"specialty" news and stories

With California producing nearly as much cheese as Wisconsin last year (2 billion pounds and 2.4 billion pounds, respectively) the Badger state is turning to artisan and specialty cheeses to help them stay in the game. A recent story in the Wisconsin State Journal spotlights a few of the growing number of specialty cheesemakers in Wisconsin, like Uplands Cheese Company, makers of Pleasant Ridge Reserve (right). Experts predict that in the next 10 years, high-end cheeses like these will make up about half of Wisconsin's cheese production. Uplands went from making 6,000 pounds in 2000 to 60,000 last year, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Is grocery shopping the new national past time? Sometimes, it can certainly seem that way. With lines around the block at store openings for Trader Joe's and Whole Foods markets, one would think that the customers were lining up to see a Broadway show or a blockbuster movie, not to pick up a quart of milk and some specialty produce. Shoppers drive for hours to visit a Wegman's grocery in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland or Virginia - not only to get all the goodies they need to stock their kitchens, but for the fun of it. Cheese tasting, gourmet and artisan prepared goods and other foods, like sushi, prepared on the spot by skilled chefs are all draws of markets like these, whether their prices are high, low or midrange.

Why is shopping becoming entertainment, though? USA Today tried to answer that very question and found that the answer lay in a combination of factors. Americans are more interested in new and quality foods than ever before. They want healthier foods, international flavors and they want to find it all in one store because the long-standing tradition of one-stop shopping is the only kind that fits into a busy schedule. Consequently, the stores that offer everything do well, so well that people want to visit them more than other stores. "Nothing compares with it," a customer said of Wegman's. "You can spend an entire day there."

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It is not clear what the people at Berndes, a German cookware company, were thinking when they designed this pan. It is clear, however, that they did not agonize over the name, calling it simply the Fat Bug Cake Pan. This is not the usual shape you expect to find in a cake pan. You expect roses, hearts and maybe even a butterfly. You definitely do not expect to see a cast aluminum larvae mold. I give them full credit for originality, and the pan is no doubt of high quality, but I still can't see spending $25 to buy a pan shaped like, to put it generously, a "fat bug."

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