Swiss Cheese

The best-known Swiss cheese has a problem. The trademark holes, produced by the release of carbon dioxide during its fermentation, are growing so big that some wheels of Emmental cheese are bursting. "In the winter, some of these cheeses were so large we had to dismantle the shelves to get them out," said dairyman Fritz Jakob. The problem of the holes has stumped even the Schweizerische Cheese Union, the industry's guardian of quality.

La Dijonaise's take on this classic French comfort food sandwich is rich béchamel sauce and ham between two slices of pullman bread, topped with cheese that's melted to gooey perfection. On top of that goes a fried egg (this is what distinguishes the "madame" from the "monsieur").  Yes, it's unapologetic goodness on a plate. For more quick-fix dinner ideas, check out our video recipe gallery here . Food editor Russ Parsons and Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter show you how to fix a dozen dishes in an hour or less.

QUESTION: I have a Swiss cheese plant that's been growing beautifully, but none of the new leaves has developed holes. Is there some secret method I can use to make the leaves split like they do in their natural habitat? ANSWER: The Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa) is a highly dependable houseplant, an easy-to-care-for climber with long aerial roots and large, thick leathery leaves perforated by oblong holes. The evolution of perforated and split-leaf plants is interesting.

Scones can be flavored in any of a number of ways, both sweet and savory. Give one or more of these ideas a try (flavorings are measured for 1 batch of scones), then riff on your own: Currant scones: Add 11/2 cups dried currants. Consider soaking them in a little fruit juice or liquor before adding to the dough for a little extra flavor (Grand Marnier is wonderful). Chocolate chip scones: Add 12/3 cups chocolate chips: Fold in semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, perhaps with some nuts or a little orange zest.

A tropical plant that bears a most delectable fruit has been parading as a mere houseplant. It's a common houseplant, and you may even be growing it. Perhaps you grow it under the unassuming name of split-leaf philodendron or the more descriptive name of Swiss cheese plant. The plant is really a philodendron look-alike with the botanical name Monstera deliciosa. Monstera, as the plant should be properly called, can have rather monstrous leaves, and that may be how it got that part of its name.

Just off Main Street, a few miles from the final resting place of Lyndon B. Johnson, the bare shelves of the Super-M market here show more clearly than any poll why Democrats believe that in 1988 they can recapture this crucial state. In an earlier day, Johnson would send his maid down from the ranch to the Super-M for groceries, and for more than three decades, the store has served the 900 or so people who live in this small town in the midst of the Texas Hill Country.

In the chilly vaults where Swiss cheeses are laid out to ripen, the sounds of human labor are rapidly giving way to the clicks and whirs of robots. Dubbed "cheese robots," the bulky machines are taking over the crucial job of caring for the heavy wheels of Swiss cheese during the three to nine months needed for final aging.

  Johnny's spinach balls Total time: 45 minutes, plus chilling time for the spinach mixture Servings: Makes about 4 dozen spinach balls. Note: From Johnny Thibeault. He sometimes adds bacon to the mixture before forming; if desired, stir in 1/2 cup chopped fried bacon before forming the spinach balls. Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try any of the L.A. Times Test Kitchen recipes from this week's Food section, we want photographic evidence: Click here to upload pictures of the finished dish.

There soon will be more cheese in a ham and Swiss sandwich. The government announced that Grade A Swiss cheese will be allowed to have smaller holes to keep it from getting tangled in high-speed slicing machines. Under the old standards, most of the holes, or "eyes," in Grade A Swiss had to be 11/16ths to 13/16ths of an inch in diameter. The new standard, which takes effect Feb. 22, reduces the minimum size to 3/8 of an inch.

La Dijonaise's take on this classic French comfort food sandwich is rich béchamel sauce and ham between two slices of pullman bread, topped with cheese that's melted to gooey perfection. On top of that goes a fried egg (this is what distinguishes the "madame" from the "monsieur").  Yes, it's unapologetic goodness on a plate. For more quick-fix dinner ideas, check out our video recipe gallery here . Food editor Russ Parsons and Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter show you how to fix a dozen dishes in an hour or less.

Johnny's spinach balls Total time: 45 minutes, plus chilling time for the spinach mixture Servings: Makes about 4 dozen spinach balls. Note: From Johnny Thibeault. He sometimes adds bacon to the mixture before forming; if desired, stir in 1/2 cup chopped fried bacon before forming the spinach balls. 2 (10-ounce) boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed 2 cups Italian bread crumbs 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese, more if you prefer (up to ¾ cup)

In a series of mistakes described as a "Swiss cheese" event by hospital officials, a patient recently admitted to Olive View- UCLA Medical Center was not assigned a doctor for two days. The patient was admitted to the Los Angeles County teaching hospital in Sylmar by an emergency room medical student, who filled out the admitting paperwork incorrectly despite help from an attending physician in the emergency room. Although a doctor's name was placed on the paperwork, the doctor was never called about the assignment, according to a memo by Dr. Mark Richman, who said he was the attending physician who helped the student with the paperwork.

Regarding the comment of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, saying that the jurors who acquitted actor Robert Blake of the murder of his wife are "incredibly stupid" (March 24), I think that the district attorney is "incredibly stupid" for two reasons. He never should have brought the case to trial with the flimsy evidence that he had. The trial wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers' money, and for what? He just lost the support of many of his previous supporters, including myself, with his comment about the jurors.

Switzerland's most famous cheese, the holey Emmental, is raising a stink. Swiss makers of the cheese, the country's biggest agricultural export, are looking to protect its name from competitors around the world that have long copied the pliable nutty-flavored slabs riddled with large round holes created by gases released during fermentation.

One measure of how far tailgating has come is that it rarely involves an actual tailgate these days. Even those fans who drive trucks to the game typically set up folding picnic tables or other buffet surfaces, the better to accommodate the entrees, salads, snacks, booze and bubble water necessary to prepare the modern-day enthusiast for 60 minutes of football.

On Thursday, Virginia prisoner Daryl Renard Atkins achieved that status reserved for a few people with uncommon diseases and unprecedented Supreme Court cases: He became a term unto himself, like Graves' disease and Miranda rights. Reversing a 13-year-old case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins vs. Virginia that it was unconstitutional to execute a "mentally retarded" person.

There soon will be more cheese in a ham and Swiss sandwich. The government announced that Grade A Swiss cheese will be allowed to have smaller holes to keep it from getting tangled in high-speed slicing machines. Under the old standards, most of the holes, or "eyes," in Grade A Swiss had to be 11/16ths to 13/16ths of an inch in diameter. The new standard, which takes effect Feb. 22, reduces the minimum size to 3/8 of an inch.