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If you've read this blog for any time now, you know how much I love cheese! And after weeks of working out a new (for me) way to share this great passion with you, I've finally done it. Three virtual workshops, which I've entitled, French Cheese Fundamentals , are online and available on Eventbrite . They've been up for a few days, but I've haven't had the chance to share them here yet. Part One is the Basics , a Cheese 101 that covers history, terminology, the French cheese families, seasonality - it's a lot of practical, nerdy information. Part Two is all about creating Cheese Boards . You'll learn about tasting, serving, slicing, shopping and building beautiful boards. Part Three is about  Pairing cheese with wine, other beverages and food. Even though there are no hard and fast rules, there is plenty of information to learn about creating delicious flavor marriages.  I'm keeping the numbers limited to just 15 screens for a more personal experien

As I mentioned in September , I teamed up with Context Conversations and presented an online French cheese tasting seminar that was offered a few more times over the last few months. And more dates have been added in December and January. I was also invited by La Cuisine Paris to do a live French fromage workshop in November, with another one coming up in mid-December. All of this got me thinking that it would be fun to create some more comprehensive online workshops of my own, so that's exactly what I did! For the moment I've got three finished that I'm going to launch shortly (all of the calendar app stuff and payment app stuff is a bit of a learning curve), so watch this space and I hope to share all of my French cheese knowledge and passion with you very soon.

1) Autumn stroll along the quay 2) Getting the cheese board all set up for a virtual workshop hosted by  la Cuisine Paris . If you missed it, there's another one happening in December! 3) One of my favorite things 4) Enjoying some much needed fresh air during the second lockdown in Paris 5) Nutella crêpe? Yes, please!

1) My kind of cake! 2) Do I spy Emily in Paris?    3) Giant bouquets of autumn hydrangeas 4) A modern cheese board 5) Café life

I resisted. Boy did I resist! The idea of going virtual with cheese "tastings," both during and after the lockdown in France, was completely overwhelming to me and I just didn't know how to make that transition. Several friends offered advice, but I was stubbornly closed to the idea. Then something changed.  Part of it was the positive reaction from the guest post I wrote listing my Top Ten French Cheeses for David Lebovitz's  fabulous blog. Additionally, Context Travel, who I was about to start doing tours with back in March, asked if I would join them as their online cheese connoisseur. So, I'll be going live on September 27 with a deep dive into all things cheese-y at From Camembert to Chèvre: An Exploration of French Cheese.  Hope to see you there!

August means stretches of long, hot days with bright skies, followed by days of heavy air and storms. We're finally at the end of a week-long heatwave and the last two evenings have given us spectacular sound and light shows over the city.  Tuesday afternoon a photographer captured some incredible photos of lightning striking the Eiffel Tower . I wish I had witnessed that! Our neighborhood, le 15ème, is mainly residential and always very quiet this time of year, as most of our neighbors have left for the month and the little mom-and-pop places have closed for their annual vacation. I've ventured into the center of Paris a couple of times, near Notre-Dame and parts of Saint Germain, and both neighborhoods were devoid of the crush of tourists that this month usually sees. It's nice for those of us who have stayed in town, yet it does feel strangely deserted this summer. Friends have told me how nice the museums are without the crowds, so I plan to take advantage of this