behold the power of...

CHEESE.

Yes, that's right ladies and gents. An entire post dedicated to our beloved cheese.

I don't even know where to begin. I'm sure I can trace this love back to the fact that I was born in America's Dairy Land. Wisconsin. I know they say that "Happy cows come from California" and it may be true, but you just can't compete with America's Dairy Land. Plain and simple.

For example. Wisconsin (and Minnesota...maybe other parts of the Midwest?) is home to the greatest fair food EVER.

Enter Cheese Curds.

Delicious deep fried nuggets of ooey gooey cheesy goodness. Now tell me these don't look scrumptious. Never mind the fact that it's cardiac arrest on a plate. It's yummy anyway. They are SO bad for you that my friend's dad who is a cardiologist doesn't let his family eat them. But they sneak them at the fair sometimes anyway. I thought these were a common staple among state fairs. I had grown up eating them every summer (and looked forward to it too!) But when I got to college people looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm sorry...have I ever eaten what? Cheese curds?" I tried hard to defend them, but I still came up short. They're a close cousin to the mozzarella stick...but better. Loads better. Sorry mozzarella sticks. Although you are quite delicious too.

I will firmly say that I could eat cheese every day and never EVER get sick of it. And I usually do. I try and work it in somehow. Whether it's a string cheese, cheese and crackers (I eat cheese and crackers so much that my roommate used to call me cracker), on top of a salad, on my sandwich, you get the point. And thankfully cheese has none of the common side effects on me that it may on others. Just saying.

The old and true standby when it comes to everyday cheesy snacks is most likely string cheese.

Has anyone ever noticed how many types of string cheese there are these days?? It is quite the decision when I go to the grocery store. I don't have too much of a preference, although I did have this one really weird kind one time that was american string cheese. Yes, somehow they put those slices of cheese into string form. It was weird. I will eat American cheese melted on a sandwich though. But that's beside the point.

Back to string cheese. When I was little I thought that the string cheese that was one big lump and you pulled off the individual sticks of string cheese was THE COOLEST THING EVER. I tried to find a picture of it but couldn't find quite the right thing. The first time I ever had it was when my family went to Myrtle Beach and we bought it at Food Lion. And don't get my started on string cheese etiquette! You MUST pull it apart. Not just bite into it. OK, so on occasion when I've been in a hurry I've given in to this type of string cheese eating. But mark my words. This is not a regular occurrence.

Does anyone have as hard of a time as my family has in finding a decent cheese slicer? Doesn't anybody know how to make quality products these days? We have this one old one that we've had for as long as I can possibly remember. The wooden handle is cracked from so much use and cycles through the dishwasher. And it slices the cheese PERFECTLY. I guess we got it from one of those party packs that comes with summer sausage, cheese and crackers. Well wherever it came from, it's a gem. And every other cheese slicer producer should get in contact with them and ask them a thing or two.

It always produces a sound slice of cheese that is the exact same size as the surface of the block and it's the same width all the way though. All with one swift movement. None of this random thick parts or breaks off so you have a weird shaped slice which totally throws off the cheese ratio for your sandwich. Nothing can compare to this cheese slicer! We've even bought new ones by fancy brands and they just don't stack up.

My favorite kitchen chore? Grating cheese! I don't know why I love it so much but I really do. Whenever someone is making something that requires cheese to be grated I immediately volunteer.

And yes, I have grated my knuckles before. But just once. And it wasn't that bad...and I didn't take it out on the cheese. I still love and always will love cheese.