My brother in law has a foreign exchange student from Nice, France. Her parents sent my husband and I a Christmas package that had cheese and saucisson in it.

When we went to get it at the post office the women there were like "oh thank god! the cheese people are here!" and they proceeded to give us the package wrapped in a special Canada Post bag, apologizing for the state it was in. This package REEKED.

So we took it home, and opened it. The cheeses inside were soft, as you might expect, but they didn't smell that bad. Definitely stinky, but in a cheese kind of way. The box itself smelled worse than everything else.

Also, the saucisson package was opened, but it doesn't look like it was ever vacuum sealed and it's a very dry sausage. Actually, of everything in the package, the sausage smells the strongest.

It's winter here, and I imagine the cheese got the warmest waiting for us in the post office. I guess what I'm wondering is this safe to eat? Are there any things I can look for to see if the cheeses aren't safe? I'd hate to have to toss these, the amount they paid in shipping alone would make me feel guilty.

Oh, and the cheeses in question are, in case this affects your answer:

Mothais sur feuille http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothais_sur_feuille
Pont-l'Évêque http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont-l'%C3%89v%C3%AAque_(cheese)
Germain Langres http://zupansmarkets.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/staff-pick-langres-cheese/

Since they came home today, they've been in the fridge.

Thanks Serious Eaters!

I'm cooking mussels for my husband tomorrow night, and almost every recipe I see says to steam them in a dry white wine. I don't have wine in the house (and living in Canada means making a special trip to the LCBO to get it).

What I DO have is white cooking wine. Is this an acceptable substitution? Should I use broth instead?

I've never prepared mussels before, so I'm not really sure how much leeway I have in terms of taste here.

Help!

I'm cooking for a group of people at my church on Monday night. They asked for pasta and salad, both easy items, but I'd like to make them a little more special.

The only catch is that my church shares a space with the local synagogue and has an agreement to keep kosher in the kitchen. I've done quite a bit of baking there, but never a meal.

It's a dairy kitchen, so the dish has to be vegetarian. They allow for fish, but only red fish (something to do with not being mislabeled).

I also live in a fairly small Canadian town, so I'm not sure how easy it will be to find kosher cheese. There are no kosher delis or shops here.

Aside from that, I don't think anyone has any specific dietary restrictions.

Any ideas? I want to do more than dump a jar of sauce into a pot :)

So, I was planning on making homemade aloo gobi for dinner this weekend, and the recipe calls for fenugreek. I grabbed a small bag of the seeds from the local bulk store and then came to find out that what I was supposed to get were the dried leaves. Sadly, the store doesn't carry that.

Can I use the seeds in substitution? Do they share a flavour profile? if so, do I toast them in the pan with the other whole spices?

I don't have a grinder or a mortal/pestle, so they'd have to stay whole.

Should I skip them all together? Is there another spice I can use instead?

my friend brews his own beer, and needs ideas for a name for his latest creation.

His description: It's an American Brown Ale brewed with some Rye malt, then aged with white oak chips that were soaked in Rye whiskey.

I know this sort of topic often stirs up the masses here on SE, but I'm at a loss. I've looked through the old threads on the topic, but nothing jumped out at me.

Let me tell you a tiny bit about the blog. Husband and I will be writing it. We will be using wikipedia's list of cuisines, and every week or so, spending a full day cooking and eating as true to that cuisine as possible (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks). So one week might be Northern Indian, the next week Nigerian, the next week Southern American, etc. The list is quite extensive. We already have a few weeks of dishes together and photographed, we just need to register the blog and domain.

We thought of Eat The World, but that doesn't sound that great. Everyone we ask seems to say "great idea, can't wait to read it, but no idea what to name it."

Thanks for taking a moment to share your collective brain with us.

husband and I worked a charity steak cook-off and were given 50+ leftover baked potatoes. What kinds of things can you suggest that we make with them?

I bought a bottle of it to drizzle on a pear and squash soup months ago, and I'm sort of at a loss for what to use it for now.

Help?