On the one hand, the one slice per person they set for the half price offer may seem restrictive. On the other hand, how many flavors of cheesecake would you try at 50% off? The last time we shared two flavors of the uber-rich dessert at Cheesecake Factory, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake did battle in our stomach with the Key Lime Cheesecake. Our groan for the remainder of the evening was, “Why did we eat all that?”

So, dismiss thoughts of how many non-dessert-eating friends might want to join you for lunch, so that they can order a half-price piece of cheesecake for you.

Instead, get out your springform pan and bake your favorite recipe or try a new one.

If you’ve never had cheesecake with a sour cream top layer, we urge you to try our mother’s cheesecake recipe. We grew up on it, and while we’ve had hundreds of other cheesecake recipes since then, we always return to it.

1. Get the recipe.
2. Invite friends, family or neighbors over to celebrate—in one day. Cheesecake gets better with a day of aging.
3. Start baking.
4. Save us a piece!

Find more of our favorite cheesecake recipes.

Warm, fragrant and homemade-tasting, you can serve them as a flatbread at brunch or with a luncheon salad.

Or of course, use them in your favorite Mexican recipes.

Turn tortilla-making into a fun weekend activity for the family. It’s fun, and provides an appreciation for where food “comes from.”

Find more bread recipes in our Gourmet Bread Section.

Watermelon makes a salad more refreshing.
Photo © Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

We love watermelon salad in the summer: greens or herbs with watermelon and, sometimes, feta or goat cheese.

We’ve published several watermelon salad recipes in summers past (links are at the bottom of this article). This year we present Watermelon, Tomato and Wisconsin Burrata Salad.

Burrata is a heavenly cheese: a ball of mozzarella stuffed with ricotta. Trader Joe’s is our go-to source for great burrata. If you can’t find it, use sliced mozzarella, feta or goat cheese.

This recipe was developed by Chef Brandt Evans for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (EatWisconsinCheese.com). It serves 6-8.

Try this recipe or use your creativity to invent your own watermelon salad recipe.

WATERMELON, TOMATO AND BURRATA SALAD RECIPE

Vinaigrette Ingredients

 
Salad Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. Whisk vinaigrette ingredients in small bowl. Set aside.
2. Toss salad ingredients in large bowl. Drizzle desired amount of vinaigrette over salad and gently retoss.

More Watermelon Salad Recipes
Caprese Salad With Watermelon
Watermelon Salad With Thai Basil & Feta Cheese
Watermelon Salad With Tomatoes & Chives
Watermelon History & More Watermelon Recipes

Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day is a “food holiday” for which one purchases cheese and “sacrifices” it to a mouse trap, in order to rid one’s home of mice.

It sounds like a 19th-century British holiday to us, but we can’t find any knowledgeable references—just greeting cards to mark the occasion (see the photo).

And the holiday doesn’t make much sense: If one’s home had unwanted mice guests, wouldn’t every day be a Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day?

(As a side tip, peanut butter works much better than cheese. Clever mice can snitch the cheese from the trap, but they have to stick around to lick the PB.)

But enough about the mice. Since we have an established holiday with only scant details—which themselves are not too relevant with today’s modern housing construction—let’s reinvent it.

Send this greeting card to celebrate the day (photo © All-Yours.net).

We’re going to sacrifice two pounds of it for a luscious fondue. Check out 18 different cheese fondue recipe variations.

Can’t decide what cheese to sacrifice? Check out our Cheese Glossary.

Barack Obama sushi by chef Ken Kawasuma.
Photo courtesy MSN Japan.

Somehow we missed this back in 2009, and only recently came across it on the MSN Japan website.

Sushi Chef Ken Kawasumi of Tokyo Sushi Academy took the 2009 championship title in Japan’s National Sushi Awards, with his sushi interpretation of President Barack Obama.

This is a sushi roll, rolled on a bamboo mat like all other maki sushi. How can anyone top it?

Obamazushi is just one of the stupefying creations of the brilliant Chef Kawasumi, whom we consider to be the Andy Warhol of edible art.

Check out “Ken Kawasumi” on Google Images. It will make you want to book a trip to Yokohama to dine at his restaurant, Sushisho Kawasumi.

In fact, Sushisho Kawasumi has replaced The Fat Duck as the restaurant to which we’d most like to win a trip. Kawasumi’s seemingly limitless repertoire extends from panda-shaped sushi to life-size sushi “paintings,” including an edible version of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.”

If you won’t be heading to Yokahama anytime soon, check out Chef Kawasumi’s books:

 
Learn your sushi by reading our beautiful Sushi Glossary.