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Disemployment Day #3

One of the perks of being disemployed is eating lunch at home. Lunch is an omelet with salad and fresh bread followed by my own private cheese course. Since we always have a cheese course after dinner, then for lunch, I will only take a sliver… of each one. Usually we try to only keep 3 cheeses in our refrigerator at a time, but the picture below shows what can happen when a Frenchman marries an American and they go XC skiing a lot. Nous avons beaucoup de fromages!

cheese

On the lower far-left, there’s a French Ziegenbrie, which is Goat Brie. It has the processed texture of a traditional cow brie, but not the triple-cream fat. Mr. Pinault doesn’t really like goat cheese. That is fine… more goat brie for me!

On the upper far-left is raw milk Fontina Val D’Aosta. It’s Italian, but it hails from the Alps and is therefore very similar to French Alpine cheese like Gruyere and Tomme.

Second from the left on the top is a French Munster. You may look at this cheese and think, “Mmm, looks creamy and yummy!” but it is the foulest-smelling cheese and I cringe every time I open the refrigerator and get a whiff of its pungent ripeness. That being said, munster tastes wonderful if you can screw up the courage to put it in your mouth.

Second from the left on the bottom is Gran Queso, which poses as a Spanish cheese, but is actually from Wiscousin. This is the first time we bought this cheese, and only because it was on special. It has a strong, interesting taste, but probably won’t be bought again.

Third from the left on the bottom is French Tomme de Savoie, one of Mr. Pinault’s favorites. It is one of those wonderful, mild cheeses where a discerning palate can taste the alpine grass that the cows grazed on. The texture is firm but pliable enough to be sliced thin and strewn across a piece of baguette.

Third from the left on the top, is Spanish Campo de Montalban, which is my favorite cheese. It’s been on special for the past month, so we’ve been eating a lot of it. It’s a blend of cow, sheep and goat milk. (Sometimes, when we have guests for dinner, I’ll ask them if they prefer the Tomme or the Montalban, and they always say the Montalban.)

On the far right is the classic French Camembert. Camembert is like brie with more flavor. Napoleon was very fond of camembert. So is Mr. Pinault. I haven’t touched the camembert at lunch time because it’s best served with wine, and while it’s okay for the disemployed to eat cheese in the middle of the day, drinking wine taking it a bit too far.

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