I think my cleaner judges me. One day I came home to find my decorative papal rosary beads artfully arranged on my bedside table. Once she told me I was sick because I “didn’t have a husband”. Another time, I had reason to call her because I couldn’t find a suit jacket. “It’s in your jacket closet Madam,” she answered with a sigh. When quizzed about said closet, she told me the location was in the guest bedroom and had been the “Jacket Closet” for at least six months. It’s rare our paths cross. I usually come home to find she has been and gone, like a midget hurricane. But…
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It’s Emmental My Dear Watson…
A friend reminded me this week that I had better get a wriggle on if I am going to try 365 cheeses in 365 days. This inspired two desperation buys this week. The first, Emmental aka the old favorite Swiss cheese. And just like the Swiss, it is mild, non offensive and just a little bit boring. Apparently three types of bacteria are used to produce this cheese, you would think that at least one of them would leave an impression? This one had already been massacred by the industrial cheese slicer at Carrefour and something may have been lost in translation. I tend to like my cheeses to be…
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Comte As You Are
As I type this, I am watching a “One Night Only” Duran Duran special on TV. Amazingly, they have aged quite well, Simon, admittedly wearing a rather flattering leather jacket, seems to move as well as he did in the 1980s and is still endearingly out of tune. The other members still look a bit of all right too, I’m unsure of how much of their performance and current looks are wind assisted, but this didn’t affect my nostalgic moment. I knew all the words to the songs, except that weird later period around A View to a Kill, when they got all artsy and their all did “side projects”…
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If You Leave Brie, Can I Come Too?
I’m an expat and have been for some time now. It doesn’t define me as such, but it’s an important part of my life and will be for a long time. There are some great things about being an expat – no tax, travel, decent wages. But the downsides are homesickness, frustration with bureaucracy….and seeing important people in your life leave. It happens, in expat land, nothing is forever. We are all guests in our country and as always, there will be another opportunity in another country. The thing about expat friendships and relationships is that they develop fast and strong, kind of like the uncertainty of our lives fuels…
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The Rouquefort Files
Time to enter my blue period. Roquefort is perhaps the “entry level” cheese for many of us. A non-controversial addition to cheese plates around the globe. I also find it’s one of the most abused cheeses, served far too cold to be enjoyed. This was, I think the first blue veined cheese I ever tried, and although not one of my favorites (that’s reserved for Stilton and Gorgonzola), there is always a hunk of it in my ridge. Traditionally, Roquefort is a sheep milk cheese, and in Euro fashion, apparently only those cheeses made in Roquefort Sul-Soulzon can called themselves”roquefort”. I bought my hunk from our loca French megastore and…