But for a special occasion, consider springing for the classy email invitations from Paperless Post.

These online invitations look just like custom-engraved invitations from the most expensive stationer. But they’re HTML instead of paper.

Just click and your invitation rises out of the envelope. We’ve been online for 15+ years, yet it’s still magical.

Choose from invitation designs that range from classic to cool. Then choose your envelope liner: alligator pattern, dots, florals, geometric patterns, stripes and zebra stripes, plus designs like mortarboards for graduation parties and horseshoes for Kentucky Derby parties. There are photo cards as well, to showcase those adorable kids or the bark mitzvah honoree.

And of course, your guests simply click to RSVP.

It’s an email invite, custom-designed by you.
Photo courtesy Paperless Post,

The price is right: For example, you can email 300 invitations for $15.00 and 1,000 for $50.00. And the first 25 invitations are free, so there’s no reason not to try it! Create an account and start designing!

Almost too pretty to eat! Photo by Corey
Lugg | THE NIBBLE.

Laurent Vals uses the excellent Guittard chocolate as the base couverture for his creations. One bite will convince you that all of the other ingredients he employs are first-rate as well.

A “taste” of the flavors: caramel infused with Port and vanilla in dark chocolate, strawberry and orange blossom in white chocolate and candied orange confit and caramel ganache in milk chocolate.

• THE PRIZE: One winner will enjoy a 25-piece box of colorful chocolates from Laurent Vals. Each of these striking chocolates has a different story to tell and a different flavor combination to delight those who are lucky enough to get a bite. Approximate Retail Value: $40.00.

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Chocolate Section and enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, April 19th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
• Learn more about Laurent Vals at LaurentValsChocolates.com.

Even if you are lactose intolerant, you can enjoy cheese—it just needs to be aged cheese.

In the cheese-making process, the liquid whey, which contains most of the lactose, is separated from the curd (the solids in the milk—they look like large-curd cottage cheese). Yet there is still enough lactose left in the curd to cause stomach discomfort to lactose-intolerant people.

But as cheeses age, the aging process breaks down the remaining lactose into simple sugars that even lactose-sensitive stomachs can digest. Aged cheeses like Cheddar, Colby, Jack, Parmesan and Swiss contain zero grams of lactose.

Alas, this doesn’t help with a bagel and cream cheese, a runny Brie or melting cheeses like mozzarella atop pizza; but you can enjoy a slice of aged Cheddar on your burger and grated Parmesan on your pasta. You can even make a grilled cheese sandwich.

Lactose intolerant? Dig in! Photo courtesy
iGourmet.

As always, address questions to your healthcare provider.

Find more information about cheese in our Cheese Section.

Same mayo but more humane. Photo
courtesy Hellmann’s.

With more people attuned to what’s in their food and where it comes from, as well as the humane treatment of animals, certified cage-free eggs ensure that the animals are treated well.

The eggs are American Humane Certified, a certification program administered by the American Humane Association (AHA), the leading certifier of cage-free eggs in the U.S.

Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise is the first major mayonnaise brand to use 100% cage-free eggs. The product will be using approximately 3.5 million pounds of eggs per year.

Hellmann’s plans to incorporate cage-free eggs into its other products over time, including Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise. There just aren’t that many cage-free eggs in the U.S. to do it today!

Visit the company website for information, recipes and a $1.00 coupon (it’s under “Promotions”).

• Find our favorite mayonnaise brands in our Gourmet Condiments section.

There’s another bonus: Softened ice cream tastes so much better than rock-hard ice cream.

When it’s frozen solid, your tongue tastes more ice crystals and less of the flavor. That’s why fresh-churned ice cream, which is still a bit soft, always tastes so much better before it’s allowed to harden in the freezer.

Try it—you’ll like it.

Find our favorite ice cream brands, recipes and our Ice Cream Glossary.

Soften, then scoop. Photo by Agg | Dreamstime.