Cheese

1) Some read Playboy for the articles. I read Andrew Sullivan's libertarian "political blog" for the, um, social commentary. He links to this, which "so true" wouldn't even begin to cover. But then, there is his ongoing obsession with "bears," a subset of the gay male population that is/prefers hairy, burly guys with beards. While plenty of otherwise serious bloggers make occasional mention of what they go for, the norm is celebrity crushes, not technicalities such as a preference for back hair. Not sure why Sullivan wants all back hair to stay put, not just that of whichever gentleman whose back hair he most frequently encounters. Regardless, I guess in a way Sullivan's frankness is refreshing because he is, at least according to maybe half his readership, a conservative, and how many conservatives discuss not only being gay, but which particular features they like which way on members of the same sex? How many drop these musings in along with super-serious posts on Iraq, Iran, and partisan politics? But at the same time, back hair? While I agree with Sullivan that men waxing is not the most appealing idea, back hair should be tolerated, not celebrated, and while two individuals (both men, hopefully) with back hair should be allowed to wed, for god's sake, don't allow those with back hair to be, like, open about it.

2) What does it say about me that my first thought, upon noting the return of the mouse, was quick, let me get to the Peeps before the mouse does! OK, my second thought, after where the hell are those sticky traps and might putting a little bit of feta onto a trap help the cause? On the bright side, I suppose this means the search for chometz is pretty much taken care of, or would be if I did that sort of thing.

3) Al di la, otherwise known as the best restaurant ever, does have a cheese option for dessert. In case you were concerned, as I was. Not an official possibility, but the waitress overheard me saying I wondered why there was no cheese as a dessert option, and pointed out that there's a cheese plate on the bar menu. Cheese plates are sort of ridiculous--you could just go to Zabar's and do it yourself, no preparation needed, and unlike sushi there's no issue of trusting a restaurant's product more than a store's--but sometimes you're not on 80th Street, and cheese just sounds that much better than sorbet. And relatedly, I'm going to have to agree with Will Baude that Humboldt Fog is some fantastic cheese--I tried it recently, and it is, in fact, enough better than Bucheron to justify several more dollars a pound. So much for Francophilia--the American version wins, hands down. But until J.Crew comes within so much as a mile (or kilometer?) of agnes b. the France obsession shall remain. (And yes, technically J.Crew and agnes b. are barely a block apart, in Soho, but you get the idea).