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Friday, June 02, 2006

Les fromages de Colette et Pierre Meunier

You have to wonder about those city people who get out of their cars to take photos of cows. I tried to look as if this was something I do all the time, and I recall that in my mind I was thinking that I would plead eccentric artist if ever interrogated by the townfolk that I imagined would be coming around the corner any minute. The cow pulled a Sissy (the cat)- feeling a bit odd about being focused on so intently, she tried to act casual by scratching her ear, then she posed. I called this similarity to cats' behavior to the attention of my husband who murmered something I didn't quite hear.

The perfect excursion: Leave Lyon by car heading west in the afternoon, and as you roll along through residential areas on the outskirts of town, the stones begin to turn a golden color. The more golden the colored the stones become, the smaller the towns become and the more the space between them grows. An hour by slow winding country roads, the little yellow and black ones, some backtracking, and some roads dotted with green, and the color of the stones has deepened to a profound golden mustard color that glows in the afternoon sun. I would not call this France profond, but it is far enough away from our life in centre ville Lyon to feel like we've gone away.

We entered the town of Oingt. The name of the town got me joking with my mother, something Loic was not catching, because in French it is pronounced something like "Wa" which is respectable in every way (some things just don't translate). We pulled over in a municipal lot to locate ourselves on the map and saw that there was a door open and a sign advertising wine and cheese inside. Why not give it a try?



We purchased 8 bottles of wine, a package of aperetif cheeses, and a mi-chevre for the cheese plate. The aperetif cheeses, called Py, are simple and honest and taste of the fresh mild curds they are. The mi-chevre is creamy and tangy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

those cheese curds look lovely!
do they squeak when you eat them?

wheresmymind said...

Sounds like a lovely, relaxing time!

L Vanel said...

Ann, the aperetif cheeses were young and had the consistency of jelly beans, melt on your tongue and very mild, therefore no squeak. But I do know what you're talking about - we sometimes get this type of cheese a bit dry and then they sometimes not only squeak but taste chalky!

Lynn McBride said...

Bonjour Lucy,
Just stumbled across your site b/c I'm writing an article about Oingt. love your site and your photos are super. I'm an American, living about an hour north of Lyon, near Cluny. I'm a closet cow photographer too.Visit me at Southern Fried Frech. I'll be adding your link.
Lynn

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