Despite the fact that my studio kitchen is barely large enough to turn around in, it's always difficult for me to say no to a shiny new kitchen toy. I also happen to have a talent for rationalizing the purchase of cool specialty equipment in the name of feeding myself; thus, the introduction of a beautiful pasta machine to my collection of gadgets, and the impetus for several rounds of ravioli experimentation! In honor of the season, I decided to make mushroom ravioli, flavored with parsley and spring onion, and studded with toasted walnuts. And with Beemster X-O in my arsenal, I couldn't resist whipping up a rich and creamy sauce to drizzle on top!

Each week we scan our Facebook page for photos submitted by our fans. For your chance to be featured on our blog, post a delicious, cheesy image to facebook.com/culturecheesemag

Geez, Louise! It's awesome this gorgeous gorgonzola was homemade! Our fan photo of the week by Louise M Dutton has us dreaming of those bygone days when we lit our grills outside to cook up some mean burgers while the sprinklers were on and kids were splashing in the pool...That's right! Gorgonzola is a delicious burger replacement for American cheddar or swiss. Here's a bacon gorgonzola cornbread sliders with chipotle mayo recipe you can whip up inside on a skillet. It's like summer in your mouth for a time when spring is still winter. 

As our Winter Cheese Plate adventure draws to a close, I can’t help but reflect on the incredible diversity that’s been highlighted by our amazing bloggers.

We’ve arrived at the fifth and final week of our Winter Cheese Plate Party! So far you’ve heard from a few new voices in the culture community about our Winter 2012 Cheese Plate, but we’ve got one more for you! Our final guest post comes from Caroline Kaufman, RD, offering a thoughtful take on nutrition and healthy eating at Sweet Foodie.

As an indiscriminate media zealot and avid snack lover, nothing pleases me more than the mash-up of food and pop culture. For this week’s Tasting Tuesday at culture, I thought it would be fun to play director, imagining some of this year’s Oscar nominees in the role of a lifetime, as one of Point Reyes’ amazing cheeses. Here are a few of my picks to invite for a (snack) session on the casting couch.

We've arrived at the fourth installment of our Winter Cheese Plate Winners! Here's where you'll find five weeks of our winning foodie bloggers, sharing their personal spins on our Winter 2012 Cheese Plate! This next post in our series comes from Caitlin Harvey, the Bay Area blogger behind Milk's Leap, a chronicling of her hands-on adventures in home cheesemaking and DIY kitchen culture. Be sure to check back next Wednesday for our fifth and final post in this series, from Caroline Kaufman, RD, of Sweet Foodie!

This... is... JeoparCHEESE!

Welcome to the third installment of our Winter Cheese Plate Winners! Here’s where you’ll find five weeks of our winning foodie bloggers, sharing their personal spins on our Winter 2012 Cheese Plate! This next post in our series comes from Leah McFadden, the ACS-Certified Cheese Professional and blogger behind Shootin’ The Bries, where she recounts her many adventures in cheese tasting! Be sure to check back next Wednesday for the fourth post in this series, from Caitlin Harvey, of Milk’s Leap!

In this blog series our intrepid intern Molly will find and interview American cheesemakers attempting to re-create traditional European cheeses. Learn about the difficulties as well as the benefits of this type of cheese making, as well as how terroir and the idea of a cheese tied to a location so distant changes when that cheese is made in a new location. Also, each week you'll have a chance to win an issue of culture: the word on cheese. The winner of last week's prize was Patrick Farrington!

Once again, true love found a whey in our 2013 cheese-love poetry contest.

As usual, entries spanned from the impish to the outright racy, but in the end, three were chosen:

wendyleek was the soul of brevity with her three line pun-fest, while Coffee Lover charmed some of our judges with her innocent simplicity. Finally, monger Gordon Edgar's elegant sestina took the prize for its deeply felt examination of a life working in cheese.

Welcome to the second installment of our Winter Cheese Plate Winners! Here’s where you’ll find five weeks of our winning foodie bloggers, sharing their personal spins on our Winter 2012 Cheese Plate! Our next guest post comes from Katherine Hysmith, a displaced Texan and grad student at Boston University’s Gastronomy program, recording her New England kitchen adventures at The Young Austinian. Check back next Wednesday for the third post in this series, from Leah McFadden, of Shootin The Bries!