Recently posted on What Would Phoebe Do, is her enjoyable trip through Zabar's cheese department and a complete accounting of the cheeses she's currently enjoying. As someone who has brought babka and rugelach to China and Korea - I get the need to shlep goodies too heavy with deliciousness across too far a distance.
Here is an excerpt from Phoebe's blog. Read the entire post here.
Every so often, I have to go to the Zabar's cheese department. Forces beyond my control compel it. When it was something I theoretically had access to, as in, when I lived a bus or subway ride away from it, I don't think I properly appreciated it. Now, it's a quasi-religious pilgrimage, involving hours upon hours of transportation, and not really justifiable unless I'm in the city for some other reason. It's far enough from where I usually need/want to go in NY that it basically means throwing up my hands and accepting that I will be that woman carrying cheese across state lines, devoting an entire afternoon to figuring out how many jumbo containers of Amora mustard can be comfortably carried on the subway, two trains, and a 30-minute nature walk. (The answer, I've learned the hard way, is one, if I intend to carry - sorry, shlep - back anything else as well.)
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