I want to talk burrata today. Burrata is a soft Italian cheese. It comes in balls similar to mozzarella, but it has a soft interior that oozes around inside its cheesy casing. It is one of the 7 wonders of my culinary world. It’s an Italian cheese and a specialty of Puglia, a smallish region in the heel of Italy's boot. It is as close to perfection as anything that exists.

Though oddly, it is rather new gastronomically speaking. Being an Italian product, you might assume it was part of some ancient cheese making tradition. But actually it is a modern invention. Lorenzo Bianchino Chieppa developed burrata in the 1920s; the source I read says that "[He] had the idea to create a kind of flask of cheese for preserving a mixture of cream and cheese in the center."

Despite it’s might, burrata is not commonly found outside of Puglia, even in Italy. Though it seems, as its popularity here in the United States grows, there has become greater demand for the cheese all over Italy.

I have not bored you to tears much lately with the saga of my broken jaw. Well it’s mended, mostly. I still have some soreness, my teeth are slightly out of alignment, and I get weird headaches. But those problems are small and getting smaller everyday. In fact I predict a full recovery by the time you see me at the FoodBuzz Bloggers Festival. Did you nominate your favorite bloggers yet? There is still time.

Even though I have been unwired for quite sometime I have not been in fully functioning mouth mode. Today marks the day I go back to eating whatever I like (except: nuts, ice, corn tortilla chips, beef jerky, and hard candy, especially– pardon the expression, jaw breakers).

In honor of this great event I am making ribs. I have never made ribs before. But I was skulking around at Dash of Stash a while back. He made some lip smackin’ good lookin’ ribs. I commented about my fear of cooking ribs and he offered a challenge. He would cook “something from the sea” if I made ribs on the grill.

Sup! is up for most any challenge; especially challenges that expand my experience regarding food. So I accepted the challenge with the caveat that it would have to wait until I was mandibularly mobile enough to eat ribs.

I know you have enjoyed the classic pairing of prosciutto and melon. It’s sweet, it’s salty and it is about as good as summer gets!

Well I could not let summer slip by with out featuring this classic summer recipe. So for the very last Market Matters at the Hollywood Farmers Market of this all too short, but glorious summer– I am bringing home a melon. For Sup's version of Prosciutto with Melon, Anise and Black Pepper.

I love melon for obvious reasons. When it’s good, it is mind-blowingly good. So once you have had melon of that caliber it's hard to eat those spongy, pastel-colored cantaloupes from the grocery store. Or worse yet, those green monstrosities that come in prepared “fruit” salads. I don’t quite know how they get away with calling that food. I'd rather eat the plastic box it comes in. That is not a perfect "end of summer" melon.

So please choose your melons well…