By Harwood E Woodpecker

Italy is famous for many thing's, pasta, architecture, coffee, pizza and pasta just to name a few. But could you imagine a world without Italian cheese, No Parmesan on your pasta or mozzarella on your pizza.

One thing about Italian food is the regional variances. Pizza and pasta types vary from region to region as do such things as breads. Within these regional variances certain areas of Italy do things better than others, whether it be because of the terrain or the climate different products are associated with different areas, such as Parma ham from Parma, pizza from Napoli, meat dishes from Turin and fish dishes from Sardinia.

Lombardi, the region which includes Milan is renowned throughout Italy for its cheese and sausage. These Italian cheeses are deliciously tasty and make a great accompaniment to any meal.

Small and medium-sized producers of specialist Italian cheeses in the Alpine regions face a difficult struggle to maintain their existence in competition with the varied palette of factory-made dairy products. Unfortunately, European Union regulations often only serve to hasten their demise, by making often contradictory demands, imposing quotas and limits, or fining them for not fulfilling certain norms, despite the fact that theirs are high quality, often imaginative, products. Italian cheese making is going through a difficult time.

Stracchino is one of these threatened products. It is a rectangular Italian cheese made from whole milk. It is a rich cheese, pearly white in colour, with a soft, creamy texture and remarkable, delicate flavour.

Stracchino is sometimes known outside of Lombardi as Crescenza. The name Stracchino cheese comes from the way the milk to make it was originally obtained: it was the milk of vacche stracche, cows exhausted by the journey back down the mountain from the summer meadows. Stracco is local dialect for exhausted - and stracchino is little exhausted one.

Taleggio is a square Italian cheese weighing about four pounds (2 kilograms), it is a typical Lombard country soft Italian cheese. The rind is brownish and tends to form a mold. Directly beneath this rind, the cheese is soft and soft textured, but in the centre, it is whitish and crumbly. The first mention of Taleggio Italian cheese dates from around 1200, and the method of production has changed little since then, apart from the use of selected enzymes to ensure the quality of the end product. The cheese is still only made from cow's milk. The curd takes 18 hours to form, and the cheese must mature for at least one month before being ready to eat. Taleggio is mild with a slight sourness, becoming quite piquant as it ages. It should not he kept for long periods because it spoils easily. A slice of Taleggio rounds off a meal. It also goes well with hot polenta, and tastes delicious eaten with ripe pears. Taleggio is a favourite Italian cheese.

Gorgonzola is a very old Italian cheese specialty, and originates from the town of Gorgonzola in Lombardy. First written records of it are from the 11th and 12th centuries. A blue-veined Italian cheese, it is produced today across a wide area of Piedmont and Lombardy, and is popular both in Italy and abroad. Almost every supermarket in the western world will stock and sell Gorgonzola.

The region produces around three million Gorgonzola cheeses per year, which are exported to the rest of Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, the USA, UK and Canada packed as portions in colourfully printed foil wrappers, which must bear the brand figure of the consortium to be genuine. It has a strong, piquant flavour - with a hint of bitterness, and is a true all-round Italian cheese. Gorgonzola makes a good partner to eat with polenta, tastes good - with egg and with nuts, and can be used for creams and sauces. It is delicious with a robust red wine. It also makes a great sauce to go with steak. Gorgonzola is an extremely versatile Italian cheese hence its popularity.

Provolone Valpadana is a hard Italian cheese with its characteristic shape - round, pear-shaped, or sometimes cylindrical - originally comes from Basilicata in the south, but is also made in northern Italy today, especially in Lombardy. Because of its shape it is also known as pear cheese. Provolone is sold in various sizes, and is made by a similar pasta filata process to mozzarella.The curd is scalded - it is heated until it begins to melt and become stringy (filata), and then wrapped around itself until it assumes its round shape. It is dipped in brine and hung up on a cord to ripen, which takes about a year. The rind is coated in wax to protect it from drying out. Provolone comes in various flavor categories from provolone dolce, which is mild and buttery, to piquant (provolone piccante). The mild version makes a good end to a meal, and the piquant one is often used grated. A smoked version is available in Lombardy. Provolone is a wonderful Italian cheese to accompany a sandwich, its delicate flavor adds to a sandwich without over powering it.

Probably the most universally famous Italian cheese is Parmesan, avariation on this is Grana Padano which is often compared to Parmigiano Reggiano, despite the differences between them in the method of production and region of origin. Parmigiano reggiano comes exclusively from Emilia-Romagna, and grana padano from the Veneto,Trentino, Piedmont, or Lombardy. Parmigiano Reggiano may by law only be made from the milk of cows that have been fed on grass or hay, whereas other types of fodder are permissible for grana padano.

This does not mean that it is in anyway inferior. Its manufacture is supervised by a consortium, and only cheeses bearing the official brand mark grana padano are the genuine article. The milk from which it is made comes from two consecutive milkings, and is allowed to stand and partially skimmed to produce an Italian cheese with just 30 percent fat in dry matter. The milk is then heated and micro-organisms added. The cheeses are matured for 1-2 years. Grana padano has a granular texture, and can become dry and crumbly. It forms a thick, smooth rind. The cheese has a harmonious flavour, not too salty and not too mild, with a slight piquancy and a nutty quality. It can be eaten as an appetizer, or used for grating over pasta dishes or green salads.

So next time you want to eat the real Italian way use real Italian cheese, it will make a difference.

If you've never tried fresh Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano give it a go, its one Italian cheese that pasta cannot do without.

I try to pass on my musings on life and experiences in a way that people may find interesting to read.

Gorgonzolla Cheese

You may not always agree with my writings but I hope to inform. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Harwood_E_Woodpecker

By Nick Messe

The sandwich has become one of the food staples that keeps us going. In fact there are places to get great sandwiches and subs all over the world. Places like Bob's Pantry in Highland Park and Ravinia Illinois - a famous Ravinia Deli.

Sandwiches have been around for hundreds of years. Today a typical sandwich consists of two pieces of bread with filler in between, but early sandwiches were not always like this. The modern sandwich owes a lot to what we now usually call a "wrap". For example, for centuries there has been a Jewish food preparation consisting of Paschal lamb wrapped between two pieces of flat unleavened bread eaten during Passover.

But the open-faced sandwich has an interesting history too. Before the 1800's slices of stale bread were used by taverns instead of plates. They would place these slabs of bread - known as trenchers - on the tables and meat or other food would be placed on top of them, and the bread would sop up the juices from the meal. At the end of the meal the trencher would either be eaten or thrown to the ever-present dogs.

The word "sandwich" began to be used in the mid to late 1700s because the 4th Earl of Sandwich liked to eat his food in a manner that allowed him to carry on with other activities. More often than not this consisted of meat between two pieces of bread. This allowed him to continue working at his desk or playing cribbage with his friends without getting his hands greasy by having to handle meat directly.

The term "sandwich" eventually caught on in London because others who noticed this practice started asking for "the same as Sandwich". Eventually the name caught on to describe what we now call a "finger food" that could be eaten with the hands without causing a mess.

By the 1800's a sandwich usually meant a piece or several pieces of cold meat slapped in between two pieces of bread. Today there are many varieties of sandwiches, and many businesses that have profited from just selling sandwiches.

Today's sandwiches have grown from being just meat in between bread. Now we have a much broader range of sandwiches of different kinds - from fast food hamburgers to submarines and Italian sandwiches. These different varieties usually substitute a special bun for the classic two slices of bread. We now also add many different kinds of condiments and toppings to them. The most common condiments include lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, pickles, mustard, relish, ketchup and many more. These are just a very few of what is out there to use to create your own masterpiece.

There are hundreds of different types of meats and sandwich fillers that one can build a sandwich around. When you walk into a carry out restaurant or deli store you order exactly what you want on that sandwich. Some restaurants have even created hot versions of sandwiches. These are much tastier than ones in the 1800's.

There are many different types of breads available too. The same sandwich can become a completely different creation depending on the bread that is used. That makes what used to be the common sandwich into a more exotic, more nutritious, and more tasty alternative to heavier fare. making lunches and dinners easier to do at a much more rapid pace. Sandwiches are a quick fix to supper and can accommodate even the busiest of schedules.

So as one can see, sandwiches have gone from the simple bread and meat variety into a nutritious food with a thousand variations. Each one is created to suit an individual's needs and tastes and they are perfect for the rushed pace that many people live their lives at. Since sandwiches are so readily available and can be made to order, they have become a staple in our busy lives.

These days having a sandwich doesn't mean sitting at a smokey tavern sopping up juices with bread. It means having one of a thousand different varieties of what has become the perfect food for busy people on the go.

For an outstanding sandwich or sub visit Bob's Pantry and Deli - the best Highland Park Deli you're going to find - deli sandwiches, Italian subs, garden and Caesar salads, gourmet coffee. For delivery call 847-432-DELI.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Messe

A young man gets a tattoo of an expensive yacht on his back.
By the time he turns 70, the expensive yacht is a shipwreck.

Something to think about, eh.

A young man finally goes to Las Vegas with his gambling buddies.

After a full day of gambling they meet up in the local bar.  All his buddies are complaining about losing money, the young man is not.

He tells his friends that every time he played the machine he won!
"Every time I put a dollar in," he says " I got four quarters back!"

His friends look at him and say "You were playing the change machine st**id!"

Alaska Islands
Alaska's Aleutian Islands stretch over the 180th Meridian and into the Eastern hemisphere, making Alaska the easternmost and westernmost U.S. state.

Pandas
Pandas are not bears.  Zoologists place them in the raccoon family.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble,
finding it everywhere,
diagnosing it incorrectly,
and applying the wrong remedies."
-Groucho Marx

The U.S. personal savings rate has seen  negative numbers only four times in recent history:
1932 and 1933
- struggling to cope with the Great Depression
2005
- consumers wiped out savings to buy cars and other big ticket items
2008 and 2009
- when the construction industry and everything else went south

U.S. Department of Commerce