Good rant except for one thing:

>...we [sticklers] got very worked up after 9/11 not because of Osama bin-Laden but because people on the radio kept saying ?enormity? when they meant ?magnitude?, ...<

This is, perhaps, the one time when they used 'enormity' correctly.

From Webster
Enormity: being immoderate, monstrous, or outrageous.

Never store any cheese or butter near onions. Somehow the onion flavor/odor can be picked up by the cheese -- and the result is not good.

Good point about keeping the rind of any hard cheese such as Parmesan. It can form the base of any cheese sauce or used in cooking. Some cheeses, however, are protected by a wax layer (Edam, for example). I have yet to find a use for that red stuff! Any ideas?

Just out of interest, where do you buy cheese cloth in 2004?

sheila, we can buy it here in the fabric stores. Bardo1, isn't that article funny? I read it in the paper a while back.

I follow Dr. DoGood's recommendations with high quality parmesan. I can't bring myself to wrap good cheese in Saran wrap! Not that it ever lasts long in our house, though.

Sandi's recommendation to use the rind in cooking is excellent. A rind greatly enhances minestrone; in fact most recipes call for it.

We have a wonderful Italian import store whose owners we've befriended and they save the rinds and give us a bunch each time we come in.

We buy cheesecloth in any hardware or cooking supply store.

St. Cirque, how do you feel about "nucular"?

Sheila, I buy my cheese cloth in the hardware store.

Oh, Lyn, don't get me started!

Bardo1: Here's one for you:

http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/examples.htm

back to th cheese, this will show you what the real thing looks like. The taste is so unlike the others.

http://www.chefdepot.net/parmesan.htm

For what it's worth--I was at Costco last night and looked at the Parmesan cheese. The instructions on the wrapper said to divide it into 3 or 4 sections, wrap each in plastic and, as has been suggested, to use the rind in soups, etc. It's my understanding that they carry very good, high quality cheeses.

Hi jeri,

Was that "Parmesan cheese" or real Reggiano Parmigiano from Italy?

Ira, That's the "real" thing at Costco. The cheese in Italy should be eaten there (with at baquette and wine).At stores here Stateside they buy the wheel and cut it so why lug it home?
I get my cheesecloth at the Supermarket!