3 dairy farmers pursue a distinctly American cheese

　　American cheese is an American cheese, but it doesn’t exactly have terroir. (Instead, it has a plastic sleeve.) Three U.S. dairy farmers are now on the hunt to create a new type of cheese that our country can rightfully call its own; they’ve called their project Cornerstone. Seeing it’s Cheese Week around these parts, the timing is right to read this Modern Farmer article detailing their efforts. [Kate Bernot]

Windy City Rehab stirs my renovation dreams

　　My son was under the weather this weekend, which is usually our cue to curl up on the basement couch and watch a slew of HGTV shows. We enjoy yelling at the frequent idiocy of House Hunters (“If you don’t like the carpeting, just tear it up and redo the floors! My god!”), but this weekend we came across a new show that’s even more fun. Maybe due to geography: I thoroughly enjoyed Windy City Rehab, featuring Alison Victoria (female rehab star, another bonus). How I long to sledgehammer through my own kitchen wall, but instead I vicariously lived through Victoria’s stylish and historically accurate renovations, shopping at local places I love like Architectural Artifacts. The only downside is that my son always looks around disapprovingly at our own house after viewing all those rehabbed spaces. Hey, it’s not that bad. [Gwen Ihnat]