese, and even cheese internships.

The Artisanal Cheese Center was featured in the New York Times. Here are a couple of great cheesy quotes from the article:

In the last decade women in particular have been dropping their day jobs to devote their lives to cheese.

As the variety and quality of American cheeses have blossomed in recent years, the passion of American cheese lovers has intensified.

And, in the context of people who smuggle cheeses:

The Food and Drug Administration bans the sale or import of cheese aged less than 60 days because government scientists say it takes that long for cheese to develop acids and salts that prevent pathogens.

Pizza is probably how many children in the United States are introduced to cheese. It can be found everywhere you go. It is also extremely easy to make, because all of the ingredients are readily available. You can buy a ball of pizza dough for around $1.50, and then all you need is tomatoes and cheese at the minimum.

Nevertheless, last night I ate many Triscuits with brie.

I’ve almost used up the large wedge of brie that I bought last week. It is sad because soon I will have no more cheese. Well, I do have some cheeses in the freezer that I can melt, at least.

Sloan had bought a lot of cottage cheese, without realizing that his roommate had also bought a lot of cottage cheese. Determined to use it up, and knowing that a single box of macaroni alone would not be enough to fill our stomachs, he suggested that we add it to the macaroni and cheese.

He also found a bag of romano cheese in the refrigerator. We decided to add some of that too, for good luck and good taste.

I agreed to his experiments happily but suggested that we use the ‘white cheddar’ variety of mac & cheese rather than the ‘real aged wisconsin cheddar’ variety. I feared that the cottage cheese would seem too white in an orange bowl of macaroni.

The macaroni and cheese turned out to be very nice. It was very creamy and cheesy. We ate it happily, with two forks and a single bowl.