It may seem slightly strange but most of my best memories somehow involve cheese. Thank God I’m not lactose intolerant. I remember watching cheese being made at Village Cheese in Armstrong when I was younger; my cousins and I would eat ice cream and watch the cheese makers separate the curds from the whey. When I was in the Netherlands last summer, I found my newest love: spiced gouda. Throw that on a croissant with some prosciutto and lettuce and you have got yourself an insanely mouthwatering sandwich.

Cheese is a magical food. Not literally (unless of course it’s served in the Great Hall of Hogwarts), but it sure seems like it. It serves as a great addition to already wonderful dishes, it can provide a sense of bonding, and who knows where would wine be without it’s best friend. Whenever you are predicting some sort of kitchen catastrophe, as long as you have cheese the problem can be averted. I have yet to come across anything (with the exception of rice, ichiban, and popcorn) that does not taste better with cheese. When my friend from Japan and I made sushi, we even added some chunks of cheddar and it was more than delicious!

Cheese is a food that is appreciated worldwide and by millions of people, for obvious reasons.  There are cheeses that are delicious and then there are those that are, umm… not so.  Since I live in Canada, I first came across aerosol cheese when my grandpa came back from Arizona. I was flabbergasted that someone would ruin cheeses integrity by forcing it into a can. Already appalled by the likes of Cheez Whiz, I felt somewhat heartbroken. How could someone destroy such an incredible dairy product?

It might be seemingly mundane type of food, but the way it can improve your food is incalculable. Think about trying to have a pizza, basically naked, without cheese on top.

Below is a list what I perceive to be the top 5 cheeses, followed by some foods that will only be enhanced by adding cheese.

Top 5 Cheeses

1. Aged Cheddar
2. Spiced Gouda
3. Jalapeno Havarti
4. Gouda
5. Feta

-       Put a slice of gouda or cheddar cheese on the top of your apple pie (cheese with apples is also great),

-       Add any type of spicy cheese to your scrambled eggs.

-       Instead of using only parmesan cheese on your spaghetti, also use an aged cheddar.

-       As I mentioned earlier, small chunks of cheddar cheese rolled into sushi is delicious!!

-       Add goldfish (I realize that these aren’t actually cheese but they’re cheddar flavoured) to tomato soup.

-       Sprinkling feta onto cucumbers (it’s like Greek salad sans all the other veggies).

-       Anything that you might burn, slap a piece of cheese on top and *bam* you have edible food once more!

-      Add cheese curds to gravy and fries to recreate a delicious Quebecois dish… Poutine!!!!

P.S. Dear whoever comes up with the concepts for the allyouneedischeese.ca commercials, you are one of my favourite people ever. Mainly because of this commercial.

Do you have any other dishes that you add cheese to for an extra hint of yum? Share below ↓

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I don’t know why I have never really been into snapping photos of myself, but it’s never had that sparkling appeal that I look for in a pastime. I’m not going to lie to you and say I’ve never taken a cliché bathroom mirror photo, but you won’t find those anywhere. I just find the whole situation awkward. What do you do with your face? How about the other hand that isn’t holding your camera? What are you going to do with said photo after? The only thing for me that is more awkward than taking a selfie is watching someone else do it. Maybe I have some sort of self-esteem issue that renders me unable to understand the appeal of the whole concept.

There are three types of self-pictures:

*Note: the first two are not very awkward; the last one, however, has extreme awkward potential

1. The “omg-does-this-outfit-look-good-on-me?” mirror shot.

This is something I personally am guilty of doing. It’s the best way to get quick advice from your friends on certain fashion choices that may or may not hinder your future dating life. This is only awkward if you accidentally send it to someone, like your uncle.

2. The location/activity brag photo.

This type of picture is sometimes essential when you are wanting to be a little bit of a jerk about the superiority of your situation to that of a friend’s.

Example: I was in Toronto a month ago. One of my friends, however, was back at home stuck in math class. Obviously, I then proceeded to send her a picture of me with the CN Tower in the background. (This was slightly uncomfortable for the people walking past as they watched me struggling with the whole foreground background situation.)

3.The plain old awkward photo that always has some strangely irrelevant saying either typed onto the photo or in the caption.

The title is fairly self-explanatory. This category of photo has the potential to be the epitome of awkwardness. Before you take another one of these trying to make your ex upset over how good you look, think. He’d probably be more torn up about you moving on, having fun, as opposed to sitting at home alone, obviously listening to sad music because of the lyrics you have added under the picture.

We all have that one (or more than one) friend who takes a few too many pictures of herself.  Sometimes when I see these photos I cringe, not because I resemble Medusa or anything, but because I just don’t understand. What exactly does sharing that photo with everyone achieve? The most awkward thing is when I see people taking these pictures. A quick tip: iPads are not the most discrete things. There’s always that one person ‘duck-facing’ it up on the subway, leading everyone around them not quite sure what to do. Usually I avoid making eye contact, denying what just happened. The most awkward selfie situation (besides maybe the “Beauty And A Beat” music video) I’ve ever witnessed was a few months ago. There was a man taking a picture of himself… but he had gotten creative. He had fashioned some sort of retractable tripod device so he could use his SLR camera to snap the perfect picture alone. I am not going to lie; I was slightly impressed, but I couldn’t help but feeling slightly uncomfortable for him.

Now, I am not about to say that us girls (and some guys, I guess) should stop taking pictures of ourselves altogether, but think of the people around you. Think of those poor parents trying to explain to their inquisitive children the reason that person is making such a weird expression at their phone.  Try instead to capture happy moments with friends or family, maybe an arch nemesis (if that’s how you roll), rather than documenting those lonely nights in front of your bathroom mirror. A toilet in the background doesn’t exactly scream charmer.

P.S. Try to refrain from those crazy iPad mirror shots…they’re slightly ridiculous.

Featured image by Jordan Rubin

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