One stop I never miss when in New York City is the East Village Cheese shop in … East Village. It’s about 4 1/2 or so miles from my hotel, but I’d just eaten a huge brunch and felt the exercise wouldn’t kill me. Yeah, it’s always a good idea to go so far in 87 degree weather with high humidity. Anyway, the stuff in the picture cost me about $36. The round containers are 7 oz cartons of St. Andre triple cream that were $1.99; kosher cheddar was $3.99 (splurge); two thin tubes of double-cream brie were .99 each; big wedge of Stilton was $3.99 a pound (so I took the two-pound wedge!); chevre with vegetables (rather like a Boursin) was $1.79; Talari (Greek sheep’s milk cheese for saganaki) was $3.99 each; President Camembert was $1.79; Double Gloucester was $1.50; a nice Havarti with jalapeno was $1.50 and two demi-baguettes were .85 each. This stuff will be fine on the drive home because I’ll put it directly under the air conditioner vent all the way home. Usually I shove everything into a USPS Flat Rate Priority Box and it arrives in perfect condition in two days. Yes, I’m an old hand at this!

Here’s some more pix: