The "Cheese" Stands Alone, But Not the Bloggers

It's true. This package of individually wrapped "slices" of "cheese" made its way into our house. Cranky was all revved up about the Cheese Sandwich Wars, and came home with a variety of real cheeses and this junk.
We unwrapped one "single" and each took a bite out of it. The texture was like the skin that forms under the lid of a can of paint. The taste was not quite as bad as the fake cheese on an Egg McMuffin, but still highly industrial, sort of like the skin that forms under the lid of a can of paint. In a really bad color.
It went out into the trash the next morning.
But I thank Cranky for his participation and sense of cranky, pranky glee.
For a superb overview of this whole cheese-sandwich business, head over to Kalyn's Kitchen. I think Kalyn does a good job analyzing why the food blog community came together as a sort of cyber flashmob yesterday (well, most all of this week, actually), after a writer for Food & Wine magazine hurt some of our feelings. It's because we are a community.
In fact, I had planned to blog about the generosity and usefulness of this community, based on a recipe I got from Passionate Eater. Cranky made PE's Ma Po Tofu last night, varied slightly by the addition of some pork.
It's a simple recipe, but it uses one ingredient I had never tried, hot bean paste. It's not black bean paste; it's red and spicy. I learned this from communicating (community = communicate) with PE.
The dish came out fantastic!
I have eaten this in Chinese restaurants, but never even knew its Chinese name — it's usually listed on menus as something like "spicy tofu."
So. Big thanks to Passionate Eater. Big thanks to Kalyn. Big thanks to Cranky. And a big howdy-do to all of you, my mad, eatin' homies.