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 1) Goat cheese season!   2) Frilly tulips      3) Une baguette française          4) Organic       5) Île Saint-Louis

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!

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!

1) We have a great fromagerie around the corner, so we're still able to enjoy French cheese. Phew! 2) The nuns at the Catholic maternity clinic across from our apartment have been coming out on their roof terrace to join the 8pm applause for the health care workers, and then staying on to sing a couple of songs for the neighborhood. Complete with tambourines 3) Zonked out 4) Sunday is now pizza day! This one from last week was sautéed red onions, red peppers and Spanish chorizo 5) There were flour, egg and sugar shortages at the beginning of the lockdown, so when I walked into our local G20 grocery store and spotted this, I felt like I'd won the lottery

It's World Cheese Day! My favorite day!

One of my favorite cheese shops in Paris. And her selection of Comté is incredible!

One of only two  remaining, farm produced Camembert de Normandie is made by La Fromagerie Durand . It is worth the extra €2!

A Corsican ewe's milk cheese sprinkled with aromatic Mediterranean herbs and sold in a perfect state of affinage. Heaven!

We kicked it off with a long walk through the quiet streets of Paris and ended it with the holy trinity - cheese, wine and bread. A good start to the new year! Wishing you all a very happy 2020!

Cheese + Mold. Is it safe to eat?  This is a question I get asked a lot! This article  on the Bon Appetit website came across my radar the other day (even though it was written in 2018!) and after I read the following paragraph, I knew I had to share it. "The first thing you’ve got to understand is that, by and large, microorganisms like mold are what makes cheese, well, cheese. “In a lot of ways, cheese is mold,” explains Morillo. With the notable exception of fresh cheeses that are meant to be consumed shortly after they are made (mozzarella, ricotta, queso fresco, etc.), most cheeses owe their distinct deliciousness and texture to the microbiological alchemy that occurs when mold, bacteria, and other microorganisms feast on the proteins and sugars present in milk, transforming them into a wide range of flavorful compounds. (Science is cool!)" Yes, science is cool! And mold, when it comes to cheese, can definitely be our friend.

The minute I started to unwrap this one, I was in heaven! SO lusciously smelly, oozing and sticky. We haven't tasted it yet, but I expect wonderful things. Oh, and for those of you who are curious, it's an ewe's milk, washed rind cheese from Corsica. I can't wait to try it!

Shopping at Laurent Dubois for one of my favorite Alpine cheeses, Tomme de Chartreuse.

1) Our neighborhood 2) Enzo really needs to learn to chill out 3) Drinks on the terrace at Treize au Jardin 4) Evening light in Saint-Germain-des-Prés 5) Goat cheese - ash covered and sprinkled with sarriette

Located just a block away from  La Grande Épicerie  in Saint Germain,  la Ferme d'Alexandre  doesn't feel "off the beaten path," but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I've come to love this place, not only for their fabulous cheese selection, but for the kindness and knowledge of  the owner Alex, and the entire staff. I shop here every week to  buy fromage for the French cheese workshop we offer at Paris by Mouth, so I've gotten to know them and what they offer very well. And if you follow me on Instagram , you've most likely seen many of their cheeses and their beautiful  blue and gold tile floor ! They always have some interesting sheep milk cheeses from the Pyrénées and right now their goat cheese section is amazing! You can also find the last raw milk farmer produced  Époisses  in France here, as well as a handful of delicious Italian cheeses. And in addition to cheese, there is a good selection of charcuterie, unpasteurized butter...

Last week France feted its National Day of Cheese , a day I love to celebrate. (yeah...who am I kidding...I celebrate French cheese pretty much every day!) But it got me thinking about the fromageries here in Paris. There are a handful of famous fromagères and  fromagers in the city who are lauded over and over, but what about the minor players? What about the small, off the beaten path cheese shops? What about the passionate cheesemongers with only a few staff members who take precious time off from their already busy schedules to visit farms and find small producers so they can offer new and interesting cheese and dairy to their customers? Let's talk about them. And let's support them! And there is a lot to talk about! I've met classical musicians, bankers and accountants who left their careers to become cheesemongers and to open up their own cheese shops, and there's even  an actual dairy  in Paris now. I see more and more young people buying up and breathing...

March 27 is la Journée Nationale du Fromage, or National Cheese Day, here in France. Today we will be honoring rare, small production, farmer produced, raw milk cheeses. You can be sure that I'll be celebrating!