I may have been burning the candle at both ends this week. It seems to have been an endless stream of show tunes and martinis. So this morning I was feeling a little bit precious. Given I had no monkey butlers and explaining the location of my house to delivery men, I was forced to create my own hangover cure/breakfast. Thankfully I am a resourceful woman. I did some hunter gathering and found small rounds of single serve goat cheese – from Carrefour – seriously something only the French could invent. Couple this with some flat bread, sliced tomato, a slug of olive oil and salt and pepper, and I…
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I Second That Emulsion
When I started this blog I just wanted to talk about my love of cheese and travel. I have since found one of the fabulous side benefits is that as a “food blogger” I also have the opportunity to sample some of the best food in town. Last night I was invited to a private tasting of the new summer menu Gordon Ramsay Five Star Restaurant at St Regis Doha. I am a regular at the sister restaurant Opal, but haven’t had an opportunity to try the fine dining option. When the call came, I didn’t hesitate. Prepared by Chef Gilles Bosquet – who has a Michelin Star – the…
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Quiche De Resistance
I am so old that I remember when quiche became really trendy in Australia. I am hoping it was the 1980s, but I have an ugly suspicion it was the 1970s. Suddenly it was everywhere and even Sara Lee was making them… Although known as a classic French dish, the quiche originated in Germany. The word quiche means “cake” which came from the German word Kuchen. Today, quiche is considered as typically French. And to be honest, it has become one of my favorite foods over time. What’s not to love about eegs, cheese, pastry and of course, cheese. Quiche lorraine is a popular variant that was originally an open…
- American Cheese, Blue Cheese, Cheese, European Cheese, France, French, Italy, Sheep Milk, Travel, Unusual Cheeses, White Cheese
Wheel of Cheese Fortune
The thing I love about having a blog dedicated to one topic, rather than random musings (I have Facebook and Twitter for that), is that my friends near and far collect the most amazing stuff for me. This comes in the form of websites, newspaper stories and infographics like this one which came from the lovely Sarah Rabbani (who I want to be when I grow up) That’s a chart of 66 of the world’s favorite cheeses and yes, I have already pre-ordered one for the bedroom. For more information check out Pop Chart Lab or here at our friends Buzzfeed Food
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Cream of the Crop
In Qatar, the two months of May and June are often the busiest and most frustrating you can encounter. See, the country shuts down for a bit of June, all of July and August. When I say shut down, I mean grind to a halt. People flee the 50 degree temperatures and head to their homelands or Europe. As a result, clients want projects wrapped up in record time. Events, launches and other openings of envelopes are crammed into a single week. Yes this is a white girl problem, but I have had a bit of a week both and work and socially. Deadlines loomed. Announcements had to be made.…
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Homage to Fromage
Like Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster and finding a decent coffee in the US, I believe I have unearthed the ultimate urban myth – a Frenchman who doesn’t like cheese. I have a friend, Dom, who must be the only real Frenchman in the history of Frenchiness…who does not like cheese. For him it’s not the taste, but the smell that he finds off putting. Despite this character flaw, he has am amazing sense of humour and will tolerate the consumption of even the stinkiest cheese in his presence. Which I recently did…at length. Dom and his wife Laila joined me for one of my weekend jaunts to Oman with…
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Heavy Breathing – I Just Want (Brin) D’Amor Cheese
Well before this blog came into beng, I would frequent the cheese counter of a food hall within a hotel in Doha called La Cigale. I would spend Friday afternoons, and a good chunk of my earnings from several jobs, there. But as happens, familiarity bred contempt. I went there too often. I started to notice they weren’t taking care of the cheese. The staff weren’t as helpful. And we fell out of love. Actually, if I am pressed, I do say the main reason I stopped going was that the valet parking there is rubbish (white girl problems anyone?). But, in a fit of nostalgia (homesickness and missing people),…
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Vive Le Reblochon!
Am I the only person on earth (the far reaches of Bhutan not counted) who hasn’t seen Les Miserables? My love for most things Gallic is well and truly on the record. But, I mean, I WANT to, but the whole “Anne Hathaway is Annoying” business kind of gets in the way. So instead of watching Anne sobbing on screen, I decided to have my own little French Revolution this weekend in the most unlikely of places – Muscat, Oman. It’s one of my favorite places in the world and has a pretty heavy French influence. There is even an Omani French Museum charting the relationship between the two countries…
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Fast Food Notion – Maccas Goes Gourmet
From the country that brought us 400 types of cheese, you would expect they would find a way to make Maccas palatable.
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Fromage a Trois…Paris three, four, four, five… cheeses as a time
It’s Paris and great food, especially cheese is everywhere. Herewith my cheese porn diary from a week in Paris…