Kate writes from the road:

"I'm visiting the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh with the ACS board. Calvander by Chapel Hill Creamery won first place!"

Full results of the competition will be posted here soon!

Following hot on the heels of Elaine's post on cheese and cardiac health, here's a dip that probably ain't good for you. Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip comes via Slice & Dice, a foodblog that makes no apologies for richness.

The question is, is it good? On the one hand, sugar, butter, cream cheese, chocolate. On the other, too much butter, sugar, cream cheese and chocolate?

It's never going to win a James Beard award, but when I first tasted cookie dough ice-cream, I'd never have guessed that it'd be ubiquitous a decade later. And the inside-out approach has really worked for molecular cuisine. Heck, you don't even need a sous-vide machine.

Thank you!

In 2008, culture magazine started when a couple friends met around a kitchen table to talk about their love of cheese. Three years later, we've got cheese fans all over the world coming together to celebrate cheese and the people who make it, sell it, and eat it, and social media has been a big part of that story.

Contest closed! Elizabeth Farquar of Portland OR is the winner of our random drawing. Thank you to all the wedge heads!

Another recent photo find, this time from the Museum of Food Anomalies:

According to the accompanying text, "Rick sliced into a block of cheese to find the first-ever sighting of a possible descendant of the "Man in the Moon.'"

Sitting here in my local coffeeshop here in Davis CA, I realize I've never shared with you one of their great innovations: Potatoes et. al.

The formula is simple: homefries topped with cheddar and broiled. Add guacamole, sour cream, salsa and an optional egg or two for a mighty brunch plate for just $6.

My only wish is that they'd use a nicer cheese; their foodservice shreds don't do their salty, crispy homefries justice. I've never attempted a home version, but a bit of quality cheddar would elevate the dish into the stratosphere.

Still, if you're ever at the Delta of Venus, and don't plan to do much with the rest of your day...

Came across this today via boingboing.net, which should tell you everything you need to know. Lunchtime trickster Insanewich has a couple items that every hip 'n happening cheese blogger has on his or her desk:

Hi, Mom!

Thanks for sending me this link to the mysterious Yogurito; I love Japanese softdrinks like the mysteriously stony-flavored Pocari Sweat and the milk-based, lacto-fermented Calpis Water, so it might just be up my alley.

Cheesemonger Ray Bair, of San Francisco's Cheese Plus, puts out an occaisional newsletter for customers and fans of his wonderful shop. His most recent note caught our eye: besides featuring a great roundup of NYC-area cheese shops, he also described his visit to Marcia Barinaga, maker of our fall centerfold, Baserri. He graciously allowed us to reprint it here:

A Tale of 2 Thursdays, part 2

Back home in San Francisco, my niece Stefanie is visiting from Arizona. Still jazzed from my fast tour of Manhattan specialty food stores, I arrange for a tour of Barinaga Ranch near Point Reyes while she is visiting. Coincidentally, it's the following Thursday.

Cheesemonger Ray Bair, of San Francisco's Cheese Plus, puts out an occasional newsletter for customers and fans of his wonderful shop. His most recent note caught our eye for the sheer amount of collegial monger-love he shows for his fellow curd-slingers, and he gave us permission to reprint it, as well as his recent visit to Marcia Barinaga, maker of our fall centerfold Baserri:

A Tale of 2 Thursdays, part 1:

Results are in! Billygoat Austin has made the selection, and the winners of the contest are...