But the friends arrive just then, so you put the lid back on, put it on the cheese tray and hope no one opens it. During a lovely gouter (where you pepper your friends with important questions that have long been on your mind, such as "can you turn right on red in France" (no), and "do all French people take naps in the afternoon after the amazing and delicious and long two hour lunch" (some take a 20 minute sieste at their desks, in fact) and more)... you ask your friends what's up with this crazy cheese.
They all recognize it. Ah, Mont d'Or, they say. From the nearby Jura mountains. Something you usually eat after skiing.
They do not look terrified. They tell you that you simply have not prepared it yet. Prepared it? The vendor said nothing about preparing it... so you ask just how one turns fuzzy, stinky, toxic cheese into something worth the euros and, well, edible.
And your friend (Geraldine, who came to visit with her husband, their three wonderful children, and a friend from Paris) takes you in your kitchen, stuffs 4 or 5 cloves of garlic in it, pokes a hole in the center and pours some white wine it, and pops it in your oven.
In the meantime, you have some more good conversation (sharing thoughts on Carla Bruni, Barack Obama, the Winter Olympics, teachers at the village schools, why it is so hard to find whole wheat bread, accents (both French and English) and more). The kids play beautifully.
And an hour later you get this:
Which quickly becomes this:
And you think: "Where would I be without friends?"
8 comments:
Lisa,
Did you take a before picture? The final product looks luscious... and I would love to see the "before" that you were tempted to throw out!
Sadly I didn't (that was still in my horrified stage!). Next time I buy it (and there WILL be a next time), I'll be sure to take a picture of the fuzzy moldy mess.
So what's it called? And what does it taste like?
Thank you again for that delicious afternnon ! we really had a good time ... when can we plan another one gouter and taste other smelly-tasty cheese?!!!
Moreover Pierre just told me there was still loads of work to do in the house in the woods .... usrely Jack will understand .
Beth: It's called Mont d'Or (Gold Mountain). It tastes a lot like a good fondue... not smelly at all! But sooooooooo delicious!
Géraldine: Any afternoon with smelly-tasty cheese sounds like a good afternoon to me! And Jack will be thrilled to work on the fort. Maybe Wednesday afternoon? Does Pierre have school Wednesdays? Thanks again for the great visit (and for keeping me from throwing the cheese away!) xoxo
Dear Lisa,
I just KNEW you two would hit it off!
I have left a ceramic (maybe two) dish somewhere in the kitchen that says "Mont D'Or' embossed on the side and which is for baking these yummy cheeses. It is one of our fave winter dishes - especially over potatoes. We had a red one and a purple one - not sure which of the dishes I left.
Did you hear the Canadians wone Olympic gold in hockey??!?!?!?!?!? What a game...
Bises,
Laura
Laura: Geraldine (and her family -- Jack thinks Pierre is about the coolest kid in the universe) is just wonderful. And she found your Mont d'Or ceramic crock (I had been using it to hold nuts LOL). She said she usually serves it over potatoes, too, but we decided to just tear into it with the good bread I had from the market.
I didn't last through the whole game, but John stayed up for all of it! And despite our dual citizenship (and world travels, which left us rooting for anyone from the U.S., Canada, Japan and France during the last two weeks), we were all STRONGLY cheering for Canada last night! What a game!
Hope you five are well! Thanks again for everything (including introducing us to great people... I ran into Alli at the market Saturday, too, and we are meeting Wednesday!). Take care!
Post a Comment