La Fête du Fromage - Le Pascouli

I found this cheese tucked into the side of the refrigerated case at CDD Sud, a local shop that is stuffed to the gills with regional wine, honey, liqueur, charcuterie, olives, etc. Surprisingly, the saleswoman had absolutely no information to offer other than "c'est délicieux." Well, that was enough for me.
The label offered a bit more help - the name of the fromagerie who makes it, where it is located, and a cute little drawing of a cow's face.

Le Pascouli is produced at la Fromagerie le Pascouli in Payra sur l'Hers, a tiny village in the Lauragais near Castelnaudary, home of the legendary Cassoulet.
I was immediately impressed by its heft. This cheese is a generous 5 x 1.5 inches and weighs in at a substantial 650 grams (1.6 pounds). A bargain at only €8.

That crazy orange colored rind, which I can only imagine gets its color through the use of annatto seeds, encases a beautifully soft and chewy unpasteurized cow's milk cheese. It has a a gentle aroma and perfectly balanced yeast, butter and mushroom flavors.

Le Pascouli is a true people pleasing cheese. I think it would charm the pants off even the most wary cheeseophobe.

We enjoyed small slices of it with hunks of une campaillette and some red Minervois wine.

Photo du Jour - Keeping Cool

Shutters open just a crack. Lets a little light in, keeps the heat out.

French Citizenship Update

About ten days ago I took another trip to Béziers for a haircut and a stop at the Centre Hobson to drop off my parent's birth and marriage certificates for official translation. Not just anyone can translate documents in the official capacity, only government certified translators can. Which is fair enough. A bit pricey though, at €40 a page.
The funny (i.e. annoying) thing is, it would be cheaper if I were from the UK, as American English is considered a dialect, so they charge about 20% more for a spécialiste du dialecte.
No, I'm not joking.

Five years ago we gave Madame Hobson plenty of business as she did all of the translations for our first cartes de séjours. She's wonderful to work with; warm and friendly and works quickly and efficiently.
She looked over my new sheaf of papers and made a few notes, then told me how happy she was to hear that I loved living in France and that I wanted to become a French citizen. I left her office with a smile on my face.

The translations were ready last Tuesday. Madame Hobson kindly only charged €20 a page, as birth and marriage certificates are mostly names and dates, thus easy translation work. We had a nice chat about American politics and how I might get past the brick wall that has become my ability to progress with the French language (she advised reading more in French) and sent me on my way with encouraging words about my upcoming citizenship process.


The big news: the sous-préfecture in Béziers has decided to let those of us applying for citizenship to make an appointment and bring our dossiers directly to them instead of having to turn it in at the local level, in my case the village mayor's office . They found that upwards of 80% of the dossiers were being returned due to numerous reasons so they decided to make it easier for everyone involved.
The mayor's secretary gave me a phone number to call and miracle of miracles, an actual human being answered the first time I called and gave me an appointment for November 24.

I've got my apostilles, I've got my translations, I've got my casier judiciaire.
I am ready.

Photo du Jour

An old, very squeaky, slightly rusty iron gate that leads into our friend's garden.

Photo du Jour

Some of the color combinations in Marseille reminded me of the colors in Tuscany.

My deck: I am proud

Yesterday a friend stopped by with a friend of hers, Marie France, who worked with floral designer Christian Tortu for some 14 years.
For those who do not know Christian Tortu , he's the Frenchman who reinvented the art of flowers, back in the late seventies. As this creative spirit's business grew, he had several shops in Paris. One of his shops was in Neuilly, a posh neighborhood where we lived when we came back from Asia. I remember passing by the shop on Avenue du Roule and stopping by to experience the enchantment!

Marie France is a true artist (and has a Master in Art from Sorbonne) and knows a lot about flowers. She runs a business related to floral decoration for special events.
We had a drink on my deck and she told me that my plants were very well taken care of and that the lay out of my plant pots and the choice of plants was "tres joli".
I am sooo proud! Thank you Marie France, your comment went straight to my heart, because yes, you're right, I do spend a lot of time taking care of my plants!

Photo du Jour

Oh la la!

And yes, they were shared with friends. I couldn't have eaten them all by myself!


(well, maybe I could have....)