Food and Wine has pulled together a compilation of some of the best grilled cheeses across the United States. Twenty-two sandwiches made the cut, including Grahamwich of Chicago, Roxy's of Boston, and Beecher's Handmade Cheese of Seattle and New York City.

With respect to Boston baseball (and Fenway Park's famed left-field wall "The Green Monster"), Roxy's offers the Green Muenster, with guacamole and bacon. Here, too, mac and cheese is considered a sandwich filling for the Mac & Chorizo. In an ingenious twist, Roxy's brushes mayonnaise on the outside of sandwiches, rather than butter, before slapping them on the griddle.

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Photo courtesy Grahamwich

Scientists have been more closely examining the type of fungi present in Roquefort cheese, and as it turns out, the mold, which was traditionally thought to reproduce asexually, has shown convincing evidence of sexual reproduction. Yup, your cheese is gettin' down. This amazing discovery is a reminder that cheese itself is an ecosystem. It also has implications for the evolution of cheese mold species, and therefore, the future of cheese!

Cheese is a pretty weird thing when you think about it. Someone had to come up with the idea of taking a bunch of milk, adding bacteria, letting it basically go bad, and waiting to eat it until mold had grown on it. And, if that grosses you out, just wait. It turns out that the fungi in cheeses like blue cheese aren’t just sitting there, waiting for you to eat them. They’re getting it on.

Ever tried making an Indian dessert? These little ricotta pancakes (known as Malpuda) are soaked in syrup, then eaten plain or with a condensed milk reduction called Rabri and garnished with chopped pistachios.

One of my favorite Indian desserts is Malpuda with Rabdi. When I was a kid living in India, I always wanted to bake cakes for desserts. That was a challenge because we didn’t have an oven. My mom used to borrow an old-fashioned baking contraption from a friend that involved a bundt pan with a a little detachable compartment for sand at the bottom.

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Photo by Puja Thomas-Patel

If you can't handle the richness of eggnog in liquid form, turning it into ice cream provides a wonderful excuse to indulge in the fatty, creamy flavor. And of course, what's eggnog without some liquor? This version uses bourbon, but feel welcome to substitute brandy, scotch, or rum to suit your tastes.

The amount of bourbon listed here will impart a noticeable but balanced boozy flavor to the ice cream, though the intensity of the flavor will increase the next day. You can reduce the alcohol to none if you prefer, or increase it by a tablespoon, without doing any textural damage to the ice cream.

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Photo by Max Falkowitz

In an effort to celebrate the library's upcoming visits from chefs and foodies, New York Public Library held a macaroni and cheese cook-off. The contenders: Marcus Samuelsson's recipe for Macaroni and Cheese alla Carbonara, prepared by Johannes Neuer in NYPL's Marketing Department, a recreation of Blue Smoke's Macaroni & Cheese by LIVE from the NYPL's Mariel Fiedler, and Horn & Hardart's Automat recipe from NYPL's Lunch Hour NYC, courtesy of Amy Amy Geduldig in NYPL's Public Relations Department.

After sampling the three dishes, prepared lovingly by our chefs, the three judges picked a "clear winner": Macaroni and Cheese alla Carbonara, Marcus Samuelsson's recipe expertly recreated by Johannes. The judges were gastronomically pleased by the textures and complex flavors of the dish, which included bacon with a touch of bread crumbs.

It was only a matter of time, right? Seemingly everyone and every group has parodied "Gangnam Style," the mega-hit from Korean rapper PSY, and now the farmers shall have their day. They're working farmer style...work, work, work...

Better late than never. We've certainly seen more Gangnam Style parodies than we ever wanted to, but we just can't say no to the farmers who brought us "I'm Farming & I Grow It". Check out their version of PSY's mega-hit, naturally retitled to "Farmer Style".

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There isn't any chocolate in these truffles, but they sure could function as a luscious dessert. The salty and tangy flavors of roasted red peppers and thick-cut bacon swirl in creamy goat cheese, and the whole thing is topped with festive, chopped pistachios. Party, anyone?

I made truffles with cheese.

Okay, whatever. Not REAL truffles. Not like the smoked blue cheese truffle I ate in Oregon this past summer (OMG.). Not like a truffle with goat cheese and chocolate (though that may be forthcoming.). I know. You don’t need to tell me.

I made a little truffle made with some of the best flavors ever. Bacon, roasted red peppers, garlic… you know, stuff like that.

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Photo by How Sweet It Is

The Philadelphia ice cream shop Little Baby's crafts some interesting flavors, including pizza. Take a peek behind the scenes to see what goes into creating this savory dairy treat!

I do not doubt that their final product is mind-blowing, but this is a pretty ballsy flavor profile and I imagine their were plenty of missteps along the way to greatness that are best left forgotten. Philly folks, you must go try this and report back.

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Photo by Now This News

Twelve bucks can buy you fewer and fewer things these days, but luckily one of those things is a Lobster Grilled Cheese from Luke's Lobster. The toasted sandwich pairs lobster meat with gruyere cheese, and although pairing seafood with cheese can be controversial, it's pretty amazing when it's done right.

Apart from the new $12 sandwich, other new additions include broccoli cheddar and butternut squash soup ($7); apple cider ($2); and at the Penn Quarter location, a lineup of all-Maine winter beers, including the Peak Organic winter ale and Shipyard Prelude ale ($5).

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Photo courtesy of Luke's Lobster

the smitten kitchen cookbook
by Deb Perelman
Anyone who has ever checked out the culture website knows what huge fans we are here of smitten kitchen. In her first cookbook, Deb takes the delicious recipes and gorgeous food photography we've come to love at smitten kitchen and brings it to our kitchens with almost 100 new recipes. Not sold? I have 1 recipe title that will change your mind: baked ranchero eggs with blistered jack cheese and lime creme. Heck yeah.

Check out the rest of the list here.