Ham Sandwich Indicted!

Thanks to a tip from fellow food writer and friend, Libby from  Cooks Like She Talks , Shawnie (of Manges! Mangi! ) and I were invited to a cheese tasting hosted by NYC's famous Murray's Cheese Shop. Anyone who spends any time with us knows Shawnie and I are suckers for a good creamy brie or a pungent, tangy blue -- and have driven 13 hours one way for a cheesy experience (see our road trip to  Rhode Island  last summer). A quick trek across town to meet the Murray's team and savor their wares was a no-brainer.   Murray's , if you're not familiar, is New York City's oldest cheese shop, founded by Murray Greenberg in 1940.  Over the years, Murray's developed a reputation as a premier cheesemonger, featuring a rotation of over 300 cheeses and their very own aging caves below their main store in Greenwich Village.  More recently, they have been building a partnership with regional grocery stores to share their love of cheese with the whole nation, s...

Like a scene from the predictably cheesy Jim Carey flick "The Yes Man," sometimes you just have to say yes to an invitation...no matter how ambitious or bizarre.  If the invitation is to drive from Columbus, Ohio to Providence, Rhode Island and back in a weekend, a brief consideration of the logistics is understandable, but then I strongly suggest that you say yes, pack a bag and book a room.   I was presented with this very invitation, with the goal of visiting the Rhode Island School of Design to see the last days of an exhibition on cocktail dresses and accouterments.  A few weeks later, I found myself in a car with a girlfriend, blasting our way Cannonball Run-style across Pennsylvania and up the coast to Providence. Our first stop on our brief tour of Rhode Island was RISD, were we were treated to an incredibly well curated exhibition illustrating the history of cocktail culture, from its roots in the 1920s to its retro-revival populari...

Have you been looking for a store where you can buy canned Hungarian goulash, stock up on alligator jerky, browse thousands of types of hot sauce, take home a couple durian fruits, and pick up a 50 lb bag of peanuts? Looking for an obscure cheese or microbrew (or maybe, you're keeping it real with some Genesee)? Would you also like to be entertained by assorted animatronic figures including Lucky the Leprechaun, a talking ear of corn, and a Campbell's soup can on a swing? Then you probably should give up on your plans to get stuff done around the house, jump in the car and head to Fairfield, Ohio to check out the mega-grocery store that is Jungle Jims . The Jungle Jim's empire started as a produce stand, and is now a nationally-known grocery store, events center, and mall complex. Apparently, there's a monorail, too. It's 6 1/2 acres of random food fun--along with a giant produce, meat, and cheese section, there's condiments from every country. (Need a g...