MarketBasket: Homage to fromage
Eat, shop, art The Philadelphia Museum of Art has popped up a holiday store, selling a bevy of goods made by our city's artisans. (Runs until Jan. 3) Much of it is edible. There's chocolate from John & Kira's, bourbon cider syrup from La Copine, and this fudge sampler from Betty's Tasty Buttons, which has 25 two-bite samples of fudge spiked with ginger, stout, or blue cheese.
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There is an art to great cheese.
And then there is Mike Geno's art of cheese. Geno, an adjunct faculty member at Moore College of Art better known for his paintings of raw pork chops and bacon, has recently painted a cheesemonger's dream sequence of oil portraits, 30 in all, from ash-lined Morbier to a wedge of Strathdon Blue whose brush strokes are so textured, you can almost taste its moldy dairy tang.
About 20 originals remain, but sold works are now reproduced as high-quality prints for $40 each - an ideal gift for the cheese fanatic in your home.
- Craig LaBan
Cheese portraits by Mike Geno, $400 for original oils, $40 for prints; visit: www.mikegeno.com