French Cheese

Cloudy day by the Seine, still wow

We had a slap up dinner in Paris.  Of course I ordered the cheese plate at the end.

Throughout the trip I have been on a quest to find the best tomatoes, and to taste as many cheeses  as possible.  We hear that there are 380 different cheeses in France, so the saying goes "chaque jour, un fromage", a cheese for every day.

I love the Conte' here is the link to more info. Conte' information.

I tasted some soft delicate oranges rind cheese, Piere Qui Vire, tome de napoleons, a hard sheepskin cheese, Soumantrain, Epoisse Gaugry, and some smoked cheese in little globular balls, like mozzarella, yum and of course some Brie.

Meanwhile Back to the Dinner

The plate had Conte, Roquefort, a wedge of a medium cheese ho hum, and a Camembert.  This was the big surprise package because it had a strong fermented taste, just like the Camembert that I make. It was strong and had the same smell and taste of my own.  Note well, that a Camembert that you buy in a supermarket in Australia bears little resemblance to the real thing.  I get into production more seriously.

I am interested in a cheese tasting party at my place.  What do you think?

Museum in Hanoi. Interesting

Archeological Museum, Hanoi
We went to the French quarter of Hanoi it was a grand building in a neo-classical French style.  It had a beautiful tropical, colonial style garden surrounding it.  Think "Mem Saab", think Somerset Maugham, or the raffles Hotel, Singapore. It was cool inside, for such a hot day.

I was struck by the simplicity of the displays in the archeological museum, compared to the razzmatazz  of the national museum or the monumental grandeur of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  Everything is diligently catalogued displayed, and labelled well, Then, I realized what a luxury a such a museum is for such a poor country.

Vietnam fought and overthrew the French in the 1950's, then there was the Vietnam war, which we all know.  They are surely recovering economically, physically, medically,:- remember agent orange.  So you would imagine it there would not be resources left over for luxuries such as science, study, research, or  archeology.

And there it is so proudly displayed, dignified and modest.

In the ancient capital

French Countryside

The French way the countryside, some characteristics stand out

Holding fast onto culture and history, food, buildings, architecture, town scape and country landscape,  looks like  a very strict building code prevails.  History the 850th anniversary of Sens cathedrale.  Big history intertwined with the Catholic Church.

Food

At the first B and B, Each morning hosts go to the boulangerie BEFORE work to buy fresh bread for our breakfast, thanks, yum, but a really big effort. A similar story in small villages up until lunchtime then the baker closes or sells out.  The bread is so outstanding, we had to buy croissants.  The baker would open again in the afternoon.  Many streets were deserted around midday, 1.00pm. People lunching shops closed  - another tradition. Goodies like pate, rillettes, terrines are available at every turn..  Fruit and veg are abundant and tasty and beautiful to behold.

Yes! That fois gras is 189.00 per kg

We, in Australia, celebrate "the new", the next big idea, innovation, ingenuity and problemsolving and progress and growth, energy. We are not so big on tradition, in fact we are quick to mock our own.  However France holds on, so that means not too many skyscrapers, not too many Macker's.  They say no to growth no matter what the cost.  And sometimes they even say no to America.  We don't.  USA labels them cowardly,  but I don't think they care.


The landscape

One of our fellow travelers talked about   the exquisite poignancy , beauty and tragedy of graves of her relatives in France.

A dramatic purple sky. The sea of  swaying golden barley crops, white crosses, the loss of the young men, so long ago, but so well remembered, even today.  So different from the stuffy monuments.   The countryside itself, preserved and beautiful as it is, brings poignancy.

View from Vejelais

San Germain early morning

A little later

Can we learn lessons from a developing country.

Archeological Museum, Hanoi
We went to the French quarter of Hanoi it was a grand building in a neo-classical French style.  It had a beautiful tropical, colonial style garden surrounding it.  Think "Mem Saab", think Somerset Maugham, or the raffles Hotel, Singapore. It was cool inside, for such a hot day.

I was struck by the simplicity of the displays in the archeological museum, compared to the razzmatazz  of the national museum or the monumental grandeur of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  Everything is diligently catalogued displayed, and labelled well, Then, I realized what a luxury a such a museum is for such a poor country.

Vietnam fought and overthrew the French in the 1950's, then there was the Vietnam war, which we all know.  They are surely recovering economically, physically, medically,:- remember agent orange.  So you would imagine it there would not be resources left over for luxuries such as science, study, research, or  archeology.

And there it is so proudly displayed, dignified and modest.

The Grand Tribute to Ho Chi Minh

I want a room with a view

We love Lucca we have been there before, it is a perfect base, and the little square (don wants me to say "piazza")  he is turning Italiano: anyway our square has kids of all ages who come in waves to play kick to kick soccer in the evenings, we have a gourmet up market "slow food endorsed" ristorante and pasticceria, macelleria, Les Tricot fine knits shop.  It also has a "gone bonkers" and a nearby gelateria, fruitivendoli, a church.   Honestly, what more would a person want?  Water.  At night people are filliing up a dozen water bottles from the fontana at our corner.
Here is the view from our bedroom window in Lucca, the trees in the picture are actually growing on the city walls.

This is Don's email:-

Our top story apartment, in view, while we are dining in an great restuarant in our piazza San Francisco

We Are waiting for our train to take us to Pisa from where we fly to Sardinia.

We have had three days here in Lucca which is agreat spot as there is relatively few tourists

 but plenty to see and do. 

I Climbed to the top of one of the towers this am and took a few pics of the panorama 

We have split up now so it's just Ann and me from here in.

Pretty hard to play 'spoof' with just 2

I'll include a couple of shots from Fiesole overlooking Florence as well as the view from 

another of our windows down the canal

Attachments area

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Mischief by ourselves, this time

Into Paris, by ourselves

The Bagatelle.
Took the Metro, then a bus to the Bagatelle Gardens

Now that is a garden

Roses in the Bagatelle Gardens, one of the most famous rose gardens in the world

A Little French Note

We needed bread.  The boys walked up the very steep hill to the ville "en haute" and were able to follow their noses to the baker.

French Bread and the French Paradox

French bread and butter, and cheese, while we are at it, are so good, that you need nothing else for lunch. I must eat tomatoes every day, red and room temperature,  nothing else, nothing.  The bread is a little tough on the outside, so requires a little extra chewing. So it takes a little longer to tackle compared to the white fluff in packets in Australia which we can inhale, or the spongy soft horror of a Macker's bun.

Our friend in the market in Auxere

La Biciclette

La Bicyclette

A rugged ride to the shops one morning with two companions - an imperative, we had to go shopping. The traffic was busy, mild, but scary for me - not joyful.  Always more to learn.  Met my first "cross" driver and two members of our party had falls.  We brought the groceries back home to the boat in the baskets on the front of the bicycle.  So Frenchy, so chic.  Saddle sore butt, I'll be fine.

Contrast the afternoon excursion
Later that same Day,
We moored along a quiet road with a lovely shaded area and we scampered up the limestone cliffs -  sounds heroic doesn't it? Alas no, there were a couple of sets of stairs, some stony outcrops traversing scree paths.  We only went as far as the grottos in the cliff face proper. Wow what a view , a great panorama opened up with a postcard-perfect ville and it's steeple for compositional bliss. We took happy snaps of Chris sitting on the park bench, by the canal perfectly relaxed while Rosey cut his hair.
We returned to terra-firma, onto the bicycles and we retraced our steps of a few days earlier and rode back all the way to the prettiest lock and it's jardin.  Sooooo easy on the bike - a pure joy to be riding a bicycle on the walking path.

The Lesson

Two rides on the same day, same bicycles , one ride full of fear, panic, obligation, the other?
We rode three or four times further, but with a joyful heart
 So it seemed easier.  Makes you think......

A Very strange City Indeed

Arriving to a delicious, welcome  wall of heat after a cold night on a plane feels just like we are on holidays in Asia.  And what a relief to be met by our own taxi and immediately on our way....ahh

Traffic.  "we're not in Kansas anymore Toto"

The jaw dropping chaos, the honking horns make my head spin. There is no need of "lanes" and the "correct side of the road:- in this case right, is a mere concept, a philosophical idea.  Glad I am not driving.  In fact, I may never drive again. The roads are full of scooters. We learned later that the government encourages motor bikes:- laws permit two adults, and one child under six.  And to discourage car? How about a 200% tax on car registration.  So a Toyota Camry would cost $85,000 US. 

En France ooh la la

Hi folks,
We are in France now.
This is the land of minuscule. We have just completed our seven-day canal boat trip.  All aboard survived.  It was fun.  We cooked our own evening meals and made up the most delicious baguette rolls for lunch with rillette or pate , tomato, cheese.  Bread, cheese and tomato sounds pretty ordinaire, but the bread and the butter is so extraordinarily good, that it is a feast. My mission is to try every cheese in France.  There are 380.

The countryside is exquisite.  There is normally a path beside the canal.  We have a botanist traveling with us.  She picked a bouquet of wild flowers for our dinner table, made up of red and white clover, ragweed and fleabane.  She pointed out hazelnut trees just in bud and huge walnut trees with young fruit, which could be pickled immediately. However, the winner was cherries.  There were cherry trees in EVERY backyard absolutely loaded with fruit in all stages of maturity.  We were able to forage for some on the canal bank.  We tasted white ones and maraschino but best of all were the black cherries.  We were able to use the boat hook to reach the higher branches so we had cherries for supper that night.  Sounds just like the "famous five"


We are off to Dijon by train. Yes Dijon mustard.  We will have to sample, naturellement.