Ah, the power of cheese...

The average American eats 31 pounds of cheese per year. If that statistic doesn't cheer up a gloomy girl who was planning on spending her evening feeling sorry for herself, I don't know what will!

Thirty-one pounds of cheese per person, per year. Do you think any of these people eat their 31 pounds of cheese in one sitting? Because that would be amazing. Disgusting, but amazing.

I learned this from a Lincoln Jounal-Star article (http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/08/17/savor/doc430113318cb37611067991.txt) about cheese. Oh how I hope I get to write an in-depth piece on cheese at some point in my career, should I foray into journalism again.

The article includes tips on handling cheese (gently but firmly), serving cheese (remove wrapper), storing cheese (ideally not in pants), etc. I was not aware there was such a science to these things, and I consider myself to be a devoted fan of cheese (as is my husband, as you can see from the photo above, which he insisted I take after I read this artice to him aloud). I also wasn't aware that fancy cheese was sometimes called "artisan cheese." Oh la la, fromage tres chic. Not surprisingly, aerosol-can squirt cheese was not mentioned, nor was any cheese of the Whiz variety. Alas.