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Cheese is a beautiful thing. A simple sprinkling can elevate everything from a side of beans to a salad. You can melt it, eat it cold over a cracker, or turn it into a complex sauce. It’s versatile, flexible (literally — cheese pulls are a wonder of nature), goes with almost anything (besides fish!) and — most importantly — delivers on flavor. Best of all, there’s so much variety out there, even the biggest cheeseheads will probably go their whole life without tasting all the cheeses out there.

If your knowledge of Mexican cheese doesn’t extend past Queso Fresco, we don’t exactly blame you (seriously there is so much good cheese out there). But you should know that you’re missing out on a whole world of flavors that deserve just as much shelf space in your fridge as classics like Parmegianno Regianno and the finest fresh mozzarella. So in an effort to level up your cheese game, we’re going to give you the run-down on the world of Mexican cheeses, what they taste like, whether they melt, and what to eat them with.

Let’s dive in.

Queso Añejo

Tasting Notes:

If you’ve ever heard of queso fresco, this is essentially the opposite. It literally translates to old cheese, it’s an aged version of queso fresco that time has turned firmer, a bit sharper, and more distinct in flavor. Think of it like a very subtle parmesan, with the same delectable nutty notes but much less sharp and a bit creamier with a pronounced salty flavor.

Most of the market varieties you’re going to come across are made from raw cow’s milk but some añejo will be made from goat’s milk or a blend. Some varieties are rolled in paprika, which adds a nice earthy component that really allows this cheese’s subtle flavors to shine.

What To Eat It On:

Fresh is the way to go, no need to melt. You can use it as a topping cheese, crumble or shred over tacos, a baked potato, a fresh serving of refried beans, the top of a wet burrito, over an omelet… the uses are limitless!

The Bottom Line:

Sharper, firmer, and more distinct in flavor than the creamy and sweet Queso Fresco.

Cotija

Tasting Notes:

If sharp and salty is your cheese vibe, you’re going to love cotija. Hailing from the town of the same name in Michoacan Mexico, cotija is another aged cheese with a stinky smell but is drier and more firm than queso añejo and tastes similar to where parmesan, romano, and feta converge.

Unlike those cheeses, there is a fresh milky creaminess here, an attribute shared by most of the Mexican cheeses. It has a slightly darker color than queso fresco and doesn’t melt well but the texture softens a bit when heated, which helps to bring the salty flavors forward.

What To Eat It On:

Cotija can be grated and crumbled over everything from tacos to salads but the most popular use for it, and the one we wholeheartedly recommend, is sprinkling it on elotes (grilled corn) with chili pepper and lime. Even over corn simply slathered in butter, it elevates the flavor and adds a sharp saltiness that isn’t as loud as something like parmesan but achieves that same savoriness.

The Bottom Line:

A finishing cheese that plays well with heat.

Queso Fresco

Tasting Notes:

If you’ve had one Mexican cheese in your life, it’s probably queso fresco. This is the Mexican equivalent to fresh mozzarella and I’m going to make my editor’s head explode when he reads this but… it’s better than mozz. It’s creamy, a bit tangy, and sweet with a mouthfeel so soft it’ll melt on your tongue. The freshness is palpable.

What To Eat It On:

Everything. Queso Fresco is so delicious and so neutral that crumbling some on any dish is only going to improve what you’re eating. You can double down on the freshness by sprinkling this over a salad or easily freshen up something more savory, like a side of beans.

The Bottom Line:

Queso fresco may not end up being your favorite Mexican cheese, but this is the foundation all the others cheesers are built upon and you should always have some in the fridge for finishing dishes.

Manchego

Tasting Notes:

You may know Manchego from the Spanish sheep’s milk cheese from La Mancha, but Mexican Manchego… is not that. They are similar in name only, and it’s actually a problem for Spain, they’ve long lobbied for Mexico to stop using the term. But uh, Spain, with all due respect you left cheese and a legacy of colonialism and since we can’t undo the history of colonialism we’re certainly hanging onto the cheese name.

Manchego is a shreddable cheese that melts easily. A lot of people liken it to cheddar because it has a sharpness to it, but it’s much milder and lands on my palate as much sweeter than cheddar, with a pleasant earthy aftertaste that lingers.

You could almost call this cheese’s sweetness “fruity,” but don’t take that the wrong way — it still lends itself well to savory dishes.

What To Eat It On:

I love this cheese stuffed in a chili or on enchiladas, but it also makes for a great gooey quesadilla. Blend it with some Oaxaca cheese and sprinkle it over nachos and you’ll be in heaven.

It was too delicious to get a good picture of.

The Bottom Line:

Subtly sharp, sweet, shreddable, and melty.

Menonita

Tasting Notes:

Sometimes simply called “Chihuahua,” though I find that term to be used rarely, menonita is a cheese hailing from the state of Chihuahua, Mexico and is named such because it was traditionally produced by Mennonite farmers who settled in the area. With an almost Muenster-like quality to the flavor, this cheese is much harder and more oily than Queso Fresco with a noticeably stinky quality to it.

That sharp stink doesn’t travel over to the flavor though, this cheese is very mild and nutty with a hint of sweetness on the backend. It takes a while to melt, but when it finally does hit the right temperature it spreads beautifully, making this an ideal cheese for stuffing and baking.

What To Eat It On:

Before you roast me on this half-assed roasted pepper let me just say, in my defense, I have an electric stove. Properly roasting this thing would take me something like 25 minutes, so I heated it up to the point where the pepper was soft, and the cheese was melted, and you know what? Still delicious.

As I said previously, Menonita is the ideal stuffing cheese, and one popular way of eating it is in chile rellenos, or simply melted in a roasted poblano pepper. This is great grill food, cut open a pepper, stuff it with a wedge of menonita, melt it on the grill and you’ve got yourself a meal.

Add some carbs in there by eating it on a tortilla.

The Bottom Line:

Your best choice for stuffing anything with cheese.

Oaxaca

Tasting Notes:

Hailing from Oaxaca Mexico, home of the Tlayudas (the dish the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza was inspired by), you’ll often see Oaxaca cheese as a knot of off-white string cheeses. Like mozzarella, it’s easy to shred, grate, and is mild enough to be eaten on its own at room temperature. It tastes way better when you melt it though, which helps to bring forward the saltiness.

The flavor is very similar to skim-milk mozzarella, but it’s a little less neutral, leaning toward a Monterey Jack flavor, but less distinct and nutty and more earthy and peppery. It’s one of the more boring Mexican cheeses, but I love it and it makes for a great base in a blend of cheeses.

What To Eat It On:

Quesadillas, burritos, on simply eat it plain on its own. You’re going to use it basically the same way you’d use mozzarella cheese. I love to mix it with Monterey Jack and stick it in a burrito, roll it up and grill it on a pan so it gets nice and melty.

The Bottom Line:

Your basic shreddable, meltable, neutral salty cheese.

Panela

Tasting Notes:

Panela is an interesting cheese, the good stuff is produced in the town of Tapalpa, but the cheese doesn’t have a clear site of origin, like some of the other cheeses on this list named after Mexican towns. Made from pasteurized cow’s milk, panela is firm, flexible, and salty with a sour aftertaste.

What To Eat It On:

Because Panela doesn’t melt that well we don’t suggest you utilize it in something like a burrito or quesadilla, instead enjoy it fresh on pretty much anything that fresh cold cheese goes with.

But if you really want to love life, fry it. Since Panela doesn’t melt and holds its shape, you can soften it up by throwing it on a pan. Throw some fried Panela in a tortilla with some cactus and you’ve got a delicious vegetarian taco.

The Bottom Line:

You can fry it — need we say more?

Requeson

Tasting Notes:

Requesón can be found in just about every Mexican market but its origin is actually Portugal, and it’s become popular in Latin American countries via the influence of Brazil. The brands you’ll find in Mexican markets will likely be produced in Mexico or America (the Brazilian stuff is creamier and less salty) and it is basically a Mexican version of ricotta cheese. The brand I bought literally just says “ricotta cheese” on the label.

The flavor is a mix between saltiness and creaminess — okay, look… It’s just f*cking ricotta cheese. It differs only in that it’s saltier.

What To Eat It On:

It’s mild, spreadable, and serves as a great filling in everything from empanadas to pasta. It can also be eaten fresh. If you like that ricotta flavor, you’re going to love this but I still prefer to stuff things with the more flavorful Manchego.

The Bottom Line:

It’s Mexican Ricotta cheese.

The Denver Nuggets entered Game 4 at home facing the prospects of a first round sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, but came out with admirable fight on Sunday afternoon at home, despite the long odds staring them in the face.

After getting torched for three games, the Nuggets came out with an improved effort defensively, frustrating the Warriors on offense and doing a much better job staying organized, attached to shooters, and only helping off non-shooters to start the game. Denver took a 26-21 lead into the second quarter, fueled by that defensive effort and Nikola Jokic shouldering most of the burden offensively. The reigning MVP had 18 of his 37 points on the day in the first quarter, doing a bit of everything as he gave the Warriors fits out of the gate.

Picking up where Jokic left off for Denver was rookie Bones Hyland, as the precocious young guard gave the Nuggets a spark off the bench during a big run across the end of the first and start of the second quarter, on his way to a 15-point, 7-assist outing.

The Nuggets led by 11 at the half and the third quarter was mostly a wash, as the Warriors woke up offensively but still couldn’t cut much into the deficit, trailing by nine going to the fourth.

In that final period, the Warriors made a few runs, but each time the Nuggets showed their resiliency and had an answer. Early on, it was Hyland who again showed the value he brings to Denver at the point of attack, shaking Klay Thompson for a big bucket to push Denver’s lead back out to 10 with eight minutes to play.

The big run from the Warriors started with about five minutes to play, when they started to really click offensively, snapping the ball around and creating open shot after open shot by getting Denver in transition, headlined by these two buckets from Andrew Wiggins (20 points) and Klay Thompson (32 points).

On the other side, Jokic had the answers to keep the Warriors at bay for a bit, hitting Draymond Green with a vicious spin move — just a minute before Green would foul out, which proved costly for the Warriors on the defensive end of the floor.

While Green was out, the Warriors found success attacking Jokic as the Nuggets started to switch pick-and-rolls against the small-ball Warriors, with Wiggins and Otto Porter as the two bigs, and Stephen Curry went to work on his way to 33 points off the bench, pulling the Warriors ahead briefly with just over a minute to play.

After Denver tied things up they finally got a stop, and Monte Morris continued his stellar game, finishing with 24 points and five assists, with a floater to push the Nuggets back in front, a lead they would hold for good.

A disastrous inbounds play that saw Porter throw an ill-advised lob to Andrew Wiggins got broken up by Austin Rivers, and on the Nuggets final possession, it was Will Barton who drilled a corner three off of a beautiful Jokic pass that put the dagger in the Warriors.

Jokic finished the game with 37 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, none bigger than the final kick to the corner. Aaron Gordon added 21 for Denver, including a few key late buckets and free throws, while the bench unit played its best game of the series. For the Warriors, Curry and Thompson combined for 65 points but Jordan Poole came back to earth with an 11-point outing (although he did dish out nine assists) and Green’s foul trouble loomed large in the closing minutes as the Warriors struggled to get the necessary stops to complete a comeback win and get a sweep.

Now the series shifts back to San Francisco where the Warriors will look to close things out at home in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Game 4 of the Nets-Celtics first round series went from a “target date” to the “planned debut” for Ben Simmons over the last week, but after Brooklyn fell behind in the series 3-0 on Saturday night, plans changed.

On Sunday afternoon, during the second quarter of Game 4 between the Warriors and Nuggets, the Nets released their injury report for Monday night that listed Simmons as officially OUT with continued back soreness. It wasn’t necessarily a shock when you factor in the context of the situation, as bringing him back for an elimination game would’ve been quite the gamble and put him in a place to be scapegoated for a loss.

However, if holding him out was an effort to protect Simmons from shouldering the blame of a potential sweep at the hands of the Celtics, it unfortunately did not work as Simmons was swiftly blasted by one usual suspect and one surprising one. Reggie Miller, who is typically one of the most positive figures in the NBA, took to Twitter and unloaded on Simmons in a way we rarely see from the Hall of Famer, saying he has “no competitive fire.”

That was a bit of a stunner to see Miller publicly rip Simmons like that, but it was no surprise to see Stephen A. Smith do the same when ABC’s halftime show aired shortly after the injury report released. Smith called out Simmons for being a “quitter” and listed off his exits from LSU, Philadelphia, and now the start of his Brooklyn tenure as proof.

The entire Simmons saga has been bizarre to watch unfold this season, and in this instance it seems like most of the blame belongs on the shoulders of whomever was offering up the information to reporters that Game 4 was when he planned on returning, particularly since it came out after they had already gone down 0-2. Bringing him back facing elimination would’ve been setting him up to fail, but leaking that he was trying to get back on the court for Game 4 made it look like he was backing out on his new teammates. The Nets, at least publicly through Steve Nash, insisted there wasn’t a plan in place all along likely for this very reason, but for whatever reason, behind the scenes, some from the team or in Simmons camp wanted it known this was the plan and now Simmons is facing the backlash that comes with the optics of it all.

Lorde is currently on her worldwide Solar Power Tour which is in support of her third album of the same title. She released the project last summer, nearly four years after she dropped her sophomore album, Melodrama. Lorde’s Solar Power Tour has been going well so far but it saw a slight bump in the plans after Lorde came down with a case of laryngitis which forced her to postpone shows in Connecticut and Washington D.C. Despite this, it’s Lorde’s past tour in support of Melodrama that’s been getting some attention as of late.

It comes after multiple videos arrived on social media showing her shushing the crowd she performed in front of. Many wondered what was the reason for the action, and in a video Lorded recently sent to the @lordecontent Instagram account, the singer explains the shushing. “I just woke up … I just wanted to talk about this thing of me shushing people at my shows,” Lorde said. “That was something that I did on that one song a couple times when I wanted to sing it a capella or off the microphone so people could hear me and because I wanted to try something different.”

She continued, “If you come to my shows, you know it’s an hour-and-a-half of all of us singing and screaming together. Also that dramatic-ass move was literally for an album called Melodrama, so don’t stress too hard.”

You can watch Lorde shush multiple crowds and explain the move in the videos above.

For weeks, we’ve been getting reports about Ben Simmons’ status and when he could be ready to make his first appearance of the 2021-22 season after sitting out through the trade deadline with the Sixers and then rehabbing a back injury once he arrived in Brooklyn.

Recently, the word was that the target for Simmons’ return would be Games 4 of the first round, but that was in a world in which the Nets were expecting to have won a game by that point of the series. Instead, they find themselves down 3-0 to a Boston team that is absolutely rolling, which has forced a change of plans for Simmons. The team officially announced Simmons would be out on Sunday afternoon after Steve Nash insisted it was “news to me” that the former All-Star would be debuting on Monday night.

There really shouldn’t be any surprise by this decision, as it’s one thing to have Simmons debut in a playoff game, but an entirely different animal to throw him out there for an elimination game. Considering how much of Simmons’ absence has been about his mental health, placing him in a situation where he could be scapegoated in an elimination game would have been setting him up to fail. While the Nets would surely love to have his presence, particularly on the defensive end, against the Celtics, it’s for the best long-term for Simmons and the Nets to protect him a bit in this circumstance — which is also why Nash hadn’t been willing to speak on a target date for his return.

On top of the mental side, back injuries can be tricky and according to Woj, Simmons is still feeling some soreness, which led to him remaining out for Monday.

Since last July, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot have been slowly but steadily amassing information. They’ve talked to untold Donald Trump cronies. Some have talked willingly. Some have blown off subpoenas, risking jail time. They’re still at it, but when their findings are made clear, one of their members recently said, based on what they’ve already dug up, they won’t be a letdown.

As per NBC News, Maryland representative Jamie Raskin — who earlier this month staved off some MTG heckling — told those at a D.C. event Thursday to get ready for fireworks. “The hearings will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House,” Raskin said. “No president has ever come close to doing what happened here in terms of trying to organize an inside coup to overthrow an election and bypass the constitutional order.” He added, “And then also use a violent insurrection made up of domestic violent extremist groups, white nationalist and racist, fascist groups in order to support the coup.”

Raskin said the committee is preparing to start holding hearings in June By the end of the summer or early autumn — soon before midterms, incidentally — a report on their findings should be made public.

The committee has said to have amassed evidence that Trump and his inner circle coordinated with those who participated in the attack on the Capitol building. Their plan, Raskin said, was to get then-vice president Mike Pence to decline the electoral votes, moving the matter of naming the next president to the House.

“This was not a coup directed at the president,” Raskin told the crowd. “It was a coup directed by the president against the vice president and against the Congress.”

Among the most chilling evidence was the claim, reported last summer, that Pence, when directed by his Secret Service agents to get into a car amidst the attacks, declined, saying, “I’m not getting in that car.”

Raskin said, “He knew exactly what this inside coup they had planned for was going to do.”

(Via NBC News)

Tyler The Creator’s success with Call Me If You Get Lost has lasted nearly a year at this point. It was just a few weeks ago that the rapper’s sixth album gave him his second Grammy award after it won in the Best Rap Album category at this year’s show. It joined 2019’s Igor as his only Grammy-winning projects. After his most recent win, Tyler made sure to thank his fans and troll DJ Khaled (again). Now, Tyler has a new opportunity to do the former (and maybe the latter) thanks to Call Me If You Get Lost reclaiming the top spot on the Billboard albums chart.

In its return to No. 1, Call Me If You Get Lost sold 59,000 album units on the Billboard 200 chart dated April 30, 2022. That number is comprised of 51,000 pure album sales with 49,500 of that being vinyl LP sales. With that, Tyler sixth’s album earned itself the largest sales week for a hip-hop album on vinyl, or for a solo male album on vinyl, since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. The previous record for a male artist was held by Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon III: The Chosen which sold 41,500 vinyl copies in its first week back in December. The overall record since 1991 is held by Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) which dished out 114,000 vinyl LPs in its first week back in November.

Tyler’s return to No. 1 also comes after he livestreamed his Los Angeles Call Me If You Get Lost tour stop on Amazon music.

For the second straight game, the Milwaukee Bucks have outclassed the Bulls in Chicago to take full control of their first round series despite the absence of Khris Middleton. After a 30-point win in Game 3 on Friday night, the Bucks followed that up with a 119-95 win on Sunday afternoon at the United Center to take a 3-1 lead and give themselves a chance to close out the series on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.

Leading the way for the Bucks, as always, was Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Milwaukee got a big boost off the bench from Grayson Allen, who has stepped up to take on some of the perimeter scoring void created by Middleton’s absence, as well as another tremendous two-way game from Jrue Holiday.

The two teams traded blows early, with Milwaukee leading by just three going to the second quarter, but the Bucks opened things up in the second as Allen got hot from three and Antetokounmpo took over on both ends of the floor.

Milwaukee held a 15-point edge at the half and would extend that to 22 early in the third quarter as they came out hot, once again striking from long distance.

The Bulls would go on a run to cut that deficit down to as few as eight, indicating they might have a run in them to make things competitive, headlined by back-to-back threes from Ayo Dosunmu.

The Bucks had a swift answer as they reinserted Giannis into the game and he took over, creating for himself and others, with Allen being the leading beneficiary, allowing Milwaukee to push their lead back out to 16 going into the fourth quarter.

The most notable thing to happen in the fourth quarter was a brief kerfuffle between Zach LaVine and Bobby Portis that resulted in double technicals, as the Bucks continued to roll, pushing their lead out to 24 in the closing seconds.

As the final seconds wound down, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine made an early exit to the locker room, as frustrations were evident on the Chicago sideline with another dismal performance at home after seemingly holding the momentum in the series coming out of Game 2. Those two combined for 47 points in the game, with Patrick Williams adding 20, but the two stars were a combined 16-of-38 from the field and 2-of-11 from three as the Bucks perimeter defense, spearheaded by Holiday, has made life extremely difficult on those two ever since DeRozan went off in Game 2.

On the Bucks side, Giannis finished with 32 points, 17 rebounds, and seven assists, as he continues to play spectacular ball in this series. Allen, for the second straight game, topped 20 points with a new playoff career-high 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting (6-of-7 from three), as he has given the Bucks a huge lift as a floor spacer around Giannis, which is much needed with Middleton out. Holiday ended his afternoon with 26 points and seven assists, along with the aforementioned strong defense on DeRozan.

Milwaukee will head home for Wednesday’s Game 5 looking to close out the series and send the Bulls into the offseason.

A little over a year ago, Brockhampton’s Kevin Abstract announced that the group’s final two albums would be released in 2021. Only one of those projects was released, that being Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, and the rest of 2021 came and went without their final effort. Abstract explained the decision to end the group, saying, “Everybody just getting a lil older and got a lot to say outside of group projects.” During their set at the first weekend of Coachella last week, Brockhampton confirmed that their final album would arrive at some point this year and they even shared a trailer for it.

In addition to saying their final album would drop this year, Brockhampton also noted that their final performance together would be at Coachella’s second weekend which took place last night. According to Desert Sun, Brockhampton took to the Coachella stage wearing matching Adidas Originals varsity jackets with the band’s logo and a quote on the back that read, “all good things must come to an end.” Throughout the set, the band made sure to note several times that the performance would be their last one as a group with Abstract saying point-blankly at one point, “It’s the last show.”

Brockhampton’s set came to an end with a performance of “Boogie,” but not before a final message from Abstract. “This is the last song we’ll ever do as a band,” he said. “That’s kinda crazy.” After their set, Brockhampton shared a post on Instagram that thanked fans for their support. “The show is over,” they wrote. “Thanks for being a part of the ride. love all of you.”

You can view clips from their last set together in the videos above.

Joel Embiid didn’t quite look like himself on Saturday afternoon as the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Toronto Raptors in Game 4 of their first round series. It prevented Philly from picking up a sweep, but more importantly, questions were raised about whether Embiid can play at an MVP level with a compromised right hand — the big man had 21 points on 7-for-16 shooting with eight rebounds and five turnovers.

The Sixers said that Embiid was dealing with an injured ligament in his right thumb, but the plan was for him to play on Saturday then get an MRI upon returning to Philadelphia. On Sunday, Sixers coach Doc Rivers announced that the MRI was completed and Embiid is, indeed, dealing with a ligament tear.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the injury is so severe that Embiid needs to undergo surgery, but he is able to put it off until the offseason.

It is unclear exactly when or how Embiid suffered the injury, but after playing the first half of Game 3 without anything on his hand, he emerged from halftime with a brace on his thumb, which he also had one during Game 4. Embiid has caused headaches for Toronto during the series, averaging 26 points and 11.8 rebounds in 39.5 minutes per game as the Sixers have opened up a 3-1 series lead.