cheese, bread, wine, beer, dessert

The local cheese here is called maraoilles, one variety of which is named Vieux Lille, and nicknamed "old Stinky."  It tastes  mild, but yummy, but it really does smell.  Amelia, a cheese lover, HATES the smell.   It gets milder when cooked, and you can order dishes with it at restaurants or buy them pre-made at restaurants.  We don't buy it anymore because l'odeur takes over our small house.

We had a welsh maraoilles (my Mom used to call it welsh rarebit) for an appetizer at a restaurant  the other night and it was seriously one of the  best things I've eaten.  My guess is it was cheese, cream and butter...but I didn't have a stomach ache so it couldn't have been, right?

Cheese is very inexpensive, compared to what we are used to the in the states.  You can pretty much buy a slab of most cheese for around 2 euro.  I have sworn that I will keep my beloved husband in roquefort the entire time we are here.  Here is a picture of what we have in the fridge at the moment.  The munster (top right) is very different from the states, here it is a strong soft cheese from Alsace.  Those are peppercorns in the cheese on the top left.

Bread.  Bread.  Bread.  We consume loaves and loaves of it.  Normally I'll pick up a baguette of some sort and possibly some sliced as well at the grocery store.  Around 90 euro-cents for a baguette.  Yesterday I bought some local rolls called faluches, named because they look like  hats  traditionally worn by students.  One site described them as "milk clouds."  Kids loved them but I like a heartier loaf!



When we go out, there are often children's menus with some sort of pasta, or chopped steak. More expensive than kids' menus at home, but better quality, usually.  

Sometimes the kids order off the regular menu.  Here's a picture of a meal (NOT a kids' meal) Amelia ordered, and devoured, despite the egg surprise. (It's smoked salmon and pasta).













Scott and I have had 4 "date nights" out without the kids since we've been here.  It took a while to find a babysitter, but we now employ a lovely young woman from the Northwest U.S. who is living here while studying French. We take the metro into Lille (an eight minute ride) and wander Vieux Lille until it's time for dinner.

Dinners take hours, and are very relaxing, once you get your glass of wine.  No tips, so you know the server doesn't care what you order, or how long you take, pondering questions like these (because of Scott's pescatarianism):

Is Escargot an animal?

When the chef sends out a complimentary first course of sweetbreads, do you dig in?

When you are at a work lunch and accidentally order bone marrow, do you send it back?   When they saw the hunk of bone arrive,  Scott's french colleagues said, "ahh...you are more French than we!"

Scott and I  usually split the "gourmand" dessert, below, which includes a coffee and a taste of several desserts.  Chocolate mousse, creme brulée, some yummy white stuff with fruit and a sorbet.  I forgot to include my tiny cup of coffee in the picture.

Wine, just get to the wine, you are saying?  Below is the rosé aisle of the grocery store.  Bottles start at a little more than 2 euro.  We usually spend 4 or 5 euro a bottle.  Our favorite everyday wine is Bourgogne Aligote,  a grape I had never heard of before.

Beaucoup a choisir!

But our region, Hauts de France (formerly Nord/Pas de Calais and Picardie), is not a wine producer. Lille (established in the 7th century) wasn't even part of France until Louis XIV came along.   When you look at a map, you might think it really belongs in Belgium.   We are the blue dot on the google map below, thank you google.   The black line is the Belgium border.  Friends buy gas and groceries in Belgium, we visit their playgrounds.   Like Belgium, beer is the the local drink here.

Some Lille beers

Like every perfect meal, I'll end with chocolate...

Look at the chocolate euros the Lapin de Paques brought Bobby!