"It is shockingly inexpensive to travel within Turkey by plane."

"Take this segment: from Istanbul to Izmir (about an hour flying time) on Atlas Jet, it's $25 (without additional discounts). For this, we get not only the flight itself, but a warm snack (melted cheese sandwich, cake, coffee or a soft drink) and, too, upon arrival in Izmir, free transportation by bus to towns south of us. Including to Slecuk — another hour's worth of travel."

... worth of travel.

Do you understand it?

At the Wisconsin Dinner Café...

... in Darkmonth, we're eating light.

***

A whole dead month in the dark,
A dawn in the mists that o'ercome her
Stifled and smothered and sad—
Swift speed to it, barren and bad!
And return to us, voice of the lark,
And remain with us, sunlight of summer.

A WaPo writer "searching for the 'authentic America'" is delighted to travel to Madison, Wisconsin.

"We’d always heard about that mythically quirky place called Madison, a free-spirited land with far fewer chain stores and BlackBerry addicts than Washington," enthuses Emily Wax. Man, living in Washington, D.C. really lowers your standards of authenticity.

Influenced by the 2011 documentary “Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old-Fashioned Experience,” Wax goes to the restaurant called Old Fashioned, which is fairly new, and not one of the funky old places I think of as "supper clubs." She eats some fried cheese curds and says she has no idea how to tell whether cheese curds are especially good. (Answer: They squeak. Except they don't squeak if they're fried.)

She drinks the cocktail called an Old Fashioned, and then on another day she has another Old Fashioned and proclaims "How Madison!" On another day, "my husband and I headed for a romantic dinner at the sexy, dimly lit Tornado Steakhouse," which supposedly "has a wonderful menu."

And so did she achieve it, that sense of authenticity infusing the city, of delight with mythical quirkiness all around her, of free-spirited energy rushing through everything alive? Myself, I'm over-indulging in deep-fried prose tonight and wondering if I need to see a surgeon to get my neural pathways reconnected. I'm losing it somehow, as I gaze out on the treetops of Madison.

"The car hit cheese bacon mushroom face."

Face... pasta... it's not that different.

"If you order a Bloody Mary in Wisconsin, it comes with sausage, cheese, and beer!"

Chris, caught Facebooking at Graze.

Also on the skewer: an olive and a pickled brussels sprout.

"Mitt Romney chomping on deep fried cheese curds?"

Hey! I was eating a cheese curd when I read that! I was looking for some news about the upcoming Wisconsin primary. People around here are kind of psyched that the candidates may actually be coming to our late-voting state to campaign. We matter! Sigh.

There aren't any really recent polls, just 2 from February. Both have Santorum up by 16 points. What's that about?

Warm caramel/warm cheese.

At the Small Plate Café...

... there's very little nourishment, so make the most of what you have.

At the Cheese Curds and Popcorn Café...

... grab a chair.

Madison settles for $10,000 to the men who openly wore guns in at a Culver's.

The incident — in which the "Culver's Five" were arrested — occurred back in 2010 when concealed carry was still illegal, but open carry was not. The charges for "obstructing justice" were dropped and the men filed a lawsuit, which is now dropped.

Culver's, in case you don't know, is this:

“What is this mac-and-cheese? Is it a black thing?"

Pat Robertson, getting up to speed on Thanksgiving and macaroni and cheese.

About that anti-cheese billboard going up in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

There's some opposition, and not just from cheesemakers. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has a depiction of the Grim Reaper wearing a foam Cheesehead.

Foamation, which makes those cheese hats, says "It's a very negative thing and we don't want to be associated with something like this."...

"Cheese is an unhealthy food product," [said Susan Levin, a registered dietitian with the Physicians Committee.] "Cheese is the antithesis" of what we're supposed to be eating.

By stirring up discord, they've got everyone looking at their damned poster.

"Friendly bet on #Packers #Saints game w/ @BobbyJindal."

"We put up WI cheese & beer, looking 4ward 2 getting some seafood after #Packer win."

Tweets Gov. Walker, whose tweeting style is more tweety than that of Gov. Jindal, who tweets"

I bet WI @GovWalker some fresh LA seafood that the Saints beat the Packers tonight. He agreed to send us WI beer and cheese when we win!

Feel free to talk about the big game all you want, right here.

Driving in Colorado and crossing the Mississippi from Iowa into Wisconsin.

At the Cheese Curd and Onion Ring Café...

... let's get fried.

Meanwhile, outside....



... there were throngs of people at the Capitol... and they weren't protesting. (They were downtown for the Concerts on the Square.)

Grilled cheese and cows.

That's all we've got here: the cooking of mass quantities of grilled cheese sandwiches and a brief interview about a Guernsey Jersey calf named Haley.



Meade shot this video at the "Cows on the Concourse" event today near the Capital Square in Madison, Wisconsin. There was a grilled cheese sandwich eating contest later, but we didn't catch that. It's just cooking sandwiches in the first half of this clip, and, then, in the second half, it's that calf, with Meade's voice in the audio track, asking questions.

Meade shot the video, and I did the edit. I hope you enjoy seeing these ultra-wholesome things that took place in our beautiful city, which is not all protests and tent cities.

"Take a picture of my pie. I need a picture."/"No. You’ll write that my rhubarb cobbler sucked and your pie was great."

Penelope Trunk writes about what do do if you think you're getting fired — and, most bloggishly — includes a lot of rhubarb, interpersonal dramedy, goat cheese, home repair, absurd photography, and career advice like: "wait for the words, 'You’re fired.' And then, no matter what words lead up to that phrase, say, 'I’m sorry you feel that way. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.'"

At the Cheese Café...

... bask in the glow of warm yellow cheese.

At the Cheesehead Café...

(Enlarge to read.)

... bring out your inner cheesehead.

I demonstrate ladylikeness with a Badger hat and Green Bay Packers cheese.