Alfred Le Fermier

Alfred Le Fermier is an excellent organic raw cow milk artisanal cheese from Fromagerie La Station de Compton.

Alfred Le Fermier has a lovely orange tinted yellowish washed-rind that produces a nice woodsy rustic aroma due to the cheese having been ripened for eight months on spruce boards. The cooked, pressed, firm, golden paste leaves delightful nutty, butter and floral lingering flavours.  

Alfred Le Fermier pairs well with a California fumé blanc.

Alfred Le Fermier cheese is named in honour of Alfred Bolduc.  Mr. Bolduc was the first of the family four generations ago to settle in Compton, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.  An eye-catching silhouette of Alfred Bolduc is pressed into every wheel of cheese the Fromagerie La Station make.  Fromagerie La Station produces excellent farmstead organic cheeses and raclette.

Read on my visit of Fromagerie La Station de Compton

http://www.fromagerielastation.com/

Page Eight

 

Page Eight is a BBC film written and directed by David Hare. The spy thriller set in London and Cambridge, England stars Bill Nighy as MI-5 agent Johnny Worricker. Johnny is left with a secret file that could bring down the Prime Minister and his government, then his closest friend who is also his boss, suddenly dies. He is then compelled to carry out the unspoken and make the report public. During this time he also grows suspicious of his beautiful young new neighbor who seeks his company, the political activist neighbor Nancy Pierpan, is played by Rachel Wiesz.  Johnny is then forced to walk out of his job, and then out of his identity to find out the truth.

Bill Nighy is quite riveting and captivates you into this mystery drama. The film also stars Michael Gambon, Judy Davis, and Ralph Fiennes.

 

Banon

Banon is a raw goat milk cheese fabricated in the village of Banon in the Haute-Provence Alps of France. The lovely 100 gram chèvre is presented wrapped in chestnut leaves and tied with raffia. 

Le Banon cheese is golden cream coloured with a soft moist pungent uncooked un-pressed paste.  It has a nice sweet nutty taste with a lot of character.  Its unique flavor is developed when the cheese is matured in the chestnut leaves. Le Banon was awarded AOC status in 2003.  

Read more on: The conditions of production for Le Banon AOC:

http://www.banon-aoc.com/en/conditions.html

Handcrafted Wooden Cheese Board

This Christmas we received a lovely handcrafted wooden platter for our family Christmas exchange. The beautiful maple platter was created by Stinson Studios.  The handcrafted serving board is made from a single piece of selectively harvested wood and then cut to highlight the natural beauty of the maple wood. The board is designed with a slight dip ideal to serve a pâté or a soft cheese, nuts or olives.  It’s quite the ideal cheese serving board platter and a lovely handcrafted piece of art

Stinson Studios is a family business located in rural Eastern Ontario. They create wonderful wooden bowls and structural burls. Their wooden pieces truly reveal and accentuate the beauty of nature.

http://stinsonstudios.ca

Un gros merci à Clément, Émile, Julie et Patrick pour le joli cadeau de Noël.

George Carlin - Perspectives on Life

I always enjoy George Carlin’s perspectives on things. Hope you enjoy this...

 

"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death. What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards.

You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You drink, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating...then you finish off as an orgasm."

La Beurrasse

La Beurrasse is a wonderful goat milk cheese spread (tartinade) made by La Fromagerie Ruban Bleu in Mercier, Quebec.  Whenever I have some of La Beurrasse in the fridge I can't resist wanting to spread it on to toast, bagels, crackers whatever I have around.  It has a very light creamy fluffy texture with a mild goat milk flavor that is irresistible and quite addictive.  La Beurrasse is made with 100% goat milk and contains only 15% fat.

http://www.rubanbleu.net/

Lemon Verbena

(Lippia citriodora)

Lemon Verbena is a lovely plant with a nice pure fruity lemon fragrance.

Verbena plants are drought-resistant shrub-like herbs that grow to 2 -3 m (6 - 9 ft.) high. They tolerate full to partial sun, and enjoy light well-drained soil.

In late summer, tiny lavender (or white) flowers appear amid the long, light-green slender leaves.  It is sensitive to cold; it can be grown as a perennial in zone 9 but can be grown anywhere as an annual. It makes a great container plant that can be moved indoor during the winter.

Lemon verbena leaves are used to add a lemony flavor to fish and poultry dishes, vegetable marinades, salad dressings, jams, puddings, and beverages. It also is used to make herbal teas, or added to standard tea instead of actual lemons.

Monty Python - The Cheese Shop

John Cleese and Michael Palin of Monty Python performing The Cheese Shop sketch taken from Monty Python's Flying Circus. 

I always have a laugh when I hear this skit.

Here is the list of the forty four cheeses mentioned in their routine: Red Leicester, Tilsit, Caerphilly, Bel Paese, Red Windsor, Stilton, Gruyère, Emmental, Norwegian Jarlsberg, Liptauer, Lancashire, White Stilton, Danish Blue, Double Gloucester, Cheshire, Dorset Blue Vinney, Brie, Roquefort, Pont l'Evêque, Port Salut, Savoyard, Saint-Paulin, Carré de l'Est, Boursin, Bresse-Bleu, Perle de Champagne, Camembert, Gouda, Edam, Caithness, Smoked Austrian, Sage Derby, Wensleydale, Greek Feta, Gorgonzola, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Pipo Crem', Fynbo, Czechoslovakian sheep's milk cheese, Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, Cheddar, Ilchester, Limburger.

 

Manchego

Manchego cheese from Spain's La Mancha region is made from the whole milk of the Manchega ewe.

This "delicious-slightly piquant and nutty" cheese has a long historic tradition being mentioned by Cervantes in the legendary "Don Quixote of La Mancha".

You are more likely to find a pasteurized industrial Manchego at your local cheese shop aged from 6 to 12 months. If you have the chance to get your hands on some artisanal handmade raw milk Manchego aged (12 months or more), try it... it’s a whole different experience!

The Manchega breed of sheep, descend from the Ovis Aries Ligeriens type of sheep. The Manchega sheep are usually white but black fleeced sheep with white spots on their heads can also be found. There's no difference in the quality of the milk the two varieties produce.

The Manchegas grazing on the peculiar native wildlife is what gives Manchego its classic flavor and means that it’s impossible to make it properly away from that area.

http://www.cheesefromspain.com

Sheep photo source: http://nutritionwonderland.com

Pouligny-Saint-Pierre

Pouligny-Saint-Pierre is named after a small town in the Berry area of central France.

 

The Pouligny-Saint-Pierre goat cheese is distinctive, being pyramidal in shape and golden brown in color with speckles of grey-blue mould, and is often known by the nicknames "Eiffel Tower" or "Pyramid". Its delicate and dry crust is covered by a superficial grey-bluish mould that develops with age. The central pâte is bright white with a smooth, crumbly texture that mixes an initial sour taste with salty and sweet overtones with a slight “caprine” odor.

Pouligny-Saint-Pierre received AOC status in 1972.