There's a town in New York called Cuba. Seriously! Doctor White and I were driving on I-86 and took a minor detour to visit the version of Cuba that gets snow. It's also the version of Cuba that doesn't get hit by hurricanes and isn't run by a tyrannical madman with a beard. Cuba, NY's mayor is clean-shaven.

Cuba, NY and Cuba the island do have something in common, though: cheese! The tropical island is home to queso blanco, a very tasty white cheese. I haven't actually had any queso blanco from Cuba the island, but the old men slamming dominoes assure me that the queso blanco I buy at Sedano's is the same thing. They also assure me that Fidel Castro actually died four years ago and a state-controlled impostor is running the show. Intriguing.

Cuba, NY is also home to its own brand of cheese, Cuba Cheese. The town even put a cheese wheel on their welcome sign, although it's misleading because I didn't see a single cheese wheel in the cheese shoppe. Plenty of cheese bars, and a few bags of cheese curds, but not a cheese wheel in sight. Maybe they sold out of them when someone drove by the sign and said, "Oye, chico, that cheese wheel looks rico. Let's go de compra and get them all for the viejos at the domino tournament." SLAM!

The Cuba Cheese Shoppe was a quaint little store. Lots of cheese (no wheels) and the place smelled fantastic. The people were friendly and it was actually fairly busy for a weekday afternoon in a small town. Doctor White and I chatted with one of the employees and she told us a bit about the history and products of the shoppe. That's right, it's so old school that "shoppe" gets the extra "pe" at the end.

It was a fun (and tasty) little diversion, but I was bothered by one little thing. Their logo is a little colonial child walking around with a wedge of cheese the size of his head. The wedge of cheese I'm okay with -- what, you never did that? The colonial get-up, however, irks me a bit. Where's the guayabera? The sandals? And what's with the blonde hair!? When was the last time you saw a naturally-blonde Cuban? Probably the last time you saw a giant groundhog about to be shot with a canon.

But alas, I didn't think to ask the shoppe employee about the logo. I did inquire about the various cheeses and the lack of cheese wheels, but she brushed me off until I asked her what that strange clacking sound was. She then became nervous and tried to distract me with some free samples of aged cheddar -- and it almost worked -- but the sound was driving me nuts. I peeked behind a door that was left slightly ajar and saw three old Canadians in straw hats playing dominoes.

Cuba, NY, by the way, is the small town that Canadian "balsero-ehs" settle into when crossing the Niagra River over to the US.

Local road 305 runs through Cuba, NY.
The area code for Miami, FL is 305.
Coincidence? No lo creo.

Today is "Ping Pong Jagger" Day! Go play table tennis like a rockstar!