Hurray - it's grilled cheese month!

We've all got quite used to dedicated food days and even weeks but what genius came up with the idea of Grilled Cheese Month? Not that I and my fellow cheeselovers need a great deal of encouragement to eat grilled cheese - or toasted cheese as we'd call it in the UK.

Needless to say the idea is American and restaurants there are taking maximum advantage of the promotional opportunity involved. A Los Angeles restaurant called Clementine for example is offering 25 different versions of grilled cheese sandwiches created by prominent LA chefs. Each week the menu is presented on a specially designed retro postcard with a 'cheesy' theme.

At Artisanal, the specialist cheese shop and restaurant in New York, there's a different grilled cheese sandwich for every day of this month offered with a matching wine. Today's being Bra Tenero, an Italian cow's cheese with arugula (rocket) pesto paired with a Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier from Australia.

Just wish I was there.

Have also just discovered a great photo-collection of grilled cheese sandwiches on a blog called Pithy and Cleaver!