Photo du Jour - Grapes!

I was out walking the dogs the other day when our neighbor brought his bicycle to a halt in front of me for bisous and a chat.
After a few of minutes of scolding me because we had sold our garden to people who aren't taking proper care of it, he pulled this gorgeous bunch of white table grapes out of his vegetable laden bicycle basket and offered them to me with a big smile.

I guess that means I have been forgiven.

December's La Fête du Fromage Round-Up

December is a crazy time of year for most of us. A warm thank you to all of you who found a moment to savor cheese for this month's Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event.


Shira of Petit Pois made Oeufs en Cocotte for a light supper with leftover slow cooked onions and eggs, then sprinkled with shredded Gruyère. The result was savory little gratin crowned with delicious, golden cheese. What a great looking dish!

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Creamy and rich Grès des Vosges sounds amazing! Chelly from Rolling in Dough happily tasted this Kirsch infused, French cheese from Alsace. A glass of Gewurztraminer and some slices of baguette alongside made a perfect snack.

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Nathalie at Spaced Out Ramblings shared another luscious looking Italian cheese with us for December's Fête. Stracchino is a soft, spreadable cow's-milk cheese from the Lombardy region that is both wonderful to cook with or to simply enjoy spread on some fresh bread.

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Little discs of chèvre wrapped in bacon and pan fried until the bacon is crispy and the cheese has warmed and is starting to ooze a bit? Well, it just doesn't get much better than that.
Camille of Croque Camille recently discovered this French convenience food called Fournée au Chèvre and is, not surprisingly, thoroughly smitten!

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My entry to La Fête is the smoky and nutty flavored Trappe Echourgnac. This delicious French cheese is matured in walnut liqueur from the Périgord and produced by nuns at the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Bonne Espérance (our Lady of Good Hope) in the Dordogne.

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Thanks again for another fantastic Fête!


Please taste and share some cheese with us again in January.

Tell us why you chose this particular cheese. Tell us how it tasted. Tell us about its texture and aroma. Did you eat it on its own? Or with something? Did you drink anything special with your cheese? Would you recommend it or not? Is there something unusual or interesting about it?

The 15th of every month will be the official day for La Fête du Fromage. Please have your entries to me by the end of the 13th.

• Photos are wonderful, but not necessary
• Entries must contain the words La Fête du Fromage and contain a link to Chez Loulou
• Posts should be written specifically for La Fête du Fromage and not entered in any other food blog event
• Please send the link to your post to louloufrance (at) gmail (dot) com with the words Fête du Fromage in the subject line

Photo du Jour - Olive Tree in Spring

Our olive tree is loaded with tiny flowers this year.

Photo du Jour

Little windows in Albi.

Wake up call!

Woke up early to catch the train to go back to Paris! The Loire was beautiful.

La Fête du Fromage - Le Petit Campredon

One of the perks of blogging is getting to know other bloggers.

Usually this is limited to contact via your respective blogs, but sometimes you're lucky enough to meet them in person. And, if you're even luckier, they come for a visit offering a generous gift basket full of wine, honey, jam and six different cheeses from their region of France.
Now, how did she know that this would be the perfect gift?

Le Petit Campredon is one of the six delicious cheeses that Betty brought down from the Aveyron for us to taste.


Produced in the village of Golinhac, Le Petit Campredon is an unpasteurized half goat's milk, half cow's milk fromage fermier.

This is a lovely little cheese that has a creamy texture with a chalky middle.
It is citrusy, delicate and mild tasting, yet gives off a heady barnyard aroma that doesn't do its soft, tangy flavor any favors. As I've already learned, never be dissuaded by a cheese's strong perfume. It is often concealing something delicious!

Enjoy with a glass of Coteaux du Languedoc.

Thanks again Betty!

Blood sausage with ...

After the French Country Vacation, Lafitte is back into normal family-and-friends life. Charles, a family friend from Toulouse, is an excellent cook, and having an award winning Charcutier in Gontaud (see post below), he decided to make a special local treat for all of us: Blood sausage! This type of sausage is usually served with apple puree, but we had not apples available as it is not the season yet (October). But we had plenty of Reine Claude plums, so he decided to give them a try in the pan! He cut them in halves, removed the pit, and cooked them slowly in a Tablespoon of butter, while the sausage was being heated slowly in another pan.
Trust me, the result was fantastic!

La Fête du Fromage - October Round Up

Les fromages français!
Every single entry for October's La Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event was from la belle France. Can you imagine how happy this made me?


Barbra from Serve it Forth shared her newest addiction with us - Pérail - a luscious, silky textured ewe's milk cheese. She describes it as ..."not overly sheepy but neither is it sheepish; slightly floral and and a little grassy..." Glad to know I'm not the only Pérail addict out there!

She also tasted Le 1909, a more aggressive "Pérail like" cheese produced for the Maître Fromager Affineur in Paris, Androuet. Yet another cheese to add to my "Must Try" list.

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Nathalie of Spaced Out Ramblings carried this scrumptious little drum of Chaource with her from Paris to her home in Rome. With a fat content of almost 50%, Chaource is very rich and creamy! It comes from the Champagne region, so many say that is should be enjoyed with a glass of Champagne, but Nathalie gives plenty of other delicious accompanying food and drink options. As she says, "The sky has no limit."

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Good things come in small packages. Like this enticing walnut and cranberry studded Brie en Croûte that Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry made for La Fête. That Brie oozing out from the puff pastry shell is absolutely mouthwatering!

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Camille missed the chance to taste the local cheeses while visiting Burgundy, but made up for it with some Délice de Bourgogne that she found in Paris. Although she found this particular piece a bit young, she describes it as buttery and very smooth. I can't wait to try this one!

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Deep in the Ariège, on farms surrounded by green pastures, rugged mountains and crystal clear lakes, the age old tradition of cheese making thrives.
Le Bamalou is an unpasteurized cow's milk cheese that is matured for several months on wood planks, enriching the cheese with earthy flavors. It is mild, buttery and has nice hints of fruit. Very likable!
A rich red wine such as Cahors or Châteauneuf-du-Pape would be a good match.

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Thanks for sharing such delicious cheese everyone!


November marks the 11th Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event.
If you would like to join in, and I hope you do, please have your entries to me by November 13. The entire round-up will be posted on November 15.

Tell us why you chose this particular cheese. Tell us how it tasted. Tell us about its texture and aroma. Did you eat it on its own? Or with something? Did you drink anything special with your cheese? Would you recommend it or not? Is there something unusual or interesting about it?

• Photos are wonderful, but not necessary
• Entries must contain the words La Fête du Fromage and contain a link to Chez Loulou
• Posts should be written specifically for La Fête du Fromage and not entered in any other food blog event
• Please send the link to your post to louloufrance (at) gmail (dot) com with the words Fête du Fromage in the subject line

Photo du Jour - The Village Château

When I walk to the épicerie in the morning, I can look up of of the tiny streets in the center of the village and catch a glimpse of the Château.

A bit of history and another view.

La Fête du Fromage - Vacherin du Haut Doubs

Vacherin du Haut Doubs is a succulent wintertime treat. However, winter is coming to a close...



Vacherin du Haut Doubs has been produced for over 200 years high in the Alps, in the Franche-Comté. It was previously called Vacherin du Mont d'Or by both the French and the Swiss, who each claimed that they were the first to produce it. In 1973 Switzerland quietly laid legal claim to it. Then, to add insult to injury, in 1983 they began producing the cheese from pasteurized cow's milk! Sacré bleu! The French were forced to call the cheese from their side of the border either Mont d'Or or Vacherin du Haut Doubs.

Most French cheese is produced during the summer months, when the animals feed on sweet, summer grasses, so this cheese is unique in that it is produced from the unpasteurized milk of the Montbéliard and Simmentaler cows during the winter months, when they graze on cold weather vegetation and grain. AOC guidelines state that the cheese may be produced only between August 15 and March 31.

Breaking through the moist, thick, wavy rind with your spoon reveals a creamy, beige interior. The flavor is mild, yeasty and subtly infused by the spruce wood box in which the cheese ripens. The box also serves another purpose; it keeps the Vacherin du Haut Doubs from oozing all over the place.

Slice the top off, get your spoons ready to scoop up some of its runny deliciousness and pour yourself a glass of Côtes du Jura, Beaujoulais or Chardonnay. This is truly a fabulous seasonal cheese, so get some while you can.

Photo du Jour - Morels

An exciting discovery in our friend's garden - morel mushrooms!

Photo du Jour - Mouthwatering

"I'll take one of each, please."

La Fête du Fromage - Brebis de Cocagne

Hold a morsel of this runny fromage de brebis up to your nose and breathe in the warm fragrance of earth and wild mushrooms. Place it on your tongue and savor its alluring, buttery flavor.

Brebis de Cocagne oozes charisma.


It also oozes all over the plate as soon as you cut into it.

Runny, gooey, delicious cheese. Perfect for spreading on bread.

There in no way that Brebis de Cocagne could be mistaken for anything other than sheep's milk cheese - it has that typical round, tangy, brebis character. Though the soft fragrance and texture masks a surprisingly gutsy, rich flavor.
I am smitten.

The region around Albi, in the Tarn is home to the producer of this unpasteurized fromage artisanal. A glass of dry white wine such as a dry Jurançon would be a nice match with Brebis de Cocagne.

Photo du Jour

Miniature ramekins that were tucked away in one of Kate Hill's cupboards.

Her home, gardens and delightful barge, the Julia Hoyt, are featured in current issue of Maisons Sud-Ouest magazine. Congratulations Kate!

L'Heure de l'Apéro

L'heure de l'apéro (the French version of the cocktail hour) is a local tradition that we have happily embraced.  It's an invitation to sit down, relax and whet our appetites before the focal point of the evening; dinner.

Our evening apéro gets under way around 7-7:30 and normally lasts about an hour.  I have a glass of white or rosé wine, or sometimes a kir, and my husband either has a mixed drink or a glass of wine. 
Little bowls of pretzels or olives are served to take the edge off, and when we have friends over we serve something a little more substantial, such as little slices of saucisson, a chunk of pâté and another dish or two.

Santé!

Wandering in Paris

The Paris Metro. Reliable and functional.
I like knowing that I can move about the city, quickly and easily (most of the time). It serves its purpose.

But my favorite way to see Paris is to wander. Sometimes with a map, sometimes aimlessly, always with my camera in hand.
Because down there in the Metro tunnels you can't savor the sights and sounds of the markets or explore the quirky shops and little alleyways or ensconce yourself in a café for several hours while you take in the street life.

To me, Paris is best explored on foot. With little or no destination in mind. Just wandering.