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A Cheesy Food Gal Giveaway

I just had to laugh the other morning when a local newscaster joked that if he won the Lotto, he’d be spending it all on good cheese.

Just goes to show how much we all love the stuff.

To help you get a better and easier handle on all the wonderful cheeses in the market these days, Chronicle Books has come out with a new iPhone app, “Cheese Plate.”

It’s based on the book, “Cheese and Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing and Enjoying” by noted Bay Area food writer, Janet Fletcher. Curated by Fletcher, the app includes information and photos on how to put together 25 cheese plates, each consisting of three complimentary cheeses (and alternatives if you can’t easily find your first choice).

You’ll learn how to pronounce cheese names, who makes the particular cheeses, and the best descriptors for each type.

The app is $4.99 at the iTunes store.

One lucky Food Gal reader, though, will win a free app, plus a copy of the book that it’s based on. But wait, there’s more. That winner also will receive another book by Fletcher, The Cheese Course” (Chronicle Books), which is full of information on artisanal cheeses plus wines to pair with them.

How’s that for a deal?

Contest: It’s open only to those in the continental United States. Entry deadline is midnight PST Jan. 15. Winner will be announced on Jan. 17.

How to enter?

Just tell me one cheesy thing you hate to admit that you’ve done.

Here’s my own answer: “I actually saw the original ‘Star Wars’ 13 times when I was a teen-ager. Yes, in the theater, each time waiting in a very long line to do so. It got to the point that my brothers and I could recite the lines to one another. Not only that, dare I admit that my best friend and I even waited in line once to get autographed photos from Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper at a Toys ‘R’ Us? How’s that for mortifying?”