• Aged Cheese,  Artisan Cheese,  Cheese,  European Cheese,  Food,  France,  French,  Goat Cheese,  Restaurant Reviews,  Travel,  Unusual Cheeses,  Washed Rind,  White Cheese

    100 Cheeses Down – You Cheddar Believe It

    June 26, 2013

    It seemed like a good idea at the time, but let me tell you this whole caper is trying 365 cheeses in 365 days is no easy feat. Which is why I am celebrating milestones where I can. What started as a simple catalogue of cheese i have eaten and the occasional good meal thrown in, has now evolved into something more – travelogue, food porn site, political commentary, restaurant review and general whingefest blog. That’s the beauty of a blog I guess. So the journey marks it’s first significant moment – my 100th cheese. This tranche of cheese moments is brought to you by my friends at Grand Hyatt…

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  • Cheese,  France,  French,  Travel,  White Cheese

    Milking It

    June 22, 2013

    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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  • Cheese,  French,  Restaurant Reviews,  Travel

    I Second That Emulsion

    June 6, 2013

    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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  • Blue Cheese,  European Cheese,  France,  French,  Travel,  Washed Rind,  wine

    Cream of the Crop

    May 24, 2013

    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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  • Cheese,  European Cheese,  France,  French,  Travel,  Unusual Cheeses

    Homage to Fromage

    April 26, 2013

    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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  • Cheese,  French,  Sheep Milk,  Travel

    Heavy Breathing – I Just Want (Brin) D’Amor Cheese

    April 6, 2013

    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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  • Cheese,  European Cheese,  France,  French,  Travel

    Vive Le Reblochon!

    March 29, 2013

    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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  • Cheese,  European Cheese,  France,  Travel,  Washed Rind

    The Loving Spoonful

    March 8, 2013

    It had been a tough start to the week in the vineyard of truth. I was having technology problems, clients were being demanding and well, it was Tuesday. And it was March. When I heard about the new Grapes and Cheese night at Gordon Ramsay’s Opal at St Regis Doha, I am not one to pass up the opportunity to sample up to different types of wine and matching cheeses. After all, it was Tuesday. And it was March. The wines took center stage with a selection prepared by Sommelier Ashwin Tillousing who took us through wines from France, South Africa, Spain, Chile and New Zealand. Bearing in mind it…

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