I Love Cheese Graffiti

"Graffiti (singular: graffito; the plural is used as a mass noun) is writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

The earliest forms of graffiti date back to 30,000 BC in the form of prehistoric cave paintings and pictographs using tools such as Animal bones and pigments."

From Wikipedia 

 

Over the past several years quite a few graffiti drawings and tags by a 'cheese lover' artist, someone after my own heart, have popped-up here and there around Montreal.
 

I find these drawings so charming that I am actually using one of my favourites "I love cheese" graffiti as my own avatar.
 

Here are examples of some of 'I love cheese' graffiti found in Le Plateau, Old Montreal and downtown Montreal.

 

 

Un Chèvre À Ma Manière

A delightful new cheese has arrived at La Fromagerie Atwater that I'm quite excited about. It is a new Québec artisanal pasteurised goat milk cheese called Chèvre À Ma Manière.

My first impression is that it looks so similar to a Saint-Félicien. Chèvre À Ma Manière weighs around 200 grams (7 ounces), measuring 9 cm (3 1/2"), round shaped, it has a pale golden natural mold rind and a very creamy runny white pâte. It is a fairly young cheese with an affinage of a couple of weeks. It has a nice balanced sweetness, sourness and acidity with a pleasant caprine lingering flavour. 

When trying to describe how I feel about this cheese the lyrics of the 1991 song “What Is Love?” by the group Deee-Lite comes to mind; “ How do you say delicious? How do you say delovely? How do you say delectable? How do you say divine?”

Chèvre À Ma Manière is fabricated by Simon Hamel of L’Atelier Fromagerie in Ste-Hélène-de-Chester in the Centre-du-Québec region.

Chèvre À Ma Manière pairs well with a Chenin Blanc. 

Check out: Radio Canada's  Bien dans son Assiette' video and article: "Le gagnant du Caseus de bronze".

Les Métayères

Les Métayères is a semi-firm cheese, with a non-cooked pressed paste and washed rind. It is made from non-pasteurised cow milk. The cheese is aged approximately 90 days.

The milk of Les Métayères cheese is thermised but non-pasteurised. Thermised milk is raw milk that has been heated for at least 15 seconds at a temperature between 57 and 68 degrees C. This method helps to preserve the flavours in the milk and at the same time reduces the number of micro-organisms.

Les Métayères is a mild cheese with a smooth rich and creamy pâte with a subtle fruity flavour and nutty aroma. It pairs nicely with a dry white Italian Soave wine.

Les Métayères is produced by La Fromagerie Du Champ à la Meule located in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes in the Lanaudière region of Quebec.  La Fromagerie is operated by Martin Guilbault and his family, they also manufacture the popular Victor et Berthold, Fêtard and Laracam cheeses.

Les Métayères cheese was created to help finance the Maison Saint-Gabriel a 17th century school and farm-house run by the Sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. The congregation founded by Ste. Marguerite Bourgeoys is located in Montreal's south-west district of Pointe Saint-Charles. The cheese is named in honour of les Métayères, the name given to the nuns who worked the farm. 

All the cheeses at Fromagerie Du Champ à la Meule come from the milk of Ayrshire cows.

http://www.fromagesdici.com/repertoire/fromageries/fromagerie-du-champ-a-la-meule

Read on my visit at the Fromagerie Du Champ à la Meule

William Baffin Rose

 

The William Baffin Rose is a climbing rose from the Canadian Explorer Rose Series. It has free-flowering, slightly fragrant, raspberry pink semi-double flowers with golden centers.

Like all the roses in the Explorer Series, they are hardy roses that can survive our Northern climate and are mildew and disease-resistant. The William Baffin Rose is not really a climbing rose but rather a tall shrub rose whose thorny canes can be trained to climb.

The William Baffin Rose is very easy to take care and is a vigorous grower; it can easily reach heights of 8’ to 10’ in a couple of years. The eye-catching showy clusters of flowers bloom in June and re-bloom in August.

A real beauty!

Read more on Explorer Roses at The Canadian Rose Society.